The Dream-school project

Creating democratic, inclusive, and collaborative spaces for children and adults in a comprehensive school in Iceland

Abstract

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 ensures they are heard and acted upon, fostering effective collaboration between children and adults?

Through five collaborative cycles, the PAR process involved creative conceptualisation, dialogue, planning, action, reflection, and knowledge creation. Children engaged in creative work envisioning their dream school and discussed these ideas with researchers, peers, and school personnel. Advisory groups of children focused on key issues, making proposals and action plans for changing school practices, which they presented to the school community. Children actively participated in implementing their ideas and reflected on the project and their involvement through a radio broadcast at the local station.

Four key findings highlight the impact of the process: it amplified children’s voices, created democratic and inclusive spaces for diverse participation, facilitated joint reflection and problem-solving between children and adults, and initiated an empowering learning and development journey. The dream school project fostered growth, strengthening children’s voices and increasing participation and collaboration. It established democratic, safe, and flexible collaborative spaces, allowing children to participate according to their strengths and interests and to discover and develop their talents. Through ongoing joint reflection and dialogue, the adults listened to the children’s perspectives and discovered what they could contribute to school development. As the children and the adults actively changed school practices and the results became tangible, attitudes toward children’s participation changed. Through listening to children’s voices and perspectives, adults developed trust in children’s abilities to express and follow their will. The children learned that their contribution to school development is important. The adults want to listen and collaborate with them.

The main challenge faced was ensuring the participation of all children in the project, as they chose different ways and levels of involvement. While some children preferred not to engage in the creative work, they shared their ideas through dialogue. Others initially hesitated but later participated actively in advisory groups or radio broadcasting. Thus, the collaborative spaces and the adult facilitators need to be flexible and responsive to offer all children the opportunity to be involved.

Finding ways for all children to participate remains a central task of the educational system. The project’s journey pointed us toward developing sustainable frameworks for children’s and adult collaboration, promoting ongoing dialogue, feedback, collaboration, and diverse forms of involvement. The narrative of the Dream School project serves as an inspiring example, encouraging further exploration of democratic practices and children’s participation within educational settings.