Celebrating children’s rights with ‘A Minute of Loudness’

On 20 November we celebrate World Children’s Day, marking the date that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted in many countries, including Australia.

Article 12 of the Convention states: ‘Children have the right to have a say on things that are important to them.’ With this in mind, the 2024 theme of World Children’s Day is ‘A Minute of Loudness’, encouraging children to share their ideas on how to make Australia an even better place for all children.

Emerging Minds’ ‘in focus’ article on child, family and practitioner voice introduces practices and resources for engaging children in ways that centre their strengths, skills, preferences and know-how, empowering them to speak up and helping them develop a sense of their own agency.

This includes courses in the Engaging children learning pathway, which offer core principles and skills on engaging children as partners in practice. By promoting their voices, children not only get a say in matters that affect their own lives, but they can benefit the lives of others through their valuable contributions to improving service design.

Building genuine partnerships is a particularly important part of effectively working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. Only by seeking to listen to the lived experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities can practitioners develop culturally valid understandings and support self-determination. Learn more in the course Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and children: A framework for understanding​​.

We invite you to use this year’s World Children’s Day theme as a prompt to think about how you can support children to develop their sense of agency and partner with them in practice.