3.1 Case study: Growing wild
A local council decide to plant some wildflowers in spaces around a primary school perimeter as part of their sustainability plan. The council approach the school asking if they want to be involved. Below are two different scenarios of what happened next.
Scenario 1
The school agreed that this was an important local initiative and that the children should take part. They were the ones who would see the flowers grow – it was for their community. On day two people from the council arrived at the school with the equipment and classes of children were taken out to the edge of the playing field where the turf had already been lifted. Each child got to dig some topsoil into the plot with a spade and each got a pinch of seed mix to scatter. As they planted, they discussed the benefits for the insects and the fact that these seeds would grow in the school playground.
A photograph was taken of the children sowing seeds and digging the soil for the school website and for the local paper. One of the members of staff took responsibility for keeping an overview of the plantings and instructing the school caretaker if any weeding or watering seemed needed. They invited the local newspaper in when the flowers were in full bloom and pictures were again taken with the children who were asked to say what they liked best about the project.
Scenario 2
After the council had contacted the school, the sustainability lead teacher asked them what had already been decided and how far the children could get involved in the planning. The council were open to ideas to make this initiative as impactful as possible and therefore the teacher decided to explain the initiative in an assembly and ask each class to think about four key issues:
- location
- what flowers/plants would be best for that location
- what benefits will the planting bring
- how the community would look after the planting over time.
As a result of class discussions, research projects developed into soil types, flower and plant needs, insect needs, and location microclimates. Across the classes children invited in the local farmer, seed merchant, environmental officer and community council representative – all of whom were parents of children in the school.
The teacher, through the school council then supported the children to create a presentation to the council as to what they thought would be best – which included a suggestion to have a small pinch of seeds for all residents with gardens backing onto the playing fields to create an insect ‘superhighway’ of flowers between the school and the local woodland and stream. When the planting happened, not all children were directly involved, but afterwards, each class took turns monitoring and looking after the new planting. They invited local residents to an information evening which the school council led, involving the community in ongoing discussions about other planting and environmental care opportunities.
These scenarios are deliberately provocative asking you to think about ‘participation on whose terms’. There are always moments where much more could be done with an opportunity, but time, resources and relationships are more limited in making that happen. However, these examples do bring to light different notions of what it means to participate as you’ll explore in the next activity.
Activity 3.2 Inclusive participation
1. 
Read the following descriptions of how participation can occur – which descriptions would you match up with each of the two scenarios you have read above?
Table 2 How participation occurs
| Initiation of participation | More like scenario 1 or 2? | |
|---|---|---|
| Induced | More powerful people or organisations encourage or make people participate in ways that they have deemed appropriate or helpful. | |
| Invited | An invitation may come from a more powerful group of people or organisation, but it is an opening to participate on terms set out together. | |
| Autonomous/organic | Participation arises from mutual concern or action. | |
| Outcomes of participation | More like scenario 1 or 2? | |
| Visible/audible | Explicitly statable or performable, usually through words, writings, images, sound or video. | |
| Actionable | Can be seen through changes to the environment, or to behaviours, attitudes or values. | |
| Silent | More difficult to articulate through words or images but can be ‘felt’ through more embodied/emotional states such as ‘sense of belonging’, ‘connection’, ‘community’, ‘witnessing’, ‘empathising’. | |
3. 
Think about your example of participation that you would like to or have incorporated in your practice which you made notes about for Activity 3.1 Question 3.
4. 
How would you analyse your own event or sequence of participation using the descriptors above? Would you now make changes to that activity?
Post a summary of about 100 words to the Activity 3.2 forum discussion.
3 Participation on whose terms?