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Participation in different arenas
Clearly, the outcomes to be achieved by children and young people’s participation vary according to the arena in which the participation is happening. Theoreticians differ in their definitions of arena. Sinclair and Franklin separate private (within the family or between individuals) and public (service) arenas, but make a further distinction between decisions relating to an individual, and those relating to a group.
Kirby delineate participation as taking place in three areas:
• Where individual decisions are being taken about children’s own lives
• Where services for or used by children are being delivered locally
• Where national policies are being developed or evaluated.
Wright reduces this to two by collapsing the latter two together into ‘collective involvement in matters that affect them’, be they local or national services or policies.
A further way of defining arenas has been suggested by Moss, who conceives public provisions as ‘children’s spaces’. Spaces can be social, such as relationships, cultural, such as values and rights, and discursive, such as dialogue or deliberation. One of the key points illustrated by the research studies, is the importance of the ‘social space’ of relationship in facilitating children’s participation in decision making. Time and again, and in a variety of situations, such as in assessments and in leaving care, it is the children’s
relationship with their social worker that enables them to engage and take part. At an organisational level also, for example in school councils, the culture and dialogue of the interaction also contribute to the child having a voice which is heard suggest that the concept of children’s spaces alters ways of thinking about the relationship between professional and service users, so that both groups contain expertise and knowledge while the professionals are the facilitators. As we know from serious case reviews the information children can provide to professionals can be essential to safe decision making. Again, the idea of process and inclusion is central to this conceptualization of arenas and relationships, while the acknowledgment that all stakeholders bring expertise highlights a positive feature: that child also hold power although it may be expressed and experienced as different from adults.
These concepts convey different emphases in thinking about the connections between context, process and arena. Whatever the discourse, there is agreement that the participatory activities in which children and young people are involved occupy different spaces – and range from service planning and service development to situations where children may be involved as subjects in their own right Participation as achieving different outcomes.
Turning to the outcomes to be achieved in these varied arenas, there is some common ground that relates to process. Children’s engagement in both individual decision-making arenas and in organizational change, for example, shares features such as taking part and being committed.
From another pupil at Park View School: ‘School is not just about what my school and teachers can do for me, it’s also about what I can do for my school.’ (Bell 2011)
The capacity to present views clearly and to be heard is also important to achieve change, irrespective of the arena or the purpose of the enterprise. However, there are also differences in the intended outcomes.
In the case of individual decision-making arenas the outcome to be achieved is a personal one, often involving key decisions about where the child can live, who he or she can have contact with…and so on. The family group and the child are the most affected by the decision. In the case of organizational change, on the other hand, the objectives are to bring about change outside of self, that is, with the organization or policy. The process of participation will therefore also include some different aspects, such as consulting others in the group and presenting views effectively to a number of audiences. This girl from Park View School, representing Year 9, puts this succinctly: ‘Even though this is a leadership role, I don’t want to be seen as a leader. I would like to be seen as a representative.’ (Bell 2011)
And in the arenas of local services and national policies the mechanisms, skills, tasks and opportunities for being involved also differ. The Who Cares? Trust, for example, has resources, contacts and experience of meeting with ministers at national level which are not available to local groups involved in community initiatives – and their purposes may differ.
Despite the different goals of the participatory practice and the arena in which it takes place, there is evidence that positive outcomes are achieved by children’s participation, both in personal and in organizational domains. Although children’s estimation of the services they receive varies, a consistent finding is that they do value involvement in decisions which concern them, and that they are therefore more likely to maintain engagement which underpins change. All social workers and social work programmes, with all ages of children and young people, should therefore provide evidence that they engage children and their careers in the change process. Positive involvement and engagement underpin participatory practice, irrespective of the arena in which it takes place.
In relation to personal empowerment, the benefits for children of participation at both individual and organizational levels include learning new skills, such as presentation and negotiation, as well as increased self confidence and a stronger sense of self worth. This can happen at an individual level, in meetings and reviews, for example, as well as at an organizational level, in forums, councils, etc. The research carried out by Participation Works (Davey 2010) showed that children developed confidence and public speaking skills as a result of being a member of a school councilor youth forum. They had opportunities ‘to negotiate and think through problems from different angles and to use their own initiative’. Mostly these decisions were around what food they wanted rather than deciding how school budgets should be spent.
There is evidence that enhanced self esteem and greater self confidence are built upon children’s experiences that their views are valued. Research studies demonstrate that, where children are engaged in the therapeutic social work process, the objectives, for example, to teach new skills and strategies, are achieved. In some cases practitioners work specifically with a child to teach them how to manage their anger, as described previously in the account of the Webster Stratton children’s groups earlier in this chapter. In others the development of new skills can result from the self worth experienced as a result of the positive relationship and care devoted by the practitioner who can become the child’s ‘secondary attachment’ describes the importance of the role practitioners can play as a secondary attachment figure in child protection investigations.
However, before outlining some specific outcomes of personal skill development as a result of participatory practice, a note of caution. From the child’s perspective an outcome could be that they feel better, have a positive attitude, feel respected, and so on. Difficult to measure! From the agency’s perspective a positive outcome could be that more children have attended reviews or child protection conferences whereas, in fact, representation by other means might have been the child`s preference and more effective.
In practice, the young person may have experienced their review as a waste of time and boring or the young person may find that the school policy on bullying does not reflect the views she carefully presented in the school council – the process therefore may feel tokenistic and not worth the time and effort. Similarly, the child’s contribution to a social work record could be monitored, but would not necessarily provide evidence that the child had felt included, nor would it portray the quality of that transaction, nor of its effect on future events. This could really only be rated by the child and by longitudinal research.
