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There is a need to refl ect on both the processes and outcomes of the range of approaches aimed at promoting children's engagement in research, with the specifi c intent of listening to children's voices. This article considers some of the ethical tensions we have experienced when engaging children in research about their prior-to-school and school environments and their perspectives of the transitions between these environments. Examples from projects conducted in Iceland and Australia are drawn upon to illustrate these tensions and, to refl ect on the strategies and questions we have developed to guide our engagement with children. This article raises issues rather than offering simple solutions. We suggest that there are a number of contextual and relational variables that guide our research interactions, and no 'one best solution' applicable to all contexts. Our aim in sharing these tensions is to stimulate further debate and discussions around children's participation in research. K E Y W O R D S early childhood education, ethics, consent, research with children introductionResearch in early childhood education has, over recent years, devoted increasing attention to the importance of listening to the voices of children and having regard for children as active agents within social and cultural settings (Clark and Moss, 2001; journal of early childhood research

Much of the current rhetoric in areas of child and family research and in early childhood education emphasizes the importance of listening to children in research that has a direct impact on them. Despite this, there remain qualms in some research contexts and amongst some researchers about the reliability, validity and generalizability of children's research input. This article argues that engaging with children as research participants requires a commitment to, and the facilitation of, listening to and hearing their accounts in research. Drawing on research conducted in both New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, this article adopts the stance that children are active and effective participants in research. It examines selected protocols that stand to support such engagement. Specifi cally, it considers issues of ethics and research protocols, mechanisms of engagement, principles of co-construction of the research interaction, the analysis and dissemination of data, and negotiating the research space. This article contributes to methodological understandings of research with children.

Changing views of children and childhood have resulted in an increased focus on the nature of children's participation in research. Rather than conducting research on children, many researchers now seek to engage with children in research. Such a change recognises children's agency as well as their rights to have a say in matters that affect them. Research that reflects a participatory rights perspective and respects children's agency must be based on children making informed decisions about their participation. However, prevailing views of children's competence to make these decisions often preclude their involvement. While recognising the importance of informed consent from parents/guardians, we argue the importance of assent as a means of recognising the wishes of young children in relation to research participation. In this context, assent is defined as a relational process whereby children's actions and adult responses taken together, reflect children's participation decisions.

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