Listening to children in the field of education: experience in Wales

International law on children’s rights, once focused almost exclusively on protection, has moved to include a greater emphasis on the participation rights of children. Within certain areas of the law affecting children in the UK, we see a similar willingness to take account of children’s views, but the field of education has lagged behind in this respect and the UK has been criticized for its lack of progress in this area by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Although the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 has not been made part of the domestic law of the UK, the National Assembly for Wales has adopted the Convention as the basis for all policy relating to children in Wales. This article examines what the Convention requires in relation to participation rights regarding education and the extent to which the Assembly has made progress in this respect since devolution