Ladder of Children’s Participation (Hart’s Ladder of Participation; Ladder of Youth Participation) (Roger Hart, 1990s) – a 8-level taxonomy of modes of children’s participation in projects. The first six rungs involve adult-initiated projects: (1) Manipulation – children don’t understand their roles); (2) Decoration – children are involved to bolster a cause; (3) Tokenism – children are positioned to represent their age-group; (4) Informed – children are assigned roles that they understand; (5) Consulted – children who understand the activity are informed and consulted; (6) Co-Development – children share decisions with adults. The final two rungs involve child-initiated projects: (7) Partnership – children develop and carry out the project; (8) Co-Production – children share design and management decisions with adults.
Please cite this article as:
Davis, B., & Francis, K. (2023). “Ladder of Children’s Participation (Hart’s Ladder of Participation; Ladder of Youth Participation)” in Discourses on Learning in Education. https://learningdiscourses.com.
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