Children’s participation idea and practice: Korczak’s inspirations and contemporary faces

Abstract

Currently, children’s participation is one of the most promoted ideas of the social development. As mentioned in several resources, the Convention on the Rights of the Child has its roots in Janusz Korczak’s philosophy of a child and relations between a child and an adult and his pedagogy. The most fundamental Korczak’s thoughts, listening to a child and giving respect to his or her opinion, are well-known pillars of the contemporary children’s participation idea. However, there are much more Korc­zak’s inspirations that can be recognised in the current discourse about children’s participation. The paper shows and considers these inspirations, and on this basis some meaningful aspects of the idea of participation are presented.