Educational Alternatives, Volume 12, 2014

Abstract: In order for an effective education, there must be collaboration between the family and the school that focuses on the children’s educational and developmental benefits and needs. This statement brings forth a very fundamental question. Where stands the child in this collaboration? Since participation is one of the most fundamental rights of children, every decision which affects them directly or indirectly, must be taken with their involvement. This suggests that, if involvement is to be more meaningful to children and effective in influencing change, it is necessary to move beyond one-off or isolated participation and consider how participation becomes embedded as an integral part of our relationship with children in education. The article argues that, in addition to reconsidering what we think it is to be a child, we need to rethink the value of the participation of the children in every decision making process, reconfigure the applications accordingly and value their ideas. This article concludes that children should be viewed, not as vulnerable passive victims, but as social actors who can play a part in the decision to participate in their own education process. By way of conclusion, the requirements of such a vision of children’s participation are considered - what will be needed to make it an educational possibility in school-family collaboration pursuant to the laws and applications in Turkey.