Entering the Liminal Through the Side Door: A Child Adult Response Project as a Portal for Student Voice and Deep Thinking

Abstract

We increasingly position young people as being and becoming active citizens with valid and important knowledge about their worlds, with evolving capacities and expertise needing to be valued and listened to (MacNaughton & Smith, 2008; United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2009). However, there is a paradox—we also see them as being somewhat cocooned from life’s realities, needing to be protected from the tensions, anxieties, and challenges experienced by adults. While we shield children from many of these experiences, they are inevitably and often intrinsically a part of their own lived narratives.