Listening To Children In Vulnerable Situations

This dissertation’s purpose is to concretise pedagogical concepts that help us think about the voices and positions of children in vulnerable situations in contemporary contexts of educating and researching. What matters when thinking about children’s voices, roles and positions in pedagogical and research spaces entangled with our own roles, positions and ethics? This doctoral study is built around four intra-active encounters within pedagogical spaces in Flanders where we bring in a posthuman reconceptualisation of voice to understand and value the entangled, collective and supported ways in which children become present in research. Each intra-active encounter sheds light on methodological and ethico-epistemo-ontological aspects of assembling children’s (posthuman) voices in research and possible creative and participatory ways of doing so. We describe five helpful movements when engaging with and listening to children in intra-active pedagogical and research encounters. Five movements that concretise listening to children’s voices in vulnerable situations and have the potential to transform an encounter into intra-active encounters of genuinely listening. This dissertation will be thought-provoking for practitioners in education and welfare contexts as well as for students and researchers that have the intention of doing research with (vulnerable) children in pedagogical contexts.

In Child-friendly Justice, world-leading experts on children’s rights analyse how the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has strengthened children’s status in civil, administrative and criminal justice systems.

Individual quality of life has been widely used as a frame of reference guiding service provision in social and health services, as well as a critical objective or outcome of these services. Yet, the topic of quality of life in the context of child and youth care remains a relatively uncharted territory. This dissertation is based on a practice-oriented project that focuses on bridging the gap between research and practice on the topic of quality of life of adolescents in youth care. This work concentrates on the development, validation, and application of a new self-report tool, grounded in youngsters’ experiences and perceptions, to methodically and systematically assess the quality of life of adolescents in youth care from their own perspectives: the Quality of Life in Youth Services Scale (QOLYSS). The QOLYSS aims to help understand how youngsters perceive, evaluate, and make sense of varying discrete aspects and circumstances of their lives. This line of work offers valuable insights to develop person-centered planning and implement individualized support, tailored to youngsters’ characteristics, perceptions of life, wishes, and expectations. It further helps unveil critical opportunities and barriers regarding a life of quality on the different layers of everyday life of youngsters. The work presented here provides a concrete tool and a number of cross-cutting implications for research, practice and policy when aiming to build quality of life-enhancing environments for youngsters in youth care that help them (re-)claim ownership of their lives and care pathways.

This book describes the use of data systems in early childhood settings (birth to eight years) for the purposes of assessment, evaluation and curriculum planning. It presents an international collection of research examining ways in which teachers and researchers have revisited notions of what constitutes effective assessment, revised ways in which they assess children’s learning and development and use the knowledge gained for curriculum planning. It offers insights into contemporary research on how teachers and children are engaging with data systems as part of effective assessment and how these approaches influence practice. This book presents recent theorizing and examples of research which have investigated innovative approaches to assessment using data systems in early years settings. It represents both early childhood and junior primary contexts and includes research which focusses on teachers’ perspectives and reflections on use of data systems. It also examines research which reflects on what children gain from being involved in these data systems.

Globally, social work faces increasingly complex cultural, political, economic, legal, organisational, technological and professional conditions. Critically reflecting on the subject, this book heightens critical consciousness among social work researchers, educators, practitioners and students about the structural dimensions of social problems and human suffering; it highlights the inter-relationship between agency and structure and discusses strategies to challenge and change both individual and societal consciousness. Offering the reader an opportunity to gain in-depth understanding of how critical reflection is possible in contemporary social work research, practice and education, it will be required reading for all social work scholars, students and professionals.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child lays down the right of children to form their own opinions, as well as the right to express these opinions. In the light of this, the Ombudsman for Children in Sweden has created Young Speakers – a qualitative method which recognises and elevates the voices of young people, without adult adjustment or correction. The rationale for the method is that children are experts on their own lives and have important information to share with decision makers. It is about listening to reflections, nuances, and in-depth stories that are difficult to understand and take into account without going into detail. By listening to different people tell their personal stories about the same topics, patterns, trends, and shortcomings can be identified.

Examines the different populations and settings that can make surveys hard to conduct and discusses methods to meet these challenges.