Kirby, P., (2020). \u2018It\u2019s never okay to say no to teachers\u2019: Children\u2019s research consent and dissent in conforming schools contexts. British Educational Research Journal, 46(4), pp. 811-828.<\/p>\n
Abstract: This article examines the limits to children giving research consent in everyday school contexts that emphasises their conformity to comply with adult expectations, and highlights children\u2019s competence and agency in navigating this conformity through different practices of dissent. It draws on research into children\u2019s agency, using a multimodal ethnography of Year 1 classrooms in two English primary schools. The article includes a reflexive methodological focus, exploring the extent to which I counter the schools\u2019 emphasis on conformity. This includes creating visuals for children to practice consent; positioning myself as the researcher in a non-teacher role, as \u2018least adult\u2019 and the one who \u2018least knows\u2019; and designing interview spaces markedly different from classrooms. The article examines how children navigate conforming discourses by finding different ways to dissent in the research. Firstly, children demonstrate a sophisticated awareness of the cultural norms of indicating refusals beyond saying the word \u2018No\u2019. Secondly, children achieve unnoticeability, by which they absent themselves from the \u2018on-task\u2019 classroom culture, and by extension the research process. Thirdly, they engage in playful dissent, demonstrating their political knowingness of the classroom social order. The article discusses the implications for educational research when the values of consent are in conflict with a schooling focused on conformity. This includes emphasising the limits of consent procedures, paying closer attention to how researchers recognise and respond ethically to children\u2019s multiple practices of dissent, and using research to disrupt problematic power structures in education settings that limit possibilities for children\u2019s consent.(Abstract published by arrangement with Wiley Subscription Services, Inc.).<\/p>\n