Children's Active Participation in Institutional Interactions

The concept of children’s participation enhances different versions of the relationship between children and society. This paper aims to clarify the meaning of  children’s participation in the relationship between children’s individual action and the social treatment and consequences of this action. For this purpose, the paper explores the integration of different theoretical approaches that can shape research on children’s participation, looking at  interactions, complex social systems that include interactions, and narratives that are produced  in these complex social systems. This integration allows the understanding of the ways in which children actively participate in communication processes, the ways in which social structures condition children’s active participation, and the ways in which children’s active participation can enhance structural change in social systems, through the implementation of “promotional interactions”.  This theoretical perspective is exemplified in the case of the education system, in which different forms of interaction can have different consequences for children’s participation.