Next steps in children and young people's research, participation and protection from the perspective of young researchers (original) (raw)
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The value of young people doing research: where do young people’s voices count?
This paper is a synopsis of the workshop presented at the SSRG 2009 Manchester annual conference. All the information detailed has been captured from our initial experience in piloting the Young Researcher Network (YRN), a project of the National Youth Agency. The paper is structured around questions of why, who, how, and where to involve children and young people in research.
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND AND GUIDANCE ON STEPS TO ENGAGING YOUNG CHILDREN IN RESEARCH
STEPS TO ENGAGING YOUNG CHILDREN IN RESEARCH VOLUME 1: THE GUIDE , 2014
Chapter/Authors: Johnson, V.; Hart, R.; Colwell, J.; West, A. and Carvalho, X. (2014) Since the development of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989, children’s right to express opinions in matters affecting their lives as articulated in Article 12 (Van Beers et al. 2006) has been increasingly recognised. This has helped to highlight their opinions and voices in broader processes of consultation and participation in key areas of child rights. Many different types of organisations, including non-governmental, networks and coalitions have joined discussion relating to children’s participation (Boyden 1997), for example Save the Children (1995) called for a ‘New Agenda for Children’. There is a range of responses to articles of the Convention and how rhetoric is translated on the ground, for example as expressed in research in Vietnam (Burr 2006), and in the separate regional interpretations of the Convention (for example in the development of a separate charter for Africa). In broader international development contexts, however, children’s participation has often been poorly understood (Theis 2010). In developed country contexts there is also the suggestion that ‘educational developments have shown little concern for children’s rights’ (Taylor 2000, p32, referring to the UK context). (see https://www.brighton.ac.uk/secp-archive/research-projects/engaging-young-children-in-research.aspx)
Welcome in! How the academy can warrant recognition of young children as researchers
Routledge eBooks, 2020
The academy has tended to marginalise young children as researchers, even in matters affecting them, which denies young children agency and amounts to social injustice. Drawing on the Young Children As Researchers (YCAR) study, which adopted a qualitative 'jigsaw' methodology to co-research with children aged 4-8 years (n=138), their parents, practitioners, and professional researchers, this article considers epistemological factors and epistemological categories that may support young children's research behaviours in everyday activities. Those support structures are helpful in securing a warrant for recognising young children's selfdirected research on the academy's terms. That recognition has potential to reposition young children away from the margins of research to an intrinsic position in research concerning matters that affect them, securing their rights as researchers. Such research can inform early childhood policy and practice in a deeply grounded manner that values young children as competent thinkers with expertise concerning their own lives.
Children’s participation in research
Journal of Sociology, 2010
This article draws attention to a number of critical issues that exist in the current Australian research context which simultaneously enable and constrain children’s participation in research. These include prevailing understandings of children and childhood, the emerging research assessment environment and the ethical frameworks that regulate children’s involvement in qualitative research. The discussion is framed by a number of questions that remain unsettled for the authors as they attempt to pursue research with and for children and young people that is unselfconsciously focused on ‘improving’ rather than ‘proving’ the social conditions that shape their lives.
This small-scale qualitative study explores the potential of young natural children's research behaviours to gain warrant to inform matters affecting their lives. The study is located in: 1) Young children's agency; 2) Psychological insights into young children’s cognition; 3) Emancipatory research methodologies. The project investigates four young English children's constructions of understanding within the cultural contexts they inhabit and ways in which policies and practices may affect their ontological development. Interview conversations, focus group discussions and observations are employed as part of a small-scale, ethnographic case study series located within constructivist grounded theory . Ethical issues are a prime consideration. Findings suggest that young children younger than 8 years seem able to engage in warranted research behaviours and these may have the potential to indicate directions of travel for policy in matters affecting them. However, some children may be so directed in their ECEC settings and homes that they have few opportunities to engage in natural research behaviours. Positioning young children as researchers may present significant challenges for professional researchers; this would benefit from further exploration.
Youth 'At the Margins' Critical Perspectives and Experiences of Engaging Youth in Research Worldwide
This volume comes at a critical juncture, as global commitments transition from the Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals and the wider post-2015 development agenda is being discussed and debated. In these discussions, children and youth have been recognized as one of the nine major groups of civil society whose participation in decision making is essential for achieving sustainable development. There is also a concomitant need for action – innovative, evidence-based approaches to addressing entrenched global challenges or ‘wicked problems’ and engaging youth in those efforts. Within academic discourse, the perspectives and active participation of youth in research has long been debated. It is widely believed that their participation can result in better policy responses and contribute to the development of more relevant and effective interventions and programs to address their needs. However, the engagement of youth in research processes is not without critique; issues such as how to move from tokenism towards authentic participation and empowerment have been critically discussed, and many question if youth can or should even be expected to make change happen. Youth ‘At the Margins’: Critical Perspectives and Experiences of Engaging Youth in Research Worldwide brings together a range of critical and empirical contributions from emerging scholars and seasoned academics alike. Each contribution provides a unique perspective on the potentialities and challenges associated with youth engaged research. The chapters presented in this volume strive to critically interrogate and debate important foundational issues to consider when engaging youth in the research process, such as epistemological and methodological considerations. Important insights into the ethical, pedagogical and practical aspects one must contend with can be gleaned from the selection of chapters here; some of which are primarily theoretical and descriptive, whilst others present empirical data with case examples from around the world. This volume is devoted to showcasing high quality contributions to the scholarly literature on youth engaged research in order to spur further critical debate on the various epistemological, methodological and ethical issues associated with engaging youth in research processes and in addressing intractable global issues. The audience for this volume includes students, researchers and academics within a broad range of fields who are interested in understanding the range of approaches being used worldwide to include youth in research endeavors on issues of global importance including poverty, social exclusion, structural violence, un- and under-employment, education and health.
It is important to get the views of children during participation in the research process. The Committee on the Rights of the Child mentions the aspects to be conveyed to children who participate in research processes. A 'symmetrical approach' must be adopted for getting children's own consent, and informing them about the research and participatory methods. This study aims to utilise children's voices for research processes, and their participation and the participatory methods they prefer are the main goals. Children's views on their research processes, their needs and their interests are investigated and the data collected via semi-structured interviews from seven male and seven female children by sampling and snowball sampling techniques. The majority of the children were found to be keen to participate in the research and they wanted a positive approach; they also have different expressions according to their contextual characteristics, like the place to conduct the research.