Location: online via Zoom
Time: 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm (CET)

Dr. Lynsey Burke, Dr. Katie Westwood and Laura Jarvie (Lectures in Early Years Education and Education Studies, University of Dundee – Scotland)

Leading change: A playful approach to listening to children’s voices in the Additional Support Needs sector

This session explores how creative and play-based methods can be used to listen to the voices of children with additional support needs. There is increasing recognition of child-centred approaches to listen to children’s voices and to enact Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989). This increase is underpinned by theories proposing that the concept of ‘voice’ is multi-faceted and multi-layered, and that pedagogies to listen to children should align with developmentally appropriate methods, specifically play.

Drawing on a combination of an ethnographic and a participatory research approach, children located within the Additional Support Needs base of a primary school in Scotland were invited to become co-researchers. The children identified a research question and a project focus which was meaningful to them. Children then decided how, when and where to share their views on the research questions by identifying individual communication preferences for the data collection phase, using, for example, Lego, blocks, clay, percussion instruments, painting, sand boxing, loose parts and mapping. The children’s voices, captured and amplified through these arts-based methods, were subsequently used to inform meaningful change within their daily lives in school. Ethical considerations were carefully addressed throughout, recognising the particular needs of researching alongside vulnerable children.

Underpinning all stages of this project was the ‘Leading by Listening: A playful approach’ framework (Burke & Jindal-Snape, 2024). In this PINA session, we will share the framework and highlight the importance of children’s agency throughout the participatory research process. Alongside a presentation of findings, we will also hear reflections from the school’s Head Teacher, to consider the impact of this project on the school’s spaces, pedagogies and environment, and to highlight how children’s voices have been used to shape change. More widely, it is hoped that this study will help to raise the profile of innovative research methods and their value when listening to and amplifying children’s voices.

Please request the Zoom link from pina(at)fh-potsdam.de