Children as Members of A

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European Educational Research Journal

2015, Vol. 14(2) 129137

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DOI: 10.1177/1474904115571794

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Children as members of acommunity: Citizenship,participation and educationaldevelopment an introduction tothe special issue

Joana LcioResearch Centre on Child Studies, University of Minho, Portugal

John IAnsonSchool of Education, University of Stirling, UK

Abstract

For the purpose of this publication, the authors shall discuss the subject of young people as

citizens and, particularly, as members of a community. Their focus shall be on how young peopleperceive themselves as members of one (or several) community(ies), and on how communitarianinteractions (at an interpersonal and/or an organizational level) are viewed, by them, as

fundamental for their own development and for that of the community(ies) to which they belong.The contributions featured in this special issue invoke a broad understanding of participationand citizenship in terms of childrens everyday experiences, informed by their roles as members

of one (or several) family(ies), as students, as inhabitants of a certain space, etc. These differentroles emerge both as products and as constructs of the different stages upon which the childacts: they are contexts of individual but also collective and eventually communitarian action

and appropriation. The concept of community as dialectics is especially relevant here, since what

is sought is not consensus, but rather participation, which, in its plurality of forms, warrants theemergence of initiatives that really correspond to the individuals demands. The common, rather

than smothering diversity, emerges with the purpose of configuring fuller and more complex waysof experiencing citizenship and citizens rights.

Keywords

Child studies, participation, citizenship, community dynamics, educational development

Corresponding author:Joana Lcio, Centro de Investigao em Estudos da Criana, Instituto de Educao, Universidade do Minho, Campus de

Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.

Email:[email protected]

Editorial

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130 European Educational Research Journal 14(2)

What is a citizen? When does citizenship begin and does it ever end or get suspended, and, if so,

how? How is participation defined, and who is allowed to partake in the decision-making processes

within larger or smaller, more or less formal groups? What is childrens and young peoples role in

the process of regulating community life?

Several studies have discussed childrens competence for political understanding and reasoning

namely, their knowledge about the regulative and functional aspects of life in society (Berti,

1988; Berti and Andriolo, 2001), as well as their participation desired or effective in local

dynamics (Alparone and Rissotto, 2001; Tonucci, 2005; Tonucci and Rissotto, 2001; Woolley

et al., 1999). These have contributed to establishing a fundamental principle, which is the basis of

the discussion presented in this special issue: that children are not oblivious to the features and

modus operandi of their surroundings, and, not only that, their perceptions and appropriations are

highly complex and continuously evolving, influenced by the media, their interactions with peers

and others, and their own experiences. Our perspective is, therefore, opposed to approaches that

view children as bystanders passive, largely unnoticed elements of community life who, due to

their young age, are believed to lack the necessary maturity to exercise a political voice or to under-

stand the functioning of social institutions and citizen participation (Vilarinho, 2004).

Moreover, this special issue also aims to discuss educational processes and contexts, whether

at formal, informal or non-formal levels, as privileged platforms for experiencing participation

not only through contact with diverse spiritual, aesthetic, moral and civic values, but also

through childrens direct engagement in decision-making, proposing initiatives and managing

conflict. This is a move away from merely witnessing democracy towards practising democracy

(Freire, 1994).

Citizenship and participation in the everyday life of children

The 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was

marked in 2014. With 140 signatories, the UNCRC was devised on 20 November 1989, becoming

effective in September of the following year, after ratification. With currently 194 countries being

party to it (including every member of the United Nations except Somalia, South Sudan and the

USA), the UNCRC is, itself, the product of a series of related childrens rights proclamations

drafted by the founder of Save the Children, Eglantyne Jebb, in 1923, known as the Declaration of

the Rights of the Child. In its present form, the UNCRC (United Nations, 1989) consists of 54

Articles pertaining to child-specific needs and rights, including the right to life, to a name and an

identity, to be raised within a family or cultural grouping, and to participate fully in family, cultural

and social life.

Explicitly, the childs right to participation, in its many forms, is acknowledged in Article 23

(where it is stated that children with disabilities should be awarded conditions that facilitate their

active participation in the community) and Article 31 (which recognizes the childs right to partici-

pate freely and fully in the cultural and artistic life of their community). Other Articles are, how-

ever, equally relevant to understanding the concept of participation that is at stake in this document

namely, Articles 1215, which generally acknowledge the childs ability to form their own views,

as well as the right to express them freely, to be heard and to have their views acted on when appro-

priate (freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of association). Article 12, for exam-

ple, clearly states that the views of children should especially be taken into consideration in matters

directly pertaining to them i.e. that children are to be seen as experts in their own issues, as

opposed to certain forms of adultcentrism that preclude this.In an effort to clarify the rights of the citizens of the European Union, the Charter of Fundamental

Rights of the European Union became legally binding for European Union institutions and national

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Lcio and IAnson 131

governments in 2010 (European Parliament, 2010). This document consolidates, among others,

recommendations relating to child labour, the legal, economic and social protection of families,

and the right to education, as well as the notion that childrens views shall be taken into considera-

tion on matters which concern them in accordance with their age and maturity.

In February 2011, in a communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European

Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions, the European Commission

established An EU agenda for the rights of the child (European Commission, 2011). Among other

aspects, this document draws attention to the vulnerability of children in online contexts, where

many young people find platforms for engagement in public debate, supporting a strategy of

empowerment and promotion of participation as a means of preventing online violence. Again, the

goal of securing the participation of children in the development and implementation of actions

and policies that directly affect them (such as education, health and environmental issues) is made

explicit.

The acknowledgement of childrens right to participate is indelibly connected not only to an

acknowledgement of their ability and willingness to do so, but also to their recognition as actors in

their own right authors of their own social and cultural actions, whether through play and/or their

language(s) and forms of self- and hetero-governance. Acknowledging children as citizens involves

not only a recognition of the ways in which they conform to more or less standardized ways of

relating to the world, of participating at the civic and political level and consuming cultural prod-

ucts, on the one hand, but also, on the other, recognizing their innovations, their creativity and even

their negation or subversion of traditional models of participation and citizenship. The legiti-

macy of their status necessarily means a change in the scope of the concept of citizen participation,

so as to integrate childrens behaviours and attitudes, and validate their perceptions about the func-

tioning of communities.

Decision-making is, of course, only one of several forms of participating that children (and

citizens in general) have; for many, this will be their first experience of involvement in commu-

nity dynamics. In their discussion about the participation of children in democratic processes in

kindergarten, Danner and Jonyniene (2012) typify its forms: participation in the decision about

the subject and execution of projects; open participation in formal or informal meetings/gather-

ings; and representation in a parliament or assembly of children. According to the authors, such

experiences, at a young age, have an educational purpose insofar as children are given the oppor-

tunity to learn about rights and duties through their empirical exercise. Through such practice,

children come to understand the limits to their freedom, as citizens, through an awareness of the

effects of their own actions in relation to their peers. However, such forms of participation

mostly conform to a logic of consultation in accordance with adult-established agendas. As

Taylor and Percy-Smith (2008: 381) observe: whilst having a say is important, it constitutes

only a part of the participatory process.

This is, in fact, one of the main dilemmas regarding childrens participation. One of the main

criticisms made by those who discuss the widespread legitimation of programmes and policies via

an appeal to a rhetoric of voice (IAnson, 2013) is that this can amount to little more than a popu-

list gesture, bringing in its trail instrumental and passive models of participation, such as represen-

tation and consultation. There is, in other words, a clear gulf that separates inquiring into childrens

opinions from actually engaging these actors in the process of responding to the issues they raise.

However, as Taylor and Percy-Smith (2008) highlight, the problematic aspect may lie deeper

still, since the consultation process is, itself, biased in its very formulation. Both the inquiry of

children into issues defined as relevant by an adult-driven agenda and its structure privilege stand-ardized forms of agency, while neglecting young peoples propensity for social action, social

movements and sporadic and short term activities (Taylor and Percy-Smith, 2008: 381).



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Likewise, the focus on change and outcomes blocks an understanding of the participatory aspects

that are already presentin childrens actions and contexts. The very act of urging children to take

part in programmes designed by adults to facilitate their participation in thisway unwittingly

sends a message that the forms of participation that children autonomously choose are in various

ways invalid, immature and unsophisticated.

Listening to children, providing them with platforms that enable their voices to be heard in a

safe and nurturing environment, is merely one step, and one, moreover, that many groups and com-

munities have already moved beyond. Nonetheless, development within both communities and

individuals themselves can only arise from intergenerational dialogue (not only listening to what

children say, but also responding to them) and equality i.e. from welcoming childrens voices into

formal arenas and decision-making bodies (Mannion, 2012).

Other dilemmas pertaining to the issue of childrens participation have to do with temporality,

such as how quickly it is possible, in practice, to respond to the issues raised by children. Secondly,

there is an issue regarding the management of the expectations of all those involved in the process;

this includes, for example, how effective responses are perceived to be by children, decision-

makers, families and their communities. Irrespective of ones own particular institutional location

within this process, childrens participation inevitably gives rise to deep emotional investment. As

Alparone and Rissotto (2001: 426) point out: just as the citizens and the children themselves may

have over-optimistic expectations concerning the administration, so the latter may over-estimate

the childrens real capacity for, and interest in, contributing.

Children in the community and the community of children

If the issue of childrens participation is fraught with dilemmas and subtleties, the same is true for

community dynamics and for the legitimacy of communities in the overall governing structure.

Community actors are often marginalized, either for not speaking the language of the decision-

makers or for not abiding by national and/or global agendas. As Taylor and Percy-Smith (2008:

385) emphasize: formal participation opportunities often demand expert citizens with the skills,

resources and an ability to think strategically that takes time to develop.

If it is true that ensuring the participation of children does not immediately guarantee better

outcomes to the decision-making process, it is also true that the engagement of community figures

does not necessarily result in greater social justice and more effective development. At any rate,

while there is no direct proportionality and there may be no immediate (and profitable) outcomes,

there is an inherent social capital in relationships and networks that is, without doubt, the corner-

stone for sustainable development. In this bottom-up approach, diversity and creativity emerge as

the main resources: children are both authors of their own narratives, those of the communities

they are part of (Harris and Manatakis, 2013), and agents of development in a broad sense, which

includes their physical surroundings and the social, cultural and discursive spaces within which

they move (Danner and Jonyniene, 2012).

Participation and development

One important aspect of place-based educational approaches, including childrens participation,

has been the idea of the child not only as a parameter for assessing the quality of life within com-

munities, but also as a starting point for more inclusive actions and projects (Alparone and Rissotto,

2001; Tonucci, 2004, 2005; Tonucci and Rissotto, 2001). This means that much can be inferredfrom the presence (or absence) of children in everyday or ad hoc dynamics and initiatives within a

communitys life. If children do not participate, either because they are not invited or because they



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Lcio and IAnson 133

or their families feel it is unsafe to do so, or because they are purposefully kept at bay from deci-

sion-making processes, something is seen to be not working properly. One of the basic premises

informing The City of Children initiative (Tonucci, 2004) is that a childs viewpoint is taken to be

more inclusivethan that of an adult, so that if one is looking at the city (or, for that matter, a com-

munity or a certain phenomenon) from the standpoint of a child, one is more likely to perceive

issues and relations in a more inclusive way. An upshot of this way of proceeding is that pressing

issues such as the right to leisure, mobility and autonomy, etc., whether this is with a view to devis-

ing or restoring a space or a service, can benefit widely from the inclusion of childrens perceptions

and their creative and sometimes ideologically disruptive potential. As Tonucci and Rissotto

(2001: 414) point out, with such approaches, the aim is to collect the childrens needs and, together

with them, to interpret the communitys requirements, to obtain from them ideas and proposals for

the restructuring.

Cross-cutting at legislative, agenda-setting and academic levels is the issue of development:

participation is a condition or at least a mechanism for development, both for the individual and

for communities. Access to positive, healthy and safe participation experiences potentiates auton-

omy, the rise of a sense of identity and an overall perception of competence; it leads, at a commu-

nity level, to better ways of functioning (Alparone and Rissotto, 2001; Taylor and Percy-Smith,

2008; Tonucci, 2005). According to Bruyere (2010: 207), children with successful developmental

trajectories tend to display leadership, help others value diversity they develop into citizens

who contribute to self, family, community, and society.

The promise of participation is somewhat dependent on more or less explicit educational

actions: contemporary exhortations about the importance of citizenship impress on those who

are not already on message the importance of mutual obligations, civic values, and respect for

the rule of law (Hall et al., 2000: 462). This idea of educating for citizenship and participation, as

we have already suggested, is fairly controversial in itself, as it brings with it an issue not only of

access to information (for individuals and for communities), but also of fostering a range of

attitudes, dispositions and values (Hall et al., 2000: 462). This, in turn, leads to a series of evalua-

tive judgements that convey what are deemed to be good (desired and promoted) and bad

(frowned upon or ruled out of court) ways of participating.

The idea of more active forms of citizenship active participation has been on the rise over

the past decades, and particularly in the face of social movements emerging from the global socio-

economic crisis after 2008. This pertains to a perceived need to move beyond approaches based on

rights and duties, to having people realize their membership of a community through direct engage-

ment in response to communal affairs. Aspects of immediacy and relevance are, in a way, mitigated

(since the results are faster and likely to be more effective), but this also comes at a price: a certain

abnegation of responsibility on the part of national and global governments as regards community

issues (Hall et al., 2000).

The contributions

This special issue is concerned with the comparison and discussion of multi- and transnational

perspectives about the issues of children/young people as citizens, members of communities and

actors in their own right, and in their communities educational and social development processes.

As such, this collection of articles responds to a growing trend to address such issues not only

within educational research more generally, but also within the European Educational Research

Journaland the European Conference on Educational Research.In the past, this journal has featured articles and issued special numbers which fit with some of

the concerns that we wish to foreground in this special issue. In 2002, the journal issued a number



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pertaining to the relationship between learners and their learning/working environments, featuring

contributions about student voices (Papatheodorou, 2002) and youth citizenship (Evans, 2002). In

2003, there was a special issue on Civic education (see Menezes, 2003), edited with the purpose

of highlighting and discussing data collected within the context of the Civic Education Study pro-

moted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. In 2005, a

special issue on Young people, rights and social exclusion featured data about youth at risk of

exclusion and their social re-engagement (see Zay, 2005). Finally, in 2011, with its issue on

Bottom-up approaches to agency in education, theEuropean Educational Research Journalfos-

tered discussion around ethnographic research approaches to children as social agents, with a par-

ticular focus on their roles as students (see Mick, 2011).

Even if the themes of childrens participation and education for citizenship have not been

entirely absent from the discussion provided by previous issues of the journal, with this special

issue we would like to promote discussion about not only what is taking place in schools (and

within schools as organizations which are part of a broader community), but also what is happening

in childrens lives, featuring their own narratives about their roles as members of families, youth

organizations, neighbourhoods, etc., together with their views about institutions, utopias, the

media, individual well-being, educational research, governance issues, etc.

The articles included in this special issue focus on one of two main areas of interest within the

larger theme of Children as members of a community: (1) the community inside the school and

the participation of children (offering insight into the school as a community in itself and as an

organization which is, at the same time, part of a broader community) and (2) the community of

children (offering insight into children as a group and, consequently, as a community, with a par-

ticular focus on informal and non-formal contexts and educational experiences).

The contributions are diverse in terms of their theoretical and epistemological frameworks, as

well as their methodological approaches, but they all feature what the editors consider to be a posi-

tive balance between a (critical) theoretical discussion and the empirical data that they elaborate

on. While the contexts from which they draw are broad, these studies also focus on children as

complex and multifaceted actors, integrated and participating at various levels and not exclu-

sively as students, family members, inhabitants, etc.

In their contribution pertaining to an analysis of classroom-based participatory dynamics, Reetta

Niemi, Kristiina Kumpulainen and Lasse Lipponen discuss children as co-authors in the pedagogi-

cal process. They also discuss the role of children in action-research processes, and the dilemmas

of simultaneously acting as a teacher and a researcher. The article describes the ways in which an

innovative diamond-ranking methodology was mobilized, and how attending to the childrens

own words thus produced provided insight into both the pedagogical process and the research

process itself.

Roco Garca-Carrin and Javier Dez-Palomar present a very thorough and important discus-

sion about the Schools as Learning Communities initiative, recommended by the European

Commission as an effective model to support school quality and development. As they focus on a

specific type of Successful Educational Action (Interactive Groups), the authors navigate the phi-

losophy and the process of implementing this strategy, discussing their results in light of the inclu-

sion of children, their academic performance and socio-emotional development, and cohesion at

the community level.

Focusing on the city and analysing childrens discourses and projects concerning urban contexts

and dynamics, Joana Lcio discusses focus groups as legitimizing participation tools. The article

offers insight into children as a community, an aspect that is identifiable a priori (i.e. a set of chil-dren who have in common belonging to a more or less formal group), but one that also emerges as

a created commonality (i.e. defining themselves as a group in opposition to a more or less



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Lcio and IAnson 135

expected and/or identifiable Other). It is, therefore, a discussion about issues of power, agency and

the relational aspect of the educational process.

From a multinational perspective, crossing data from Australia, England, New Zealand, Italy

and Sweden, Jonathon Sargeant and Jenna Gillett-Swan bring to the table what children would

like adults to know about how they perceive themselves in interaction with the family and the

community, as well as their place in the educational process and their concepts of well-being. In

their analysis of childrens voices emerging from the latters response to open-ended written inquir-

ies, the authors discuss issues of capacity/ability, empowerment, dissatisfaction and acknowledge-

ment, and present recommendations that are useful in terms of teachers practices.

This special issue presents and discusses original research data concerning the status of children

as community members, citizens and participants in decision-making processes, while also dis-

cussing the European guidelines regarding childrens participation and its developmental role at

both the individual and community level. Through our analysis of these core documents in

European policy and a state of the art that features mainly European authors, in this introduction

we attempt to pave the way for a European perspective on the issue of children as members of a

community. We believe, however, that such a perspective is better established a posteriori: it

emerges from the discussion provided by the articles hereby featured, and not from a preset frame-

work of expectations about what is, or is not, consistent with European concerns or European

ways of doing educational research.

At any rate, it is possible to identify, from the outset, some commonalities to these contributions

and the research processes from which they originated. These allow us to transition from the simple

concourse of multiple outlooks to an integrated view of how these issues are being addressed, and

what impact they have on childrens daily lives and those of their communities. The articles fea-

tured in this special issue are essentially qualitative in their approach, while also seeking to move

beyond a view of children as subjects, or spectators, in the research process, as well as in the

decision-making processes within communities. There is also a focus on schools as part of wider

communities (the neighbourhood, the city, etc.), as the learning process itself is discussed as some-

thing that spatio-temporally transcends the school. The innovative methodologies that are pre-

sented and discussed in these articles may also provide teachers and other childhood professionals

with valuable insights, and possibly tools, for promoting richer learning experiences which inte-

grate the local and global, the past and future, the individual and community, and profane and

scholarly knowledge.

Linked with this growing emphasis on childrens participation and their role within the com-

munity is the emergence of a new sociology of childhood (Nobel-Carr, 2006), as well as a more

ecological approach to human development, wherein internal assets are [thought to be] best

promoted through a childs participation in healthy communities and families (Bruyere, 2010:

209). In this new approach, as Harris and Manatakis (2013: 69) point out, children are seen to be

key informants and experts on their own lives, who have the right and capability to contribute to

decisions that affect them. This is, of course, not disconnected from the efforts, at the end of the

20th century, to systematize how childrens understanding of core political concepts and demo-

cratic functioning develops over time (Berti, 1988; Berti and Andriolo, 2001; Reay and Lucey,

2000; Woolley et al., 1999).

As we shift our focus towards not only the viewpoints, but also the voices of children in regard

to how they perceive themselves and the groups of which they are a part, how they apprehend and

elaborate on the history of their communities, and how they shape their surroundings and, ulti-

mately, the future of their contexts, there is a certain aspect of resilience: resilient people, andresilient communities, are those who can successfully manipulate their environment in order to

isolate themselves from the negative consequences of harmful events (Tintor, 2013: 75). The



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articles in this special issue point to ways in which children are claiming new platforms for partici-

pation and civic engagement, as well as directing decision-makers eyes towards what they con-

sider really matters.

Declaration of conflicting interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit

sectors.

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Author biographies

Joana Lcioholds a doctorate in Education Sciences. She is currently a researcher at the Research Centre on

Child Studies (University of Minho, Portugal), a trainer in the field of social and educational mediation, and

the Link Convenor for the European Educational Research Associations Network 14: Communities, Families,and Schooling in Educational Research. Her research interests include the Educating Cities movement, medi-

ation and non-formal/informal educational processes.

John IAnsonis Director of Initial Teacher Education and teaches on the initial teacher education and doctor-

ate programmes at the University of Stirling, UK. He is the Link Convenor for the European Educational

Research Associations Network 25: Research in Childrens Rights in Education. His research interests

include education and childrens rights, cultural difference and aesthetic education.
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdfhttp://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdfhttp://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdfhttp://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdf