Research interests

Children and Childhood

• Children’s participation in decision making and children’s citizenship
• Rights-based social policy for children
• Children in the care and protection system (out-of-home or foster care)
• Child labour in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, particularly in Indonesia
• Children’s participation in community and community development
• The physical and emotional punishment of children in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
• Child protection and rights-based policy
• Children-centred education
• Research with children: Ethics, methodologies, methods

Gender

• Gender and poverty
• Gender analysis
• Gender and political representation (focusing on Indonesia)

Country/Regional focus

• Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia and the Philippines
• Pacific, especially Fiji
• Australia

Current projects

Assessing development: designing better indices of poverty and gender equity
Contributing to development worldwide, this research raises Australia's global standing and helps fulfil the values and responsibilities of the Australian people. It strengthens the basis for gender‑related and poverty‑related policy development and service delivery within Australia and helps correct the current over‑emphasis, in measuring domestic gender inequity, on the more privileged women. Because severe poverty and radically unequal gender relations burden many of our South East Asian and Pacific neighbours, development aid remains an important plank of our foreign policy. By providing better tools for measuring poverty and gender inequity, this project can improve our understanding of our region and augment the impact of our aid.

Funded by an ARC Linkage Grant of $1,098,000 over three years, commencing in late 2009.
Collaborating researchers: Professor TW Pogge; Dr S Bessell; Ms JE Hunt; Dr CH Barry; Dr Y Liu; Professor AM Jagger; Ms J Sloane; Ms A Banze; Professor FA Castillo
Collaborating/Partner Organisations: International Women's Development Agency, Oxfam Southern Africa Regional Office, Philippines Health Social Science Association, University of Colorado at Boulder
Administering Institution: The Australian National University

Children, Community and Social Capital in Australia
This research will explore children’s views and experiences of community and will increase understanding of community and community strengthening initiatives from a child-centred perspective.  It will contribute to policies and programs being responsive and child-inclusive.  Based on children’s lived experiences and perspectives, we will develop a framework that will be used to analyse community strengthening and social inclusion policies from a child-centred perspective.  Our methodology is based on collaboration with communities and values children’s knowledge and contribution. 

Funded by an ARC Linkage Grant of $91,722 over three years, commencing in Feburuary 2010.
Collaborating researchers: Dr S Bessell, Professor J Mason, Ms A Michaux, Dr A Nevile
Partner Organisations: The Benevolent Society, NAPCAN
Administering Institution: The Australian National University

Developing Child-Inclusive Policy in Fiji
This research explore the views and priorities of children and young people in Fiji on policy issues that are relevant to them.  The first phase of this research focuses on children and young people’s views on education.  As part of this research the Children and Young People’s Forum on Education in Fiji was held in June 2009, in collaboration with Save the Children Fiji. 

Read the report from the Children and Young People’s Forum [PDF, 2346KB] on Education in Fiji.

What does children’s and youth participation mean for children and adults?

Focusing on the Australian context, which particular emphasis on children and  young people who have experienced the care and protection system, this project explores the attitudes and experiences of both adults and children in relation to children’s and youth participation in decision-making processes.

What is valued about childcare

A detailed study of one childcare centre, this research explores what children (aged four and five years), parents and staff consider to be good quality child care.

Recently completed research projects

Children's agency in communities: A review of the literature and the policy and practice context (2008)
Dr Sharon Bessell, Professor Jan Mason (University of Western Sydney), Jarrah Hoffman-Ekstein and Annette Michaux (The Benevolent Society), Marie Fox (NAPCAN)
Funding Source: ARACY/ARC NHMRC Research Network Seed Funded Collaboration

This project explored the children’s roles and engagement with their communities, examining the way in which children have been represented in the literature, policy and practice relating to community strengthening.

View Report authored by Jarrah Hoff-man-Ekstein
View Presentation by Sharon Bessell and Jarrah-Hoffman-Ekstein

Children’s experiences and views of physical and emotional punishment (2005-06)
Dr Sharon Bessell, Dr Harriot Beazley (University of Queensland), Dr Judith Ennew (Knowing Children, University of Malaya), Associate Professor Roxana Waterson (National University of Singapore)
Funding Source: Save the Children Sweden

This research records what 3,322 children from eight countries in the Southeast Asia and the Pacific region told researchers about everyday, common violence - both physical and emotional - used as punishment against them. It used a systematic, scientific approach, which sought information about children’s knowledge, experiences and views, using appropriate methods through which they could express themselves easily and without being harmed.

View the monograph
View the research protocol [PDF, 1044KB] (including details of our methodology, methods used and ethical considerations

Child Labour Work Book: Rights-Based Situational Analysis Data Collection and Report Writing (2006)
Funding Source: Save the Children Sweden
Dr Sharon Bessell and Dr Judith Ennew (Knowing Children, University of Wales Swansea)

This research resulted in a Work Book, designed to be used in any country in the world, provides tools and step-by-step instructions on what data to collect and where to find it. Clear directions are provided on writing a situation analysis on working children and child labour, within overall national contexts. Such contextual situation analysis will develop better understanding of the circumstances of working children, and result in focused programme responses for better protection of working children and the fulfilment of their rights.
View Child Labour Workbook

Publications

Refereed articles and book chapters

• ‘Participation in Decision-making in Out-of-Home Care in Australia: What Do Young People Say?;, Children and Youth Services Review, forthcoming 2010.
• ‘Influencing International Child Labour Policy: The Potential and Limits of Children-Centred Research’, Children and Youth Services Review, forthcoming 2010.
• ‘Affirmative Action in Parties and Elections: How Effective is it?’ in Edward Aspinall and Marcus Mietzner (eds.), Democracy in Practice: Campaigns, Parties and Parliaments, ISEAS, Singapore, forthcoming 2010.
• ‘Methodologies for Gender-sensitive and Pro-poor Poverty Measures’ in Sylvia Chant (ed.) International Handbook on Gender and Poverty, Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2010.
• Do Rights Make a Difference?  The Evolution of Policy for Children in Out-of-Home Care in Australia’ in Ann Nevile (ed.), Human Rights and Social Policy, Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2010.
• ‘Strengthening Fiji’s Education System: A view from key stakeholders [PDF, 195KB]’, Pacific Economic Bulletin, 24(2), 2009.
  
• ‘Indonesian Children’s Views and Experiences of Work and Poverty [PDF, 103KB]’, Social Policy and Society, 8(4), 2009.
  
• (with Tali Gal), ‘Forming Partnerships: The Human Rights of Children in Need of Care and Protection [PDF, 640KB]’,  International Journal of Children’s Rights, 17, 2009.
  
• ‘Children’s Participation in Decision-Making in the Philippines: Understanding the attitudes of policy-makers and service providers [PDF, 122KB]’, Childhood, 16(3), 2009. 
  
• (with Harriot Beazley, Judith Ennew and Roxana Waterson), ‘Editorial: the right to be properly researched - research with children in a messy, real world [PDF, 147KB]’, Children’s Geographies, 7(4), 2009.
  
• ‘Research with Children: Thinking about Method and Methodology’ in Involving Children in Research, ARACY and the NSW Commission for Children, Sydney, 2009.
• ‘Child Labor in Indonesia’ in Hugh Hindman (ed.), The World of Child Labor: An Historical and Regional Survey, M. E. Sharpe, Armonk NY, 2009.
•  “Fiji” (with Lynette Petueli) in Jyotsna Pattnaik (ed.) The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children’s Issues Worldwide, Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, 2007.
• ‘Children, Welfare and Protection: A New Policy Framework?’ in Ross McLeod and Andrew MacIntyre (eds.), Democracy and the Promise of Good Governance, ISEAS, Singapore, 2007.
• ‘Ethical Research with Children: The Time for Debate is Now’, Children, Communities Families Australia, Volume 1, Number 1, 2006.
• “Indonesia” in Manon Tremblay and Yvonne Gallagher (eds.), Sharing in Power: Women in Parliaments in Transitional and Developing Counties, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2005.
• “Social Cohesion and Conflict Management: Rethinking the Issues through a Gender Sensitive Lens” in Nat Colletta (ed.), Social Cohesion and Conflict Management in Asia, World Bank/Asian Development Bank, Washington, 2000.
• “The Politics of Child Labour in Indonesia: Global Trends and Domestic Policy [PDF, 1060KB]”, Pacific Affairs, Volume 72, Number 3, Fall 1999.
• “Marriageable Age: The Politics of Early Marriage in Twentieth Century Indonesia”, Indonesia, Number 63, April 1997 (co-authored with Dr Susan Blackburn).

Books

• What Children Say: Results of Comparative Research on Physical and Emotional Punishment of Children in Southeast Asia and the Pacific (with Harriot Beazley, Judith Ennew and Roxanna Waterson) , Save the Children Sweden, Bangkok, 2006.
• Women, Gender and Development in Indonesia, ISEAS, Singapore, April 2002 (co-edited with Kathryn Robinson).
• Education for Sustainable Development, Canberra, The Development Studies Network, 1999 (co-edited with Pamela Thomas).

Non-refereed articles and publications

•  ‘Brutal lessons: A culture of violence makes life tough for kids, Inside Indonesia, Issue 92, April-July 2008
• Workbook Child Labour:  Rights-Based Situation Analysis, Data Collection and Report Writing, Save the Children Sweden, Bangkok 2006 (with Judith Ennew)
• Comparative Research on the Physical and Emotional Punishment of Children in Southeast Asia and the Pacific 2005: Research Protocol, Save the Children Sweden, Bangkok, 2005 (with Harriot Beazley,. Judith Ennew and Roxanna Waterson)
• “Trafficking in Children: Rethinking the Issues through a Human Rights Lens”, Development Bulletin, Volume 66, 2004.
• “Adolescents and family planning: Issues and debates”, Development Bulletin, Number 47, Summer 1999.
• “Working Children and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child:  Ten Years On”, Child Workers in Asia, Volume 15, Number 3, September–December 1999.
• “Review Article: Working Children:  Reconsidering the Debates, Report of the International Working Group on Child Labour, Jim McKechnie and Sandy Hobbs (editors)”, International Journal of Children’s Rights, Volume 7, 1999.
•  “Child Labour and the Rights of the Child”, Development Bulletin, Number 44, January 1998.
  “Children At Work”, Inside Indonesia, Number 46, March 1996.
• “Review Article:  Children, Work and “Child Labour”: Changing Responses to the Employment of Children by Ben White”, International Journal of Children’s Rights, Volume 4, Number 4, 1996.
• “The Exploitation of Child Labour:  The Case of the Girl Child”, Development Bulletin, Volume 36, January 1996.
• The Political Dynamics of Child Labour in Indonesia, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Clayton, 1995.

Recent reports and conference papers

• Rethinking the Relationship between Human Development and Education: Beyond Enrolments, paper delivered at the UNDP/ACFID Consultations on the 2010 Human Development Report, 13 April 2010, Canberra.
• Forgiven and forgotten? Children’s Rights and Preventing Abuse in Care, paper delivered at the ANU, Public Lecture on the Forgotten Australians, 9 December 2009.
• ‘Children and Young People’s Perspectives on Education in Fiji’, presented to the PNG and the Pacific Update, 8 December 2009.
• ‘Improving the Quality of Education in Fiji: Children and Young People’s Priorities’, presented to the Pacific Island Update, 20 October 2009.
• 'Making Measurements of Poverty Gender Sensitive' Address to the Annual General Meeting of UNIFEM Australia, 23 October 2009.
• ‘Gender and Food Security’, invited paper to UNIFEM Spring Launch, 1 September 2009.
• ‘Rights-based research with children’, invited paper to reflexive practices group at the Institute of Child Protection Studies, The Australian Catholic University, 11 August 2009.
• ‘Poverty measures and gender sensitivity’, paper presented to the Assessing development: designing better indices of poverty and gender equity Workshop, Centre for the Mind in Nature, University of Oslo,12-15 March 2009
•  ‘Children’s agency in communities’ (with Jarrah Hoffmann-Ekstein), presented via the ARACY Access Grid, 27 November 2008
• ‘Research with Children: Thinking about method and methodology’, presented at the ARACY/New South Wales Commission for Children and Young People Think Tank on Involving Children and Young People in Research, 11 November 2008.
• ‘Women’s Parliamentary Representation in Indonesia, Proportional Representation and the Quota’ presented at the Crawford Seminar Series, 9 September 2008.
• ‘Youth Livelihoods in Fiji’, Fiji Updates in Suva (University of the South Pacific) and Lautoka, 22 and 24 July 2008.
• ‘Policy, Research and Children’s Participation: The case of child labour in Indonesia’, presented at the ‘Seen and Heard Workshop’, University of New South Wales, September 2007.
• ‘Rights, Respect and Responsiveness: What Children and Young People want from the Charter of Rights’ report for the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, The Australian Capital Territory, June 2006.
• ‘Children, Work and Citizenship: A Framework for Policy Development and Analysis’ paper presented to the Asia Pacific Childhoods Conference, National University of Singapore, 17-20 July 2006
• ‘Comparative Study of the Physical and Emotional Punishment of Children – Ethical Research with Children’ (with Roxanna Waterson) presented at the Asia Pacific Childhoods Conference, National University of Singapore 2006.
• Children, Human Rights and Social Policy: Is Citizenship the Way Forward?’, paper presented to the Crawford School Seminar Series, The Australian National University, May 2006
• ‘Children’s and Young People’s Participation in Decision Making in the ACT: Attitudes Opportunities and Barriers’ paper presented to the Youth Coalition of the ACT Annual Conference: From Strength to Strength, 21-22 September 2006.
• ‘International Trends in Integrated Governance’ paper presented to Beyond the Roundabout: Pathways to Integration - Sharing Experiences in Collaborative Practice Symposium, 31 July 2006.
• ‘Children, Human Rights and Participation: Bridging the gap between assumptions and research’ (with Tim Moore), presented at the GovNet International Conference, 29-31 November 2006.

Teaching

• Gender and Policy POGO 8061
• Children and Social Policy POGO 8898
• Community and Social Policy POGO8099 (co-taught with Dr Ann Nevile)
• Policy and Social Capital POGO8094 (co-taught with Dr Ann Nevile)

Consultancies

2008	Lead Trainer, Professional Training on Gender Analysis for AusAID officers
2006	Peer Reviewer, UNICEF Pacific Child Protection Programme
2005-06	Consultant on the ACT Charter of Rights for Children and Young People in Care
2005-06	Research Adviser, Save the Children Sweden

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