Chapter 1: Starting a Conversation: An Introduction

Our world is in flux (UN, 2019) creating both challenges and opportunities for communities. The purpose of this book, and the series it introduces, is to examine the extent to which we might limit some of those challenges and maximise some of those opportunities by meaningfully involving children. This collection seeks to lay a basis for a conversation, which through a focus on ‘child centred’ practice, allows us to explore

I have been very conscious in recent weeks of articles, both online (BBC Children in Need) and in newspapers (Perry, 2022; Ritschel, 2022), that encourage adults to have ‘conversations’ with children about the war in Ukraine. They have stood out as I don't remember having seen such invitations before in relation to other major issues – the climate emergency, raising levels of inequality, the impact of AI and other destructive conflicts, but also, despite the anecdotal nature of these discoveries, they raise wider questions about society and its relationship with children and the purpose and place of dialogue.