Child-Led Participation Measurement: Collaboratively producing an Index of Participation

Since at least the 1990 publication of "Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood" and its introduction of a "new paradigm", it has been acknowledged in social research that children are active constructors of their social worlds which are worthy of study (James and Prout, 2015). The next year, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by the UK government (UNCRC, 1989). Articles 12 and 13 of the UNCRC (1989) formally acknowledged the right of children to share their views on matters which affect them and, importantly, have those views given due weight by the adults or institutions that hear them. Despite these developments, research has consistently demonstrated that there have been few changes in the lives of children and young people in the UK with regard to their right to have input on matters which affect them (Anderson and Graham, 2016. Bradwell, 2019). There has also been very little policy development in the years since the ratification of the UNCRC concerning children's rights, with much of the developments in law concerning children argued to be limiting and punitive and thus contrary to the rhetoric of empowerment and agency that is promoted by James and Prout (2015) and the UNCRC (1989) (Such and Walker, 2005).