ABSTRACT
This chapter details the methodological approach of the CHANT project, which investigated children’s agency in policy and practice in England from 2021 to 2024. Drawing on critical realist principles, the research combined critical discourse analysis of England’s national curriculum with longitudinal qualitative fieldwork in three contrasting schools. The study explored how children’s agency is represented in the curriculum text, how children experience and exercise agency in schools, and how structural factors shape these experiences. The methodology involved a critical discourse analysis of the national curriculum, followed by extensive fieldwork including observations, interviews, and innovative participatory activities with children. Data collection spanned two years across three schools – an independent school, a community school, and an academy – generating rich datasets through field notes, audio recordings, photographs, and children’s creative outputs. The analytical framework, grounded in critical realism, enabled examination of both structural conditions and children’s lived experiences, revealing how institutional practices shape and are shaped by children’s agency.
