The Mosaic Approach in Participatory Research Involving Children: Children’s Perspectives on Educational Space
Abstract
This article presents the Mosaic approach as a framework for participatory research with children and illustrates its application through the author’s project School Space and Students’ Well-Being (June 2025). The study explored children’s perspectives on school space in relation to well-being, addressing five specific questions: how children perceive school spaces; which places they find supportive or stressful; what meanings and emotions they attribute to different locations; how they visualize school space in self-created maps; and what changes they propose to make school more supportive. The research employed Mosaic methods combining child-led photo-walks, individual mapping of school space with children’s photographs, participatory observation (“adult tile”), and an incomplete-sentences worksheet. Qualitative analysis of photographs, maps, observation notes, and children’s comments showed that children experience school space as multidimensional and relational. Three recurring patterns were identified: space as a facilitator of peer relations and belonging; space as a resource for emotional regulation and concentration, especially in quiet and predictable classroom environments; and space as a domain of expression and agency, reflected in children’s appreciation of thematic rooms and proposals for spatial improvements. The findings confirm that the Mosaic approach enables ethically sensitive and developmentally appropriate access to children’s lived experiences of educational environments.
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