ERIC Number: EJ1345427
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0300-4279
EISSN: EISSN-1475-7575
Child Agency and Therapy in Primary School
Cedar, L.; Coleman, A.; Haythorne, D.; Jones, P.; Mercieca, D.; Ramsden, E.
Education 3-13, v50 n4 p452-470 2022
The article reports on, and analyses, qualitative research involving children's therapy in two primary school contexts in England. It aims to explore the potentials of how agency as a concept can contribute to a challenge to existing theory, research and ways of working concerning therapy in primary school contexts. The article addresses how this challenge can be theorised: drawing on a critical review of how the fields of health, therapy, education and child rights connect to concepts of agency. Themes within this review include different disciplinary paradigms of childhood; how concepts of agency relate to those of child rights and voice; how a field such as therapy, created around concepts of welfare, can shift to acknowledge the presence of a child rights framework; and the complexities of child agency in therapy within primary school contexts. Data are included from the authors' research projects that access children's views of their therapy and that engages with them through a questionnaire, a member checking group and as co-researchers into their experiences of therapy. The analysis of the data reveals the challenges, potentials and advantages of recognising and listening to children as 'active agents' and 'experts' in relation to their therapy.
Descriptors: Personal Autonomy, Elementary School Students, Therapy, Barriers, Child Health, Childrens Rights, Childrens Attitudes, Student Attitudes, Foreign Countries, Art Therapy, Drama, Research Needs
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A