Recognising and including children and young people in research, policy and practice

In her work on children's roles and representation in social research in the mid-1990s, Alderson (1995, p 40) claimed that the views of children and young people had been generally overlooked in research studies. She described the ‘adult-centred’ nature of research until that time, which was ‘conducted about the public world of the environment, politics, economics and other social affairs with little reference to children.’ Others have made similar observations, claiming also that one of the main reasons children have been marginalised in society for so long is because of the absence of their authentic voices in public discourses about childhood (Brown, 1998; Hill et al, 2004). Indeed, in 2004 (prior to the start of a series of national seminars on children and young people's participation in research, policy and practice in the UK), Hill and colleagues argued that children were one of the most highly governed groups in society, and that lack of recognition for their competence and agency had ‘confined them to a state of impotency’ (p 84).

However, recent developments – theoretically, empirically and in policy and practice – that aim to address children's marginalisation and exclusion from society subscribe to a new agenda of enhancing children's participation in public and political life so that they are more directly involved in decisions that affect them. These developments are underpinned by a rights-based approach to children and young people’s experiences and needs with reference to principles of participation that are underscored by an international mandate (United Nations [UN] Convention on the Rights of the Child; see UNICEF, 1989, Article 12; see also International Save the Children Alliance, 2008). Theoretically they are also aligned to the ‘new’ sociology of childhood that sees children as active citizens with important contributions to make (see Wyness, 2006; see also Mayall, 2002). These issues are explored in this chapter with reference to new and developing research methods that enhance children's participation and work directly with them to facilitate children's voices in research. Particular attention is given to research on young carers in the UK, which started in the early 1990s, and demonstrates how new approaches to working inclusively with vulnerable children and young people can result in social and political transformations as well as improve their quality of life and the lives of their families.