Hearing the voice of the child: messages from research that expose gaps between theory, principle and reality

Abstract

This chapter draws attention to the developing field of policy and practice-related research which seeks to take account of the views and experiences of children, with a focus on parental breakdown and separation. The overall research into a wide range of children's life experiences is developing fast, representing something of a cultural shift since the 1970s. Even before then, certain pioneering researchers, such as Royston Lambert and Spencer Millham, in their research in the 1960s for the Public Schools Commission, sought to sample the views of children. This led on to a number of other studies concerned with listening to children in educational and other professional services contexts. The chapter considers research conducted in the 1990s and early 2000s, before the full impact of modern information technology had been felt and prior to the availability of smart phones for children.