Children's Citizenship and the Structuring of Adult-child Relations in the Primary School

Abstract

This article analyses the experience of school in terms of children's citizenship, exploring the level of participation experienced by a sample of Irish primary school children over decisions related to the control of their time, space and interaction in school. Locating such experience within the context of the structuration of adult-child relations, education for and into citizenship, it is argued, must take account of the dynamics of power and control between adults and children, teachers and pupils and the impact on children's construction of themselves as citizens with a voice to be both heard and expressed in school.