Online Submission 2 - Amrita Ahluwalia

Online Submission 2 – Children as Active Researchers

The following publication explores children as active researchers and raises a number of issues around participation in research involving children and young people:

Kellett, M. (2005) Children as active researchers: a new research paradigm for the 21^st century? [online]. UK: ESRC. Available from: <http://oro.open.ac.uk/7539/1/MethodsReviewPaperNCRM-003.pdf>. [Accessed 30 March 2014].

Kellett (2005) argues for research actively undertaken by children as an acknowledgement of ‘the importance of affording children and young people a voice which is listened to and heard by adults’ (Kellett, 2005: 6). Kellett (2005) argues that child researchers are able to provide a unique perspective inaccessible to adults: ‘The research agendas children prioritise, the research questions they frame and the way in which they collect data are substantially different from adults and all of this can offer valuable insights and original contributions to knowledge’ (Kellett, 2005: 9). Kellett (2005) holds that active child-led research deserves a place alongside traditional research and feels that the question that remains is whether there is room for this in existing parameters.

Kellett’s (2005) exploration of child researchers provides an interesting perspective on participation in research and consultation with children and young people. Kellett (2005) views active child-led research on a continuum that reflects an increasing awareness of children’s right to be heard: ‘The journey from research on, through research with to research by children is a natural progression accompanying the shifting changes in adult-child power and participation agendas’ (Kellett, 2005: 31). In this view, empowering children with appropriate skills and training is key to unlocking their potential as researchers (Kellett et al., 2004).

It is worthwhile comparing how this fits with other perspectives. In an exploration of engagement in participative research, Holland et al. (2010) lists active child-led research as one of four distinguishable participative forms. Holland et al. (2010) also problematizes assumptions that participative research necessarily equalizes power relations between adults and children. Although this discussion is largely applied to adult researcher contexts, it draws attention to ‘a tendency to theorize agency and power almost as attributes that children can ‘have’ and that are enabled, promoted or ‘given’’ (Holland et al., 2010: 362). Does this theorizing affect Kellett’s (2005) context, in which adults are ‘empowering’ children with the tools they need to explore their own research aims?

In addition, it is interesting to compare Kellett’s (2005) view to Hart’s (1992) ‘Ladder of Participation’. In Hart’s (1992) ladder, the seventh rung is characterized by children and young people initiating participation with the guidance of adults who do not take charge, and the eighth rung is characterized by children and young people leading participation and initiating shared decisions with adults (Save the Children, 2009). Both of these levels entail children taking a lead and allow for adult involvement. However, in the latter level, children have the choice to include adults. Kellett (2005) does not make this distinction. Should child researchers have choices about adult involvement and how will this affect disseminating research skills to child researchers?

In conclusion, a critical assessment of Kellett (2005) illustrates discussion around participation in research involving children and young people and leads to interesting questions about empowerment and levels of participation.

REFERENCES

Hart, R.A. (1992) Children’s Participation: From Tokenism To Citizenship [online]. Florence: UNICEF International Child Development Centre. Available from: < http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/childrens_participation.pdf>. [Accessed 30 March 2014].

Holland, S., Renold, E., Ross, N.J., & Hillman, A. (2010) Power, agency and participatory agendas: A critical exploration of young people’s engagement in participative qualitative research. Childhood 17(3) Sept 360–375.

Kellett, M., Forrest, R., Dent, N., & Ward, S. (2004) ‘Just Teach Us The Skills Please We’ll Do The Rest’: Empowering Ten-Year-Olds as Active Researchers/ Children & Society 18(1) 329–343.

Kellett, M. (2005) Children as active researchers: a new research paradigm for the 21^st century? [online]. UK: ESRC. Available from: <http://oro.open.ac.uk/7539/1/MethodsReviewPaperNCRM-003.pdf>. [Accessed 30 March 2014].

Save the Children (2009) re:action Consultation Toolkit [online]. London: Save the Children. Available from:<http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/Consultation_Toolkitpdf_1.pdf>. [Accessed 30 March 2014].