A capability approach to children's well‐being, agency and participatory rights in education

Hart, Caroline Sarojini; Brando, Nicolás

doi:10.1111/ejed.12284

Cited by 82 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 49 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In other words, the oppressed need to consciously become part of the resolution of the injustices perpetuated through structural inequalities, and the symbolic violence and cultural arbitrary foregrounded by Bourdieu and Passeron (2000). The development of educational curricula and pedagogical practices, drawing on a capability approach, are discussed in a growing number of texts (Boni and Walker, 2013;Hart and Brando, 2018;Walker, 2006;Walker and McLean, 2015). A key challenge is to think further about how to respond to the pessimistic picture emerging from Bourdieu's analysis of social reproduction and oppression inherent in current educational practices.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Education, inequality and social justice: A critical analysis applying the Sen-Bourdieu Analytical Framework

Hart

2018

Policy Futures in Education

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper offers a critical examination of the nature of inequalities in relation to education and the pursuit of social justice. It argues that assessment of educational resources and measures such as school enrolment and educational achievement are limited in what they tell us about the injustices learners may experience. It is proposed that, drawing on Amartya Sen's capability approach, we benefit from extending our evaluative space beyond learners' achievements to encompass their freedoms to achieve. It is argued that attention should be paid to the relative value individuals place on these various freedoms. Furthermore, in order to deepen insights into the multiple factors influencing the development of learner values, and the unequal possibilities for realising their aspired valued achievements, the discussion also draws on key sociological concepts from Pierre Bourdieu. The theoretical synthesis leads to the introduction of the Sen-Bourdieu Analytical Framework, a conceptual model that illustrates the socially dynamic processes within which learners and formal educational systems are situated. The principal aims are to offer an alternative development paradigm and an expanded evaluative framework to inform local, national and international educational policy and practice.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Education, inequality and social justice: A critical analysis applying the Sen-Bourdieu Analytical Framework

Hart

2018

Policy Futures in Education

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…From a pedagogical perspective the authors suggest, by drawing on the analysed strategies and the mentioned literature, considering the tension between protection and participation, particularly visible within the residential care centers, from a different perspective. It is important to reframe the understanding of risk for it to include not only potential harms to physical well-being (of the child and others) but also the psycological, social and political harms that come from the children's lack of recognition as participants in their community(beginning in RCCs), and from the arrest of their development as social and political actors [27]. This is not automatic but requires training and support to ensure practitioners have the knowledge and skills to provide the best possible quality of care and to [2].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meanings and Strategies of Child Participation in Residential Care Centers: A Theoretical Reflection

Montà¹,

Biffi²

2019

ICERI Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper aims at offering a theoretical reflection on child participation's meanings and strategies in Residential Care Centers (hereafter RCC). The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development intends on investing in children, viewing them as contributors to the construction of a more just, equitable, tolerant, open and socially inclusive world. The UN manifesto also emphasizes the need to strive for a nurturing environment in which children can fully realize their rights and capabilities [1]. Hence, it is vital to reflect on the meanings and strategies of child participation in alternative care settings [2] where children are more vulnerable by definition and often precluded from contributing to the decisions concerning their lives [3] [4], although mechanisms to ensure their participation have been implemented [5]. Ensuring children's participation, especially younger children's participation, in the child protection system is challenging for practitioners, as it requires balancing their institutional mandate as adults in charge of protecting the child (which entails dynamics of power and authority) with the need to competently foster the child's own participation as a key form of intervention against violence, also institutional violence [6] Goffman [7], and as a form of prevention of, and a strategy for coping with, adverse childhood experiences. Hence, RCC practitioners require specific professional competence if they are to understand the meanings and value of child participation and encourage its practice, especially when dealing with younger children, in their educational relationship with the child. Thus, there is a need to identify forms and strategies of participation, sustainable both for practitioners (taking into account their institutional mandate and the associated constraints) and for children (in light of their particular stage of development and their specific life stories). The paper will present a reflection on the international policy framework on child participation, with a specific focus on participation in RCCs. At the heart of the paper a reflection on meanings, forms and strategies of child participation in RCCS.

show abstract

“…Thirty years after the Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by the United Nations General Assembly (1989), children's opportunities to be active agents in their own lives are not necessarily evident across all countries (Hart and Brando 2018). Early childhood education settings can provide ideal arenas for the realisation of children's agentic rights.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, social research has connected children's agency to Article 12 of the convention that highlights the importance of children's opportunities to influence decision-making in which their voices should be heard in matters that affect them (e.g. Harcourt and Hägglund 2013;Hart and Brando 2018;Mayne and Rennie 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s Agency: Opportunities and Constraints

Sirkko

Kyrönlampi

Puroila

2019

IJEC

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Children's agency accords with the principles emphasised by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations in Convention on the rights of the child. UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Geneva. Retrieved from, https ://www.ohchr .org/EN/Profe ssion alInt erest /Pages /CRC.aspx, 1989). This study focuses on children's opportunities for agency in first grade of a Finnish primary school. The research explored how children's agency was evident in photographs taken by 16 children on their school experiences and discussions with the researcher about the photographs. A phenomenological approach was used in the analyses to identify four themes in the data: the social order of school; teacher's pedagogical tools; break times; and learning new skills. In the school context, the children's agency seemed to require continuous balancing between the children's freedom and adults' power and authority. Pedagogically, the results imply that the adults who work with children can listen closely to children's voices in order to strengthen opportunities in classrooms and to support children's sense of personal agency. The study challenges teachers to consider how classroom practices may divide or categorise some children and how these practice may reduce children's participation, contribution and agency.

show abstract

A capability approach to children's well‐being, agency and participatory rights in education

Cited by 82 publications

References 49 publications

Education, inequality and social justice: A critical analysis applying the Sen-Bourdieu Analytical Framework

Education, inequality and social justice: A critical analysis applying the Sen-Bourdieu Analytical Framework

Meanings and Strategies of Child Participation in Residential Care Centers: A Theoretical Reflection

Children’s Agency: Opportunities and Constraints

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About