Listening, acting and changing UK policy with children: learning from European examples and theories of children’s agency

Abstract: Recent developments suggest increasing European receptiveness to children’s involvement in policymaking, which has some resonance with practice in the UK. Individually and collectively, children are sometimes involved, usually at earlier stages of the policy cycle, but inclusiveness of marginalised children and resulting impact are often lacking. Exploring examples provides ways of questioning which children are being listened to, when, how and with what results in terms of action and change. Using relational accounts of agency can give insight into the relationships between people and environments that may be facilitative of children’s collective and individual influence.

Keywords: Children, childhood, participation, agency, public policy.

Article posted to Journal of the British Academy, volume 8, supplementary issue 4 (Multidisciplinary perspectives on the child’s voice in public policy).