Conference Agenda

Children have a right to express their views and to have them given due weight in all matters affecting them (Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child). This provision has underpinned and informed much of the existing research and practice on student voice (Quennerstedt and Moody, 2020; Sargeant and Gillett-Swan, 2019). However, it has been suggested that it is one of the most commonly-used but widely misunderstood rights of children, with abbreviations such as the ‘right to participate’ potentially undermining implementation (Lundy, 2007) and that student participation has been characterised by ‘conceptual vagueness’ (Perry-Hazan & Somech, 2021). In spite of this, the term ‘participation’ continues to prevail in scholarship (in English) and European and national policy discourses, with little attention paid to how that is understood generally as well as in particular social and linguistic contexts.

The rationale for this panel arose in an online discussion of network 25 ECER in September 2021, when conversations about children’s right to participation in education turned to how the word ‘participation’ is understood and used in different languages. The focus of the panel discussion will be on how the word/ concept of ‘participation’ (or equivalent word) is used and understood in diverse languages, particularly in educational contexts. Three presenters who speak different languages (English (UK), French (Switzerland) and Hebrew (Israel)) will describe how the term/ concept participation is understood in their own languages and contexts. These are:

• Amy Hanna, University of Strathclyde, UK

• Lotem Perry Hazan and Idan Zak-Doron, University of Haifa, Israel

• Zoe Moody, University of Geneva, Switzerland

In particular, they will focus on the following common questions: the meaning of the word for ‘participation’ in their language/contexts; which word(s) or term(s) are used instead; what shapes understanding of this word in educational law and policy in their national context; and what consequences that understanding of the terms used has for practice and for implementation.

The presentations will be followed by an interactive, structured discussion facilitated by Jenna Gillett Swan (Queensland University of Technology, Australia). Session participants will be given time to research and reflect on the meaning and use of the term participation – or equivalents - in their own national context and language(s). This will be explored through reflection on the dictionary definitions, the colloquial use and the terms used in educational law/ policy (if at all). The discussion will be captured on posters.

We hope to be able to use the interactive discussions for further research into the topic. Session participants will be able to choose whether they give permission for us to use their input in continued exploration. Only information from participants that have consented will be captured and used as data.