Facilitating safe spaces for children to give their advice

Julie Rafter, an experienced learning support officer at Turvey Park Public School, Wagga Wagga, took on a new role recently. She was a child advocate in an innovative co-design project run by researchers from Charles Sturt University. In this project, children and parents trialled physical activity resources designed to support families to be active together. Families met with researchers during school holidays to tell them what worked well and how the resources could be improved.

Children and parents were invited to participate in separate child and adult advisory groups. These groups were formed to provide feedback on how the researchers co-designed with families. Researchers invited Julie to join the team to ensure that there were safe and fun spaces for children who joined the child advisory group to express their views of the project. Julie facilitated three child advisory groups.

Julie and Kate met up for cappuccinos to reflect upon Julie’s role in the project.

Julie: The children were amazing.

Kate: They were wonderful. … The goal of the first child advisory group was getting to know each other?

Julie: I think having some fun with the children definitely broke the ice, and letting them be themselves when we were playing the game. The ice breaker worked really well.

Kate: I really liked that they got to make some decisions [during the games].

Julie: Yes, they were being listened to. …

Kate: In the second and third child advisory groups, you were in the room facilitating the group. We [researchers] had recorded ourselves reporting how we had changed the resources in response to what children had told us. Children were then asked to give us a score for our efforts, out of five stars, and tell us why they gave us that score. How did you find that process?

Julie: A lot easier than I was expecting because of the children’s comprehension and reading ability. … I think it was just taking the time like we did initially to spend some time with the children and make them comfortable. Getting to know a bit about them. So you know where to step in and when to stand back a bit and let them do it themselves. …

Kate: How did you find the adult advisory group as the child advocate?

Julie: I think [this is] a really good idea, … I didn’t have preconceived ideas, so I was comfortable saying this is how the children felt. This is what they told us. Not having any relationship with the families made it a little easier to just focus on what the children had told me.

Kate: We found it very useful. It meant we could play one role, researcher. … How was the child advisory role different to your school role?

Julie: You have more time to develop rapport with the children at school. You know the signs to look for when they’re feeling uncomfortable. … Trying to build a rapport can sometimes be difficult and time consuming.

Kate: We had gaps between the advisory groups. Did you get a sense of what helped to maintain that relationship?

Julie: Probably laughter. The games we played. That was a really good thing.

The co-designed resources are freely available under a Creative Commons licence at https://threerivers.csu.edu.au/research/created-outputs/physical-activity-in-families.

The researchers (Kate, Rod and Kristen) would like to thank Julie for working with us. And the children and parents who took part in the co-design research and advisory groups, and our collaborators: Murrumbidgee Local Health District, Riverina Paediatrics paediatricians, and Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network.