Rights, Power and Agency in Early Childhood Research Design: Developing a Rights-Based Research Ethics and Participation Planning Framework

Abstract

Australia YOUNG CHILDREN'S RIGHTS, power and agency in research are dependent on adult agendas that are enmeshed throughout every research project. This paper presents a Rights-Based Research Ethics and Participation Planning Framework that defines and unpacks the components of a rights-based approach to early childhood research. This new framework supports researchers to plan projects that uphold children's rights, shift the balance of power towards the child, and provide opportunities for children to exercise voice and agency. The Planning Framework provides guidance from project conceptualisation to implementation through a three-stage process focusing on ethical foundations, practical design considerations and implementation of rights-based research. The first stage of this Planning Framework relates to the overall research design, the researcher's perspective of children's capacities and the child's perspective of the research culture. The second stage highlights key considerations for designing research that supports children's rights and agency. The third stage discusses implementation and the range of participation levels accessible to young children in research. The paper concludes with insight into how the Planning Framework can be used as a step-by-step process, and insight into the link between appropriately communicated information and young children's rights, power and agency within research participation.

Perry Starlight, Ali Orbit and Kim Cosmos' alien encounter: creating a picturebook as information for children and parents participating in research

“…Researchers have also used stories to give children information. Mayne, Howitt and Rennie (2017) created a storybook to present the context of their research to young children, reporting that this ethical groundwork played a significant role in how children experienced research participation (Mayne et al 2018). Yamada-Rice used a published picturebook and a bespoke picturebook using photographs (2017) giving information in both home and school settings and Martinez-Lejarreta created a picturebook (Arnott et al, 2020).…”

Aportes reflexivos para la investigación con las infancias. Corresponsabilidad en el avance de su participación

“…Como se verá en los apartados posteriores, considerar a las infancias como expertas es una manera de reconocer y validar sus conocimientos, interpretaciones e identidades (Moore et al, 2015;Thomson, 2007). Para ello, es necesario contar con las infancias desde el mismo diseño de investigación y desde tres perspectivas: derechos, poder y agencia (Mayne et al, 2018), esto es, garantizar su derecho a la participación, mantener relaciones de igual a igual y consolidar una cultura de investigación que posibilite el ejercicio de su agencia.…”

“…Es importante destacar que la Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño (CDN) contribuye a la práctica reflexiva en la medida en que "ubica los ejes a lo largo de los cuales se definen los derechos del niño e investigadores, entre otros, para dar cuenta de los impactos de sus propias decisiones" (Aitken y Herman, 2009: 19). La participación de las infancias en la investigación supone ir más allá del consentimiento informado por parte del adulto referente: requiere de una participación más activa, creando espacios y momentos de información de calidad, comprensión, implicación con voz e influencia de las niñas y los niños en todo el proceso de la investigación, de forma libre y plena (Mayne et al, 2017(Mayne et al, , 2018. Entre las propuestas de los ¿cómos?…”

Fostering Children’s Participation in Disaster Risk Reduction Through Play: A Case Study of LEGO and Minecraft

“…In recent years numerous initiatives have emerged to foster children's participation in various subfields of development such as poverty alleviation, urban planning, environmental management, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk reduction (DRR). These initiatives have focused on identifying children's knowledge and capacities as agents of change (Bartlett 2002;Mitchell et al 2009), documenting good practices to foster children's participation (Willow 2002;Sinclair 2004), classifying different levels of participation (Shier 2001;Noreau et al 2007;Mayne et al 2018), as well as developing participatory tools and tool kits targeting children (Lansdown and O'Kane 2014).…”