Eirini Pardali

Introduction: The role of pupil participation in school-based physical activity is an often overlooked element despite the increasing interest in pupils' voices in policy development and research. Pupil participation is here defined as collaborative actions involving pupils and school stakeholders that influence decision-making processes in school-based physical activity. This study was conducted to explore how the 10- and 15-year-old pupils perceive their participation roles in school-based physical activity connected to age and the contexts of physically active learning and recess in various schools in Norway and Estonia.Methods: The study involved thirty-eight students (n = 38; 17 boys and 21 girls; 21 10-year-olds and 17 15-year-olds) from selected schools in Norway and Estonia. Data were gathered through nine semi-structured focus group discussions.Results: Utilizing Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis, three principal themes were constructed: 1. The informed and listened to, 2. The responsible and open to teachers' questions and facilitation, and 3. The invited to make a choice and practice participation. Taken together, the themes reflected the existing practices and structures that empowered pupils to express their perspectives on school-based physical activity. They also encapsulated pupils' suggestions and wishes for facilitation of their voices in these activities.Discussion: Using Hart's Ladder of Children's Participation as a theoretical lens, the study revealed age and context-specific disparities in pupils' participation roles in school-based physical activity. Pupils engaged in both informal and formal participation structures in teacher-led physically active learning and free choice recess activities, creating democratic spaces for rights of participation and the expression of choice, which need to be prioritized. Older pupils had more participation opportunities than 10-year-olds and had more responsibility, possibly due to perceived maturity. However, 10-year-olds exhibited numerous ideas for increased movement in school, valued the pupils' council, and called for more physical activity. Activity choice and teacher facilitation are vital in physically active learning and recess contexts. It is suggested that school-based physical activity can offer a space for pupils to learn about democracy but gaining the confidence and ability to do so takes practice. Meanwhile, teachers often need training to support active pupil participation in school-based physical activity.

This study explores how Norwegian and Estonian primary and secondary school pupils experienced participation in decision‐making within the context of school‐based physical activity. A sample of thirty‐eight pupils, aged ten to fifteen years, participated in nine focus groups. Drawing on Hart's ladder of participation combined with Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis, the analysis presents five themes. Findings revealed a discrepancy between how pupils expressed their views in decision‐making in school‐based physical activity and how they perceived teachers' response to these expressions. It is suggested that future school‐based physical activity programmes should enable all pupils to co‐decide and participate fully.

When Greece was hit by the global financial crisis in 2009, families with children paid the heaviest toll. In this article, we draw on individual interviews and focus groups with 17 sixth graders, six teachers and six parents at a primary school in the Magnesia region. We use a relational approach to unpacking everyday austerity as it is lived, felt and experienced by Greek children. The empirical material shows how children's well‐being is conditioned by the well‐being of their families, where emotional stress spills over through witnessing parents' worries. Relational agency enables children to contribute to adversity relief, which seems to enhance not only their well‐being but also their resilience, as it is embedded in relations of mutual empowerment and development. Lastly, the study documents how macro policies of austerity measures trickle into the fabric of children's everyday lives and shape familial and intergenerational practices of care and responsibility.