scholarly journals The relevance of ‘competence’ for enhancing or limiting children’s participation: Unpicking conceptual confusion

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 212-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Moran-Ellis ◽  
E Kay M Tisdall
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Childhood Studies ◽  
Limited Impact ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Participation Rights ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Conceptual Confusion

Recent debates about children’s participation rights, formulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, primarily focus on ‘effectiveness’ of implementation. However, children’s participation remains problematic, its limited impact on adult power in decision-making or on the nature of decisions made persists, and implicated in both are reservations about children’s competence as participants. In respect of this, we analysed conceptualisations of competence in 67 articles, published between 2007 and 2017 in six childhood studies journals, in which ‘competence’ and its variations appear in the abstract. Although competence was rarely defined, conceptualisations were wide-ranging, covering competence as skills, as compliance with adult views, and as a trope signalling the field of childhood studies. As a result of our findings, we argue that epistemological clarity is vital for this concept to be useful regarding children’s participation and that attention must be paid to the different kinds of competences relevant for ‘effective’ participation.

scholarly journals Små barns medvirkning i samlingsstunder

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brit Johanne Eide ◽  
Ellen Os ◽  
Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Circle Time ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
The Core ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation

Title: Young children’s participation during circle time. Abstract: In day schedules of early childhood education, circle time has traditionally been one of the core situations. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children should be given opportunity to influence their everyday life. This article presents an analysis of circle time in 8 toddler groups. The focus of the analysis is children’s opportunities to participate and take part in the process of decision-making during circle time. The results indicate that the toddlers take part in community of the group, but their opportunities to influence are limited.

scholarly journals SOCIAL AND LEGAL DISCOURSE OF CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING IN POLAND AND RUSSIA: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
KRYSTYNA HELAND-KURZAK ◽  
ALEXANDRA FILIPOVA
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Search Process ◽  
The Core ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Participation In Decision Making ◽  
Legal Policies ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
The Right

This article draws attention to online discourse of children’s participation in decision-making. The participation of children is located in one of the core principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This study examines the right of the child to express his/her opinion and the participation of the child in matters affecting his/her interests. This paper aims to compare Poland and Russia results in the search process in the Google global search engine, level from 2004 to 2019 using Google Trends. We discover that there are connecting discourses among legal policies in Poland and Russia. There are also differences between clusters of arguments about existence of children’s rights in practice. ice.

scholarly journals Seen and Heard? Children's Participation Rights and Corporate Responsibility

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Maureen O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Participation Rights ◽  
Business Principles ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
Corporate Social

Scholars in the fields of sociology, child development and human rights have focused on conceptualizations of children as well as the shift from viewing children as mere adjuncts to adults to distinct rights-holders. Researchers in the fields of business and management studies explore the interplay of business responsibility and society in general. What remains relatively unexplored in either literature is the nexus of business and the human rights of children. In particular, children’s participation rights remain largely ignored. People living with poverty at any age often cite a lack of agency and participation as one of the more onerous aspects of deprivation. The paper suggests that when policies and programs for which the poor are targeted do not include their meaningful participation, the same loss of control and dignity occurs once more. This holds as true for corporate social responsibility initiatives as any other poverty alleviation effort. The research assumes it is the role of States and NGOs to foster a climate of participation that avoids objectifying children and instead views them as rights-holders. The research questions how well the participation rights of children are accounted for in business in view of the fact that the CRC is the world's most widely ratified human rights instrument. The paper highlights the potential offered by recent efforts from the Committee on the Rights of the Child through General Comment 16 as well as the new Children's Rights and Business Principles to meaningfully engage children. It concludes, however, with a call to move from well-intentioned but ad hoc measures to mainstreaming children's participation rights in all interactions within the realm of business, particularly in this early stage when getting rights right is critical. 

scholarly journals CHILD PARTICIPATION IN FAMILY DECISION-MAKING: THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE RUSSIAN PARENTS’ FORUM

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 157-170
Author(s):  
ALEXANDRA FILIPOVA
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Human Becoming ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Family Issues ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
The Right

The topic of children's participation in various issues was updated in the second half of the last century. It was largely due to the adoption of an important international document such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children are as important participants in social life as adults so they have the right to express their opinions on various issues related to their activities, as well as to take into account these opinions by adults in decision-making in the family, in school, in the community, etc. Russian society is dominated by the traditional discourse of the perception of children as human becoming, socially and mentally immature, not-yet-an-adult. To study the parental discourse of children's participation in family issues, empirical material of the network discussion organized at the parental forum called Vladmama (Vladivostok, Russia) is used. In order to organize the discussion, an information injection was carried out. It was the description of the imagined problematic situation of child-parental relations on the issue of child’s participation in family affairs. The 81 messages received from 25 users were analyzed according to James Gee approach.  Seven Gee’s “building tasks” (Activities; Identities; Relationships; Politics; Connections; Sign Systems and Knowledge) are researched on the materials of mother’s forum. The process of creating value is always connected with the exercise of power. In our case, mothers using their power as parents redefine the meanings of children's participation. The main resource that opens the way for adults to power is money. Earning money is interpreted by the participants of the forum as a way for a child to involve in the adult’s world, an opportunity to legalize the child’s right to express his/her own opinion and defend this opinion. Other sources of parent’s power are their own life experience, knowledge and social skills.

scholarly journals Participation of Children in Decision-making and their Psychosocial Wellbeing within the Child Protection System in St. Petersburg, Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 643-656
Author(s):  
Вероника Александровна Одинокова ◽  
Майя Михайловна Русакова
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Limited Participation ◽  
Psychosocial Wellbeing ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children’S Homes ◽  
Participation In Decision Making ◽  
Children's Participation

The child’s right to be heard is a cornerstone of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children growing up outside of their natural families particularly often find themselves in situations where this right should be fulfilled. In Russia, the child’s participation in decision-making at the time of their separation from their parents, and during their stay in the children’s homes, is often overlooked by both static monitoring and academic studies. In our study we raise the following research questions: To what extent is the right of a child separated from his or her natural parents to participate in decision-making respected? How does involvement in decision-making impact their psychosocial wellbeing? The study covered 215 children aged between ten and seventeen (mean age fourteen years) living in children’s homes in St. Petersburg. Our findings show that 42 % of children believe that they were not heard when the decisions affecting their interests were made. Talking with a social counsellor and having a trusted adult in the children’s home add to children’s perceptions that they have been heard. Limited participation in decision-making increases the odds of psychosocial difficulties in the binary logistic regression. We conclude that limited participation in decision-making negatively impacts the effectiveness of work with children and their psychosocial well-being. Since the degree and effectiveness of children’s participation depends primarily on the attitudes of professionals and their ability to create trusting relationships with children, a further increase in children’s participation will require a change in the professional paradigm of specialists. Specific methods for increasing the participation of children should be introduced in the daily practice of child welfare workers.

scholarly journals Children’s Participation: Questioning Competence and Competencies?

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 122-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carine Le Borgne ◽  
E. Kay M. Tisdall
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
South India ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Threshold Criteria

While Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child has encouraged children’s participation in collective decision-making, the literature is replete with the challenges as well as successes of such participation. One challenge is adults’ perceptions of children’s competence and competencies. These are frequently used as threshold criteria, so that children viewed as incompetent or lacking competencies are not allowed or supported to participate. Despite this casual elision between children’s participation and their (perceived) competence and competencies, the latter are rarely explicitly defined, theorised or evidenced. This article draws on research undertaken in Tamil Nadu (South India) and Scotland (UK), with two non-governmental organisations supporting children’s participation in their communities. The article examines how staff members can validate and enhance children’s competence and competencies, by scaffolding children to influence decision-making and recognising and adding to children’s knowledge. These empirical findings suggest the need for increased scrutiny of the concepts of competence and competencies, recognising their disempowering potential. The findings argue that competence is situationally and socially constructed rather than a set and individual characteristic.

‘We are the Assets of the School’

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-360
Author(s):  
Catherine Vanner
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Primary School ◽  
School Health ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Right To Participation ◽  
Children's Participation

Children’s participation in decision-making is a universal right as articulated by the un Convention on the Rights of the Child. This right to participation is a central feature of Save the Children’s primary school School Health and Nutrition (shn) project in El Salvador. This article presents the results of a qualitative study that examined the nature and extent of children’s participation in the shn project in three schools. The findings indicate that while a cadre of children elected by their peers are key project leaders, assisted by designated teacher advisors, children’s participation is limited as an instrumental facet of the shn project, in large part because it lacks an explicit rights-based discourse. The paper concludes by arguing that children’s participation can be more meaningful and open to expansion when both students and teachers have a greater understanding of children’s rights.

scholarly journals Children's Rights in Rwanda: A Hierarchical or Parallel Model of Implementation?

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Murray
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Parallel Model ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Participation Rights ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Elite Interviews ◽  
Children's Participation

AbstractThe paper reports on a qualitative study, entitled Children's Rights in Rwanda, which was conducted in Kigali, Rwanda in 2007. Qualitative interviews were conducted with government ministers, senior staff in non-governmental organisations, Human Rights Commissioners, a Senior Prosecutor and the Ombudsman. Two focus groups were held with teenage pupils. The study explores the key children's rights – provision, protection and participation – enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The research question is whether children's participation rights feature in Rwanda, a country in which children's rights to provision and to protection are still being addressed. A parallel model and a hierarchical model of implementing children's rights are proposed and the use of elite interviews discussed. A key finding is that a parallel model of implementation of children's rights is evident, with children's right to participation (at least in the public sphere) being addressed alongside children's right to provision and protection. In the private sphere, children's participation rights lag behind.

scholarly journals ‘I want to share this video with you today.’ Children’s participation rights in childhood research.

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-63
Author(s):  
Carmen Huser
Keyword(s):  
Social Emotional ◽  
Children’S Perspectives ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Education Service ◽  
Participation Rights ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Methodological Considerations ◽  
The Right

The Convention on the Rights of the Child foregrounds the right to participate. Contributing to decision-making on matters concerning children’s lives is fundamental to rights education. This paper discusses ethical and methodological considerations of children’s rights-based epistemology, arguing that children are competent to reflect upon and exercise their participation rights. The present study explores 4/5-year-old children’s perspectives on play in an Australian early childhood education service. It aims to identify ethical spaces in research involving children. The findings address children’s participation choices; including conditional assent, dissent, and their influence on the research. These outcomes are important because a) little is known about the ways children choose to participate, and b) they raise questions about the realisation of children’s participation rights. This paper concludes by examining the implications for research that acknowledges children’s demonstration of their participation rights in physical, creative, and social-emotional spaces.

scholarly journals Challenging Competency and Capacity?

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-182
Author(s):  
E. Kay M. Tisdall
Keyword(s):  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Capacity ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Legal Literature ◽  
Participation Rights ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children’S Views ◽  
Children's Participation

Galvanised by the un Convention on the Rights of the Child, many jurisdictions have introduced or strengthened children’s rights to participate in family law proceedings. Yet, the research and legal literature continues to show difficulties in implementation. According to the literature, decisions makers frequently view children as insufficiently competent or lacking in capacity to participate in proceedings or for much weight to be given to the children’s views. This article unpicks the concepts of competence and capacity, both in relevant literature and reported case law from Scotland. The article asks three questions: What are meant by competence and capacity? How are they used? Do the concepts enhance or detract from children’s participation rights? The article finds that competence is often casually used in the literature, alternative terms are used in reported case law (such as maturity), and judging capacity remains problematic in both law and practice. The article concludes that both concepts detract from children’s participation rights, as the concepts suggest competence and capacity are inherent to the child rather than contextual and relational. If the concepts were to be used, they should be subject to more critique and precise definition. However, children’s participation rights are more likely to be furthered by alternatives, such as fresh ideas about recognising and supporting people’s legal capacity within the un Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

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