Introduction

A focus on children's rights and changing views around the nature of childhood has, to some extent, been reflected in a growing interest in children's and young people's participation in research. This includes both research on children and young people (as sources of data) and their active involvement in the research process. In the chapters that follow, we explore the methodological and ethical questions that arise in relation to social research and evaluation with children and young people, but first we need to consider the epistemological questions which underpin this research. This chapter provides an overview of the theoretical context to research with children and young people. It sets out why research should be carried out in ways that enable children and young people, as opposed to their parents, professionals or service providers, to be listened to. We argue that recognising that children and young people are experts in their own lives is vital to ensuring that research, evaluation and the policies and services which they inform, better reflect children's and young people's priorities and concerns. The chapter explores:

• • children's rights;

• • key theory, including childhood studies and ideas of children's agency and citizenship;

• • the legislative and policy context for research with children and young people.

Children's rights

The growth of sociological interest in children and young people has coincided broadly with the development of the modern children's rights movement (Mayall, 2015; Qvortrup et al, 2009). Children's rights are underpinned by the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC; UN, 1989), which encompasses social, economic, civil and political rights. The CRC is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world, accepted by all UN member states except the United States, and came into force in the UK in 1992. It sets out children's rights in terms of both their protection and their participation in society and ‘asserts children's right to have a voice in decision-making, as well as rights to freedom of thought and expression’ (Percy-Smith and Thomas, 2010, p 1). Article 12, the key article relating to participation, states that: