Session Information
25 SES 09, Children’s Rights: Theoretical and Methodological Issues
Parallel Paper Session
Contribution
How researchers view children and childhood has direct implications for how they conduct research, with different theoretical perspectives resulting in different choices regarding both the research questions and the appropriate methods for answering them. The children’s rights paradigm not only acknowledges children’s agency but also positions them as rights-holders. As such within this paradigm children arenot just recognized as able to but also as entitled to be engaged the construction of meaning in their own lives, with a concomitant duty on the adults working with them to ensure that their right to express their views and influence their own lives is respected. This has direct implications for the research process and in particular for the growing body of research which places itself within the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The relationship between the CRC and research is characterised in a variety of ways: research that relates to children’s rights (i.e. sheds light on an issue covered in the CRC); research about children’s rights (that sets out directly to investigate the extent to which there is compliance with the CRC); research processes which are designed to be participatory (and are thus implementing Article 12 and 13); and research whose ethical frameworks are guided by CRC standards. The latter two have received most attention in academic discussions of childhood research, with acknowledgement of the significance of CRC standards for participatory research with children (Alderson, 2008) and ethical approaches to childhood research (Alderson and Morrow 2011). In particular, Ennew and Plateau (2004) suggest that Article 12(1), Article 13(1), Article 33 and Article 36 have direct implications for research: children’s perspectives must be integral to the research; research methods employed must allow the child to express these perspectives freely; research must be conducted to the highest possible scientific standards; and children must not be harmed in any way during the research process. Combining these principles with the basic human rights principles of dignity and respect, they conclude that the child’s ‘right to be properly researched’ is implicit in the CRC (Beazley et al, 2009). However In spite of this growing recognition of the implications of the principles of the CRC for research with children, nowhere in the existing academic literature has there been discussion of what it might mean for childhood research to be explicitly rights-based. The term ‘rights-based’is often used broadly to describe activities which have a connection to international human rights-standards. However, the concept carries a particular meaning and significance within established human rights discourse - one that has been explored rarely in the literature on childhood research (Lundy and McEvoy, 2009). The aim of this paper, therefore, is to add to the discussion about the relationship between the CRC and childhood research through exploring what the application of a ‘human rights-based approach’, as commonly understood in the international human rights community, would mean if implemented systematically in the context of research with children.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Alderson, P. (2008). Young Children’s Rights: Exploring Beliefs, Principles and Practice. 2nd ed. London, England: Jessica Kingsley Beazly H, Bessel S, Ennew J and Watson R (2009) The right to be properly researched: Research with children in a messy, real world. Children’s Geographies 7(4): 365–378. Ennew J and Plateau DP (2004) How to Research the Physical and Emotional Punishment of Children. Bangkok: Keen Publishing (Thailand) Co., Ltd., International Save the Children Southeast, East Asia and Pacific Region Alliance. Lundy, L. & McEvoy, L. (2008). E-Consultation with pupils, Bangor, Northern Ireland: Department of Education. Lundy, L. & McEvoy, L. (2009). Developing Outcomes for Educational Services: a children’s rights based approach. In Effective Education 1(1), 43-60. Lundy, L., McEvoy, L. and Byrne, B.(2011) Working with young children as co-researchers: an approach informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Early Education and Development 22(5) McEvoy L and Lundy L (2007) E-consultation with pupils: A rights-based approach to the integration of citizenship education and ICT. Technology Pedagogy and Education 16(3): 305–319. Miller S, Lundy L, Maguire L, McEvoy L and Connolly P (2008) Barnardo’s Ready to Learn Strategy: Final Report. Belfast: Centre for Effective Education, Queen’s University Belfast. Murphy C, Lundy L, McEvoy L and Kerr K (2010) Attitudes of Children and Parents to Science Assessment. London: Wellcome Trust.
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