School health promotion aims to empower children to gain control over and improve their health. In contrast to many health promotion activities in schools focussed on predefined health issues, giving children a voice to define their own health needs is in itself an empowering process. Utilising a photography methodology, this research aimed to…

In this paper we describe a method for exploring young children's views of illness causality in social context. Studies of children's conceptualisation of illness have predominantly focused on the nature of children's knowledge rather than locating that knowledge within socio-cultural contexts. Adopting a socio-constructivist perspective we sought…

Samoan school children living in New Zealand were given disposable cameras and asked to photograph examples of the uses of reading and writing outside the school. Interviewed later, they explained their photographs including information about literacy in church and family. Rote learning and oral presentation of biblical texts that were read and…

This paper first describes how activities using photographs of an early childhood education centre, and children's own photographs of that environment, were found to be effective ways of enabling young children (aged from two to four years old) to share their thoughts about their experiences. However, in reflecting on the data, it was recognised…

This article illustrates the story of a primary school in South Auckland, New Zealand, considering the state of well-being of its pupils. Situated in a deprived area with many people living in poverty, parts of the community caught in inter-gang rivalry, some children consider the school environment to be a safer place to be. Elements of the early…