Lesley Emerson Katrina Lloyd Elizabeth Welty Centre for Children’s Rights

1. Lesley Emerson Katrina Lloyd Elizabeth Welty Centre for Children’s Rights Queen’s University Belfast Involving children in measuring impact in their own lives:The development of a measure of children’s perception of their enjoyment of their participation rights in school and in their communities

2. Children’s Rights-Based Research • Core concepts in human rights discourse: human dignity, empowerment and rights-based demands for change • Children’s rights based research should: • seek to further the realisation of children’s rights • be guided by international standards • contribute to the development of the capacities of the adults as duty-bearers to meet their obligations and empower children as rights-holders to claim their rights (see Lundy and McEvoy(Emerson) 2009, 2011, 2012a, 2012b)

3. Children’s Rights-Based Participation:Assisting children to (in)formed views Information (Article 13, 17) ‘seek and impart information in medium of choice’ In formation (Article 5) ‘adult guidance in the exercise of the rights in the Convention’ (In)formed view (Article 12) ‘form and express views which are given due weight’ (Lundy and McEvoy (Emerson), 2012a)

4. Children as co-researchers (Lundy and McEvoy(Emerson), 2009, 2011) • Work with Children’s Research Advisory Groups (CRAGs) at all stages of the research project • CRAGs are not research subjects rather they are invited to participate on the basis of the expertise they can bring to the research • Remit of CRAGs: • advise on the research process including how best to engage with other children on the issues • assist with the analysis and interpretation of the findings from interviews with other children • provide insight on the main issues under investigation • identify potential solutions which might address the problems • Central to work with the CRAGs is the requirement to build the children’s capacity as co-researchers in understanding the issues being researched in the project.

5. St Ita’sChildren’s Research Advisory Group

6. Developing a measure of children’s participation rights: process • Children’s Research Advisory Group (CRAG): 6 children aged 10 years old • Capacity building: children’s understanding of ‘participation’ in school and community; familiarisation with participation rights as expressed in CRC; developing understanding of a ‘measure’ • Developing statements for the measure: What would a child say about a school really respected children’s participation rights?

8. Developing a measure of children’s participation rights: process • Developing statements for the measure: Design a community that respects children’s participation rights • Statements from all children in the CRAG collated and draft measure produced • Measure refined in consultation with CRAG • Measure piloted in large scale survey

9. CRQ (participation) These questions are about children’s rights. We want to find out about what children think about their right to have a say about things that affect them. The questions were written by this group of children:

10. We want to find out what children think about their right to have a say about things that affect them My school listens to what I have to say about……… • What we do in class   • What I have to say about school rules • How to make our school better In my school……… • I can give my opinions freely • The adults make it easy for me to give my views • The adults take my views seriously • The adults talk to me about how decisions are made • The adults make sure I can easily get the information I need about what is going on in the school 5 point likert for each statement

11. Now we want to know if you think the adults in your community take your views seriously. When we say ‘community’ we mean your neighbourhood or your area. It includes things like the leisure centres or activity centres you go to, libraries, churches, shops, health centres and parks etc.

12. In my community.............. • The adults ask me for my views • The adults take my views seriously • I can easily find out about activities (like youth clubs, church clubs, sports activities) for children my age • I can easily find out about what’s going on for children in places like libraries, museums, and parks • I am asked for my views on how happy I am with the activities in my community • The adults make it easy for me to give my views on the activities going on in my community What do you think could be done (in your school or in your community) to make sure that children’s views are taken seriously? (open ended)

13. Analysis and interpretation with CRAG • Analysis of open-ended responses • 85% of children who completed the survey responded to open ended question • Children clustered a reduced set of responses to generate themes • Themes used to code all responses • Interpretation of quantitative findings • ‘Family fortune’ style quiz

14. Preliminary findings • Kids’ Life and Times • Annual online school-based survey of approximately 4,000 10/11 year old children in Northern Ireland • Questions include attitudes to school, bullying in school, KIDSCREEN-10 Quality of Life Measure, Family Affluence Scale • 3,773 respondents to 2013 KLT • Boys – 49%, Girls – 51%

15. CRQ Participation Scales • Reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) – 0.89 • Principal Components Analysis • 2 Factors • CRQSchool (8 items) • CRQCommunity (6 items) • Higher scores on the scales indicate more positive feelings about their participation rights

16. Preliminary findings • Children generally positive about their participation rights. • More positive about their participation rights in school than in community • Girls are more positive about their participation rights in school than boys • Girls are more slightly more positive about their rights in the community than boys. • Children who said they were mostly happy at their school (81% respondents) had higher mean scores on the CRQ scales than those who said they were mostly unhappy (4% respondents) or who couldn’t decide (15% respondents

17. Preliminary findings • Children suggestions with regard to improve their participation in school and community: • Public mechanisms (e.g. school and community councils) • Private mechanisms • Awareness raising for adults and children • Strategies for ensure adults listen (‘make the adults do it’)

18. Next Steps • Analyse CRQ data in relation to well-being data • Analyse CRQ data in relation to ‘rights-respecting schools’ • Include the CRQ (participation) in forthcoming survey of adolescents • Developing other domains: • Article 29 • Safety etc

19. References • Lundy, L. and McEvoy, L. (2009) Developing outcomes for education services: a children’s rights-based approach, Effective Education 1(1) pp.43-60 • McEvoy, L. and Lundy, L. (2007) E-consultation with pupils- a rights-based approach to the integration of citizenship education and ICT Technology, Pedagogy and Education 16 (3) pp.305-320 • Lundy, L., McEvoy, L. and Byrne B. (2011) Working with young children as co-researchers: an approach informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Early Education and Development 22(5) • Lundy, L. and McEvoy, L. (2012) ‘Childhood, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Research: What Constitutes a ‘Rights-Based’ Approach?’(Chapter in Freeman (ed) Law and Childhood Oxford University Press)