Session Information
08 SES 13, Participation, Learning and Health: Critical Perspectives on Theory, Research and Practice
Symposium
Contribution
The notion of participation emerged in the late 1970s, and has been gaining increasing attention since then. Following the adoption of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child in 1989 the issue of children’s and young people’s participation has become imperative in research, policy, education, health and community development initiatives in many countries in Europe and elsewhere. This is reflected in proliferation of research, conferences and other events, as well as publications exploring the concept of participation and its potential to affect the lives of young people, but also their families and wider communities.
Although participation is not a new issue - it is inherent to young people’s lives and development – it would be fair to say that consequential participation, which implies young people engaging in meaningful dialogue with adults and institutions, and influencing decision-making processes in matters that concern them - is still in its early life. The realm of health education is not an exception - although progress is being made in involving young people in matters that affect their health – there are a number of contentious issues to be examined critically if young people’s participation is to be more than rhetoric.
This symposium focuses on a critical discussion of the concept of participation of pupils in health education and health promotion in schools. Although there is a consensus that participation is among the key principles of health promotion in schools, there is a wide variety of interpretations and conceptualisations, often inconsistent and mutually conflicting. Additionally, the empirical research into processes and impact of participation on children’s learning and/or health is limited, and the practice, even when existing, poorly documented or not documented at all.
Against this background, the purpose of this symposium session is threefold:
- to discuss different theoretical frameworks for addressing participation, learning and health;
- to critically review the evidence about processes and outcomes of participation of pupils in health education/promotion
- to suggest, building on the discussion during the symposium, a shift in the field from researching and theorizing on different perspectives, interpretations and values related to participation, towards quality indicators of participation processes and their outcomes in terms of both health and education.
The symposium session is planned with the following structure:
- Introduction (5 min)
- Two inputs discussing two theoretical perspectives on participation (organisational and learning theory) (20 min)
- Two inputs presenting empirical findings (20 min)
- One input presenting the findings from a systematic review of evidence (10 min)
- Discussant: critical summary of the inputs, raising questions for discussion (10 min)
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