Traditionally, children have been considered from a primarily developmental perspective, in need of education in order to achieve autonomy, growth, and eventually adulthood. Childhood studies have recently underlined an alternate way to look at children, starting from the consideration that children are competent social actors and can actively participate in social life. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to the ways in which adults can actively empower children’s agency and participation. This book aims to highlight this important aspect, explaining the position of adults as facilitators and mediators in the process of constructing childhood.

Traditionally, children have been considered from a primarily developmental perspective, in need of education in order to achieve autonomy, growth, and eventually adulthood. Childhood studies have recently underlined an alternate way to look at children, starting from the consideration that children are competent social actors and can actively participate in social life. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to the ways in which adults can actively empower children’s agency and participation. This book aims to highlight this important aspect, explaining the position of adults as facilitators and mediators in the process of constructing childhood.

Introduction  Claudio Baraldi and Vittorio Iervese  1. Participation as Mediation and Social Learning: Empowering Children as Actors in Social Contexts  Barry Percy-Smith  2. Theorizing (Adults’ Facilitation of) Children’s Participation and Citizenship  Hanne Warming  3. Social Mediation and School Mediation: A Process of Socialisation  Jean-Pierre Bonafe-Schmitt  4. Participation, Facilitation and Mediation in Educational Interactions  Claudio Baraldi  5. Participation and the Institutional Agenda in Child Counselling: Proffering as a Means of Topic Management  Ian Hutchby  6. Language Proficiency and Participation in Multi-Party Interactions and Activities  Zhu Hua and Jiang Yan  7. Conflict and Mediation in International Groups of Children  Vitttorio Iervese  8. Children’s Thoughts on Life Experiences: Growing Up and Political Socialisation in Contexts of Education, Society and Resistance  Heinz Sunker  9. Young Volunteers’ Perspectives on Their Interactions with Adults in Position to Facilitate Their Participation  Maria-Carmen Pantea  10. Participation, Learning and Intercultural Experience  Gilles Brougere  11. Goals and Outcomes of Experiential Learning in International Camps: Perceptions of Participants  Jennifer Watson  12. International Education and Global Citizenship  Caecilia Johanna van Peski