Abstract
Adolescents in educational institutions are one of the groups of children whose voice is seldom heard, who have fewer opportunities to participate, and face more obstacles when they want to participate. Furthermore, growing up in out-of-home care often increases the children’s vulnerability and endangers their participatory rights in terms of obtaining adequate information on the course of care, the opportunities to participate in decisions relevant to their life and care, the impact on the quality of care, etc. The aim of this paper is to describe adolescent participation from two perspectives: prescribed and formalized in the form of beneficiary councils in educational institutions and in the form of adolescent’s experiences in institutions. A qualitative approach was used, and the data were obtained from focus groups with adolescents, as well as from descriptions of beneficiary councils through online questionnaires. The results shed light on the importance of adolescent’s rights but also on the lack of their fulfilment in educational institutions, especially when it comes to participation. Adolescents’ participation in educational institutions is perceived as limited, characterized by restriction and a lack of choice, which results in decreased motivation for participation. Beneficiary councils, despite being regulated in terms of legislation, are not considered a significant form of child participation in educational institutions.
Highlights
Child participation is the continuous process of expressing opinions and actively participating in decision-making in different areas of life affecting children
Since this paper focuses on the experience of participation of young people in educational institutions in the Republic of Croatia, it is important to briefly clarify the national context related to this topic
The description of the activities of beneficiary councils in educational institutions will be presented in relation to the following categories: the number of beneficiary council members; the frequency of beneficiary council meetings; and beneficiary council activities
Summary
Child participation is the continuous process of expressing opinions and actively participating in decision-making in different areas of life affecting children. It is a dialogue between children and adults based on respecting children’s rights, opinions, and attitudes [1]. There are numerous advantages related to child participation and the participatory approach in working with children in residential care, including educational institutions. Children who are given the possibility to express their opinions and participate in decisions are more motivated to work on their own problems and develop responsibility and autonomy [4,5]. The benefits of the participatory approach in assessing and planning interventions are tangible for children, and for professionals and the community through shared responsibilities and partnerships between professionals and children, the development of relationships between professionals and children, a better understanding of the children’s perspective, and the creation of preconditions for better treatment outcomes [4]
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