The presented participative mixed-methods study in a German primary school focussed on children’s learning and coping strategies at times of home-schooling during the Covid-19-crisis. Findings in educational research during the pandemic (2020-2022) are increasingly enabling a differentiated view based on national and international results in order to derive consequences for educational settings (Helm et al. 2021) in challenging times. However, it is noticeable (Bujard et al. 2021) that the perspectives of children, and especially those of primary school age, have hardly been heard. A small number of studies have focussed on the perspective of primary-school age in order to gain insights into the learning situation and well-being of pupils (cf. Budde et al. 2021, Bujard et al. 2021). In this context, our main research question was: How do especially school beginners (age 6 to 7) deal with this challenging situation between classroom teaching and home-schooling while Covid-19?The aim of our research was to look specifically at the children’s perspectives on home-schooling phases during COVID-19 lockdowns and the related challenges, as well as coping strategies employed by the learners themselves during this time of crisis and instability.

Numerous theoretical frameworks were combined: including the social constructivist perspective, where a setting, in this case a school is continuously constructed in and through local practices, i.e. where activity is produced and adapted by the actors involved in the sense of doing school. The lens of relational understanding of agency was also employed, where specifically, school was depicted as a network of relationships, characterised by the diverse interactions of the school community of actors - adults as well as children. This study is based on the paradigm, as suggested by Eßer and Sitter (2018), that children are competent actors and are actively involved in the (re)production of school as a social setting. Therefore, the principle for this study was based on actor-network-theory and Ryan and Deci’s (2000) self-determination theory and is informed by ongoing debates about children’s agency. The theoretical framework of this study merges socio-cultural theories in order to better understand the role of children's agency, and understanding children as active constructors of their self, environment and childhood during a time of upheaval. Furthermore, the study’s key aim was to make children’s voices heard at the level of the study’s methodology underpinned by a children's rights perspective. A participatory research approach was therefore chosen. According to Von Unger (2014) and Eßer et al. (2020) participatory research approaches are characterised by the involvement of actors as researchers in order to describe and changing social reality as well as measures for the individual and collective empowerment of the partners. The inclusion of children as co-researchers is attributed to both childhood research and participatory research and has gained particular importance in the course of the implementation process of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in the 1990s (Bradbury-Jones/Taylor 2014, Spriggs/Gillam 2017). This study’s approach, reflects New Childhood Studies with its long tradition of actively involving children in research while observing research ethical principles (Lundy/McEvoy 2012, Hartnack 2019). As is appropriate to a study involving children, ethical considerations were given priority.

The study employed a mixed-method design in order to consider different approaches to children's perspectives by positioning children as active constructors of their selves and their lives. Participation and agency were one specific focus, especially at the level of the data collection. To reflect this, participatory research approaches were used to ensure that children's perspectives were included and to address them as experts of their own lives with their own voices (Hüpping/Büker 2019). The Ethical Code for early childhood researchers (Bertram et al. 2015) was followed with voluntary, informed consent/assent sought from children, parents and educators. Based on this theoretical framework, the following methods were used: 10 Interviews with 21 children, questionnaires, children's drawings and audio statements. The data obtained was analysed in a circular research process based on grounded theory (cf. Glaser/Strauss 1998) and followed segment-analysis protocol according to Kruse (2014). The first data collection phase of the study was carried out within the framework of a subject lesson in the school. Specifically, the children were first invited to complete a paper-based questionnaire, create research-induced children's drawings or give audio statements via a dictaphone laid out as part of a non-reactive process. The content of the questionnaire was aimed at the individual perception of daily home-schooling and well-being of the children when returning to school. The children's drawings related to the children's every day experiences and were initiated by writing and drawing sheets titled as "Me learning during homeschooling", "Me back in school" or "Corona and school: this is how I deal with it...". The children's drawings such as questionnaires could be dropped into a mailbox in the classroom over a period of two weeks. On completion of the data collection, the analysis of the drawings and questionnaires together with the children’s interviews pursued a double objective. It took place in a participatory manner in order to sift through and classify the data together with the children. In addition, the interviews functioned as a communicative validation of the data for the researchers. By including voluntary questionnaires and children's drawings as well as audio statements, an attempt was made to enable the children to take an increasing degree of self-directed action. Whilst the concept of children as co-researchers is contested (Hammersley 2017), the intention of this study was to view and understand the data through the children’s contributions.

The study traces how school beginners in Germany cope with learning demands in times of instability and crisis, when normal schooling is interrupted. It demonstrates the different creative coping strategies employed by the children, but also points to the high relevance of school as a social interaction space (Hummrich, 2015) in addition to being an essential learning and educational space for children. Data from this study suggest that children value the notion of ‘school’ beyond merely a place to learn. This study argues that educators and policy makers should give greater consideration to the school’s role in children’s social development and well-being when planning for alternative education, not only in times of crisis. Besides the presentation of empirical findings of the children`s own perspectives at a specific time of educational instability, the research team take a critical look at their own research approach and their original claim of enabling participatory research and taking children's agency seriously. Regarding adults' responsibility in data collection processes, ethical challenges emerge in “doing participatory research”: the adult researchers in this study were aware of performing a balancing act in doing justice to children´s rights and agency in order to meet the demands on and through the study’s methodology and their own research objectives (Velten/Höke 2023). Using the example of critical reflection on our own methodological approaches in the project, this paper explores where typical pitfalls as researchers with children lie and how participatory approaches can be better designed. We focus on key ethical considerations according to a critical reflection of power dynamics, transparency of research aims, and the degree to which children fully participated at different stages of the research process. Based on the reflections, this paper provides a series of recommendations on how researchers can improve participation and agency when researching with young children.

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