The Dream-school project: Creating democratic, inclusive, and collaborative spaces for children and adults in a comprehensive school in Iceland

• Main Authors: Jörgensdóttir Rauterberg, Ruth, Guðjónsdóttir, Hafdís
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2024
• Subjects: inclusive school practices; inclusive education; action research; children's participation; inclusive pedagogy; student democracy; inngildandi skólastarf; menntun fyrir alla; starfendarannsóknir; þátttaka barna; inngildandi kennslufræði; nemendalýðræði; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3963

The active participation of children in society is essential for their well-being and success. The main task of the education system is to ensure their involvement and participation within their peer communities. Recently, there have been policy developments concerning inclusive education, school services, and children’s rights in Iceland. New laws on inclusive education and services for children and their families place the child in focus. They oblige society to create conditions for the well-being and prosperity of all children by providing appropriate integrated services across institutions without barriers. Children’s participation in developing and sustaining services and inclusive practices has been emphasised. This article explores the development of effective collaboration between children and adults, developing inclusive school practices within the Dream School project. The project was conducted in partnership with the children and the personnel at the middle level (grades 5 to 7) in an Icelandic comprehensive school. It was part of a development project on children’s participation and empowerment involving the school, the local youth and leisure centre, and researchers from the University of Iceland. Integrated into the Dream School project was a participatory action research (PAR) study. The PAR method builds on active stakeholder collaboration, involving collaborative inquiry, dialogue, and joint knowledge creation. This aligns with the study’s theoretical framework, centring on children’s participation, belonging, and empowerment. The Dream-school project aimed to amplify children’s voices and develop effective and sustainable ways to collaborate with children and adults in school. The research aimed to frame the process to understand the evolution of collaboration between children and adults and identify key factors for children’s empowerment. Research questions included: How can democratic, collaborative spaces be created for children and adults? What facilitates children’s expression of ideas and ...