Democracy, politics and cooperation: Involving children in decision-making and collaboration

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) outlines how children and young people should be enabled to have a voice and to express their views and opinions. In the setting of the school it can be difficult to establish practices that truly involve children and avoid tokenism. This chapter explores strategies to develop children’s skills in decision-making and collaboration so that they can engage in genuine dialogue within their schools. In addition, it explores how they can appreciate the democratic process in its different forms and develop a voice in matters of social concern. This chapter provides a discussion of generic skills and issues, which are explored in more specific detail in other parts of the book.