A lattice of participation: reflecting on examples of children's and young people's collective engagement in influencing social welfare policies and practices

Larkins, Cath; Kiili, Johanna; Palsanen, Kati

doi:10.1080/13691457.2014.928269

Cited by 32 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…As with all advocates for children's rights, child protagonists' success in achieving influence through their actions relates to their social position, access to and direction of resources, as well as their own agency (Larkins, Kiili and Palsanen 2014), and is contingent upon prevailing socio-economic and cultural contexts. This does not mean that children's rights researchers must only or always be engaged in participatory action research.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Support for Children’s Protagonism

Larkins¹,

Thomas²,

Carter³

et al. 2015

Int J Child Rights

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With notable exceptions, there is a lack of critique in existing approaches to children's rights based research. Where children's rights research is also co-research with children, a critical approach requires that children are enabled to challenge assumptions about, and definitions of, rights, as well as to lead the process and to try to bring about change. This paper argues that creative methods and structured intergenerational dialogue can support critical children rights research 'from below'. We illustrate this approach using research by disabled children and young people, who reflected on their own experiences and the provisions of three international Conventions (UNCRC, UNCRPD and ICESCR). Effectively engaging with existing international Conventions meant matching children's claims to rights in their everyday contexts with existing rights provisions. This framework was then used to analyse qualitative research with other disabled children and their families. The young coresearchers are now using the findings in their protagonism for social change.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Support for Children’s Protagonism

Larkins¹,

Thomas²,

Carter³

et al. 2015

Int J Child Rights

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“…All participatory research with children and young people involves adults as well; we use the term collaborative research as this study was co-initiated by young people and adults, rather than an adult-initiated study in which children participate. The nature of this collaboration is best analysed as a lattice (Larkins et al, 2014) which recognises that different members of the team and participants exerted different levels of influence at different stages of the project (e.g. initiating, generating data, analysing findings, creating outputs, pursuing dissemination and influencing change in life-worlds).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stories as findings in collaborative research: making meaning through fictional writing with disadvantaged young people

Satchwell

Larkins

Davidge

et al. 2020

Qualitative Research

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Working in a participatory research project with young people who are disabled, careexperienced or otherwise disadvantaged, collaborative fiction writing was a core method of hearing and amplifying their voices. We discuss how meanings were made in this iterative process of capturing resonances in the different stages of the research, resulting in the creation of stories filtered through many different participants. Through individual and joint reflections on the complex processes of constructing the 48 short stories, we demonstrate how collective storytelling can address criticisms of fictional research outputs as (in)valid social science, and argue instead that the resulting stories can be considered rigorous and faithful research findings. We suggest that these research outputs preserve and proliferate the meanings of marginalised young people, and challenge the absence or distortion of existing narratives about their lives as experienced by themselves.

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“…Care was taken to allow the project to develop in line with experts' priorities and interests and to share decision-making with experts about which areas of police practice to focus on; the solutions developed at the residential were a result of these conversations. However, having an aim and focal point for the work (the residential and the subsequent police forum) helped maintain focus and commitment to the project, a finding evidenced in other participatory work with young people (Larkins, Kiili and Palsanen, 2014). Fundamentally the approach developed throughout the project drew on established foundational youth work knowledge about the effectiveness and power of groups when brought together in different settings to undertake a given task, and the unpredictable nature of the group dynamics that can unfold in such circumstances (Adams, 2001;Young, 2004).…”

Section: Principles Of Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the years a number of participation models have emerged delineating young people's involvement in projects or decision-making processes which allow practitioners and academics to explore and develop their understandings of young people's participation (Shier, 2001;Hart, 2008;Larkins, Kiili and Palsanen, 2014;Percy-Smith, 2018). Positing participation as a "process of learning for change rooted in the everyday lives of young people", Percy-Smith (2018: 161) argues for young people's participation to be present throughout project cycles, involving five stages: "identifying issues; understanding the issues; developing plans (decision-making); taking action; evaluating action."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This work highlights the misleading ways in which by labelling a process as participatory, it could be assumed that young people are empowered by the process, that they are actively involved in every stage of the work and that the project has influence on decision-making or positively benefits young people's lives in some way, when this is not always the case (Gallagher, 2008;Larkins, Kiili and Palsanen, 2014;Percy-Smith, 2018). Recent theoretical work on young people's participation critiques some of the ways in which participation can be seen to have been co-opted to validate or improve service delivery, without taking into account the radical and emancipatory roots of participatory work (Gallagher, 2008;Larkins, Kiili and Palsanen, 2014;Percy-Smith, 2018). This work (ibid) also acknowledges that realising young people's meaningful, non-tokenistic and ethical participation is challenging, messy, and time-consuming work, as evidenced throughout this paper.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Young people and police making “Marginal Gains”: climbing fells, building relationships and changing police safeguarding practice

Factor

Ackerley

2019

JCS

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe a youth work model of participatory research practice which utilises a range of methods within non-traditional research settings, highlighting the importance of trust, risk-taking and the creation of mutually respectful and non-hierarchical relationships. The paper suggests that such methods enable the development of new insights into previously intractable challenges when working with adolescents needing a safeguarding response from professionals. Design/methodology/approach The paper reflects on the challenges and successes of a project which brought police officers and young people together to develop solutions to improving safeguarding responses to young people affected by sexual violence and related forms of harm in adolescence. In particular, this paper focuses on a residential held in October 2016 in the Lake District involving 7 officers and 15 young people. Findings Despite a number of ethical challenges throughout the project, this paper makes the case that potentially high-risk participatory research projects can be supported and managed by university research centres. However, for these to be successful, staff need to work in trauma-informed ways, and possess high-level expertise in group work facilitation. Transparency, honesty, constancy and a range of different and creative activities, including mental and physical challenges, all contributed to the success of the project. Originality/value By detailing the empirical steps taken to develop, support and realise this project, this paper advances a youth work model of participatory research practice, filling an important gap within the methodological literature on participatory work with young people affected by sexual violence.

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A lattice of participation: reflecting on examples of children's and young people's collective engagement in influencing social welfare policies and practices

Cited by 32 publications

References 21 publications

Support for Children’s Protagonism

Support for Children’s Protagonism

Stories as findings in collaborative research: making meaning through fictional writing with disadvantaged young people

Young people and police making “Marginal Gains”: climbing fells, building relationships and changing police safeguarding practice

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