ESF Exploratory Workshop Children’s participation in decision-making: Exploring theory, policy and practice across Euro

1. ESF Exploratory WorkshopChildren’s participation in decision-making: Exploring theory, policy and practice across Europe What about Children’s Participation in Spain? Lourdes Gaitán

2. SUMMARY • INTRODUCTION • THE SITUATION IN SPAIN: • Participation in the education system • Participation in the local level • Juvenile Associations • General view • LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS

3. INTRODUCTION • Children’s participation is not an easily measurable issue. • The interest that we show in finding appropiate aproaches to define how to recognize what is or what may be considered a real participation, is proving it. • We can learn looking at the experiences

4. PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION SYSTEM • Spanish Constitution (1978): Teachers, parents and, if it is appropiate, students, will intervene in control and management of all centres mantained with public budget. • LODE (1985): right to participate in the functioning and life of school • LOPEG (1995): regulates out-of-school activities, autonomous management and board of governors of the educational centers.

5. School Council Delegates Board Associations Delegates Students WAYS FOR STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION

6. BALANCE • Deficiency in democratic practices, as the students do not exert a real influence in decision-making. • Scarce interest of the students in participation. • Participation has fall in the last years and is of a 50% in the public schools (state schools) and a little higher in the private schools state-assisted. The lowest participation is in the proffesional cycles. • With reference to the stablished ways of participation: • The School Council has become a place where people certificates certain decissions previously adopted. Students are not consulted neither are taken into account. Their position is weak as there is not parity with the adult ones. Students feel that they are treated in a paternalistic way. • The Delegates position is ambigous • The Delegates Board does not carry out its functions • All this is related with the absence of participation in the classroom. • With reference to the Students Associations: • Short period (one or two years) for the students to pertain • Support from the center neither the teachers is needed

7. PARTICIPATION AT THE LOCAL LEVEL • Protection of Minors Act (1996): Minors have the right to participate fully in the social, cultural, artistic and recreational life of their environment. The Public Administrations must take into account the needs of the minor [...], especially in matters of ... culture, sport, entertainment, the media, transport and public spaces in towns. • Declarations equivalent are to be found in the autonomous legislation on children. • Plans for Childhood, Councils of Children, Parliaments, etc. can be found spreading out in a lot of municipalities.

8. PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY OF MADRID • “Warranties for the rights of childhood and adolescence” Act (1995) • Childhood and Adolescence Attention Councils Act (1999) organized in three levels: Regional, Subregional and Local • Implementation: • Edits a Guide (2001). • Creates a Commission for Participation (composed for adults exclusively) at regional level (2002). • Elaborates a Diagnosis of the situation of the experiences of children’s participation and organizes a meeting to present them (2003). • Edits a book (IMMF, 2004)

9. PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY OF MADRID: balance • Main goals : • The proposals of the children obtain consideration of the local authorities. • The children enjoy the experience. For some of them, participation activities are like other leisure activities. • Children feel that they take part in decisions. • They pass from demands to reasonable proposals.

10. PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY OF MADRID: balance • Main difficulties: • Lack of “participative culture” • Everlasting of the projects depends on political decisions or goodwill. • Teachers’ participation is crucial • The projects usually consider children from 8 to 12. No similar projects for young people. • The message for children is: • “You would decide some day, but now, you only can give your opinion and to learn for the future, when you will be adults”

11. JUVENILE ASSOCIATIONS • Almost impossible to know how many associations work with children in our country • In 1997, the ten principal organizations sum almost 2.000 local groups, congregate 146.522 children and 26.201 educators. • Represents a 2,13% of spanish children.

12. GENERAL VIEW • It is not possible to state that children’s participation lacks of support in Spain • Are they satisfied with their participation in the public space? • All the children involved in participatory projects declare that it has been a good experience. • The more serious and effective the project is, the more children feel that they are important for the community, and the conciousnes of their rights increases • That encourage them to defend new spaces for a participation • They think that to regulate the participation is not enough to ensure it, but consider it is necessary

13. LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS • Is common to critisize the way adults organize children’s participation, also construct participation tipologies to measure the grade children are taking part in decission making processes • Practitioners have a different approach: they suspect they are learning to move in a different field, and they appear to be mindful of the signs children emit • If we believe that the former ways of participation (to play to participate) are obsolete, and the adults’ formal democratic models are out of place, we have to attend to new forms of participative democracy and the ways in which children’s own feelings on participation are close or far to them

14. LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS • We have to think about a change in the mentalities, in the social representation of children, as a condition to achieve changes • The strategies to extend the participation rights of children, cannot leave any way without exploration • Among the existing ones, the school councils and the local based councils offer opportunities to a real participation

15. LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS • The actual social movements for a participative democracy have not count with children by the moment • It is important for children and young people to be included in the new conceptualization of citizenship • The elimination of any form of discrimination based on age, not only will permit children to vote, if they want to do so, but also tear down the barriers that obstructs the access of them to broader fields in the social life