In this paper, the collaborative development, instantiation, expansion and re-representation as research instrument of the Game Object Model (GOM) are explored from a Cultural Historical Activity Theory perspective. The aim of the paper is to develop insights into the design, integration, evaluation and use of video games in learning and teaching.…

In current times, the increasing demands of principalship and the complexities facing schools have led to the emergence of distributive forms of leadership in schools. The dissatisfaction with traditional models has resulted in a paradigm shift where leadership focus on the position of individuals in the hierarchy has been rejected in favour of…

Children's participation is a popular rallying cry among child rights activists and community development groups, backed by the recognition of children's participatory rights in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Participation is both a guiding principle of the UNCRC and an explicit right. Article 12 establishes the…

Much of the literature on children's participation distinguishes sharply between "informal" and "formal" forms of participation, which although analytically convenient, may limit possibilities for theorising. This paper examines tensions and links between children's informal and formal participation, and looks at how participation is constituted…

The paper suggests that phenomenology, the anthropology of the senses and of embodiment, performance theory and multi-modal pedagogies offer a rich set of theoretical ideas with which to consider children's expressive repertoires as overlooked forms of social participation and critique. Four case studies in relation to children's photography,…

This paper describes how language and literacy classrooms became more participatory, agentive spaces through addressing a central issue in teaching and learning: the forms of representation through which children make their meanings. It reconsiders pedagogic research in under-resourced Gauteng classrooms during the period 1994-2005, during the…

This paper proposes a form of Grade R pedagogy in South African schools that addresses both the diverse realities of South Africa's children and the principles underpinning a participatory democracy. The community of enquiry pedagogy we propose is based on a socio-cultural historical theoretical perspective and focuses on the nurturing of a…

The paper focuses on the issue of children's political participation and considers the idea of political participation understood as a human right. Contingently it considers the question of children as agents or potential political actors, as well as the assumed limitations of their role. The paper begins by offering an outline of how children's…

This article proposes a model for judging children's participatory parity in different social spaces. The notion of participatory parity originates in Nancy Fraser's normative theory for social justice, where it concerns the participatory status of adults. What, then, constitutes participatory parity for children? How should we judge the extent to…

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child includes children's right to participation in processes that affect them. In this article we caution that in order to give real content to participation, it is necessary to understand what participation is and to acknowledge the problematic nature of the concept. We then demonstrate, by…

For school-aged children, schools comprise a major space of participation. Formally, it is a participatory space constituted and regulated by the laws and policies that govern schooling; informally, it is a participatory space whose affordances and patterns of inclusion/exclusion are shaped by children's diverse lives and experiences. This article…

Beyond realising the right of children and young people to be heard in routine interactions, there is much scope for research with (rather than on) children. This is particularly pertinent in the field of inclusive education where there is potential for the voice of children and young people to be a lever for change and to promote inclusive…

The participation of learners in school life and learner voice is important for learner development and the implementation of school interventions. In this paper we argue that learner participation and learner voice in school-community interventions contribute to learners' development of a critical consciousness and to their understanding of…

This article reports on findings pertaining to scholarship in teacher education drawn from a wider study on all education research in South Africa from 1995 to 2006. The study, which defined education research as broadly pertaining to teaching and/or learning, obtained extensive data from a wide range of sources: universities, non-government…

In this paper we argue that the cliched phrases, "dealing with difference" and "dealing with diversity", despite their commitment to accepting and appreciating difference and diversity, may be used in counterproductive ways to camouflage resistance to change and transformation. In a small sample of interviews conducted at a South African…