Spyros Spyrou Director, Center for the Study of Childhood and Adolescence

1. What children and teachers think about children’s participation in social research as researchers: A qualitative, exploratory study Spyros Spyrou Director, Center for the Study of Childhood and Adolescence

2. THE PROJECT: Developing Young Researchers The program’s aims were to: • Provide training to teachers in social research methods • Facilitate and support teachers in carrying out social research projects with their students

3. AIMS OF THE RESEARCH STUDY The study was exploratory in nature and aimed to: • Get feedback from both children and teachers who participated in the program about their experience and their views and recommendations about future programs • Get feedback from children and teachers who did not participate in the program about the concept of social research with children

4. METHODOLOGY Adopted a qualitative methodology which used three data collection techniques: a) in-depth interviews b) focus groups c) classroom discussions

5. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

6. TEACHERS WHO DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM

7. What are the reactions of teachers to the idea of involving children in social research as researchers? • Very positive reactions • Elementary school children can be involved in social research with proper support and help We just need to trust them and give them such a chance. Children are very creative. We have to make them use their imagination. What we do with our education system is to limit them instead of letting them become more creative. (Female, Τurkish Cypriot Teacher who did not Participate in the Program)

8. Positive impacts on children include: • Children are turned from passive to active • Children can learn on their own; what children learn on their own is more likely to stay with them • When children learn what is happening around them, they become more interested in social issues and learn how to take a stance • Children learn to be more critical, skeptical, analytical, and creative • Children develop more self-confidence, independence, and responsibility • Children learn to work together in groups and get a sense of satisfaction from collectively meeting their goals

9. Positive impacts on children include: • Children doing research on their own is a beautiful idea. It gives children the opportunity to express themselves. (Μale, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who did not Participate in the Program) • Children enter themselves into the process of learning. They become themselves educators and provide some knowledge to themselves. This will help them in the future. (Male, Greek Cypriot Teacher who did not Participate in the Program)

10. Positive impacts on children include: • Throughout my 20 years of teaching experience, I can say that children love to do interesting things other than listen to the teacher. They carry out research with great pleasure. (Μale, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who did not Participate in the Program) • The students would be able to express themselves better after such an experience. This would motivate them to continue doing research in the future. They will gain the ability to think freely and independently. They will become more social and also have the ability to reflect on their deficiencies. (Male, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who did not Participate in the Program)

11. What would the benefits be to teachers themselves from such an involvement? • Learn from research (like students) • Develop better relationships with students • Become more innovative as teachers For me the motive is that I will help my children to go a step forward. For me this is the most significant thing, the fact that they will finish a grade and they will not simply have the dry knowledge of the book but also an experience that I at least consider very important. (Female, Greek Cypriot Teacher who did not Participate in the Program)

12. What kinds of difficulties or challenges do teachers foresee from their participation in a research program? • Need for projects to be well-designed, organized, and structured • Limited time to carry out research • Limitations in infrastructure (e.g., libraries, computers, etc) • Lack of support from colleagues, principals, and parents • The limits of the curriculum (i.e., the pressure to cover the prescribed material)

13. Ways around it I could take however an issue from the material that relates to a social issue and carry out research on that. (Female, Greek Cypriot Teacher who did not Participate in the Program) We can follow the curriculum and encourage our students to do research on a relevant subject we cover. For example, when we cover the topic of family or municipality children can talk to families, visit the municipality, and do research. We might have time limitations but we can adjust the curriculum. (Female, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who did not Participate in the Program)

14. Ways around it Especially in lessons such as social sciences and humanities lessons this could easily be put into practice. (Male, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who did not Participate in the Program)

15. What kind of support and help would teachers need in order to implement a social research project with their students? • Training in social research methods We teachers did not come from a research environment. We were not brought up in a researching and questioning system . . . So we need teacher training. Research methods should be taught to the teachers. The experts in this field should demonstrate to us with examples from previous research the topics and the methodologies used by the students (Male, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who did not participate in the program)

16. What kind of support and help would teachers need in order to implement a social research project with their students? • Support of parents, school administrators and school boards, the community, and project advisors • Financial support and proper infrastructural support for carrying out research (e.g., libraries, computers with Internet access, etc) • Organized opportunities for teachers and students to present their research findings to the public

17. What kinds of projects would be good for children to undertake and what kind of topics should they stay away from? Topics which are close to children’s own interests, which come from their local worlds, and are accessible Examples of topics to pursue: • Bullying • Multiculturalism • Children’s rights • Friendship • Racism • Sports-related violence

18. Examples of topics to stay away from: • Politics (including political elections and the Cyprus Problem) • War • Religion • Violence • Death • Private issues • Issues related to the family (e.g., family violence, opinions of parents on certain issues, etc)

19. CHILDREN WHO DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM

20. Children’s general reactions to the idea of being involved in social research as researchers • Children expressed enthusiasm about the idea of being social researchers and felt competent in participating I believe that children in my age group can easily carry out social research projects. (Turkish Cypriot Boy) • The majority of children expressed a personal interest in participating in social research projects.

21. Benefits from being involved • Learning new things and finding out how other people think and behave and what they like • Learning how to find information and how to collect data • Learning to work as a group to carry out their own research on a topic that interests them • Learning to present their research findings

22. Benefits from being involved I learn much better the thing I do by myself. I learn better by talking, asking, and writing. (Turkish Cypriot Boy) Yes, this would attract me. Children would acquire knowledge by themselves. I learn better on my own. (Turkish Cypriot Girl)

23. On the negative side • Might get bored if they had to work on a research project individually • They would not like the idea very much if they would have to use their own free time

24. What kinds of topics would children be interested in studying? • How people in general and families in particular used to live in the past • What children think about school (including break time, rules, and uniforms) • How parents see their children’s performance in school • People’s habits (e.g., in relation to television watching, computer use, book reading, hobbies, diet, etc)

25. TEACHERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE PROGRAM

26. Teachers’ general evaluation of their experience in facilitating children’s involvement in social research as researchers • Not all of the teachers were confident from the start about the projects they undertook At the beginning, I did not believe that children could actively participate in a research project. Because of that, I was hesitant to take part in this program. But after we started, I saw that children could do it. Yet, you need to reach their level and work step by step with them. (Female, Turkish Cypriot Teacher)

27. Teachers’ general evaluation of their experience in facilitating children’s involvement in social research as researchers • All teachers who participated in the program were positive about their experience in the program • Emphasized children’s motivation, interest, enthusiasm, and the fact that they had fun while learning at the same time • Enjoyed helping children to think, analyze, and cultivate their curiosity • Convinced that children can learn research methodology provided teachers present the issues in a simple way and at their level • Found support from project advisors to be very useful • Received positive feedback from parents

28. Teachers’ general evaluation of their experience in facilitating children’s involvement in social research as researchers Disliked the fact that they did not have adequate time to carry out research and they had to squeeze it in between other lessons

29. How did the children react to the experience of being social researchers? • A few children did not have an interest in the research carried out • Most children were positive about their research experience especially about the process of constructing a questionnaire and collecting data

30. How did the children react to the experience of being social researchers? The children learned a lot, they had fun doing what they were doing, I mean the kids themselves were willing, you know when you set them a task they are willing to do the work if it is something that they are interested in and if you show an interest in it as well then the children will go on ‘Yes, we will do it,’ they don’t have any problem. (Female, Greek Cypriot Teacher)

31. How did the children react to the experience of being social researchers? At the beginning, children thought that a research project could only be carried out by the older people but then they became very happy when I told them that they would do the research on their own. (Female, Turkish Cypriot Teacher)

32. How did the children react to the experience of being social researchers? The children learned a lot, they had fun doing what they were doing, I mean the kids themselves were willing, you know when you set them a task they are willing to do the work if it is something that they are interested in and if you show an interest in it as well then the children will go on ‘Yes, we will do it,’ they don’t have any problem. (Female, Greek Cypriot Teacher)

33. What did the children learn from the experience? • About the research process • Useful research terminology • How to collect and analyze data • How to present their research findings • How other people think and feel about certain issues • How to work together as a group

34. What did the children learn from the experience? They learnt to be researchers, to have critical minds and to question. They learnt to keep some information confidential. They learnt how to listen to other people without stopping them or imposing their ideas on them. They learnt not to be judgmental and not to humiliate their friends for their opinions. They learnt how to listen respectfully! . . . Finally, they learnt how to finish a long term project. Step by step they made progress and at the end they finished their work. When you do your work on time you can succeed and they learnt this. (Female, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who Participated in the Program)

35. What did the children learn from the experience? They benefited in many ways, they felt that they were doing something important, they worked together and they had to work together even when they were counting the number of the replies, the answers you know, putting them together . . . they worked together so they could learn the terminology and also they felt that they were doing something that big people do because I showed them various researches, papers of adults you know and I also showed them researches that young children had done and they really felt that they were doing something that adults can do and I think they felt as a sort of leaders. Even going to the other class, giving the questionnaires out, they felt they were doing something really important. (Female, Greek Cypriot Teacher)

36. What difficulties did the teachers and children face during the training and implementation phases of their project? • Lack of time • Teaching of quantitative methods and sampling in particular • Teaching research methods to the weaker students • Inadequate facilities necessary for carrying out research (most notably computers) • Some difficulties in identifying relevant literature, in constructing the questionnaires, and in the statistical analysis of data • Some problems with the teaching of some research concepts which were difficult for children to understand • Some difficulties in preparing tables, charts, and graphs on the computer

37. How do teachers evaluate their entire experience with the program? • Extremely positive evaluation; would like to repeat the experience • Pointed out that being flexible allowed them to carry their projects through (e.g., meeting with students in the afternoon, cutting down on something else to do research, etc)

38. How do teachers evaluate their entire experience with the program? As a whole I will never forget my experience in this project and I will always be proud of it. I got the opportunity to use this experience in my future teaching. (. . . ) I gained enough experience to apply this project in my class alone. I also developed more self confidence. I also learnt to have a more critical mind. In the past it happened that I was teaching a subject and children were not able to learn it. (Female, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who Participated in the Program)

39. How do teachers evaluate their entire experience with the program? This project gave me new ideas on how I can overcome such obstacles. It also allowed me to recognize that nowadays information / knowledge changes. Therefore, the most important thing is not how much children know; what really matters is their capacity to acquire knowledge. I am currently teaching to the 2nd grade students and started to motivate them to do more research. I try to raise them as researching / questioning individuals. That is the contribution of this project to my teaching. (Female, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who Participated in the Program)

40. How do teachers evaluate their entire experience with the program? At the beginning, I was feeling uncomfortable as I was not experienced to carry out this kind of project. However, I gained experience throughout the project. I believe that I will be more courageous to carry out social research projects in the future. (Female, Turkish Cypriot Teacher who Participated in the Program)

41. What do the teachers recommend for future programs? • The idea of social research with children could be expanded and made applicable to different lessons • Social research could be integrated in the curriculum • Schools could implement the idea of social research with children in the context of afternoon school clubs where there is more time available • Experts could provide children directly with training in social research methods • Efforts should be made to inform the mass media about children’s research work • More opportunities for children to participate in research programs across the divide to meet together and to discuss their research

42. CHILDREN WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE PROGRAM

43. How do children evaluate their whole experience of being involved in social research as researchers? • The overwhelming majority of children were very positive about their experience as researchers.

44. How do children evaluate their whole experience of being involved in social research as researchers? Children liked: • Exploring issues and learning about other people • Constructing questionnaires • Working together with their friends • Presenting their research findings • Particularly liked interviewing others • Felt empowered at being able to collect research data by themselves and carry out and complete a research project on their own

45. How do children evaluate their whole experience of being involved in social research as researchers? Children learned: • About social research methods and the different ways of carrying out social research • How to carry out a social research study • About the topic researched • About others (how they think, feel, behave) • How to construct questionnaires • How to conduct interviews • How to prepare charts, graphs, tables and in general to present their research findings • About voluntary participation and consent in research projects • The importance of keeping data collected confidential

46. How do children evaluate their whole experience of being involved in social research as researchers? Children disliked: • Time demands and pressures • The long duration of projects

47. Would they be interested in participating again? • The overwhelming majority of students who participated in the program clearly expressed their wish to participate again in a similar program in the future • The experience was nice, fun, pleasant, and interesting and one that allowed them to learn a lot of new things

48. Would they be interested in participating again? I would like to do more interviews. I want to go a step further and improve myself in conducting interviews. (Turkish Cypriot Boy who Participated in the Program) I liked everything I learnt in this project. (Turkish Cypriot Girl who Participated in the Program) We discovered our other abilities. (Turkish Cypriot Girl who Participated in the Program)

49. Would they be interested in participating again? I would like to participate again. I like to learn new things. (Turkish Cypriot Girl who Participated in the Program) [I would like to participate in a program like this again] because you learn how others think, their feelings, what they feel when they describe their answers to you and it is nice to learn about people in your society, whether you have similarities or differences from them. (Greek Cypriot Girl who Participated in the Program)

50. What would the children recommend to their teachers for future programs? • Many of the children wanted more freedom when carrying out research (e.g., to conduct their interviews outside rather than in a classroom or office if the weather permits it)