Young people are frequently exhorted to participate ‘more’ in decision making, both formally and informally. Paradoxically, no standard or comprehensively used measurement tool through which young people’s right to participate in decision making exists. However, a range of participation scales have been developed and these mainly adult-generated tools feature prominently in literature, impacting upon, and informing policy and participative practice. Yet, despite the emphasis on young people’s right to participate in those things which affect them, including how their participation is measured, examples of young person-generated approaches to understanding the extent of their decision making are somewhat elusive. Drawing upon research undertaken in Swansea to explore how young people thought their participation in decision making should be measured, this article focuses and reflects upon the development of an appropriate, participative methodology, the views which young people offered through the enquiry, and the construction of a new participation measurement scale.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Children Act (London: hmso, 2004).
Christensen P., ‘Children’s participation in ethnographic research: Issues of power and representation’, Children and Society 18(2) (2004): 165–176.
Christensen P., & Prout A., , ‘Anthropological and sociological perspectives on the study of children’. In Researching Childreneds. eds. Greene S., & Hogan D. (London: Sage, 2002) 42–61.
Committee on the Rights of the Child, Recommendations Issued by the Committee on the Rights of the Child During its 37th Session in Geneva (Geneva: Centre for Human Rights, 2004).
Corsaro W., The Sociology of Childhood (California: Pine Forge Press, 1997).
Craig G., , ‘Children’s participation through community development: Assessing the lessons from international experience’. In Hearing the Vices of Children: Social Policy for a New Century. eds. Hallett C., & Prout A.(London: RoutledgeFalmer, 2003) 38–57.
Department for Children, Schools, and Families, Raising Standards – Improving Outcomes. Statutory Guidance: Early Years Outcomes Duty Childcare Act 2006 (London: Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2008).
Driskell D., Creating Better Cities with Children and Youth: A Manual for Participation (London: unesco and Earthscan Publications, 2002).
European Union, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Strasbourg: Commission of the European Union, 2000).
Fielding M., ‘Students as radical agents of change’, Journal of Educational Change 2(2) (2001): 123–141.
Franks M., ‘Pockets of participation: Revisiting child-centred participation research’, Children and Society 25 (2011): 15–25.
Greene S., & Hogan D., Researching Children’s Experience (London: Sage, 2005).
Grover S., ‘Why won’t they listen to us? On giving power and voice to children participating in social research’, Childhood 11(1) (2004): 81–93.
Haines K., & Case S., ‘Promoting positive behaviour in Schools: The youth social audit’, Youth Justice 3(2) (2003): 86–103.
Hart R., , ‘Stepping back from ‘The Ladder’: Reflections on a model of participatory work with children’. In Participation and learning: Perspectives on education and the environment, health and sustainability. eds. A. Reid, B. Bruun Jensen, J. Nikel & V. Simovska(Springer, 2008) 19–31.
Hart R., Children’s Participation: From Tokenism to Citizenship (Florence: International Child Development Centre, unicef, 1992).
James A., & Prout A., Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood. 2nd ed. (Basingstoke: Falmer Press, 1997).
Kara N., ‘Beyond tokenism: Participatory evaluation processes and meaningful youth involvement in decision-making’, Children, Youth and Environments 17(2) (2007): 563–580.
Kellett M., Developing Children as Researchers (London: Paul Chapman Publishers, 2005).
Kellett M., Enhancing Pupils’ Learning Skills through their Engagement with Research Process. Paper presented at Research in Practice Conference of Westminster, Institute of Education, Oxford, 2003.
Kellett M., , Forest R., , Dent N. et al., ‘Just teach us the skills please, we’ll do the ‘rest’: Empowering ten-year-olds as active researchers’, Children and Society 18 (2004): 329–343.
Kirby P., A Guide to Actively Involving Young People in Research: For Researchers, Research Commissioners, and Managers (Eastleigh, Hampshire: involve, 2004).
Kirby P., & Bryson S., (2002). Measuring the Magic? Evaluating and Researching Young People’s Participation in Public Decision Making (London: Carnegie uk Trust).
Krenichyn K., , Schaefer-McDaniel N., , Clark H.et al., Where are Young People in Youth Program Evaluation Research?, Children, Youth and Environments 17(2) (2007): 594–615.
Lardner C., Exploring Good Practice in Youth Participation: A Critical Review (Edinburgh: Clarity, 2001).
London J., Power and pitfalls of youth participation in community-based action research, Children, Youth and Environments 17(2) (2007): 406–432.
London J., , ‘Youth-led research’. In Youth Activism: An International Encyclopaedia. eds. Sherrod L., Flanagan C., & Kassimir R.(Wesport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Company, 2005) 155–157.
London J., & Young A., ‘Youth empowerment and community action in the Central Valley: Mapping the opportunities and challenges’, Youth in Focus (2003). Available at: http://www.youthinfocus.net/resources_publications_2.htm.
Lowndes V., , Pratchett L., & Stoker G., ‘Trends in public participation: Part 2 – citizens’ perspectives’, Public Administration 79(2) (2001): 445–455.
Mandell N., , ‘The least adult role in studying children’. In Studying the Social Worlds of Children: Sociological Readings. ed. Waksler F. (Falmer Press, 1991) 38–59.
Matthews H., , Taylor M., , Percy-Smith B. et al., (2000). ‘The unacceptable flaneur: The shopping mall as a teenage hangout’, Childhood 7(3): 279–294.
Morgan D., , Victor P., , Chiedza R. et al.et al., ‘Youth participatory action research on hustling and its consequences: A report from the field’, Children, Youth and Environments 14(2) (2004): 201–228.
Morrow V., The Ethics of Social Research with Children and Families in Young Lives: Practical Experiences (Oxford: Young Lives, 2009).
Nieuwenhuys O., ‘Participatory action research in the majority world’. In Doing Research with Children and Young People. eds. S. Fraser, V. Lewis, S. Ding, M. Kellett & C. Robinson (London: Sage, 2004) 206–220.
Sabo K., ‘A Vygotskian perspective on youth participatory evaluation: Special issue, youth participatory evaluation: A field in the making’, New Directions for Evaluation 98 (2003): 13–24.
Save the Children, So, You Want to Consult with Children? A Toolkit of Good Practice (London: Save the Children, 2004).
Sinclair R., ‘Participation in practice: Making it meaningful, effective and sustainable’, Children and Society 18 (2004): 106–118.
Treseder P., Empowering Children and Young People: Training Manual (London: Save The Children, 1997).
unicef, The Freechild Project Measure for Social Change by and with Young People. unicef Innocenti Essays, No. 4. (Florence, Italy: unicef Innocenti Research Centre, 2003).
United Nations, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (New York: Nations United, 1989).
Waller T., ‘Don’t come too close to my octopus tree: Recording and evaluating young children’s perspectives on outdoor learning’, Children, Youth and Environments 16(2) (2006): 75–104.
Welsh Assembly Government, Minimum Standards for Children and Young People’s Participation (Cardiff: Welsh Assembly Government, 2006).
Zeller-Berkman S., ‘Peering in: A look into reflective practices in youth participatory action research’, Children, Youth and Environments 17(2) (2007): 315–328.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 2208 | 744 | 70 |
Full Text Views | 471 | 42 | 3 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 489 | 80 | 3 |
Young people are frequently exhorted to participate ‘more’ in decision making, both formally and informally. Paradoxically, no standard or comprehensively used measurement tool through which young people’s right to participate in decision making exists. However, a range of participation scales have been developed and these mainly adult-generated tools feature prominently in literature, impacting upon, and informing policy and participative practice. Yet, despite the emphasis on young people’s right to participate in those things which affect them, including how their participation is measured, examples of young person-generated approaches to understanding the extent of their decision making are somewhat elusive. Drawing upon research undertaken in Swansea to explore how young people thought their participation in decision making should be measured, this article focuses and reflects upon the development of an appropriate, participative methodology, the views which young people offered through the enquiry, and the construction of a new participation measurement scale.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 2208 | 744 | 70 |
Full Text Views | 471 | 42 | 3 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 489 | 80 | 3 |