Children as Decision Makers in Education

Sue Cox is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, UK. Caroline Dyer is Senior Lecturer for the Centre of Development Studies at the Institute of Political and International Studies (POLIS), University of Leeds, UK. Anna Robinson-Pant is Professor of Education at the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, UK. Michele Schweisfurth is Professor of Comparative and International Education at the University of Glasgow, UK. She is also Editor of the journal Comparative Education and was Chair of the British Association for International and Comparative Education (2010-12).

'This book advances the current discourse surrounding the role of 'children's voice' in education and society more generally, taking it beyond the northern into the southern sphere of the globe and engaging it with issues of poverty and social conflict...it confronts deeper questions about what decisions children should be making to actively shape their experience of schooling and indeed their experience in society...[The contributions] force us to reflect about how we should be conceptualising the abilities and rights of the child in a global context, and indeed about children as partners in the global project of radical democratization.' John Elliott, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of East Anglia, UK

• Notes on Contributors \ Introduction Sue Cox, Caroline Dyer, Anna Robinson-Pant & Michele Schweisfurth \ Part 1: Can We Make Space for Children's Decision-making? Perspectives on Educational Policy \ 1. The Changing Context of Decision-making in English Primary education: Ages, Myths and Autonomy Colin Richards \ 2. 'Prefigurative' Approaches to Participatory Schooling: Experiences in Brazil Tristan McCowan \ 3. Grasping Rare Moments for Change: Children's Participation in Conflict Contexts Sheila Aikman \ 4. Long Time Coming: Children as Only Occasional Decision Makers in Schools Clive Harber \ Part II: Children's Decision-making: Its Impact on Life in Schools and the Community \ 5. Children's Clubs and Corporal Punishment: Reflections from Nepal Teeka Bhattarai \ 6. Participatory School Governance: Children in Decision-making in the Zambian Context Gina Mumba Chiwela \ 7. EveryChild: NGO Experiences with Children as Decision Makers in Peru, India and Moldova Liz Trippett with Jane Banez-Ockleford, Daniela Mamaliga, Payal Saksena and Lionel Vigil \ 8. Paving the Way for Pupil Voice? School Councils Campaign for Fair Trade in Liverpool Anne-Marie Smith \ 9. Student Voice in Portsmouth: A City-wide Approach Fiona Carnie \ Part III: Children as Decision Makers: What are We Trying to Achieve? The Ethical and Political Dimensions \ 10. Assessing the Benefits of Students' Participation Hiromi Yamashita, Lynn Davies and Chris Williams \ 11. Uprooting Fear of Cultural Diversity: Becoming Participative Together Juan Carlos Barrón-Pastor \ 12. Pedagogy and Cultural Diversity: Children's Participation for Overcoming Differences Rohit Dhankar \ Part IV: Facilitating Children's Participation in Research and Decision-making \ 13. Children as Researchers: Experiences in a Bexley Primary School Doug Springate and Karen Lindridge \ 14. Life in the Classroom: A Pupil Perspective Allan Fowler \ 15. Children as Researchers: A Question of Risk? Sue Cox and Anna Robinson-Pant \ 16. Children's Participation: Radio as a Medium in Ghana Esmeranda Manful \ 17. Children as Research Protagonists and Partners in Governance P. J. Lolichen \ Endpiece: What Can We Learn About Children as Decision Makers by Bringing Together Perspectives and Experiences from Different Cultures? Sue Cox, Caroline Dyer, Anna Robinson-Pant & Michele Schweisfurth \ References \ Index