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Susan Groundwater-Smith, Sue Dockett and Dorothy Bottrell 2015
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014940554
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4462-7286-2
ISBN 978-1-4462-7287-9 (pbk)
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About the Authors
Susan Groundwater-Smithis Honorary Professor, Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney and Visiting Professor, Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato. She has had an extensive career in teacher education, especially in relation to teachers-as-researchers, see Groundwater-Smith, S., Mitchell, J., Mockler, N., Ponte, P. & Ronnerman, K. (2013)
Facilitating Practitioner Research. London: Routledge. She is the convener of the Coalition of Knowledge Building Schools, a Special Interest Group in the Faculty of Education and Social work. This group has functioned for over ten years and includes schools and cultural institutions. It has a continuing commitment to consulting children and young people and, where possible, including them as active researchers. This work has drawn the attention of researchers in Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.Sue Dockettis Professor, Early Childhood Education, Charles Sturt University, Australia. Sues background is in early childhood and tertiary education. Over many years, Sue has engaged in research with children and young people, particularly in the years before school and the early years of school. Much of this research has focused on childrens experiences and expectations, as well as those of families, educators and communities at times of transition. She is co-author of
Transition to school: Perceptions, expectations and experiences (with Bob Perry), co-editor of
Transitions to school International research, policy and practice (with Bob Perry and Anne Petriwskyj) and
Varied perspectives on play and learning: Theory and research on early years education (with Bob Perry and Ole Fredrik Lillemyr).Dorothy Bottrellis a Senior Lecturer in Social Pedagogy, in the College of Education, Victoria University Melbourne and Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney. Her background is in secondary teaching, juvenile justice, youth and community work and TAFE teaching in community services. She has extensive experience working with marginalised young people and has led or contributed to participatory projects with young people and community organisations, including murals, girls film-making, establishing a young parents group, community-based education for early school-leavers and community development forums with children, young people, Aboriginal families and an older womens group. Her research has focused on the resilience of marginalised young people, including theoretical and qualitative empirical work that centres young peoples accounts of school, community and service systems. She is currently researching the interrelationship of resilience and responsibility, using political ecology and social justice frameworks; and is associate researcher with Kitty te Riele and Vicky Plows (Victoria Institute) on alternative education programs. Dorothy is co-author of
A political ecology of youth and crime; and co-editor of
Schools, communities and social inclusion; and
Communities and change.One Introduction: Arguing the Case for Participatory Research with Children and Young People
This book is directed to those who have an interest in researching with children and young people and is designed to be of practical assistance to students, practitioners and researchers in the fields of early childhood education, school education, community-based services and community development. Our aim is to bridge these fields through the discussion of theory, practice, approaches and issues in participatory research involving children and young people. Drawing on the very broad international literature, many exemplars of the varied forms of participatory work and a close discussion of case studies, we wish to highlight some of the common (and some not so common) problematics.
In developing and writing the book, we have drawn on our own experience as researchers, educators and collaborators with children and young people and their teachers, families, youth workers, a range of other professionals and our research teams. Our early discussions about what constitutes research and participation frequently focused on the specificities of childrens and young peoples interests and the varied cultural contexts of working with children and young people. In part this reflects our different experiences of working with children and young people.
