Johnson, V.

This paper presents how a participatory approach was used to introduce to pupils aged 9-11 years at a school in the UK to a new subject - the environment. The session was started by finding out from the children what they already know about the subject, and what more they would like to find out about it. Using the children's understanding of the subject and the issue as a starting point, the children were introduced to what the World Summit and Agenda 21 were all about.

The article suggests that three processes - detailed field research, policy research and dissemination - need to run in parallel in order to make research relevant and accessible to policy-makers at different levels of decision-making. These processes are discussed in the context of an ActionAid research project on children's roles in development. Some of the problems with the approach and the lessons learned are discussed.