Decolonising Knowledge Production: Opportunities offered by child-led research

Child-led research has emerged as a critical approach that positions children as competent social actors and experts in their own lives. It challenges dominant paradigms of knowledge production by asserting that children are capable of designing and conducting their own research. Despite notable advances following the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children remain marginalised within research processes, largely due to entrenched conceptions of research that continue to privilege academic over non-academic knowledge and adult authority over children's perspectives. Intersecting systems of domination shape these exclusions. Drawing on a theoretical framework that integrates key principles from childhood studies, participatory action research, and decolonial theory, this article examines two child-led research projects in which children employed participatory methodologies to investigate issues of personal and collective relevance. Findings from the study suggest that the child researchers were able to engage with their concerns in creative and meaningful ways, producing knowledge that authentically represented their lived realities.