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The barriers of hearing childrens voices are practitioners underestimating children's ability to articulate their thoughts, communication gaps, power dynamics that discourage children from voicing their opinions in class. A lack of structured opportunities for children to share their views, and practitioners failing to effectively hear and integrate children's voices into decision-making

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Begin open conversations where you talk with the children not at them. having respectful conversations with children as your equal provinding rich questions to encourage critical thinking. Giving children the time to talk whenever they need/want it

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From reading this article, there are many barriers, some of which are:

Children are viewed as vulnerable, and lacking capacity

Power differentials

Children aren't viewed as competent social agents

Lack of time

More training is needed on how to engage with children

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Taking the time to listen to children (verbally and non-verbally) and engaging with them in play. Giving children the opportunity to have a say in things that matter to them, and giving them the time and (a safe) space to be able to talk and express themselves.

From the article - making sure there is time during the day for children to be able to share, talk and be involved in decision-making. Also providing training for practitioners about how to meaningfully engage with children.

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Training and resources for practitioners to promote understanding of children's voice and practical ways of how to integrate this in practice.

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Time & willingness of the practitioner to listen to the child, and make changes if they need to.

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Implement something into practice so that children's voices are listened to, and reviewed. Perhaps setting some time aside in the day/week to speak to students/small groups and get to know what is going on for them. Meet regularly, review, make changes, share this with parents.

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From macro to micro level clear communication and shared intentions of the childs voice must be implemented.

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There's a lack of recognition for children in family support programs, leading to challenges and unmet needs. Additionally, there isn't enough cultural value placed on listening to children's voices, which creates more challenges.

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Providing a safe and trusting environment for them where they do not feel judged and feel comfortable to be themselves. Asking open ended questions

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It's vital to create an environment in family support services that values children's voices. Committing to include children in these programs and providing the appropriate resources is crucial for effective implementation.

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Staff training needs to be delivered to ensure that all people understand the importance of involving children. When training is delivered, and true understanding is sought, practitioners will be able to change their practice to suit the children. When this happens, the processes are much smoother.

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In general, it seems that children's voices are not heard as much as they could be. One of the main barriers seems to be that adults do not see the value of their opinions, and sometimes do not believe they even have one.

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Children need to be met with and given choices regarding things that will affect them. This can happen in all areas of life, where the child is involved. For example, as a 2 year old, they are able to choose what lunch they have, what they want to have after dinner. In the classroom, they could be posed with a question that is open ended to find out what their thoughts on the subject are after they have been taught something. This can be used as an assessment of teaching and learning and also as a way to get to know the children in the classroom.

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The children were not being listened to as the practitioners were being told from the beginning that they are not there to work with the children just the family - which meant parents. The organisation did not regard the children in having the ability to communicate their thoughts, the knowledge or understanding to have a say. There was clear evidence of a power imbalance, lack of training and lack of time from the different levels within the organisation.

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Staff training is needed at all levels in this organisation to support the practitioners in promoting the children having a voice. The Organisation will need to change the mindset that they are there for the parents alone and that the family includes the children. Also an understanding that giving children a voice will empower them not make them more susceptible to safeguarding risks.

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It is stated in the article that hearing children's voices was not a day-to-day practice. The barriers are: lack of recognition of children in the family support programs; lack of cultural value around children’s voices and associated challenges and needs; lack of strong relationships between management, parents, and children and lack of adequate resources to do child-inclusive work.

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Open and positive conversations can be really powerful. Listening and giving children time to talk is a simple but an effective way of hearing children's voices. Also, using creative play and finding a neutral space to engage is a good strategy that can be easily implemented.

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Children should be recognised as individuals with rights and voice. It could be a good idea to train staff in order to support their understanding and introduce some strategies that they could use in day-to-day practice.

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To some extent children voices can be heard through, the implementation of student councils, or class representative, or being asked to contribute to community projects or through student, teacher reciprocal relationships. However, barriers to children's voice, can be that children, perceive that even if participation is requested, its a form of tokenism, children are seen as 'invisible' if the content is to challenging, either emotionally or intellectually. Additionally children do not choose the support they need, this is chosen by the adult., and also a lack of resources, also limited opportunities to make decisions on activities, especially as the children progress through the school.

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By having reciprocal communication with children and young people, creating a an atmosphere, where children feels safe to express themselves, encouraging and promoting self esteem, self confidence. Inspiring critical thinking and self belief , and empowerment through carefully created tasks and questioning. Also to observe reactions and body language.

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More time and resources and also more training for practioners, introduction of student led projects, be included in and meetings which may effect them, such as review meetings. Children should feel the can make choices about what effects them, to promote, their wellbeing and development.

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All children should be heard and be involved in the process of decision-making regardless of their age or diversity. However, the lack of recognition of children's abilities and thoughts by practitioners and sometimes parents has built a great barrier in communication between children and adults. Often, children's voices are not being heard or validated because we think their thoughts and opinions are not important enough, which is upsetting.

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Providing a safe space and leading open and positive conversations with children can be the master key to unlocking children's insecurity. Active listening to what children have to say sounds easy, but putting ourselves in their shoes is more complex than it seems. Oftentimes, practitioners and parents tend to make assumptions about what they think the children would like and neglect the importance of giving them space and time to talk. In addition, implementing creative play daily can be a great strategy to get a better understanding of children's needs and thoughts.

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Allocate more resources and manpower to train practitioners and promote student agency in the classroom, even in early years education settings. Provide different choices for children in free play in order to gain a sense of belonging and ownership.