Children and Young People as Protagonists and Adults as Partners

Abstract

Locating children and young people’s research within a rights frame ensures children and young people’s agency, while also challenging power relations between them and adults. The chapter discusses examples from the Concerned for Working Children’s (CWC) experience of facilitating children and young people as ‘research protagonists’. The role of adults as partners in enabling research is emphasised, which forms the basis for children and young people’s citizenship and strengthens participatory democracy. The chapter proceeds to highlight the risks of children and young people’s research losing its grounding in a rights frame through institutionalisation and ilisciplinisation’ as a topic of study within the childhood studies field. Questions are raised regarding what drives adults’ interest in children and young people’s research and the potential implications of disciplinisation.