Jonathon Sargeant

The challenges of conducting ethical research with children

The conduct of timely, ethical and reliable research in matters directly affecting children and childhood is of increasing importance to contemporary research communities. However, the challenges of seeking ways in which to include children’s perspectives requires critical deliberations and is beneficial at all stages of the research endeavour, from conceptualisation through to dissemination. This paper seeks to identify some of the ethical and methodological considerations of this type of research and propose ways in which the research process can be enhanced through the careful examination of key markers in that process.

Prioritising Student Voice: "Tween" Children's Perspectives on School Success.

This paper presents the findings of a study of the perspectives of Australian, English and New Zealand ‘tweens’ in response to one question, ‘what makes people muck up at school?’ Arguing for the increased prioritisation of childrens voices in educational planning and provision, this paper provides, in childrens own words, their perspectives on school success and classroom dynamics.

Assuring children’s human right to freedom of opinion and expression in education

Abstract The Universal Declaration of Human Rights elaborated for children through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, mandates each child’s right to participate in all matters affecting them. In particular, Article 19 includes the child’s right to freedom of expression and opinion, access to information and communication choice. However, many barriers placed on children’s daily lives often restrict or limit the enactment of children’s participatory rights in practice, most noticeably in education. It is often the adult who decides what, when and how children can communicate, and the extent children’s views and opinions are sought, considered or incorporated. This paper explores how children’s daily lives are mediated in ways that restrict their expression, voice and communication rights. Children spend a significant proportion of their daily lives in education settings yet the restrictions on children’s access to information and communication choices do not reflect contemporary pedagogical thinking. Many school settings perpetuate the key participation barriers of adult attitude and knowledge, pedagogical tradition, organisational structure and technological advancement. Such barriers to engagement stifle the realisation of the child’s communication rights that then limits educational enhancement. Supporting children’s right to communicate via a range of media enables pedagogy supporting voice-inclusive practice.

Unintentional power plays: interpersonal contextual impacts in child-centred participatory research

Abstract Background Approaches to conducting research with children afford them varying degrees of participatory power. Despite children’s varying roles within research, more needs to be understood about the influences of unintentional power plays and, in particular, interactions between participant and non-participants on children’s participation in in situ research. Purpose This paper considers the methodological and practical dimensions of research data collection in situ, and the effect of adult–child power relations within child-centred research. Method Participants were children involved in a wider research project across five Australian primary schools that explored how 8 to 12-year-old children conceptualised and defined the notion of wellbeing. Drawing upon researcher observation and children’s commentary and actions, a reflexive approach exploring the effects of unintentional power plays during the research activities was utilised. Data were analysed qualitatively, using a hermeneutic frame. Findings and conclusions Three case study vignettes from the data are presented and the effect on the researcher–child relationship in each instance is discussed. Analyses of these cases offer insights into the unintentional power plays experienced by many researchers who engage in research that includes children in the naturalistic but institutionalised setting of a school. Managing effects from non-participant adults during research represents a critical ethical consideration for researchers seeking to afford children a forum to freely express their perspectives within school environments.