Navigating consent and dissent in early childhood research: An Australian perspective

Katie Fielding, Karen Murcia, Madeleine Dobson and Geoffrey Lowe
Curtin University, Australia

Notions of consent, including assent and dissent, are paramount ethical considerations in human research, but have different connotations in research involving young children (aged 3 to 8). While discussion surrounding consent in the early childhood literature has progressed from paternalistic views surrounding the need to protect the child, to recognising their capacity to make decisions in line with their rights, needs and interests, some studies suggest that the application of this change may still be problematic in practice. Many researchers still grapple with notions of who provides consent, what consent may look like, and how it is applied both before and during research. This article reports on the practical application of consent, framed by the hierarchy of Children's Participation Rights (Mayne et al., 2018), within a study into young children's demonstration of creative thinking behaviours when using digital technologies. It provides a brief overview of contemporary views of children's rights and consent for context before outlining the study itself and how consent was applied throughout, informed by the Mayne et al. (2018) framework. It presents a series of vignettes describing elements of consent as they arose in practice and discusses them in relation to the literature. The article concludes by considering rights-based consent in contemporary early childhood research in terms of study design for future researchers to consider.
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Authors: Ms Katie Fielding BA, MEd is an academic in the School of Education and School of Media, Creative Arts, and Social Inquiry (MCASI), Curtin University, Western Australia. Her research is focused on the use of digital technologies by and with young children, particularly in creativity development. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6427-7856 Email: katie.fielding@curtin.edu.au Professor Karen Murcia BAppSc, MEd, PhD is Professor in the School of Education, Curtin University, Western Australia. She is a Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child [https://digitalchild.org.au]. Her research interests include scientific literacy for citizenship, STEM Education, children's creativity and digital learning futures. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1900-2781 Email: karen.murcia@curtin.edu.au Dr Madeleine Dobson BEd, PhD is Associate Professor in the School of Education, Curtin University, Western Australia. Her research focuses on social justice in educational contexts with an emphasis on honouring children's rights and voices. Recent projects have focused on children's nature connectedness, caring and trauma-informed pedagogies, and children's experiences of belonging and connectedness. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7615-6974 Email: madeleine.dobson@curtin.edu.au Dr Geoffrey Lowe MEd, PhD is a Senior Research Fellow working in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child [https://digitalchild.org.au], affiliated with the School of Education, Curtin University, Western Australia. His research interests include motivation theories, arts pedagogy, social connection, reflective practice and teacher wellbeing. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9413-7080 Email: geoff.lowe@curtin.edu.au Please cite as: Fielding, K., Murcia, K., Dobson, M. & Lowe, G. (2025). Navigating consent and dissent in early childhood research: An Australian perspective. Issues in Educational Research, 35(1), 142-159. http://www.iier.org.au/iier35/fielding.pdf