Towards a children's museology: developing child-led practice in museums and cultural institutions

Over the last decade, children and young people have powerfully demonstrated their ability to shape the ways in which we think about some of the most serious challenges in the present, including climate change and human rights (Charles et. al 2018). This fundamental shift in young people's roles in public debate is accompanied by an emerging body of work that sees young people as more capable and more complex than is often assumed, a 'new sociology of childhood' (Prout 2000; 2011; Kehily 2009; Davis, Prout and Tisdall 2004). However, in museums and heritage sites, engagement with these ideas and the adoption of practices that empower children through active participation is only just beginning (Patterson 2016).

As of yet, this kind of work is often limited to 'child-friendly' topics, underresourced or temporary in nature, and contained within the safe realm of museum education alone. There have been very few more substantive efforts to involve children in making decisions that shape the organisation more fundamentally. New theories and methods are needed to address issues relating to ethics, power and authenticity. The work I will undertake as part of the fellowship advances a critical practice that actively engages children within all aspects of the museum by developing new networks, generating new insights and sharing research.
The monograph will provide the first in depth and rigorous study in this area, drawing on my PhD research which explored the challenges and opportunities of engaging children as experts on themselves. Taking contemporary photographs involving children as an example, the thesis revealed that the most complex images of childhood and adolescence are often seen as challenging topics for display and are commonly the subject of curatorial self-censorship. Where museums do collect, interpret and exhibit portrayals that recognise how aspects of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and class begin to affect our identity from a very young age, children's own voices have been largely excluded. Drawing on innovative case studies in the UK, US and Europe, the monograph is a collective call for museums to involve children in making decisions about the topics that matter to them and realise their potential as sites at which children can meaningfully shape their rights and representation.

To take this work forward, the fellowship facilitates the development of a longer-term proposal for a collaborative research project on children's museology, bringing together a network of researchers and practitioners that have begun to experiment with strategies involving young people as shared decision-makers, co-creators and project leaders. This network will form the basis of a grant application for a 3-year postdoctoral project. Through action research with campaigning and issue-based museums, the project will demonstrate how these institutions can be sites at which child-led practice is, despite its significant challenges, embedded within everything the museum does. A key outcome will be an ethical framework for children's participation that considers the universal capacities of children, currently underacknowledged in museum practice (Mai and Gibson 2013), and recognises children's particular vulnerabilities.
Both my current and future research are situated within the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) and draw on the centre's legacy of ethically shaped museum research, innovative methods for collaboration and a network of practitioners and researchers. The work of RCMG has profoundly impacted the thinking and practices of the cultural sector; the centre's studies have shown how museums are active in creating the conditions within which human rights are experienced - fought for and claimed, realised and refused - in the everyday (Sandell and Dodd 2010; Marstine et al 2015). By seeing children as a marginalised community, this project will explore new pathways to build on and enrich this body of research.