In this talk I will explore why it is important to give children some ‘agency’ and I introduce a framework which conceptualises children as ‘social agents’ (James and Prout 1997, Pinter 2013, Kellett 2010) and encourages their participation in classroom research.

 

The origins of conceptualising children as active agents goes back to the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1989), and its specific articles, especially Article 12, which states that children’s views and opinions need to be respected and they need to be consulted about all decisions affecting their lives. I will review four different ways of undertaking research with children as participants (research on, about, with and by children) and suggest that the last two options, i.e. research with and by children can be incorporated into classroom research projects in any context.  I will aim to demonstrate that working with children as co-researchers or supporting them to undertake their own research will bring new opportunities and substantial benefits for all, learners and facilitating adults alike. When we work with children as co-researchers we acknowledge them as experts of their own lives and allow for their voices to be heard. Once given the opportunity, children can take various roles in classroom research (e.g. Coppock 2011, Pinter and Zandian, 2014) such as contributing novel insights by pointing out new questions and thus complementing adult views, assisting with data collection such as by interviewing their peers, or contributing to developing research tools by advising adults regarding the design of draft tools.

 

Based on data from two projects where children were enabled to work alongside their teachers as co-researchers and where children undertook their own research, I will present concrete examples of children’s research and offer some insights into their experiences.

 

In conclusion, some challenges and difficulties balancing out the benefits of working in this way will also be addressed.