Children’s views on inclusion. The ISOTIS international participatory research with and for children

Set within the EU-funded project Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequalities in Society (http://www.isotis.org/), the international participatory research ‘Feel good: Children’s view on inclusion’ (lead by the authors of this paper) was conducted in preschool and primary schools characterized by strong cultural differences and social inequalities of five European countries in 2018-2019. We elicited children’s views and proposals to foster inclusion in their school context, some of them implemented to allow children to live a consistent experience of democratic life (Welty and Lundy 2013) and to become knowledgeable, responsible and active citizens in their communities (UN - CRC 1989). Our theoretical framework relies on Anthropology and Sociology of Childhood (Sarcinelli 2015; Corsaro 1997), Socio-Constructivist Early Childhood Pedagogy (Clark & Moss 2001) and Student’s voice (Pastori, Pagani 2016; Cook-Sather & Grion 2013; Fielding 2012). A main pillar was the threefold definition of education about, for and through democracy (Gollob et. al. 2010). We adopted a multi-method and participatory methodology set within a phenomenological paradigm (Denzin & Lincoln 2015). Dealing with delicate issues, critical reflectivity was dedicated to balance children’s right to participate with the need to ensure a worthwhile and well-being experience, shifting from a «research on children» to a «research with and for them» (Mayall 2003; Mortari 2009). Accordingly, children were involved in the research process as co-researchers; their experiences were not directly under focus to avoid intrusive or tough questions;