Introduction

In this chapter I join with others to think reflexively and critically about participation with children and young people both in research and practice. First, introducing the notion of agency and voice with regard to research with children and young people, I subsequently explore a critical approach to participation, outlining the potential areas for further clarification and questioning, alongside the potential opportunities for meaningful engagement and co-production with young people. I refer directly to my experience of carrying out explorative qualitative research alongside young people across Suffolk, a county in the East of England, conducted to explore young people’s perceptions of opportunities within their communities, which was followed by a second study to unpick the notions of meaningful participation and ‘voice’ for both young people themselves, but also local civic leaders. I reflect on my experiences as a perhaps naive, early-career researcher, and the practicalities, conflicts, and realities of researching alongside young people. Utilising a reflexive approach in this instance not only facilitated my understanding positionality and the influence upon the research process itself, but also further highlighted the ethical complexities of participatory and co-production methodological approaches to researching with young people. As Graham et al (2016, p 86) suggest, ‘reflexivity offers a means by which participatory methods can be analysed to reveal the ethical nuance inherent in the creative processes used to invite and engage children in the research’.

The term young people is used throughout to refer to individuals aged 11–25 years who participated in the research, acknowledging that this age bracket spans both childhood, as conventionally defined as under 18, and youth. Furthermore, when discussing participation, it is realised that with the age of 18 comes a democratic right to vote, which could alter dynamics and perceptions of participation in both communities and wider society (Walther et al, 2019). It is not my aim to make sweeping generalisations about individuals within this age bracket, as all young people will have individual socio-cultural contexts from which they draw experience, and subsequent acknowledgement of this diversity, as well as the shared perceptions, is important.