Facilitating Participation: Adults' Caring Support Roles within Child‐to‐Child Projects in Schools and After‐School Settings

Abstract

Embedded hierarchical relationships between children and adults constrain children's voice. For adults to support children's participation in decisions they need to learn new ways of working; to enable children to communicate their views, develop their ideas, make group decisions and take joint action. This article explores the different roles that caring professionals adopt when facilitating children's participation within Child-to-Child community health projects. It shows how even committed adults can struggle with shifting their practice and highlights the importance of facilitators adopting a reflective approach rooted in genuine dialogue with children in order to determine the most appropriate level of adult support.

The student voice in well-being: a case study of participatory action research in positive education

“…The level of participation, as defined by Hart's (1992) model, was ambiguous at times. As Kirby and Gibbs (2006) discuss, participation shifted within projects and within tasks. Although we initially placed the project at Rung 6 of Hart's ladder, student participation was situated closer to Rung 5.…”

Affordance of Participation Rights for Children in Home‐based Education and Care: An Interactive Process Model of Participation — 2007

“…Kirby and Gibbs (2006) also discuss the role of adult and child relationships in relation to children’s participation rights. They draw on a continuum, adapted from Klein (2001), that identifies the adult’s role as a facilitator of children’s participation moving fluidly back and forth along the continuum, from being directive, to abstaining from involvement, with a range of roles between these polar points (see Figure 1).…”

“…A small research study was undertaken in 2006 with the aim of highlighting how two home‐based educators in Aotearoa/New Zealand afforded participation rights to children within the unique curriculum in each of their settings. The study used two models of participation, Shier (2001), and Kirby and Gibbs (2006), by which to analyse the educators’ practice.…”

Advancing consumer engagement: Supporting, developing and empowering youth leadership in cancer care

“…The programme aims to provide specialised age-appropriate medical, Young people need appropriate support and scaffolding, including training, coaching and orientation to governance processes, to engage effectively with leadership, policy and planning in cancer care. Models of both leadership and consumer engagement tend to categorise initiatives according to their levels of involvement, placing higher value on greater involvement although this may not be appropriate for all individuals and situations (Carman et al, 2013;Kirby & Gibbs, 2006). Initiatives engaging young service users should consider their variable skills, interests, psychosocial and developmental needs, and preferences for involvement, especially when seeking to improve leadership inclusivity and diversity (Checkoway, 2011;Kirby & Gibbs, 2006).…”

“…Models of both leadership and consumer engagement tend to categorise initiatives according to their levels of involvement, placing higher value on greater involvement although this may not be appropriate for all individuals and situations (Carman et al, 2013;Kirby & Gibbs, 2006). Initiatives engaging young service users should consider their variable skills, interests, psychosocial and developmental needs, and preferences for involvement, especially when seeking to improve leadership inclusivity and diversity (Checkoway, 2011;Kirby & Gibbs, 2006). • Governance-Embedding an evidence-based approach to consumer engagement and youth leadership in the organisation's vision and activities.…”