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Publications

, , Cassidy Claire, Beaton Mhairi

Young Children’s Participation Exploring Practice in Early Education and Care (2026) (2026)

Young Children’s Participation Exploring Practice in Early Education and Care (2026) (2026)

, , Andreas Pia,

(2026)

, , Andreas Pia,

(2026)

, , Andreas Pia,

(2026)

Tisdall E Kay M, , Battaglia Silvia Maria, Shukul Sachi, Ruiz-Casares Mónica, D’souza Nicole Anne

Research Ethics Vol 22, pp. 322-334 (2025)

Research Interests

Carol’s research interests combine theoretical and empirical work focusing on the voices, experiences, rights and empowerment of children and young people. She has led several pupil voice projects in primary, secondary and special schools, helping staff to develop ways of listening to the voices of children and young people. She also led the ‘Pupils’ Voices’ strand of the Cambridge Primary Review of Education in England and was Co-Investigator for the evaluation of UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting Schools Award. Building on this work, she is currently working with Osaka Kyouiku University and the Japanese Ministry of Education to develop a ‘Safety Promotion School’ award for schools across Japan. Since 2022, Carol has been involved in the iSupport project which is working to develop the standards for children and young people, aged 0-18 years, undergoing clinical procedures, based on internationally agreed children’s rights set out by the UNCRC (1989).

Carol’s methodological interests focus on constructivist approaches to research and, within this, particularly favours narrative approaches.

Professional Activities

Speaker

21/5/2026

Recipient

23/10/2025

Speaker

9/10/2025

Recipient

8/7/2025

Invited speaker

15/5/2025

Speaker

23/10/2024

Projects

Klein, Markus (Principal Investigator) Taylor, Yvette (Co-investigator) Robinson, Carol (Co-investigator) Marta, Samara (Researcher)

01-Jan-2026 - 30-Jan-2026

Robinson, Carol (Principal Investigator)

The proposed project aims to meet the Violence Reduction Unit’s (VRU’s) need to understand the impact of UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) in London schools to support children and young people’s feelings of inclusion, belonging and safety in school. This will be achieved through identifying pupil’s, teacher’s and RRSA Professional Adviser’s perceptions of:

(i) factors associated with UNICEF’s Rights Respecting School (RRS) approach that impact positively on pupil’s feelings of inclusion, belonging* and safety in school.

(ii) other factors that contribute towards developing pupil’s feelings of inclusion, belonging and safety in school. These may include, for example, developing a sense of inclusion/belonging through feeling self-valued as a learner (Brown, 2017), having feelings of usefulness in school (St-Armand, Girard & Smith, 2017), and through taking part in extracurricular activities (Porter, McDermott & Ingram, 2024); and developing a sense of safety in school through pupils feeling at ease to be themselves (Craggs & Kelly, 2018).

(iii) whether UNICEF’s RRS approach reaches all children and young people in school, including those identified as marginalised** (Why? How? Are specific groups not reached? Why not? How not?).

(iv) challenges and successes associated with ensuring all children and young people, including those identified as marginalised within the education system, develop a sense of inclusion, belonging and safety in in school

01-Jan-2025 - 01-Jan-2026

Robinson, Carol (Principal Investigator) Allan, Charlotte (Post Grad Student) Laguda, Anne (Post Grad Student)

The overarching aim is to address the current gap in knowledge and understanding about the impact of a Rights Respecting School (RRS) approach to support children to develop a sense of inclusion and belonging in school.
The project aims to develop new insights into:

(i) the impact of UNICEF’s RRS approach in schools, on feelings of inclusion and belonging* experienced by pupils, with a specific focus on pupils identified as marginalised** within the education system;

(ii) challenges associated with ensuring all pupils, including those identified as marginalised within the education system, develop a sense of inclusion and belonging in school.

Within both of these aims, consideration will be given to whether, and if so how, knowledge and understanding about children’s rights plays a role in supporting children to feel included in the education system.

NOTE: * The terms ‘inclusion’ and ‘belonging’ will be used interchangeably. ‘Inclusion captures the area on which the study is focusing, however, the term ‘belonging’ will be used in children and young people’s participant information sheets and survey questions.

** There is no agreed definition relating to the concept of marginalisation; however, it is known that various groups of children labelled as marginalised from education including, but not limited to, those with additional support needs, a recognised disability, refugees, and ethnic minority groups, experience difficulty in accessing education (Corcoran & Kaneva, 2023). To prevent placing limitations on how ‘marginalisation’ is defined within this study, definitions of marginalised individuals and groups will be determined by the study participants, with the potential for this definition to vary from one participant group to another.

Study participants
Staff and pupils from a purposive sample of UNICEF RRS have been invited to participate in the study as they are well-placed to have insights into impact of a RRS approach. Study participants include pupils aged 9-16 years, and staff, drawn from schools within England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, which have been registered as RRS for a minimum of one year. UNICEF RRS Professional Advisers in each of these nations will also participate in the study.

01-Jan-2024 - 30-Jan-2025

Robinson, Carol (Principal Investigator)

Awarded at Edge Hill University - Blackpool Council commissioned a consortium between Edge Hill University and the University of Cumbria to evaluate the Blackpool Opportunity Area programme Strand 2. The overall purpose of the Opportunity Area programme is to improve the experience, engagement and employment outcomes of young people transitioning from compulsory education into Post 16 education, employment or training (EET).

The Strand 2 element of this programme involves the Blackpool Engagement Journey consisting of two projects, the ‘Pathways for All’ and the ‘Targeted NEET’ projects.

01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2021