Child Participation in Qualitative Research in Education: Ethical-Pedagogical Reflections from Chile

Abstract

This paper reflects on the possibilities, limits and ethical and pedagogical challenges of the participation of children and adolescents (CA) from 7 to 13 years old, in qualitative educational research, based on two research studies conducted in Chile in 2017 and 2020. Starting on a paradoxical vision of childhood and adolescence, which understands CA as vulnerable and dependent and, at the same time, as autonomous and free subjects, we question two common assumptions involved in the processes of research and ethical evaluation of research: On the one hand, the assumption that more participation means overexposure and harm to CA; and, on the other hand, the assumption that more participation is in itself better, and both ethically and pedagogically desirable for research and for CA. Furthermore, we distinguish three basic modes of participation: while research about CA considers them only as ‘topic’, ‘content’ or ‘object’ of study (1), research with CA allows their direct participation in some of the stages of the research (2), and research carried out by CA opens up to the possibility of their full and active participation in one or more stages as co-researchers (3). Thus, we propose that participation is a multidimensional, relational, and ambivalent phenomenon that challenges both traditional adult-centered and child-centered dogmatic positions and demands approaches to ethics that go beyond standardization. © 2024 Research Center of Universidad Pedagogica Nacional. All rights reserved.