Harry Shier

Youth, Transitions and Social Justice Youth, Transitions and Social Justice - Researching Spaces of Social Action; This book considers young people’s conceptions of social justice and offers inspiring insights into their approaches to cha...

New book “Youth, Transitions and Social Justice”, ed B McShane + M Whelan, pub Bristol Uni Press. With colleagues in Ireland and Australia, I helped with chapter on SOCIAL JUSTICE IN YOUTH WORK: DIALOGUE BETWEEN SDGS AND UNCRC. bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/youth-transi... Also at www.harryshier.net

We're delighted to interview our members, Aoife Daly, Pernilla Leviner, and Rebecca Thorburn Stern, about their edited collection -

Treated Like a Child: Age Discrimination and Children's Rights:

www.qmul.ac.uk/clpn/news-vi...

New CARN Bulletin just out at www.carn.org.uk/resources/ca.... It’s based on the proceedings of the Community Action Research Network's 2024 Malmö conference, and includes my keynote “PAR WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE: TACKLING CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVING TRANSFORMATIONS”. Also at www.harryshier.net

Taking time off, and what better way to enjoy my 71st birthday than chilling with my lovely family on Halki Island in the sunny Agean Sea.

Passing by Muizenberg Beach, one of SA's top surfing spots, I was astonished to learn that Agatha Christie used to go surfing here in the 1920s. Not only an early champion of women's surfing but believed to be the first European woman to stand up on a surfboard www.agathachristie.com/en/news/2021...

I rarely post non-work-related stuff here, but just want to share these winter flowers seen on top of Table Mountain on Wednesday.

Browsing in the library here at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, it was nice to come across some good friends from the old days...

Inspiring workshop yesterday with pre-school and primary teachers in Cape Town, co-creating from the ground up a new South African framework for participation rights in early years care and education. No outputs to share yet, but things are moving and we hope to have interesting ideas to share soon.

A valuable checklist. Thanks Julie. And for those seeking to explore further and challenge adultism in research, can I offer some additional resources from my own back catalogue: www.harryshier.net/docs/Shier-A...
www.harryshier.net/docs/Shier-W...

Meet my wonderful hosts at CPUT: Head of Teacher Professional Development, Dr Zena Scholtz; Head of Foundation Phase, Dr Naseema Shaik; me; Dean of Education, Professor Andile Mji; Asst. Dean, Dr Martin Combrinck. Warmest thanks for your hospitality, and especially Dr Shaik for steering the project.

Greetings from sunny Cape Town. Here I am at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (www.cput.ac.za/academic/fac...), working on a collaborative project to develop a new South African framework for participation rights in early childhood education. #ChildParticipation #EducationRights

Well done UK. But don't forget, the first country to legislate votes at 16 was Nicaragua in 1985, so only 40 years behind.

Children’s Advisory Team from the Museum of Childhood Ireland (‪@museumofchildhood.bsky.social‬) has a new blog post on the museum’s website about their meeting at the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman (www.oco.ie) in Dublin last week. museumofchildhood.ie/our-third-li... #ChildParticipation

Great to see Shier’s “Pathways to Participation” published in Hungarian for the first time. From Németh, B., & Miklósi, M. (2025). A gyermekrészvétel konceptuális modelljei. Socio.Hu Társadalomtudományi Szemle, 15(1), 31–54. doi.org/10.18030/soc...

Clear practical guidance for collaborative researchers working with CYP, the toolkit “ETHICAL COLLABORATION WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN RESEARCH” by www.dcu.ie/ppi in collaboration with barretstown.org and www.tusla.ie is now at ppinetwork.ie/resource/eth.... Glad I could help. #childresearch

Momentum to end corporal punishment grows.

#IPNEd welcomes Thailand’s decision to fully prohibit all corporal punishment of children!

This makes Thailand the 68th state to do so and the second state in ASEAN.

Read more 👉 bit.ly/thailand68th

CREA8 Conference on culturally responsive research Chicago. Wonderful presentation by Hadjer Taibi on MiCreate European research on the experience of migrant students in our schools- very student centered research. @dcuioe.bsky.social @eqievaluation.bsky.social @hadjertaibi.bsky.social

For years it's been my proud boast to be the author of the world’s most cited journal article on child participation scholar.google.com/citations?us.... But no longer. According to Google Scholar today, Shier’s “Pathways" has 2899 citations, Lundy’s “Voice...” 2918. A worthy successor to the record.

With Mimi Petersen + global colleagues, we have a new paper OPEN ACCESS in EJSW: "CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION IN CHILD PROTECTION: OUTCOMES OF TRANSFORMATIVE PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTS" doi.org/10.1080/1369.... Also www.harryshier.net #ChildParticipation
#childprotection

All participating in the #DúnLaoghaireRathdown #StPatricksDay parade today enjoyed a fab day.

Thank you to all from across our museum teams & MC #maiadunphy. Special thanks to #LeoOKelly from Tír na nÓg who led our group & sang a verse of his signature song.

museumofchildhood.ie/st-patricks-...

Gerison as always so incisive and insightful - a pleasure to listen. A useful learning point for me was her analysis of the strong commitment of the UNCRC to family and parents, which is so often denied. H

We are seeking new members to join our Children’s Advisory Team (ages 10-17). The views of children and young people have top priority in the development of the Museum. Be part of a team, share your ideas and help shape our future.

Interested? Find out more: museumofchildhood.ie/we-are-the-c...

PROTECTING CHILDREN: WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP ACROSS CHILDREN’S SERVICES is a pan-European report just out from @ESNsocial building on last year’s Bucharest seminar. www.esn-eu.org/publications... Pathways to Participation is on p35. My seminar presentation is at www.harryshier.net/powerpoints....

Though retired from regular employment, I'm still available to take on short-term projects and consultancy work, particularly in children’s rights, children’s play, child and youth participation and activism. More info attached here, or drop me an email. www.harryshier.net Please repost #ChildRights

Though retired from regular employment, I'm still available to take on short-term projects and consultancy work, particularly in the areas of children’s rights, children’s play, child and youth participation and activism. More info attached here, or drop me an email. www.harryshier.net

With the All Ireland Rare Diseases Research Network (RAiN) at www.oco.ie to launch a video conceived and created by the RAiN CRAG (Children’s Research Advisory Group www.rainrareresearch.org/rain-crag) to help CYP understand lives lived with rare diseases. Watch at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og3G...

Great to see this open access in BJSW (academic.oup.com/bjsw/advance...). Using Shier’s analytical tool (not Pathways, the newer one on partnering children in research: www.harryshier.net#Analyticaltool), quantitative method shows social work researchers using only 5% of potential to engage with CYP

Honoured to be back at Barretstown on the expert panel for launch of new toolkit “Ethical Collaboration with Children and Young People in Research” by @PPI_Ignite_DCU in collaboration with @Barretstown and @tusla. It is indeed a valuable resource and I can't wait for final version to appear online.

Ask them for ideas, vision on all aspects of the research.
Pay attention. Enter into dialogue on ideas that arise.
Use their ideas + vision to improve the quality and outcomes of your research. Finally give them feedback on how their input has made a difference (and acknowledge them in publication).

Great meeting of MoCI Children´s Advisory Team at Office of Children´s Ombudsman a couple of weeks ago. Always a good mix of serious museum planning and equally serious fun.