Listening to children: theories and ethics of listening

Abstract

In many societal contexts, the importance of listening to children is underscored, not seldom with reference to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and especially Article 12 on the right to be heard. But what does it mean to listen to children? A plethora of books on listening to children aimed at professionals and others who meet children in their daily lives are published on a regular basis. However, we miss a critical discussion of listening as such, and more specifically about (good) listening to children, framed within a larger theoretical context. The aim of this article is to discuss listening in relation to monological and dialogical perspectives on communication, as well as in relation to different notions of children as similar to or different from adults. Also discussed is how different theoretical perspectives on listening and listening to children tends to lead to different ethical conclusions regarded what constitutes good listening and listening to children. This is an English translation of an article that was originally published in Swedish in 2022 as “Att lyssna på barn. Om lyssnandets teori och etik” in the Nordic journal Barn (volume 40, issue 3). The translation is published here with permission from the publisher. The original article in Swedish can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.23865/barn.v40.5075