'Professionalising' Participation: From Rhetoric to Practice

Freeman, Claire; Nairn, Karen; Sligo, Judith

doi:10.1080/14733280302182

Cited by 50 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…As Rose (1999) notes, "Th is kind of 'government through freedom' multiplies the points at which a citizen has to play his or her part in the processes that govern him [sic]. And, in doing so, it also multiples the points at which citizens are able to refuse, contest, challenge those demands placed upon them" (1999: xxiii) One of Freeman et al's (2003) young respondents exemplifi es this situation in his description of a youth council with which he was involved:…”

Section: Power As Governmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foucault, Power and Participation

2008

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In this paper, I argue that Foucault's work on power off ers a distinctive and original perspective with the potential to aff ord insights into the nature of participation. I begin by providing a brief exegesis of Foucault's conceptualisation of power in his middle to late work. Th e notion of governmentality is drawn out as a potentially useful tool in understanding participation as a profoundly ambiguous phenomenon. I conclude by outlining some of the possible implications of Foucault's thinking about power for studying children's participation.

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Section: Power As Governmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foucault, Power and Participation

2008

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“…Research reporting positive reactions by children to tokenistic participation are rare. One exception is a study of children's participation in youth councils by Freeman et al (2003) where one young person described their experience as follows:…”

Section: The Tokensmentioning

confidence: 99%

In defence of tokenism? Implementing children’s right to participate in collective decision-making

2018

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“…Freeman, Nairn & Sligo, 2003). It is cautioned that this latter needs to be well planned and managed to avoid becoming 'token' or non-67 participatory and the importance of facilitators for the process is emphasised (Freeman et al, 2003). Francis and Lorenzo (2002, pp.…”

Section: General Participatory Design Examples and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Eco-Classroom Project: Fostering Student Participation Through Education for Sustainability

Wake¹,

Eames²

2012

Aust. J. environ. educ.

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This thesis investigated learning and other outcomes in participants, particularly students (9–11 years), as a result of their involvement in an education for sustainability (EfS) co-design and build project at their primary school in New Zealand, within the Enviroschools Programme. The research focused on four areas that distinguished the project: sustainability learning as the issue, participatory practice as the method, design as the process, and community partnerships as the sphere of involvement. Each of these was considered in terms of its influence on learning that was either cognitively based (knowledge), psychomotor (skills) or affective (attitudes and values). This led to the set-up of a matrix to collect qualitative data that was gathered using a narrative inquiry method around participants’ stories. This included focus groups with students who were part of the Eco-building Working Party, interviews with key adults from the school and the wider community, survey questionnaires to parents of the focus group students, plus classroom observations and analysis of visual diaries made by the teacher.Findings revealed student learning occurred in all three learning domains. This included EfS learning (particularly related to architecture and the built environment), understanding a design and build process, and cross-disciplinary learning that included skills such as leadership, teamwork and public speaking. Adult participants also gained from their involvement in the project. A correlation was made between the set-up and execution of the eco-classroom project and the Danish concept of Action Competence. This was indicated through the authentic, relevant and democratic action-taking focus of the eco-classroom project, which is linked to learning transformations. Also in agreement with an action competence approach was the strong focus in the project on both individual and collective learning. This was due to the process-focused nature of the project, itself related to the learning mandate and commitment to a democratic process with students. The project ran for a number of years with annually changing groups of students, who all had different experiences. The teacher used ‘peer education’ and reflective tools to manage the changeover of students positively. This gave depth and breadth to learning and ensured the project was truly collaborative. The embedding of learning in the project within the New Zealand Curriculum provided evidence of the flexible and multidisciplinary nature of EfS. Finally, a number of key management aspects were identified by the findings as contributing significantly to learning in the project and these are discussed.

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'Professionalising' Participation: From Rhetoric to Practice

Cited by 50 publications

References 22 publications

Foucault, Power and Participation

Foucault, Power and Participation

In defence of tokenism? Implementing children’s right to participate in collective decision-making

The Eco-Classroom Project: Fostering Student Participation Through Education for Sustainability

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