Questioning ‘Listening to children’s voices’ through Jean-Luc Nancy concept of ‘sense’

Listening to children’s voices, particularly in early years contexts, has become central to practice and in researching young children. This gave rise to several methodologies that place the child at the centre of practice and research, of which the Mosaic approach is worth highlighting. Yet, what is understood by listening and what it implies have not been explored sufficiently, as often listening is described methodologically.

Using the philosophical ideas of Jean-Luc Nancy (2007) on listening, this paper questions listening and hearing in relation to children’s voices. An introductory vignette helps to situate the question of listening and this is situated into literature by focusing on a milestone book (Clark, 2017) that explores listening to children. Nancy’s ideas are used to challenge the idea of a speaking / listening subject by exploring the concept of ‘sense’, thus challenging our usage of hearing and listening in research. This presentation will explore implications for research methodologies that often try to ‘capture authentic voices’ of children in the early years.