A Handbook of Children and Young People's Participation: Perspectives from Theory and Practice

by Percy-smith; Barry

• ISBN13: 9780415468527
• ISBN10: 0415468523
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2009-09-18
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

A Handbook of Children's Participation brings key thinkers and practitioners from across the globe together to provide an authoritative overview of contemporary theory and practice around children's participation.

Author Biography

Barry Percy-Smith is Reader in Childhood and Participatory Practice at the Solar Action Research Centre, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. He has extensive experience using participatory and 'whole system' action inquiry approaches in research, evaluation and development projects with children, young people, practitioners and policy makers. He is Coordinator of the Children's Participation Learning Network, an international forum for critical debate about children and young people's participation, and has published and presented numerous papers on the subject. Nigel Thomas is Professor of Childhood and Youth Research at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, and Co-Director of the Centre, which exists to promote and research children and young people's participation, inclusion and empowerment. He has twenty years experience of social work practice and has taught and researched extensively in the field of children's welfare, rights and participation.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. x
List of contributors	p. xii
Foreword	p. xix
Introduction	p. 1
Children's participation: progress and challenges	p. 9
The realisation of children's participation rights: critical reflections	p. 11
Challenges of participatory practice with children	p. 24
Children's participation in Bangladesh: issues of agency and structures of violence	p. 39
Learning about children's participation in practice	p. 51
Working in particular situations	p. 53
Children's participation in armed conflict and post-conflict peace building	p. 53
The participation of children living in the poorest and most difficult situations	p. 63
Dikwankwetla-Children in Action: children's participation in the law reform process in South Africa	p. 73
Commentary 1	p. 83
Working with particular groups	p. 88
Younger children's individual participation in 'all matters affecting the child'	p. 88
Disabled children and participation in the UK: reality or rhetoric?	p. 97
Participation among young people with mental health issues: redefining the boundaries	p. 105
Advocacy for children in family group conferences: reflections on personal and public decision making	p. 113
Commentary 2	p. 121
Working in particular cultural contexts	p. 125
Questioning understandings of children's participation: applying a cross-cultural lens	p. 125
The construction of childhood and the socialisation of children in Ghana: implications for the implementation of Article 12 of the CRC	p. 133
Youth participation in indigenous traditional communities	p. 141
Commentary 3	p. 150
Methods and frameworks	p. 154
Rights through evaluation and understanding children's realities	p. 154
Children's participation in school and community: European perspectives	p. 164
Building towards effective participation: a learning-based network approach to youth participation	p. 174
Getting the measure of children and young people's participation: an exploration of practice in Wales	p. 184
Commentary 4	p. 193
Strategies and practices	p. 196
'No one ever listens to us': challenging obstacles to the participation of children and young people in Rwanda	p. 196
Child reporters as agents of change	p. 204
'Pathways to participation' revisited: learning from Nicaragua's child coffee-workers	p. 215
Students as professionals: the London Secondary School Councils Action Research Project	p. 230
Commentary 5	p. 240
Spaces and structures	p. 245
Children's participation in citizenship and governance	p. 245
Maintaining the status quo? Appraising the effectiveness of youth councils in Scotland	p. 254
More than crumbs from the table: a critique of youth parliaments as models of representation for marginalised young people	p. 262
Nil desperandum as long as you carpe diem	p. 270
In search of agency: participation in a youth organisation in Turkey	p. 277
Commentary 6	p. 287
New theoretical perspectives	p. 291
Children's participation as a struggle over recognition: exploring the promise of dialogue	p. 293
Children and deliberative democracy in England	p. 306
Governance and participation	p. 318
After participation: the socio-spatial performance of intergenerational becoming	p. 330
Children as active citizens: an agenda for children's civil rights and civic engagement	p. 343
Conclusion: Emerging themes and new directions	p. 356
Index	p. 367
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.