Caralyn Blaisdell
Biographic Data
| ID | 6155200 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Caralyn Blaisdell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Caralyn |
| FAMILY NAME | Blaisdell |
| SIGNATURE | BLAISDELL C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Queen Margaret University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5491-7346 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Getting to the Art of the Matter
This paper explores relational understandings of children's participation rights, particularly for babies and very young children under 2 years old. We draw on selected data from the Voice of the Baby research project commissioned by Starcatchers, an early years arts organisation in Scotland (2022‐ongoing). The overarching aim of the Voice of the Baby project is to explore how babies' participation rights might be realised through the participato…
Hearing The Voice of the Baby Through Participatory Arts
This paper discusses the findings from the Voice of the Baby project which explores the ways in which participatory arts contexts enable the participatory rights of babies, in particular those enshrined in Article 12 of the United Nations Convenion on the Rights of the Child ( crc ). Data gathered through observation of arts experiences with babies were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and resulted in a standalone resource to support pa…
‘Why am I in all of these pictures?’ From Learning Stories to Lived Stories
In this paper, we report on Phase One of a small action research project that examined how Learning Stories were put into practice at one Scottish nursery. Specifically, the paper looks at young children’s participation rights and how they were enacted within the authorship of the stories. The project used an action research approach in which qualitative data about participants’ current experiences with the stories was used to spark reflection, e…
Acts of pedagogical resistance
This article highlights an action research project that sparked transformation regarding how early years practitioners documented children’s learning. The dominant discourse of standardisation and narrowing of early childhood education, encapsulated in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s International Early Learning Study, has resulted in the ‘shaping’ and ‘testing’ of young children around the globe. The OECD has become …
Reflecting on three creative approaches to informed consent with children under six
In an era when children’s rights are paramount, there are still few practical examples to guide us when seeking informed consent from children. This article therefore makes a significant contribution to the field by examining three practical approaches to negotiating informed consent with young children under 6 years old. We draw on researcher field notes, images and observations from four research projects that employed creative methods for seek…
Look Who’s Talking
Young children are often ignored or marginalised in the drive to address children’s participation and their wider set of rights. This is the case generally in social research, as well as within the field of Arts-Based Education Research. This article contributes to the growing literature on young children’s involvement in arts-based research, by providing a reflective account of our learning and playful engagement with children using creative met…
Participatory work with young children
This paper explores the ways that participatory work with young children was actually lived in practice, in one early childhood setting. Drawing on an ethnographic study, the paper argues that disruption of age-based hierarchy was key for making space and time for young children’s meaningful participation. Practitioners held a strong, nuanced view of young children’s ‘richness’, rather than defining young children in terms of what they lack. The …
Putting reflexivity into practice
In this paper, I discuss my use of reflexive writing during my PhD fieldwork, which was an eight month ethnographic study of one early learning and childcare setting. Going into my fieldwork, I was keen to explore how reflexivity could help me negotiate issues that arose because of my professional background as a preschool teacher. In the essay, I discuss my reasons for using reflexive writing during my fieldwork, and argue that reflexive writing…
Look Who’s Talking
Young children are often ignored or marginalised in the drive to address children’s participation and their wider set of rights. This is the case generally in social research, as well as within the field of Arts-Based Education Research. This article contributes to the growing literature on young children’s involvement in arts-based research, by providing a reflective account of our learning and playful engagement with children using creative met…
Putting reflexivity into practice
In this paper, I discuss my use of reflexive writing during my PhD fieldwork, which was an eight month ethnographic study of one early learning and childcare setting. Going into my fieldwork, I was keen to explore how reflexivity could help me negotiate issues that arose because of my professional background as a preschool teacher. In the essay, I discuss my reasons for using reflexive writing during my fieldwork, and argue that reflexive writing…
Participatory work with young children
This paper explores the ways that participatory work with young children was actually lived in practice, in one early childhood setting. Drawing on an ethnographic study, the paper argues that disruption of age-based hierarchy was key for making space and time for young children’s meaningful participation. Practitioners held a strong, nuanced view of young children’s ‘richness’, rather than defining young children in terms of what they lack. The …
Reflecting on three creative approaches to informed consent with children under six
In an era when children’s rights are paramount, there are still few practical examples to guide us when seeking informed consent from children. This article therefore makes a significant contribution to the field by examining three practical approaches to negotiating informed consent with young children under 6 years old. We draw on researcher field notes, images and observations from four research projects that employed creative methods for seek…
Putting reflexivity into practice
In this paper, I discuss my use of reflexive writing during my PhD fieldwork, which was an eight month ethnographic study of one early learning and childcare setting. Going into my fieldwork, I was keen to explore how reflexivity could help me negotiate issues that arose because of my professional background as a preschool teacher. In the essay, I discuss my reasons for using reflexive writing during my fieldwork, and argue that reflexive writing…
Look Who’s Talking
Young children are often ignored or marginalised in the drive to address children’s participation and their wider set of rights. This is the case generally in social research, as well as within the field of Arts-Based Education Research. This article contributes to the growing literature on young children’s involvement in arts-based research, by providing a reflective account of our learning and playful engagement with children using creative met…
Participatory work with young children
This paper explores the ways that participatory work with young children was actually lived in practice, in one early childhood setting. Drawing on an ethnographic study, the paper argues that disruption of age-based hierarchy was key for making space and time for young children’s meaningful participation. Practitioners held a strong, nuanced view of young children’s ‘richness’, rather than defining young children in terms of what they lack. The …
Reflecting on three creative approaches to informed consent with children under six
In an era when children’s rights are paramount, there are still few practical examples to guide us when seeking informed consent from children. This article therefore makes a significant contribution to the field by examining three practical approaches to negotiating informed consent with young children under 6 years old. We draw on researcher field notes, images and observations from four research projects that employed creative methods for seek…
Acts of pedagogical resistance
This article highlights an action research project that sparked transformation regarding how early years practitioners documented children’s learning. The dominant discourse of standardisation and narrowing of early childhood education, encapsulated in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s International Early Learning Study, has resulted in the ‘shaping’ and ‘testing’ of young children around the globe. The OECD has become …
‘Why am I in all of these pictures?’ From Learning Stories to Lived Stories
In this paper, we report on Phase One of a small action research project that examined how Learning Stories were put into practice at one Scottish nursery. Specifically, the paper looks at young children’s participation rights and how they were enacted within the authorship of the stories. The project used an action research approach in which qualitative data about participants’ current experiences with the stories was used to spark reflection, e…
Hearing The Voice of the Baby Through Participatory Arts
This paper discusses the findings from the Voice of the Baby project which explores the ways in which participatory arts contexts enable the participatory rights of babies, in particular those enshrined in Article 12 of the United Nations Convenion on the Rights of the Child ( crc ). Data gathered through observation of arts experiences with babies were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and resulted in a standalone resource to support pa…
Getting to the Art of the Matter
This paper explores relational understandings of children's participation rights, particularly for babies and very young children under 2 years old. We draw on selected data from the Voice of the Baby research project commissioned by Starcatchers, an early years arts organisation in Scotland (2022‐ongoing). The overarching aim of the Voice of the Baby project is to explore how babies' participation rights might be realised through the participato…
Children's Rights and Participation (8 works) · Participatory Visual Research Methods (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (4 works) · Pedagogy (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Reflexivity (4 works) · Citizen journalism (3 works) · Developmental psychology (3 works)