Title: Children
1Childrens rights and research methods the
potential of e-consultation
- Laura Lundy
- School of Education
- Queens University, Belfast.
2Childrens Rights in Northern Ireland (2004 -5)
- Aim to identify areas where childrens rights
were ignored or underplayed so as to inform the
Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and
Young Peoples priorities for office. - Methods review of existing research documentary
analysis of law and policy interviews and focus
groups with over 350 adults and over 1000
children and young people. - Research with children used a range of methods
include drawings and group posters. - Inter-disciplinary team U.Kilkelly, R.
Kilpatrick, L. Lundy, P.Scraton, L. Moore, C.
Davey, S.McAlister and C. Dwyer. Full report
downloadable at www.niccy.org
3Article 12of the UNCRC
- States Parties shall assure to the child who
is capable of forming his or her own views the
right to express those views freely in all
matters affecting the child, the views of the
child being given due weight in accordance with
the age and maturity of the child. - There was no other single issue so commonly
or widely identified by children and the adults
who work with them.
4A boy not getting a say in a conversation
5Article what?
- In the NICCY research it was apparent that there
was limited awareness of Article 12 among those
working with and for children. - Most professionals expressed support for
listening to the voice of the child. - Increasingly apparent that the concept of
voice is too limited to adequately convey the
import of Article 12, particularly when read in
conjunction with other relevant articles of the
UNCRC.
6Voice is not enough A new way of
conceptualising Article 12
- SPACE Children must be given the opportunity to
express a view - VOICE Children must be facilitated to express
their views - AUDIENCE The view must be listened to.
- INFLUENCE The view must be acted upon, as
appropriate. - (Lundy, British Education Research Journal
2007, forthcoming).
7 Article 12.
RIGHT TO EXPRESS A VIEW
SPACE
VOICE
RIGHT TO HAVE VIEWS GIVEN DUE WEIGHT
AUDIENCE
INFLUENCE
8Reflections on the NICCY process from a
childrens rights perspective
- What we did well a reasonable cross-section of
children in Northern Ireland, including many hard
to reach groups range of age and ability
appropriate mechanisms research directly
informed its priorities and strategic plan
feedback on the research and impact. - What could have been better children engaged in
the design of the research process more capacity
building on rights issues more time with the
children. - Need to ensure that research with children is in
itself childrens rights compliant.
9E-consultation as a research method.
- Consulting Pupils on the Assessment of their
Learning (ESRC, TLRP 2005-7) (Leitch et al ).
Aim of one of the studies was to consult children
on a current policy development in NI pupil
profiling. www.cpal.qub.ac.uk. - As part of the TLRP research programme, we were
working with Cambridge Universitys Centre for
Applied Research in Educational Technology
(CARET) piloting a Virtual Research Environment
(VRE). - Successful application to the Department of
Education to conduct a complementary research
project into the effectiveness of various forms
of e-consultation methods as a way of enabling
policy makers to consult directly with children
in schools ( with Lesley McEvoy). - The Article 12 model was used as a template in
the research design from the outset.
10Research Process
- Childrens Research Advisory Group
- 8 pupils from a Year 7 primary class involved in
- Initial focus group where we collated views and
artwork on the issues. - design of the research strategy
- testing the proposed e-consultation mechanisms
and research instruments - discussion and analysis of the research findings.
- Pilot e-consultations
- One Year 7 class selected in each of the schools
to pilot one of - three e-consultation mechanisms on-line survey
chat rooms and interactive storyboarding. All of
these were designed to investigate childrens
views on the proposed pupil profile (the CPAL
study). - Focus groups (pupils) and semi-structured
interviews (class teachers) investigating ease
of use and levels of engagement.
11Research Process
12(No Transcript)
13E-consultation mechanismssurvey
14E-consultation mechanismsfocused chat
15E-consultation mechanismsstoryboard
16Space
- Safe? Inclusive?
- Anonymity is ensured
- You are more comfortable saying what you
want. If you are saying it to somebody, you sort
of hold back saying what you want to say. - All children have access to ICT facilities in
their school context - Children enjoy using computers a space they
want to use.
17Voice
- Assisted in forming an opinion and in expressing
it? - Materials and ideas generated by the childrens
research forum were to assist other pupils in
forming their own opinions - Because if you just had the question there,
you wouldnt really know what to say. If you see
what other people say, it gives you an idea. You
could think if you agreed with it - The appeal of ICT to a range of learning styles
assists children in expressing their opinions. - You can type faster and it is easier to
click and drag.
18Audience
- Guaranteed opportunity to communicate opinions?
Opinions listened to? - Pupils were aware that their views are being
transmitted directly to DENI and CCEA as a result
of a video shown at the beginning of each
consultation. - Views were collated and sent to designated
listener within CCEA (proposed pupil profile)
and DENI (e-consultation) -
- You saw their faces whenever they were told
that their comments would be given directly to
Nuala. They were really pleased about that
(Teacher)
19Influence
- Views taken seriously? Accountability?
- Children received a written summary of the main
research findings from the research team. - The children expressed a wish for a direct
communication from government -
- A wee letter from them saying we helped.
Saying how they are going to use the views.
Saying what changes they are going to make.
20The RAGs comparison of the three mechanisms
- They preferred the chat rooms because of the
interaction with their peers. - The enjoyed the storyboard but thought it would
be good for younger children or those with
learning difficulties. - They acknowledged that the survey generated the
most information on the issues and would be of
most use to the research team and to government. - They suggested that a combination of all three
mechanisms would be ideal.
21Tentative conclusions
- Worth turning the childrens rights mirror
around. - It can be helpful to assist children in forming
their views by providing them with views
expressed by other children. - There is real value in engaging children in the
discussion and analysis of the data through
clustering activities. - E-consultation methods offer huge potential in
terms of the creation of safe, inclusive and
engaging research spaces.