This paper presents a research project focused on digital literacies with primary school children in England, adopting a co-production approach to the creation and engagement with knowledge essential for the development of healthy digital experiences. While many digital literacy initiatives in schools show a preoccupation with enhancing teachers' digital competencies and teaching children about avoiding digital risks, less attention has been given to working with and giving children opportunities to explore their own digital experiences and knowledge. This project aimed to take a different approach, engaging children, as active citizens, in fostering their own conceptions of digital practices and encouraging reflective engagements with their digital experiences as key to their digital literacy development.

More specifically, the project reported in this paper aimed to challenge the idea that conventional digital literacy approaches that rely on adult-centric, risk-management solutions are effective in yielding meaningful learning. Instead, the project was conceived from the critical viewpoint that these methods could undermine young people’s digital freedoms by ignoring their voices and failing to equip them with the necessary skills to address digital inequalities. Such approaches are often reflected in top-down teaching, the banning of technology in schools, and literature targeted at children (e.g., picture books about social media) that typically offer a moralistic view of digital conduct. The project sought to disrupt these narratives by placing children at the heart of their learning about the digital world, giving them opportunities to voice their opinions and express their learning creatively, ultimately creating value for themselves and others (Costa and Oliver, 2023).

The project was also inspired by the Digital Youth Index, which highlights digital well-being as a crucial area for young people’s development (Baynton, 2023); an area that cannot be fully supported without the development of digital cultural knowledge (Costa and Li, 2024). Digital Cultural knowledge is herein operationalised as a higher-level form of digital literacy that requires not just technical skills but also a cultural understanding of how the digital world operates, including both overt interactions and the more subtle, hidden curriculum aspects of digital experiences. Such a critical understanding of the digital world is crucial for a healthy relationship in and with digital environments.

While approaches of co-production with younger children are still often assumed to be deemed too advanced and/or too risky, especially in the context of digital experiences and practices, making sense of the complexities of digital media calls for an active approach, one in which the individual, in their role as learner, is invited to give meaning to their own experiences through relevant activities. With this in mind, the project is rooted in participatory research methods, positioning children as knowledge-able partners and integral members of the research process.

The project employed a co-production approach, involving three stages of iterative research work. This approach was essential to access participants’ experiences, providing them with the space and opportunity to explore and reflect on their digital practices. The first iteration of the project engaged the research participants in articulating their own digital experiences, using their own words. This was done via interactive group discussions focused on participants’ use of technology. It became clear that participants involved in the project were enthusiastic about social media, even though not all of them had free access to digital devices. While they were aware of some of the risks associated with digital media, their responses often mimicked adult advice of risk awareness, focusing primarily on issues related to privacy and the potential physical threats of digital risks. They also revealed their participation in games and online networks meant for older users, demonstrating an awareness of the inappropriateness of their involvement in these platforms. This further confirmed the widespread underage use of social media (Children's Commissioner, 2022; Waters, 2025), highlighting the importance of addressing these issues proactively. These paradoxical views informed the second stage of the project which involved: 1) Translating existing knowledge (via a critical literature review) into terms and activities accessible to the research participants. 2) Designing digital literacy workshops to support participants’ existing knowledge and understanding of the themes being explored, as well as activitating their discursive skills to engage with these issues collectively. (These activities included deliberative discussions and a board game, which were incorporated into lesson plans other educators can now use). 3) Co-producing picture books as reflections of participants’ digital cultural knowledge. Through the discussions and observations conducted during the workshop, the researchers gathered key insights shared by the participants. Drawing inspiration from Human Rights picture books that communicate social justice concepts through statements and questions, the researchers compiled the participants' conversations into three distinct texts—one on social media, another on digital privacy and safety, and a third on digital footprints. These texts became a crucial resource for the final phase of the research, where the children engaged with the content, offering feedback and further clarifying the ideas discussed. To deepen their exploration of digital literacies, the children illustrated these statements through artwork. The final step involved working with a professional illustrator, who transformed the children’s artwork into graphic form to create the picture books

In light of the development of this project, this presentation explores not only the complexities and messiness of co-production work with children but also the development opportunities such methods can create for everyone involved. In this sense, one of the goals of this presentation is to detail the steps taken in the development of true co-production approaches, aiming to provide a true example of research collaboration. This is a much-needed development, especially given that the co-production of research with children is not only seen as challenging (Tunestveit et al, 2023) but often approached in tokenistic ways (Tisdall, 2017). Another goal of this presentation is to offer insights into children as active and knowledge-able digital citizens. Although children are often inducted into protectionist views of digital safety and digital engagement, these messages are more often than not incorporated by them as information ready to be retold. Missing are the opportunities for deliberation and (re)consideration of their own digital practices and those that influence them (peers, siblings as well as digital influencers), with series impacts to their digital experiences and sense of worth. A co-production approach to meaning-making can lead to developmental outcomes for children, as it encourages them to not only share their questions about the digital world but also draw their own conclusions. Evidence of this is found in the picture books co-produced through this project, which serve as a tangible representation of participants’ knowledge and understanding, now shared with others in a visual format. Additionally, another significant outcome of the project is the creation of lesson plans and activities that educators can use when addressing these topics with children.

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