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A Creative Methodology for Consulting with Young Children ’

Presented at 17 th . Annual EECERA Conference, Prague, 29 th August – 1 st September 2007 Isobel McClean PhD student Dr. Nanette Smith University of Worcester, UK.

Rationale

    UN Convention (1989) on the Rights of the Child UNICEF (2001) Promoting Children’s Participation in Democratic Decision Making NCB (2005) Building a Culture of Participation UNICEF (2007) An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries

A Framework For Listening

      Multi method Participatory Reflexive Adaptable Focused on children’s lived experiences Embedded into practice (Clark and Moss 2001) Listening to Young Children

Methods Used

         Puppets Box Full of Feelings (Kog, Moons and Depondt,2004) Wish Catcher (Lancaster,2003) Polo Mint (McClean,2006) Cameras Drawings Graffiti Wall Why? Why? How? How ? (Cowie and Sharp,1992; Smith 1997) Mosaic Approach (Clark and Moss, 2001)

their feelings”

Drawing

“Drawing and painting are ways for children to explore and learn about ( Roberts – Holmes, 2005) My granny and me used to go to the park but it is all broken now

This is the safe park my mummy takes me to, I wish I had a park like this near my house

Box Full of Feelings

I am sad when the wee children get bullied in school I am sad when girls tease other people behind their backs I am sad when my daddy goes away

I am angry when people blame me for something I didn’t do

Box Full of Feelings

I am happy ‘cos I have good friends and family I’m scared of the dark at night

BOX FULL OF FEELINGS

Identifying emotions to post in the four ‘emotion houses’ Using the finger dolls to dramatise stories

Response – Box Full of Feelings

I am angry that after July time, after all the bands have done their bit all the flags stay up for months

• Perspectives of Children Using the Polo Mint We are going to change our library area in nursery, how do you think we could make it better?

Have nice comfy chairs, my mum bought me one in Argos .

• Very soon we are going to have an outdoor play area, what would you like to have in it?

I have a good idea we could use our wish catcher and make wishes.

Children’s Responses -

Cameras

• • • • • • • • • My favourite thing is helping my teacher at break time I like it when the bubbles are in the water My very best thing is the messy clay I like the book corner best I like to feed the gold fish I play daddy in the home corner and make the dinner Playing with the dough is good I make buns like my granny I like playing being a fireman because my daddy is a fireman I like to look after the flowers outside my teacher lets me water them this makes them grow

The Wish Catcher and Transition to School

The children wished for a happy school to have a friend I hope we have sand and water Using the magic feather

The Wish Catcher and Transition to School

Choosing a note pad, everyone interested I hope I can play on the computer I wish to do some cooking I hope my school has got playdough

The Wish Catcher and Transition to School

I want to be a teacher when I go to school Pegging on the wish

Bullying: Why? Why?

Why do people bully?

Because they are nasty Why?

Because they like it Why?

They learnt it off their parents Why?

Because their parents argue Why?

Because their parents were bullied when they were little

Bullying: How? How?

How can we stop bullying?

Show them how to be nice How?

Tell them how it feels to be bullied How? This will make them realise how horrible it is How?

They will then feel guilty

Ethics for Consulting with Young Children

“ All educational research should be conducted within an ethic of respect for persons, respect for knowledge, respect for democratic values, and respect for the quality of educational research.” Bera (1992)

“ Listening is not a right. There needs to be space to respect children’s need for privacy, while opening channels for communication for all those who wish to do so”.

One three year old said during the study, as he drew the child conferencing session to an early close: “I’ve done enough talking now.” “We need to be aware that listening can be a liberating tool but also a way of ‘listening in’ on children’s lives and an unwanted intrusion.” Clark & Moss(2001)

Key Messages from Research

 At a policy level the review reveals the place for training on listening, consultation and children’s rights as part of initial teacher training and other training  In addition there are in-service training implications for early year’s practitioners and managers  There needs to be further discussion about appropriate ways to include the views and experiences of young children in the inspection process ( Clark, McQuail and Moss, 2003)