Interpretation of children’s views by educational psychologists: dilemmas and solutions

This paper considers how listening to children’s views and taking account of them is understood in different ways by educational psychologists. Rationales for listening to children include (1) supporting their rights to express views, (2) therapeutic benefits of participation, and either (3) valuing their views as insightful contributions to problem-solving or (4) considering them as contributory factors to the problem. This creates dilemmas about interpretation on different occasions, and a range of theoretical stances are discussed in terms of how far they can support robust decision-making about this interpretation, and a practical way forward is suggested using principles based on critical realism.