Chapter 2 Pause for thought Pause for thought In Latin the word ‘ludus’ has a twin meaning of both ‘schooling’ and ‘entertainment’ and Plato advised parents that play was a good preparation for citizenship. In Ancient Greece, education and enjoyment were seen as overlapping entities that shaped young people’s lives (Lazos, 2002, cited in Hartas, 2008). Indeed, the terms ‘education’ and ‘youth’ had a common root in the Greek language. Pause for thought What about children with learning difficulties? A helpful initiative I devised when doing some research with children who had severe and complex learning difficulties to ensure they were comfortable about participating in my research was something I called a ‘circle of consent’ (Kellett, 2001). A circle of consent places a child with learning difficulties at the centre of a virtual circle and surrounds him with individuals who know him well, can understand and interpret his needs and have his best interests at heart. A circle might consist of a class friend, a sibling, a support worker, a teacher, a parent, etc. Collectively these individuals take responsibility for informed consent by observing participation sessions and preventing any activity which might occasion him distress or discomfort. Pause for thought Sometimes research video data of children get into the public domain – initially with full consent of children’s legal guardians. Consider a programme such as Child of Our Time. This is a research documentary charting the social development of a group of children over a longitudinal period. It is broadcast on a BBC channel and could be video-taped and saved by any viewer. Some of the footage shows children having temper tantrums and other actions they may find embarrassing in their teenage years. The children were too young to give their consent to being filmed when they were toddlers and even if they exercised a right to withdraw ongoing consent at an older age, it would be impossible to track down and destroy all the copies of the film data which might have been made. How can a child’s ongoing consent be honoured in such circumstances? © Mary Kellett Kellett, M. (2010) Rethinking Children and Research. London: Continuum..