Teacher agency: an ecological approach

this chapter ends with part of a quotation which reads, ‘the un convention on the rights of the child may be an aspirational document, but it is also a benchmark of the value we really place on children in public life: not very high and not very clear’ (136) which appositely summarises the tensions of the rhetoric and reality of children and young people being able to express their rights in diverse and contradictory childhoods. in the final chapter: The Future of Children’s Rights, Educational Research and the UNCRC in a digital world: possibilities and prospects, the authors (gillett-Swan and coppock) explore the opportunities and challenges created by the uncrc for educational researchers. the authors outline the possibilities of digital technologies for participatory research whilst also addressing the ethical tensions which inevitably arise with digital platforms. the data presented within chapter 7 ( section headed ‘the digital child ...’ (142)) outline the growth and significance of digital technologies in such short period of time, is in the authors’ words ‘staggering’ (142). inevitably, what has arisen is the (old) tension of protection versus participation rights particularly in educational domains. the historical protectionism versus participation debates have shifted from a ‘real life’ space to a digital cyber space and offers different challenges as well as new challenges for policy-makers, teachers, professionals and researchers. the authors highlight that ‘children and young people around the world see access to digital media as a fundamental right’ (third et al. 2014, 8) which importantly ‘from their perspective (sic) is an important aid to enacting their rights’ (gillett-Swan and coppock, 153). this is a timely book which clearly outlines where we have come from but importantly, what needs to be done to progress children’s rights agendas to understand more fully what is meaningful to children and young people to educate and support them to be rights holders (Phillips, 55) through the various phases of the life course from childhood to adulthood.