The active posture of learners and a learner-centered approach have been considered for many years as indispensable for school learning and teaching and is a key concept in educational research (Maulini, 2018; Tricot, 2017). In the same time, children’s rights studies and childhood studies make children’s active participation central to their discussion. Children participation is one of the main themes in research about children’s rights and about children’s rights education (Quennerstedt & Moody, 2020; Reynaert, D., Bouverne-de-Bie, M. & Vandevelde, S. 2009). The theorical link between pedagogical approach and participation seems obvious and an active participation of learners in their learning process should be a theorical and practical evidence. Interactive and participative approach should recognize the students’ skills and consider them as partners of the learning process (Lansdown et al. 2014). However, many studies show that traditional school system is not optimal for the respect of children’s participation (Gillett-Swan & Sargeant, 2018). The specific characteristics of the traditional school settings, such as the emphasis on knowledge, the spatial and material organization or the vertical relationship between adults and children seems to be a key to understand those conclusions. Whereas there are different types of participation and they are played out differently at different school levels, this contribution will focus on pedagogical participation of children in primary school. The pedagogical participation of children means the way for students to have an influence on their knowledge process, and more precisely on the content and the pedagogical approach. An effective pedagogical participation (as understood by Lundy, 2007) implies that children are actively involved in the co-construction of their learning. The aim of the contribution is to answer to the following question : How the implementation of an effective pedagogical participation influences traditional school settings? We rely on the hypothesis that traditional norms and approaches are destabilized, particularly by major changes in structural and material organization, in the relation with knowledge and in the posture of teachers. Implementing an effective pedagogical participation will be a huge transformation in educational paradigm and can strengthen respect of children’s rights in different way. This questioning of traditional school settings, as defined by Vincent (2008) aim to put into perspective the interest of an alternative education for the respect of children’s rights in education, and more precisely of children’s participation. The use of space and materials, the relation to knowledge, but also the posture of learners and knowers will be questioned under the prism of children’s rights in the educational process can deeply impact the role of children in the co-construction of knowledge and in the definition of what and how they will learn in school.

This contribution will first define what is a pedagogical participation through a cross-sectional view from children’s rights studies and educational studies. Then, we will question the traditional school setting by showing how they impact the students’ participation. Finally, based on the results of our research, we will show how educational arrangements can be adapted to support participatory teaching and learning approach. Our argument will be constructed on different epistemological framework from children’s rights studies and educational studies.

This contribution will present the results of a a cases study research on children’s rights and education conducted in four primary schools, two public and two private schools, in French-speaking Switzerland. The cases study methodology offer to understand the complexity and the multidimensionality of children’s rights education and more precisely of students’ participation. This contribution will rely on data from primary schools (between 4 and 12 years old). In this research, school principals, teachers and pupils were interviewed in the aim to discover the point of view of some of the main actors of the school system, and their discourses were nuanced with the data collected by non-participative observations and through the analyses of official documents (laws, curricula, school regulation, etc.). The results presented for this contribution will focus on the school facilities to strengthen the pupils' pedagogical participation, underlining the structural and authority issues in the school context. This research follow a strict ethical framework and was accepted by the ethical commission of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Geneva.

Our research show that traditional educational settings are not favorable for an effective students’ participation. Teachers have to work around the schemes and adapt them to their needs in order to offer their pupils a pedagogical participation. Spatial arrangement, relation to knowledge and disciplinary division or relationship have to be adapted. Alternative education have the flexibility to do so, but teachers from traditional school also take initiatives to improve a participative approach for their pupils.

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