Taking part in school life: views of children

Abstract

Purpose – Child participation is increasingly a global phenomenon as stated by Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on Children's Rights. This supports the first principle, Democracy, of the Health Promoting School movement. The purpose of this paper is to facilitate a three-phase participatory research process (PRP) to document the views of children about participation in school. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 248 primary school pupils aged nine to 13 years participated: the first group of pupils answered two questions on individual coloured paper; the second group categorised these data separately, by question, assigning labels for each of the categories; and the third group used the categories to develop schema. The analysis was inductive. Findings – The most common categories for what made pupils feel a part of their school were school uniforms, sports, friends, teachers and their school/classroom environment. Increase in the number of school activities, encouraging friendship and equal participation were key indicators of how pupils would ensure that everybody felt a part of the school. The findings indicate that interpersonal relationships and belonging are in the opinion of children important for taking part in school life. Originality/value – The paper illustrates children's understanding of what taking part in school means to them. The PRP encouraged pupils to have control of the three-phase research process, and demonstrated the ability of children to work together in groups while having fun at the same time.

Children’s participation in school: a cross-sectional study of the relationship between school environments, participation and health and well-being outcomes

“…Workshops were organised with children aged 9–13 years in nine class groups in the three primary schools (n = 248) to gather conceptualisations and descriptions of participation in school from children’s perspective. The conceptualisations of school participation from children’s perspectives [ 12 ] formed the basis of the measurement of children’s participation in this study and were used for the development of the survey instrument. Participation in decision-making processes did not arise from the children’s conceptualisations but was added in order to more adequately represent conceptualisations of participation extant in the literature [ 7 , 13 ].…”

Towards a democratic school: The experience of secondary school pupils

“…First, it should be noted that participation, for some authors, is not directly related to decision making, as John-Akinola, Gavin, O’Higgins, and Gabhainn (2014) argue: ‘This study identified that pupils placed more emphasis on interpersonal relationships and belonging as important aspects of taking part in school life than on involvement in decision making’ (p. 37).…”

“…That is, the healthier the school culture is (in terms of dialogue, respect, freedom), the greater the ability of the pupils to participate or be listened to. Unfortunately, as Fullan (1991) notes, even now the pupils are often seen as simple beneficiaries or passive objects, and not as genuine participants in the process of participation and decision making. Thus, while pupils may be able to make their voices heard, in practice, this does not always mean being able to influence decision-making processes (Fielding & Rudduck, 2002); similarly, while the older pupils may argue that they have the capacity to decide on things that affect them, other pupils, the youngest, for example, consider that it is not up to them to decide, even when they are directly affected, as illustrated by Thornberg and Elvstrand (2012): I don't want the kids to decide because it can be totally wrong.…”

“…According to the young people, participation is related to the extent to which you feel that you are part of something – their sense of participation is bound up with their feelings of being part. That is, I participate if I feel that I participate (Thornberg & Elvstrand, 2012); at the same time, it is connected with the existence of relationships based on trust and interaction between the various members of the school community (Thornberg & Elvstrand, 2012); it means ‘feeling part of’ (John-Akinola et al, 2014). This sense of belonging, which is developed through interpersonal relations, leads pupils to a greater level of involvement and participation in the school (John-Akinola et al, 2014).…”

Students’ Views of the Promoters and Barriers to First Year College Persistence in Ireland: A Partnership Study

“…One benefit of involving young people in participatory research is securing their input to identify appropriate methodologies that are acceptable to their peers, including creative and innovative ways of collecting data (Shaw et al, 2011). This approach has been utilised in this current study and the methodologies that are applied are drawn from specific exemplars used in previous research (Daniels et al, 2014;Illback, et al, 2010;Olufisayo John-Akinola et al, 2014;O'Higgins & Nic Gabhainn., 2010). Implemented together, the two stages used in the participatory research approach offered the students an opportunity to be active citizens, in keeping with national and international youth engagement goals (Department of Children & Youth Affairs, 2015), promoting a strengths-based stance on addressing student education attainment problems by identifying opportunities that could enhance the process of persistence.…”