1. The problems and potential of giving voice to children
Allison James

2. Voices of children New mantra for policy & practice since UNCRC 1989
Listening to children about matters that concerns them
Children's wishes and feelings to be sought out
“Children’s voices” seen as symbol of democratic society
Yet…

3. Children's Voices…. articulate few often stand for the many
exploitation of poor and oppressed – use of children as witnesses of hunger
seen as authentic, unmediated voices
symbolic of innocence of children
Inclusion of children's views still often tokenistic
voices still often ignored & dismissed in practice

4. Anthropology & Sociology of childhood
‘new paradigm’ 1970s onwards
Hardman (1973); James and Prout (1990)
Children as social actors
Children as informants about own lives
Children’s standpoint & perspective
an account of society from the point where children stand – that is, from a children’s standpoint – is in principle just as conceivable as any of the theoretical accounts of more conventional ‘adult sociologies’ (Alanen 1992:109).

5. Anthropology & Sociology of childhood
1990s onwards
New methods for research and accessing children’s views
children’s voices/ perspectives appear in research accounts, speaking about the things that concern them as children.
growth of participatory research methods to access children’s views

6. Paradox
Why is it that given the political rhetoric surrounding the commitment to hearing “children’s voices” and, apparently, now having the theoretical and methodological means to access them, little of what children say seems to get heard outside of the academy (Roberts 2000) ?

7. Issues that need addressing
Epistemological break with ideas of children's incompetence to speak
BUT
No longer sufficient simply to present children’s voices as apt illustrations
Childhood studies has now to engage more directly with core issues of social theory & policy & practice
must clearly identify unique contribution to understanding social world that children’s perspectives offer – i.e. why children's voices matter
need to recognise potential of political shift - parallel shifts in feminism

8. Core issues for childhood studies
(1) Authenticity & representation
Who is representing children?
How are children's voices being represented?
For what purposes?
What role(s) do children's voices carry in research?
( 2) Issues of diversity
“children’s voices” and “voices of children” gloss differences between children
UNCRC – best interests of “the child” (Article 12)

9. Core issues for childhood studies
(3) Issues of participation
Research roles – research “on” or “with” children?
How far are / can children be included in research?
(4) Issues of interpretation
Can adult researchers see the world from “ the native’s [children's} point of view” (Geertz 1983) ?
(5) Children as researchers?
Does using children as researchers necessarily lead to:
greater authenticity?
Does it overcome power differences in the research relationship?

10. (1) Authenticity & representation
Need to interrogate authenticity and representation
“the voice of the child” is not unimpeachable
Children’s voices in accounts NOT authentic
Voices chosen , selected by author
Need to avoid “ethnographic ventriloquism” (Geertz 1983)i.e. claiming to speak for children
‘ the ethnographer …in the end assumes an executive , editorial position’ (Clifford 1988:51).

11. (2) Issues of diversity
Need to recognise that “the voice of the child” is not universal
there is no such thing as ‘the child’
need to avoid text positivism i.e. assuming that
“ what children say” applies to all children

12. (3) Issues of interpretation
“Children’s voices” are always glossed by the author
‘quotations are always staged by the quoter and tend to serve merely as examples of confirming testimonies’ (Clifford 1988:50)
Need to challenge routine “quoting” voices in text
adding decoration in claim to authenticity
tokenistic practices

13. (4) Issues of participation
Participatory research methods do allow children’s voices to be heard
Fun for children to do
allows abstract ideas to become more concrete
Mediates research relationship
Draws on children's own skills
BUT
Can become end in their own sake!
Proliferation of methods often just a proliferation – not triangulation
Children can become over researched and over whelmed
may just wish to talk!

14. (5) Children as researchers?
Aim to make children’s voices more authentic & overcome other problems
BUT 
‘the reasons why a child or a young person should choose to participate in research are clearer in some studies than others…we cannot take it for granted that participation in research and the development of increasingly sophisticated research methods to facilitate children’s participation is necessarily always in their interests’ ( Roberts 2000:238).
Can be potentially as exploitative as other forms of research
Can lead to a tension between research and advocacy roles
Can limit aims of research and research questions to “children's issues”, rather than asking children about other m,ore global concerns

15. Potential of children's voices
Research has revealed children's engagement with adult world & need to listen to children
(e.g. children’s views of parental divorce Smart, Neale and Wade 2001)
(e.g. implementation of Childrend ACT children's wishes and feelings & adults’ idea of “best interests” (James, James and McNamee 2004)
Child-centred research has assisted with promotion of children's rights & their local implementation
( e.g. children as health educations Onyango-Ouma 2001)
Children’s perspectives on child labour (Boyden, Ling and Myers 1998)
Recognition of social construction of childhood has enabled diversity to be explored
(e.g. culturally appropriate interventions Woodhead 1996)
( e.g. children's views on gender and race in the classroom (Connolly 1998; 2004)

16. Conclusion Childhood studies achieved a great deal
Poised for development in future
Voices important but also need to explore structural issues
Cultural politics of children's voices can explore relationship between:
Childhood as a social space
Childhood as a generational category
Child as individual