Nigel Patrick Thomas

University of Central Lancashire | UCLAN · School of Social Work

Children’s right to participate, at least in rhetoric, is well recognised, but what this means and the associated benefits in schools are less clear. This article synthesises findings of a large mixed-methods Australian study comprising policy analysis, qualitative interviews with students, teachers and policymakers, and the development of a Studen...

Recent years have seen increased attention paid to both student participation and wellbeing at school. Little research to date has investigated the extent to which participation is associated with wellbeing, let alone which specific elements of participation may predict wellbeing. This paper reports the quantitative phase of a mixed-methods study i...

This book intends to fill a gap still open in the scientific area of Sociology of Childhood. It brings togheher the contributions of 55 authors, nationally and internationally recognized, from diverse geographies, in a renewed critical analysis on issues, themes and challenges currently placed in research on childhood and on the child(ren). The mai...

Recent articles by Kim and Hammersley have critiqued, respectively: the methodological and normative assumptions that underlie research ‘by’ children; claims made about the implications of children’s rights for the ethics of research with children; and more broadly, some of the central commitments of Childhood Studies. This paper offers a response...

Child safety is now a national policy priority in Australia. Extensive enquiries and reviews have escalated legislative and policy responses focused on developing, maintaining and monitoring “child safe” organisations. The recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse point to the importance of cultural...

This paper offers a critical reflexive perspective on a Participatory Action Research project with young people at a site of ‘advanced urban marginality’ ( Wacquant, 2008 ). Its purpose is to explore the ways in which habitus based inequalities in the research field ( Bourdieu, 1977 ) contributed to a parallel process of marginalisation and exclusi...

Keeping children safe from harm is a national policy priority in Australia. Extensive inquiries and reviews have highlighted institutions' persistent failures to respond ethically and appropriately to child abuse and its life‐long impacts on survivors. Policy efforts now reflect considerable emphasis on safeguarding children, including through the...

This paper reflects on our experiences of using participatory action research (PAR) with young people as part of an EU H2020 project exploring the spaces and styles of youth participation in formal, nonformal and informal settings. The paper outlines key tenets of action research and provides a brief review of the literature concerning the use of P...

In the past few years there has been a growing interest in student participation at school, and in whether participation is connected with student wellbeing or with academic success. One problem when studying student participation is that it seems to mean different things to different people. For some people it is just about students attending scho...

Purpose The research reported here forms part of a study of children’s participation in children in care reviews and decision making in one local authority in England. The purpose of this paper is to outline the views of 11 social workers and 8 Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) and explores their perceptions of children’s participation in revie...

Drawing on the PARTISPACE research (www.partispace.eu) and particularly on findings from three of eight European cities included in the study, this article brings to the surface the dramatic and theatrical practices underlying the metaphor of performance in order to contribute to a better understanding of youth work and youth participation. It cons...

This article reports a study of the impact of independent human rights institutions for children, using methods drawn from critical realism and appreciative inquiry. A survey of member institutions of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children enquired into the contexts, mechanisms and outcomes of their work. The results showed wide variati...

This paper draws upon learning from three action research projects conducted as part of a Europe-wide project exploring young people’s social and political participation. Challenging dominant discourses about what ‘counts’ as participation and what does not, the paper explores how, through the action research projects, young people engaged in knowl...

Student participation at school is receiving heightened attention through international evidence connecting it to a range of benefits including student learning, engagement, citizenship and wellbeing, as well as to overall school improvement. Yet the notion of student participation remains an ambiguous concept, and one that challenges many deeply e...

This article discusses a key meeting for children in care – the Child in Care Review – and examines the extent to which children and young people are able to participate and exert a level of control over their lives. The research, conducted in England, formed part of a wider exploration of the views and experiences of all those involved in such rev...

Much has now been written on student participation at school. Yet a lack of conceptual clarity, contestation over purpose and benefits, and uncertainty about how to culturally embed and effectively facilitate participation in school contexts continue to pose considerable challenges. This article reports the qualitative findings from a large‐scale,...

Until recently, children and young people’s perspectives have been largely overlooked in considering optimal approaches to supporting their wellbeing at school. This article reports student views on the meaning of ‘wellbeing’ and how this is best facilitated, gathered as part of a large, national research project aimed at understanding and improvin...

This chapter explores how we can better understand children’s place in society using two theoretical models: recognition theory and the capability approach. It looks at the strengths and weaknesses of each theoretical approach, and how they can be used in combination. While recognition theory focuses on personal identity, the capability approach is...

This article explores young people's experiences in the transition to adulthood from child welfare services and how Honneth's theory of recognition can be useful as an analytical tool to help us understand these experiences. The underpinning empirical research consisted of interviews and focus groups with 43 adolescents who had been in contact with...

This article draws on a study of the outcomes and impact of independent advocacy for children and young people to explore how the value of advocacy is understood by them and by professionals, and what differences advocacy can make to the lives of children and young people. Findings indicate that outcomes of advocacy can be significant and wide-rang...

In Australia and internationally, the well-being of children and young people is a core focus of social policy, with a growing imperative to locate well-being within the sphere of education. However, the term ‘well-being’ remains ambiguous and the implementation of educational approaches to promote and improve it appears fragmented and ad hoc. In A...

A large study in Australian schools aimed to elucidate understandings of ‘wellbeing’ and of factors in school life that contribute to it. Students and teachers understood wellbeing primarily, and holistically, in terms of interpersonal relationships, in contrast to policy documents which mainly focused on ‘problem areas’ such as mental health. The...

With notable exceptions, there is a lack of critique in existing approaches to children’s rights based research. Where children’s rights research is also co-research with children, a critical approach requires that children are enabled to challenge assumptions about, and definitions of, rights, as well as to lead the process and to try to bring abo...

This article explores the significance of actively engaging with students in school about matters that concern them. The discussion draws upon data from a large-scale mixed methods study in Australia that investigated how ‘wellbeing’ in schools is understood and facilitated. The qualitative phase of the research included semi-structured focus group...

Although the law in England and Wales requires a child's wishes and feelings to be heard in LAC (Looked After Children) reviews, there remains limited research into how far this is achieved. This study interviewed 25 children and 16 foster carers to explore how well children understand and take part in reviews, and what factors impede this. The stu...

This chapter was co-produced by young people and an adult participation worker. Young people from Youthforia Youth Forum were supported to analyse and discuss chapters of three other authors, whose own work focussed on the space for participation and intergenerational dialogue and features in this book. Using Lucas's work on child language brokerin...

United Kingdom policy and practice endorses family support for child well-being. Achieving such support requires multi-agency approaches that consider all aspects of parents' and children's lives and which offer practical, social and emotional help. The potential for services to make a positive impact on parents and their families will depend in pa...

The closing chapter draws together the themes of participation, citizenship and intergenerational relations. The authors’ contributions to developing effective practice are highlighted, together with a reflection on the process of facilitating children’s and young people’s participation in the writing and editing The chapter closes with a discussio...

Recent attempts to theorize children’s participation have drawn on a wide range of ideas, concepts and models from political and social theory. The aim of this article is to explore the specific usefulness of Honneth’s theory of a ‘struggle for recognition’ in thinking about this area of practice. The article identifies what is distinctive about Ho...

The introduction of Children in Care Councils under the Care Matters reforms in England set a challenge for local authorities to find effective ways by which children in care could contribute their views to the planning and provision of services. This paper discusses a review of progress across London which combined a survey of boroughs with focus...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the introduction of a voluntary sector pilot project to develop innovative mental health services for young people. Design/methodology/approach – A combination of observation, interview and group discussion with service providers and users was used to build a picture of the relationships between...

Although some attempts are being made to increase children's participation in Norwegian child protection cases, much needs to be done in order to comply with the participation principle in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This paper reports on a study of factors that are likely to predict if social workers will attempt to g...

This article seeks to identify key components of good practice in social care services for safeguarding refugee and asylum‐seeking children. It is based on a wider research study, conducted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which aimed to identify indicators and examples of good practice in social care for asylum seekers and refugees (both ad...

The growth of independent children's rights institutions (usually known as Children's Commissioners and Ombudsmen) has been dramatic in recent years, in the British Isles and in Europe more generally. This article reviews some of the key characteristics of such institutions, and some of the key differences between them. It focuses in particular on...

This Critical Commentary reviews progress in research into planning and reviewing for children in care in England and Wales since the publication of two major studies in the late 1990s (roughly coinciding with the New Labour period). It briefly considers the changing context of law, regulation and guidance and the aims and objectives of the care pl...

Effective child participation in child protection proceedings has proved difficult to achieve in Norway. Although participation is in principle accepted as a human right and something of benefit to children, when children's health is at stake there is a tendency to view participation in decision-making processes by children as potentially disruptiv...

This article reports the results of an evaluation of the Children's Commissioner for Wales, which was planned and conducted with the active participation of children and young people. This article begins by giving the background to the evaluation and explaining the methods used. The findings are reported in relation to five key questions: (i) how w...

The attempt to give children an effective voice in social work processes which can have substantial impact on their lives takes different forms in countries with varying professional cultures and legal frameworks. This paper reports on a study of children's participation in decision-making in care and protection services in Norway, which was carrie...

This chapter describes the contents of this book, which explains how children and young people communicate about matters of importance or difficulty, how they decide what to tell adults and what not to tell them, how they organise themselves and their lives, and how they deal with conflict in their own relationships and in the world around them. It...

This is an account of a visit to Moscow in May 1994 to assess the possibilities for collaboration in developing child welfare services in Russia. The authors argue that the present situation is a critical one for millions of children, and that there is an urgent need for practical and theoretical assistance from Britain.

Cambodia is a society with a troubled history, and one that is struggling to find a way between traditional and modern values. This paper considers some of the challenges in promoting children's rights to protection in such a context. It briefly considers the historical and cultural background, and the possible implications for how different forms...

Legal theorists and philosophers have debated whether children have rights and if so what kind; leaders in this field have articulated powerful arguments that children indeed have rights and pushed the boundaries beyond protection and provision rights to those of participation. This chapter concentrates on children and young people's participation...

The purpose of this article is to take stock of developments in policy and practice affecting children in Wales since the establishment of the National Assembly in 1999. In the first part the authors review a range of policy initiatives in education, health and social care, and poverty reduction, identifying common themes and considering what can b...

Prior to writing this article, the two authors (Bogolub, US and Thomas, UK) conducted separate qualitative research studies with foster children. After briefly describing their individual studies, the two authors engage in a cross-cultural dialogue based on their differing perspectives on the importance of birth parent consent for foster children’s...

A postal survey of local authority child care managers was conducted in 1997–98 as part of a study of children's participation in decision-making in care. The same survey was repeated, with minor variations, in 2004. Nigel Thomas compares what managers said about policy and practice in their local authorities in the two studies. The results suggest...

The aim of this chapter is to examine some of the different uses of concepts of ‘children’s needs’ and their implications for professional practice with children. I begin by revisiting Martin Woodhead’s critique of ‘children’s needs’ (1990, 1997) and asking how it can help us understand the use of ‘children’s needs’ in professional practice. Follow...

This paper is based on a study of the experiences of people identified as ‘young carers’, commissioned by the National Assembly for Wales as part of a wider review of carers’ needs and services. Following a brief review of some of the previous research in this area, the paper reports key findings of the research, using the words of children and you...

This research, conducted in 1998, examines the career expectations of student social workers as they approach the end of their DipSW training. The study looked at students' attitudes towards seeking a job following the end of their course, including their aspirations and their self-assessed readiness to practise. It also looked at the perspective o...

This paper is based on a study of participation by children aged 8–12 in decisions when they are ‘looked after’ by local authorities. The research established that more children in this age group are attending reviews and planning meetings, but that the likelihood of their attendance varies with age and other factors. The paper explores reasons why...

If the relationship between children, parents and the state is a triangle, its shape is different when children are in the care of the state. The state’s direct influence on children’s lives is much greater, and the part played by parents much less. Since these are the children with whom this book is mainly concerned, it is time to look at the ‘car...

In this chapter I want to look at what can be learned from the research described in this book. First of all, we should return to the questions that followed the review of the survey findings in Chapter 8, to see if any answers are suggested by the findings of the detailed study.

My intention in this chapter is to explore some assumptions about relationships between children, parents and the state that underlie law and social policy, and to examine their implications for children’s involvement in decisions. This means looking at the nature of parental rights and responsibilities, the obligations of the state to provide serv...