Children Taken Seriously in Theory, Policy and Practice

Abstract

by Jan Mason and Toby Fattore ( eds ) London : Jessica Kingsley , 2005 ISBN 1843102501 , 272 pp , £22.95 (pb) Over recent years the issue of children's participation rights has been the subject of much debate and interest among academics, policy makers and practitioners alike. To date, however, there are few publications which draw together the contributions of these different stakeholders in their attempts to progress this issue and address some of the barriers they face along the way. This current edited collection, part of the Children in Charge series, aims to address this gap. It brings together the contributions of a range of stakeholders working with children and is organised under three sections – namely theory, policy and practice. The four chapters which comprise Section One (Theory) seek to draw attention to recent developments regarding theoretical frameworks used to conceptualise children and childhood. The chapter by Fattore and Turnball provides new ways of theorising children's participation through the development of the concept of communicative action using the work of Habermas and Merleau-Ponty as a starting point. The chapter by Alanen is also useful in its exploration of the concept of generation in understanding the relational processes by which childhood comes to be defined, understood and experienced. In Section Two (Policy) the reader is introduced to a range of social policy issues over five chapters concerning children. These include health and education, child protection, physical ‘discipline’ and working children. The section is linked by two main themes: an examination of the discourses regarding children and childhood which underpin the various policy responses and by which the negative views of children and their capacities have been reinforced; and a presentation of the accounts of children which provide a challenge to these dominant views. Of the five chapters, those by Mayall and Miljeteig are particularly notable in their inclusion of pointers to further increase the visibility of children's accounts. In Section Three (Practice) there are eight chapters which consider children's perspectives and capacities. Interestingly, while one chapter focuses on family group conferencing, all of the remainder focus on children in different school settings. This might be a disappointment to practitioners in other areas. However, from the range of practice issues raised, including children's participation in their own assessments of learning and children's perspectives on technology, important themes emerge which can be transferred to a range of practice settings. These centre on the social agency of children and those factors which either encourage or impede the expression and recognition of this. Overall, the book presents an accessible and stimulating collection of contributions to illustrate the social agency of children and draws attention to developments, at the levels of theory, policy and practice, which seek to embrace the abilities and contributions of children through the development of partnerships with them. While the themes and issues covered are not particularly new, the book does represent a useful summary. As the book vividly illustrates, while there have been improvements in relation to recognising and facilitating children's participation rights, much still needs to be done. Finally, while this is certainly a welcome collection, it is worth drawing attention to three limitations. The first is the uncritical use of the terms children and childhood which creates the impression of a homogenous concept and experience that is ‘childhood’. There is, of course, great diversity according to children's ethnicity, disability, religion, language, social class, age, gender, locality, social context and family circumstances which themselves vary across time, space and place. A second and related limitation is that, apart from considering children's social agency, the book does not address the fact that the likelihood of children being taken seriously will vary according to the influence of the complex and inter-related social variables outlined above. Third, these particular complexities and others emerging from the various contributions might usefully have been highlighted in a final chapter to help focus the reader on what progress has been achieved and what still needs to be done. These themes could have been drawn together in the form of a framework or agenda for readers to ‘take with them’ into their own spheres of influence. These limitations apart, this is a clear and accessible book that usefully draws together and summarises current themes relating to children's participation rights. It therefore deserves to be read widely.