Joel Friis

Profile

After the completion of my BA Chilhood Studies degree at the Universtiy of Leeds I was awarded an ESRC funded 1+3 Studentship through the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership. Having completed the MA in Social Research in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds, I am now in the first year of my PhD programme in the School of Education. 

Research interests

My research focusses on the children’s participation rights in UK education settings. My Master’s research focussed on establishing teachers’ knowledge of and practice concerning these rights, utlising a mixed methods survey to establish the role the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly Articles 12 and 13 therein, plays in the promotion of chldren’s right to meaningful involvement in the making of decisions that affect them.

My PhD research will also focus on children’s participation rights in UK schools, however I will now seek to carry out a participatory research project which explores the production of children’s ‘voices’ in education settings by encouraging them to take an active and leading role in the production of data. My research will also seek to acknowledge the complexity of the classroom and the various influences on the ‘voice’ that is produced in learning and research interactions with children, not solely relying on the elicitation of verbal or written contributions by children. 

Qualifications

• BA Childhood Studies
• MA Social Research