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.

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.

Children’s Participation in the Decision-Making Process During Hospitalization: an observational study

2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 583-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Runeson ◽  
Inger Hallström ◽  
Gunnel Elander ◽  
Göran Hermerén
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Health Care Staff ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Degree Of Participation

Twenty-four children (aged 5 months to 18 years) who were admitted to a university hospital were observed for a total of 135 hours with the aim of describing their degree of participation in decisions concerning their own care. Grading of their participation was made by using a 5-point scale. An assessment was also made of what was considered as optimal participation in each situation. The results indicate that children are not always allowed to participate in decision making to the extent that is considered optimal. In no case was it judged that a child participated in or was forced to make a decision that was too difficult for the child. The interactions between children, parents and staff were also described in connection with discussions and decision-making processes. This showed that parents do not always support their children in difficult situations and that health care staff often inform children about what is going to happen without presenting alternatives or asking for their views. Staff may, however, find themselves facing an ethical conflict in deciding between supporting a child’s view or following hospital routine. It is of great importance that children are looked upon as potentially autonomous individuals and that staff members realize that one of their core duties is to facilitate children’s participation in decision making concerning their health care.

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 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.

‘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 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.

Children’s Participation in Decision Making From Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973152098484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karmen Toros
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Child Welfare Workers ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Participation In Decision Making ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Welfare Workers

This article explores child welfare workers’ experiences of children’s participation in decision making in the child protection system. The systematic review follows the principles of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement and includes 12 peer-reviewed articles published in academic journals from 2009 to 2019. Findings indicate that children’s participation in decision making is generally limited or nonexistent. The age of the child is an important determining factor concerning whether the child is given the opportunity to participate in decision making. Potential harm for children that may result from participation is considered when deciding on whether to include a child in the decision-making process.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document