Children and young people’s participation in child protection: Outcomes of transformative participation in international contexts (Mimi Petersen, Katrin Križ, Harry Shier, Hadas Lotan, Talia Meital Schwartz-Tayri, Lara Naddeo, Roar Sundby, Monica Vidiz and Debora Vigevani)

2025. European Journal of Social Work (published online prior to journal publication).

This paper is published as open access, free to download from the journal website here and free to share with proper acknowledgement.

Supporting child and youth participation in service design and decision-making: The ReSPECT approach (Rebekah Grace, Harry Shier, Samia Michail, Tobia Fattore, Tom McClean, Jonathan Ng, Kelly Baird, Sarah Wise, and Lynn Kemp)

2024. Children and Youth Services Review, 163. 107769.

This paper is published as open access, free to download from the journal website here and free to share with proper acknowledgement.

Cultivating child and youth decision-making: The principles and practices of the ReSPECT approach to professional development (Samia Michail, Rebekah Grace, Jonathan Ng, Harry Shier)

2024. Children & Society 38 (5), pp. 1451-1470.

This paper is published as open access, free to download from the journal website here and free to share with proper acknowledgement.

Social Spaces and Youth Services for Young People in Balbriggan (with Carol Barron)

2024. Dublin City University.

ISBN: 9781911669692.

Also available from Our Balbriggan website here

Children Claiming the Right to Live Without Violence in Nicaragua

2023. Chapter in “Children and Young People's Participation in Child Protection: International Research and Practical Applications”, Edited by Katrin Kriz and Mimi Petersen, published by Oxford Universtiy Press, pp 85-104.

ISBN: 9780197622322

Purchase of this book is highly recommended. Alternatively e-mail me for an unofficial author's version.

Learning from experience: Sistematización of ten years of action research by children and adolescents with CESESMA in Nicaragua (with Marisol Hernández Méndez, Marta Lidia Padilla , Roxana Lizbeth Soza Villagra , Pablo Antonio Hernández González , Osiris Sugey Valdivia and Nohemí Molina Torres)

2023. Chapter in “A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation: Conversations for Transformational Change”, Edited By Barry Percy-Smith, Nigel Patrick Thomas, Claire O'Kane, and Afua Twum-Danso Imoh, published by Routledge, pp154-162.

ISBN: 978-1-032-00739-7

Purchase of this book is highly recommended. Alternatively e-mail me for an unofficial author's version.

Is silencing children unethical? Gatekeeping, rights and ethics

2023. Blog post commissioned by Ethical Research Involving Children (ERIC)  

You can also get a PDF of the blog post here.

COVISION – Children as Innovators: An update and some reflections

2023. CARN Bulletin No. 25 (Collaborative Action Research Network), pp 31-36.

ISBN: 978-1-910029-96-1

You can download the complete CARN Bulletin (ed. Charmian Wilby) here.

Access previous issues here.

Circle Games for Groups

2023. Protagonismo, Newbridge, Ireland.

Extract from from “Participación de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes en el Mundo Real: Caja de herramientas para capacitar a personas adultas”, by Harry Shier, first published by Save the Children Nicaragua in 2013. Translated from Spanish by the author.

You can access the original book on the Spanish page, or download here.

Transformative Action Research with and from the Participation of Children and Young People: A step-by-step methodological guide from CESESMA in Nicaragua
(by Harry Shier and Marisol Hernández Méndez; translated by Nuria Gardia)

2022. CESESMA, San Ramón, Nicaragua

English translation of an original work in Spanish, published by Interpaz, Bogotá, available on the Spanish page here

How is it that young people do not have a more prominent seat at the decision-making table?

2022. International Journal of Youth-Led Research. Vol. 1 (Inaugural Issue). [on-line only]

Explore the International Journal of Youth-Led Research here

Locating the (adult) researcher in participatory research with children

2022. Chapter in "Child and Youth Participation in Policy, Practice and Research", edited by Deirdre Horgan and Danielle Kennan, published by Routledge, pp 157-167.

ISBN: 978-1-0030-9952-9

Purchase of this book is highly recommended. Alternatively e-mail me for an unofficial author's version.

The Tao of Development: An interpretation of the Tao Te Ching of Lao-Tzu by Harry Shier

2022. Protagonismo, Newbridge, Ireland

New edition of a work first published on this site in 2007.

ISBN: 978-1-7397707-1-6

Letters from Matagalpa

2022. Protagonismo, Newbridge, Ireland

New illustrated edition of a collection of letters home from Nicaragua, written from 2001-2007, first published on this site in 2009.

ISBN: 978-1-7397707-0-9

Empowerment and Participatory Health Research (International Collaboration for Participatory Health Research, Position Paper No. 5)
(Editorial group: Maria Elisabeth Kleba, Nina Wallerstein, Cyrilla van der Donk, Michael Wright, Ana Paula Belon, Denise Gastaldo, Helen Avery, Harry Shier)

2022. International Collaboration for Participatory Health Research. Available on the ICPHR website here.

Youth participation: Adultism, human rights and professional youth work
(Tim Corney, Trudi Cooper, Harry Shier and Howard Williamson)

2022. Children & Society 36, pp 677-690

This paper is published as open access, free to download from the journal website here and free to share with proper acknowledgement.

Anonymity or recognition? Seeking harmony in an ethical grey area between researcher and researched

2021. Blog post commissioned by Ethical Research Involving Children (ERIC)

You can also get a PDF of the blog post here.

Toolkit for Children and Young People's Participation in Advocacy (Researched and written by Harry Shier for SOS Children's Villages International)

2021. SOS Children's Villages International, Vienna.

[You can get a page-per-page PDF for easier printing here].

Also available in Spanish here; French here; and Vietnamese here.

Human rights and youth participation: The practice of professional youth work (Tim Corney, Howard Williamson, Harry Shier, Trudi Cooper, Roger Holdsworth, Katherine Ellis, and Robyn Broadbent)

2021. Chapter in "Professional Youth Work: Principles, Practices and Priorities" edited by Tim Corney and Robyn Broadbent, published by Youth Workers' Association, Victoria, Australia. pp 11-22.

ISBN 978-064-683677-5

Download the complete book here.

PLAYTRAIN Timeline, the first 20 years

2021. Included in the book "Let Us Play", created and published by General Public, Birmingham, England.

ISBN: 978-0-9929667-5-1

You can read about the Let Us Play project here; or download the complete book here.

Approaches to Youth Participation in Youth and Community Work Practice: A Critical Dialogue (Tim Corney, Howard Williamson, Roger Holdsworth, Robyn Broadbent, Katherine Ellis, Harry Shier and Trudi Cooper)

2020. Youth Workers Association, Victoria, Australia.

ISBN: 978-0-646-82394-2

Student Voice and Children’s Rights: Power, Empowerment, and “Protagonismo”

2019. Entry in "Encyclopedia of Teacher Education" edited by Michael A. Peters, published by Springer Nature, Singapore.

ISBN 978-981-13-1179-6

If you don't have access to the on-line encyclopedia, you can get an unofficial author's version here.
You can see a presentation based on this paper (with pictures) here.

An Analytical Tool to Help Researchers Develop Partnerships with Children and Adolescents

2019. Chapter in "Participatory Methodologies to Elevate Children's Voice and Agency" edited by I. Berson, M. Berson and C. Gray, published by Information Age Publishing, Charlote NC, pp 295-315.

ISBN 978-1-64113-546-7

Purchase of this book is highly recommended. Alternatively you can get an unofficial author's version here, or download a Word version of the matrix tool here. There is also a Spanish version here.

"Empowerment" of Children and Adolescents: What is it, how does it occur, and what is the adult supporter’s role?

2019. Children's Research Digest (Children's Research Network, Ireland), 6 (2) [on-line only].

This paper was developed from my 2017 CRN conference presentation which you can see as an illustrated Powerpoint here.

Where are the silences? A scoping review of child participatory research literature in the context of the Australian service system (Rebekah Grace, Jenny Knight, Kelly Baird, Jonathan Ng, Harry Shier, Sarah Wise, Tobia Fattore, Tom McClean, Gill Bonser, Sarah Judd-Lam and Lynn Kemp)

2019. Children Australia 44, 172-186.

Towards a New Improved Pedagogy of "Children's Rights and Responsibilities"

2018. International Journal of Children's Rights 26 (4), 761-780.

If you don't have access to this journal, you can get an unofficial author's version here.

You can see an earlier version as a presentation (with pictures) here.

On being a 'worker student': Understanding the intersected identities of children and adolescents in Nicaragua

2017. Children's Geographies 15 (1), 36-50.

If you don't have access to this journal, you can get an unofficial author's version here.

This paper was developed from my presentation at the Scottish Universities Insight Institute seminar on 'Children and young people’s experiences of intersecting identities and inequalities' in Glasgow in March 2014, which you can see as a Powerpoint here.

Why the playworker’s mind-set is ideal for research with children: Child researchers investigate education rights in Nicaragua

2017. Chapter in "Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective", edited by Pete King and Shelly Newstead, published by Routledge, Abingdon UK, pp 8-24.

ISBN 978-1 1386 5607 9

Purchase of this book is highly recommended. Alternatively you can get an unofficial author's versionof this chapter here.

Children's Education Rights, Global Perspectives (with Laura Lundy and Karen Orr)

Interview with Harry Shier about his research (by Sue Pearson)

A change of Rhythm, Nicaraguan Style, in Children and Young People's Participation

2016. English translation of "Un cambio de ritmo en la participación de las chavalas y los chavalos, al estilo nica" published by Save the Children Nicaragua, Managua, 2014.

The original book in Spanish is available on the Spanish Page

The original "Toolkit for Monitoring and Evaluating Children's Participation" on which this book is partly based (Lansdown and O'Kane, 2014), is available from Save the Children here.

Children's Rights in School: The perception of children in Nicaragua

2016. Protagonismo, Newbridge, Ireland

Book based on my PhD thesis, which was submitted to Queen's University Belfast in September 2015.

ISBN: 978-1-7397707-2-3

The original thesis I submitted is here.

Children as researchers in Nicaragua: Children’s consultancy to transformative research

2015. Global Studies of Childhood 5 (2), 206-219.

If you don't have access to this journal, you can get an unofficial author's version here. This paper was developed from my 2012 ICYRNet conference keynote which you can see as a Powerpoint here.

Children's rights and social justice: Case studies from Nicaragua as a resource for students and teachers (compiled and edited by Harry Shier)

2014. Published by CESESMA in association with Leeds Development Education Centre

How children and young people influence policy-makers: Lessons from Nicaragua (Shier H, Hernández M, Centeno M, Arróliga I and González M)

2014. Children & Society 28(1), 1–14.

If you don’t have free access to this journal, you can download an unoffical copy here.

The research report in Spanish on which this article is based,"Incidencia de niños, niñas y adolescentes como ciudadanos/as activos/as en Nicaragua" is available on the Spanish Page.

Claiming the right to quality education in Nicaragua (Shier H, Padilla M, Molina N, Barrera L, Molina M, Castillo Z, Ortiz K)

2013. Chapter in "Childrens Rights and Education: International Perspectives", Blue-Swadener B, Lundy L, Blanchet-Cohen N and Habashi J (eds), published by Peter Lang, New York, pp 188-202.

ISBN 978-1-4331-2121-0

What does 'equality' mean for children in relation to adults?

2012. Official background paper for the UN global thematic consultation on 'Addressing Inequalities Post 2015'.

Learn to live without violence (Reports by young researchers from San Ramón, Nicaragua, compiled and translated by Harry Shier, with a preface by Nigel Thomas)

2012. Joint publication by CESESMA in Nicaragua and The Centre for Children and Young People's Participation at the University of Central Lancashire, UK.

ISBN 978-1-901922-85-1

 The original in Spanish is available on the Spanish page.

The Nicaraguan Children's "Defending our right to play" campaign as it happened, 2009-2011

2011. Compilation of campaign updates from Playwords magazine.

See below for the 2008 article "The right to play in Nicaragua" that launched the campaign.

IPA Global Consultations on Children’s Right to Play Report (compiled by Harry Shier on behalf of the International Play Association)

2010. Published by the International Play Association: Promoting the Child's Right to Play, www.ipaworld.org.

ISBN 978-0-9549164-5­9

IPA Global Consultations on Children’s Right to Play Summary Report (compiled by Harry Shier on behalf of the International Play Association)

2010. Published by the International Play Association: Promoting the Child's Right to Play, www.ipaworld.org.

This is a summary of the full report shown above. The summary can also be downloaded from the Childwatch website here.

Children's Participation in Educational Projects and Sustainable Design - Comparing the UK and Nicaraguan Contexts: An Interview with Harry Shier (by Andrea Wheeler)

2010. International Journal of Children's Rights, Vol. 18/3, 457-474.

If you don’t have access to this journal, you can download an unofficial copy here.

Children as Public Actors: Navigating the Tensions

2010. Children & Society (UK) 24(1): 24-37

If you don’t have free access to this journal, you can download an unofficial copy here.

Pathways to Participation Revisited: Learning from Nicaragua's Child Coffee Workers

2010. Chapter in "A Handbook of Children and Young People's Participation: Perspectives from Theory and Practice", Percy-Smith B and Thomas N (eds), published by Routledge, UK.

ISBN 978-0-415-46852-7.

Purchase of this book is highly recommended. Alternatively, you can download an unofficial copy of this chapter here.

Vägar till delaktighet: Öppningar, möjligheter och skyldigheterhildren

2010. Swedish translation of "Pathways to Participation: Openings, Opportunities and Obligations", 2001 (see below) published by Handikappförbunden, the Swedish Disability Federation.

Early Childhood Play in Nicaragua (by María Shier with Harry Shier)

2009. Playrights (International Play Association) 2/09, 14-15

The download file contains both English text as published in Playrights and original Spanish text.

Children and Young People as Active Citizens: A practitioner's guide to navigating the tensions

2009. In "Understanding Partnership Working", V. Harris and others (eds), University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. This is an abridged, practitioner-orientated version of "Children as Public Actors: Navigating the Tensions" (Shier 2010, see above), and also includes a reflection exercise.

Constructing Active Citizenship: Interacting participation spaces in the participation and organisation of children and young people as active citizens in Nicaragua

2008. Paper presented at the seminar “Active Citizenship in Central America: Twenty-first Century Challenges”, at Dublin City University, 7-8 November 2008. The download file is a reprint created by the author in April 2021, with additional photographs and graphics.

The Right to Play in Nicaragua

2008. Playwords (UK) 37, 12-15

Playwords also published regular updates on the Nicaraguan children's right to play campaign from 2009 to 2011. See above for a compilation of these.

Play and Risk in Nicaragua

2008. Playrights (International Play Association) 2/08, 9-10

Pearl Lagoon, a Playworker's dream

2008. Ip-Dip magazine (UK) 3, 24-25. Short article based on a presentation given at the Play Education meeting in Wolverhampton, England, October 2007.

This is the original unabridged article, slightly longer than the published version.

Pathways to Participation Revisited: Nicaragua Perspective

2006. Middle Schooling Review (New Zealand) 2, 14-19.

Pathways to Participation: Openings, Opportunities and Obligations

2001. Children & Society 15: 107-117

If you don’t have access to this journal, you can download an unofficial copy here.

A Child’s Journey into the Future, or Sailing the Seven Cs

2001. Paper based on keynote address at the Network of Community Activities’ biannual conference, Manly NSW, Australia, May 2001. First published in the conference report: Network of Community Activities (2001). A Child’s Journey into the Future. (pp 5-8).

New layout and graphics from the original presentation added in 2021 for 20th anniversary.

The right to play, a global issue: Living with landmines in Kurdistan/northern Iraq

1999. Chapter in “Play in A Changing Society”, M. Guddemi, T. Jambor and A. Skrupskelis (eds), published by the Southern Early Childhood Association, Little Rock, Arkansas USA.

lSBN 0 942388 26 7.

The download file contains the full text of the published chapter, with additional photographs provided by the autor.

The genesis of "Pathways to Participation"

1998-99. Four short magazine articles tracing the development of the Article 31 Children's Consultancy Scheme and the genesis of the "Pathways to Participation" model.

Article 31 Action Pack (compiled and edited by Harry Shier)

1995. Facsimile of original book published by Playtrain, Birmingham, England.

ISBN 0-9519013-1-1

The original 1995 publication has long been out of print and hard to find. It also includes Roger Hart’s conference paper, "The right to play and children's participation", which is not available elsewhere.

Exploring Logo in children's play: a playworker's perspective

1991. Early Child Development and Care. 69: 91-97.

This is a summary and upate of Computers in Children's Play (and the first article I ever had published in an academic journal).

Computers in Children's Play: A creative approach with Logo

1986. Facsimile of a booklet published by the National Playing Fields Association in the UK. It has been made available again in 2023 as a contribution to the historical archive of playwork. The technology described was ground-breaking in its day, but not now.

ISBN: 0 946085 13 7

Adventure Playgrounds: an introduction

1984. Facsimile of a booklet published by the National Playing Fields Association in the UK. My first published work, this has been out of print for over twenty years and has been hard to find.

ISBN: 0 946085 01 2

The Play Ideas Bank: Creative Playwork in the 1980s

1981-85. In the early 1980s, I set about creating a comprehensive practical guide to creativity in playwork. This was compiled and distributed as a series of 4-page leaflets, published by the National Playing Fields Association. Years later, the leaflets were scanned and digitised by Gloucestershire Resource Centre. It is their digitised versions that appear here, and I thank them for this.

These leaflets are offered as relics of an earlier time in playwork, and should not be used as practical guides in today’s climate.