Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Children's Participation (children + participation)
Selected AbstractsAdult's Involvement in Children's Participation: Juggling Children's Places and SpacesCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 6 2009Michael Wyness While children and young people's participation is a well-established research field, much less has been written about the roles that adults play in supporting this participation. This article examines the involvement of adults within participatory forums in English schools and local authorities. Drawing on empirical data from research on children's participation in pupil and civic councils, the article discusses the complex and sometimes contradictory pressures on adults in their advisory roles with young participants. The article goes on to explore these roles within a broader conceptual framework that counterposes children's ,places' with children's ,spaces'. [source] Walking to school: incidental physical activity in the daily occupations of Australian childrenOCCUPATIONAL THERAPY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2004Jenny Ziviani Abstract Children's participation in physical activity is declining, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the incidental activity of walking to school. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the extent to which Australian children walked to and from primary school, and to survey parents to identify factors influencing this behaviour. Parents of 164 students in Grades 1,7 (mean age 9.1±2.02 years) from a primary school comprising 360 students responded to a questionnaire regarding psychosocial and environmental factors thought to influence the means by which their children went to and from school. Results indicated that parent perception of the importance of physical activity, parents' individual history of transport to school as well as distance from school were the most statistically significant factors determining children's involvement in walking to and from school. The results of this study highlight the attitudes and experiences of parents in determining the extent to which children are involved in non-motorized access to school. Also implicated are organizational policies about geographical school regions. While this study is limited to one school community, further study is recommended with others to better confirm findings by examining socioeconomic, geographic and policy variables. Occupational therapists are challenged to examine ways in which incidental physical activity can be increased in the lives of young children. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] Children's participation in home, school and community life after acquired brain injuryAUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Jane Galvin Aims:,This study aimed to describe participation at home, school and in the community of Australian children who had sustained an acquired brain injury (ABI). Parent ratings regarding the impact of cognitive, motor and behavioural impairments on participation were obtained. In addition, the influence of environmental factors on participation was investigated. Methodology:,This study used a cross-sectional design with convenience sampling to recruit 20 children who attended a rehabilitation review clinic between September 2006 and September 2007. Participants completed the Child and Family Follow-up Survey (Bedell, 2004) to describe the participation of their children in home, school and community settings. The CFFS was developed based on the International Classification of Function, and uses parent report to measure the impact of impairments and environmental factors on children's participation in home, school and community life. Results:,The children were reported to have the greatest participation restrictions for structured events in the community, and social, play or leisure activities with peers either at school or in the community. Children were least restricted moving about in and around their own homes. Conclusions:,This research describes difficulties encountered by Australian children with ABI in participating in community-based activities with their same aged peers. This study adds to the current literature describing patterns of participation of United States children who have sustained brain injuries, and provides useful information for Australian therapists to consider when addressing children's return to school and engagement with their peers following brain injury. [source] Participation in practice: making it meaningful, effective and sustainableCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2004Ruth Sinclair Children's participation in decision-making is complex: it is undertaken for different purposes and is reflected in different levels of involvement, different contexts and different activities. This paper reviews the current state of participation and, drawing on practice and research literature, highlights several aspects of practice where further consideration is needed if participation is to develop positively. This suggests that, if participation is to be more meaningful to children and effective in influencing change, it is necessary to move beyond one-off or isolated participation and consider how participation becomes embedded as an integral part of our relationship with children. [source] Children's participation in the policy process: some thoughts on policy evaluation based on the Irish National Children's StrategyCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2004John Pinkerton Prompted by Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, there is a growing number of examples of children and young people being involved in the policy process. To date this had not been matched by evaluation of the practice. This situation needs to change to ensure that existing experience provides learning for more widespread and more effective involvement. Using the development of the Irish National Children's Strategy for illustration, this article argues that the evaluation required must be more than monitoring. There is a need to get below the formal documented surface of participatory initiatives through developing analysis based in a critical perspective on both policy and evaluation. [source] CHILDREN'S AND PARENTS' PERCEPTIONS ON CHILDREN'S PARTICIPATION IN DECISION MAKING AFTER PARENTAL SEPARATION AND DIVORCE*FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 1 2008Judy Cashmore This article outlines the views of children and parents involved in family law disputes, about the need for and appropriateness of children's participation in decisions regarding residence and contact arrangements. Ninety parents and 47 children (ranging in age from 6 to 18 years) who had been through parental separation, were interviewed. Both parents and children had a range of views about the general appropriateness and fairness of children being involved, but the great majority, particularly of parents, thought that children should have a say in these matters. Core findings of the study include the considerable influence that older children had over the arrangements either in the aftermath of the separation or in making further changes over time, and the higher stated need of children who had experienced violence, abuse, or high levels of conflict to be heard than those in less problematic and noncontested matters. Parents involved in contested proceedings supported the participation of children at a younger age than those who were not. There was a reasonable degree of agreement between parents and children about the need for children to be acknowledged and the value of their views being heard in the decision-making process. Parents, however, expressed concern about the pressure and manipulation that children can face and exert in this process, whereas children were generally more concerned about the fairness of the outcomes, and maintaining their relationships with their parents and siblings. [source] Poverty and deprivation among children in Eastern Europe and Central AsiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 3 2009Leonardo Menchini Although there is now a large body of literature on poverty in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, there remains a dearth of comparative analysis of child poverty and wellbeing. This article uses household survey microdata for the period 2001,2003 to compare absolute poverty, relative poverty, material deprivation and participation in schooling among children in five countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Russia and Tajikistan. The analysis shows that low absolute levels of household consumption are associated with other deprivation indicators and with children's participation in schooling. The article also highlights the usefulness of relative poverty measures that effectively identify children at risk of exclusion in even the poorest countries in the region. The article concludes by arguing that household consumption is a good indicator of child poverty and deprivation in the region, and that relative poverty measures should be more widely used in monitoring global targets for poverty reduction. [source] Why do we need children's participation?JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2001The importance of children's participation in changing the city Abstract After examining the characteristics of the degradation of the urban environment and the costs that this entails for the child's development, in particular as far as play experience and autonomous mobility are concerned, the article goes on to discuss the role of the children's contribution to the promotion of real and consistent change in the city. The reasons underlying the recent increase in the number of experiments of children's participation are examined together with the main characteristics of this strategy as a privileged access to knowledge concerning the needs of our younger citizens and as an innovative resource in solving the city's problems. It is shown how children's participation experiences can lead to the acquisition of a fresh sensitivity and competence by city administrators and technicians. An analysis is made of several proposals made by children in the course of participation experiments followed by the authors in cities in Italy and abroad during 10 year's of activities in the ,The Children's City' project. These proposals confirm the children's capacity to identify the city's problems as they emerge and to propose solutions that are often innovative or useful for all members of the population. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Children's citizenship and participation models: participation in planning urban spaces and children's councilsJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2001Francesca Romana Alparone Abstract Participation represents a very important strategy for the sustainable development of cities and many governments have implemented a number of initiatives with this objective in mind. Of all the forms of children's involvement in changing the city, the present work takes into account two models of children's participation: Children's Councils and Participation in Planning. Special emphasis has been put on the description of the methods followed by a number of Italian cities in carrying out these initiatives. A description is given of the positive effects on the child's personal and social development and factors are seen to be relevant to success are discussed. It is argued that it is necessary to extend the cultural debate on the political and social significance of these experiences and to put in place additional procedures guaranteeing a functional collaborative relationship among all the parties concerned. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Role of an Interactive Book Reading Program in the Development of Second Language Pragmatic CompetenceMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2002Daejin Kim The development of pragmatic competence in another language is significant to second (L2) and foreign language (FL) learners' ability to communicate successfully in the target language. Although a great deal of research has focused on defining and comparing the content of pragmatic competence across culture groups, far less attention has been given to examining its development. Our study is a partial response to this gap. The purpose of the study was to investigate the connection between Korean children's participation in an interactive book reading program and their development of pragmatic competence in English. We found that their participation led to significant changes over a 4,month period in the mean number of words, utterances, and talk management features as measured by the changes in children's use of these during role play sessions. The findings suggest that participation in such reading programs provides opportunities for the development of at least some aspects of L2 pragmatic competence. [source] Giving Voice to Children's Voices: Practices and Problems, Pitfalls and PotentialsAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 2 2007ALLISON JAMES In this article, I explore the lessons that the anthropological debates of the 1980s about writing culture might have for contemporary childhood research within anthropology and the social sciences more generally. I argue that the current rhetoric about "giving voice to children," commonplace both inside and outside the academy, poses a threat to the future of childhood research because it masks a number of important conceptual and epistemological problems. In particular, these relate to questions of representation, issues of authenticity, the diversity of children's experiences, and children's participation in research, all of which need to be addressed by anthropologists in their own research practices with children. Unless anthropologists do so, childhood research risks becoming marginalized once more and will fail to provide an arena within which children are seen as social actors who can provide a unique perspective on the social world about matters that concern them as children. [source] Responsibility and Reciprocity: Social Organization of Mazahua Learning PracticesANTHROPOLOGY & EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2009Ruth Paradise This article describes Mazahua children's participation in learning interactions that take place when they collaborate with more knowledgeable others in everyday activities in family and community settings. During these interactions they coordinate their actions with those of other participants, switching between the roles of "knowledgeable performer" and "observing helper." It is argued that experience with this way of interacting implies readiness to take on responsibility for carrying out important family and community activities, and an understanding of and capacity for reciprocity. Observations in a sixth-grade classroom with a Mazahua teacher and children show that children continued to interact in ways that allowed for collaborative task-oriented organization of classroom learning activities.,[Indigenous education, family and community learning, interactional practices, Mazahua learning] [source] Children and Chores: A Mixed-Methods Study of Children's Household Work in Los Angeles FamiliesANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK REVIEW, Issue 3 2009Wendy Klein Abstract This ethnographic study investigates children's contributions to household work through the analysis of interview data and scan sampling data collected among 30 middle-class dual-earner families in Los Angeles, California. We discuss convergences and divergences between data collected with two independent methodologies: scan sampling and interviewing. Scan sampling data provide an overview of the frequency of children's participation in household work as well as the types of tasks they engaged in during data collection. Children's interview responses reflect their perceptions of their responsibilities, how they view family expectations regarding their participation in household work, and whether allowance is an effective motivator. Comparative analysis reveals that most children in our study spend surprisingly little time helping around the house and engage in fewer tasks than what they report in interviews. Within the context of children's minimal participation in household work, we find that allowance is not an effective motivator, but that children in families with access to paid domestic help tend to be less helpful than children in families without. We suggest that while most children are aware that their working parents need help, in some families, inconsistent and unclear expectations from parents negatively affect children's participation in household work. [source] Children's participation in home, school and community life after acquired brain injuryAUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Jane Galvin Aims:,This study aimed to describe participation at home, school and in the community of Australian children who had sustained an acquired brain injury (ABI). Parent ratings regarding the impact of cognitive, motor and behavioural impairments on participation were obtained. In addition, the influence of environmental factors on participation was investigated. Methodology:,This study used a cross-sectional design with convenience sampling to recruit 20 children who attended a rehabilitation review clinic between September 2006 and September 2007. Participants completed the Child and Family Follow-up Survey (Bedell, 2004) to describe the participation of their children in home, school and community settings. The CFFS was developed based on the International Classification of Function, and uses parent report to measure the impact of impairments and environmental factors on children's participation in home, school and community life. Results:,The children were reported to have the greatest participation restrictions for structured events in the community, and social, play or leisure activities with peers either at school or in the community. Children were least restricted moving about in and around their own homes. Conclusions:,This research describes difficulties encountered by Australian children with ABI in participating in community-based activities with their same aged peers. This study adds to the current literature describing patterns of participation of United States children who have sustained brain injuries, and provides useful information for Australian therapists to consider when addressing children's return to school and engagement with their peers following brain injury. [source] Movement skills proficiency and physical activity: A case for Engaging and Coaching for Health (EACH),ChildAUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, Issue 4 2009Jenny Ziviani Background/aim:,Supporting children's participation in health-enhancing physical activities is an important occupational goal for therapists. Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are thought to underpin and enable many activity options. This study had two goals: first, to examine the relationship between fundamental movement skills (FMS) and physical activity, and second, to use this and existing evidence to inform strategies whereby children's motivation for and engagement in physical activity can be supported. Methods:,A cross-sectional investigation of 124 children, aged 6,12 years, was undertaken. FMS were assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) and physical activity by pedometer step counts. Results:,A weak but significant association was found between weekend physical activity and balance skills for girls. Correlations between physical activity and ball skills or manual dexterity were not significant for either gender, however, having age appropriate ball skills did result in greater but not significant levels of physical activity for all children when grouped together. Conclusions:,Findings from this study question the magnitude of the relationship between children's FMS and physical activity as measured by pedometers. If the goal of health enhancement through physical activity engagement is to be realised, it is proposed that community, occupation-based approaches may offer more potential than skills-based interventions at increasing activity participation. The concept of Engaging and Coaching for Health (EACH)-Child is introduced to this end. Occupational therapists are encouraged to work collaboratively with school and community organisations to assist children to find the physical activities that best accommodate their interests, abilities and offer opportunities for lifelong engagement. [source] Adult's Involvement in Children's Participation: Juggling Children's Places and SpacesCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 6 2009Michael Wyness While children and young people's participation is a well-established research field, much less has been written about the roles that adults play in supporting this participation. This article examines the involvement of adults within participatory forums in English schools and local authorities. Drawing on empirical data from research on children's participation in pupil and civic councils, the article discusses the complex and sometimes contradictory pressures on adults in their advisory roles with young participants. The article goes on to explore these roles within a broader conceptual framework that counterposes children's ,places' with children's ,spaces'. [source] Felt tip pens and school councils: children's participation rights in four English schoolsCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 4 2001Dominic Wyse The United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child has created practical challenges for nation states and institutions particularly in relation to children's rights to participation. The limited research that is available has tended to use survey methodology; qualitative accounts of children's daily lives are rare. The present study investigated the nature of children's participation in their education in two primary and two secondary schools; in particular the right to express views freely in all matters affecting the child. The study found that children's opportunities to express their views were extremely limited even when school councils were in place. It is concluded that the goal of active citizenship espoused by recent national curriculum developments will remain illusive unless educational practice changes to a focus on school processes rather than products. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||