a. What free and informed consent procedure should be used in
this research?

Prospective research participants must be given the opportunity to provide free and informed consent before the research begins. The teacher-researcher would need to check that free and informed consent is maintained throughout the research study. As some classroom projects extend across one academic term or an entire school year, the teacher-researcher should design a free and informed consent process that allows her to check in with students (and their parents/guardians, where appropriate) to ensure that free and informed consent is maintained throughout the course of the project. Some students may choose to withdraw from particular phases of the research or may want to leave the project after being involved for a few weeks. For example, when a teacher-researcher moves from one method to another (e.g. from personal interviews to videotaping in-class activities), renewing discussions about the consent process and students’ rights to opt out might be an appropriate strategy for maintaining free and informed consent throughout the project. While the teacher-researcher recognizes that consent in writing is often requested, she also knows that in certain circumstances, verbal consent (e.g. documented in audiotapes or in a field note at the start of the interview) may be more appropriate (e.g. from persons with literacy problems).

Provincial regulations, along with school district and university policies, and the TCPS guidelines determine the conditions under which parents/guardians will be required to provide free and informed consent for children to participate in research. Regardless of requirements for parental/guardian consent, children of all ages must have an opportunity to express their assent to participate (refer to TCPS Article 2.7). Participation should only occur if the parent/guardian and the child both agree; if a parent/guardian consents, but the child does not wish to participate, the child’s will should be respected.

However, the need for parental/guardian consent can be a complicated issue, particularly for a project like this, which involves 14 year-olds. Subject to applicable legal requirements and to REB approval, the teacher-researcher may want to seek a waiver of parental/guardian consent provisions under certain circumstances. In education research, such waivers to parental/guardian consent provisions are appropriately used, only when the researcher and the REB have considered fully the goals of the study, the rights of the participants, the implications for the parental/guardian consent process, the cultural context, relevant provincial legislation, and school district and university policies.

Consent materials and/or procedures must reflect the literacy levels of the intended recipients. The teacher-researcher will be well aware of her students’ literacy levels and should be able to target these levels appropriately and adjust as needed. It is possible that some parents/guardians might be unable to read consent materials in either official language. The teacher-researcher might have materials translated into languages common in her school area and/or solicit assistance from other language speakers to describe the research orally to parents/guardians and receive confirmation of their free and informed consent to participate.

b. What steps might be needed or useful to ensure that consent to
participate in this research is given freely?

The teacher-researcher is in a position of authority over students. The students and their parents/guardians might feel some sense of obligation to participate in the research. The teacher-researcher must therefore assure students and their parents/guardians through the free and informed consent process that she will take all the necessary steps to prevent any adverse effects for students who decline to participate. For example, the teacher-researcher might decide that in-class activities documented for research purposes will not be graded, so that there is a clear separation between normal classroom evaluation exercises and research-based exercises. Participation from all students is certainly not required for the research to proceed, and this should be made very clear to students (and their parents/guardians, as appropriate) during the free and informed consent process. As the teacher-researcher is following a qualitative approach whereby she will be reporting stories from her classroom rather than aggregating numerical data, the amount and richness of data mean that it is not possible to include stories from all participating students in the study reports or the class play. If some students choose not to participate, then their stories will not become part of the dataset.

c. What information should be provided to the potential research
participants in the free and informed consent process?

Each potential research participant should be told:

• he or she is being asked to participate in a research project;
• the classroom teacher is conducting the research;
• the purpose of the research, the expected duration and nature of his or her participation, and what he or she will have to do if he or she participates in the research;
• who will have access to the information collected, what procedures will be used to protect confidentiality, and how the data will be used. This includes any limitations to confidentiality (e.g. where the teacher is bound by a professional obligation to disclose harmful activities–such as in-class bullying);
• the ways in which the research will be published and how the participant will be informed of the results of the research;
• the harms and benefits associated with the research;
• he or she is free to decline to participate and that, even if he or she agrees to participate, he or she also has the right to stop participating at any time without prejudice;
• any actual or potential conflicts of interest (e.g., that the participation decision will not affect course grades;
• the identity and contact information of another individual who can further explain or discuss the research (e.g. the graduate supervisor or a representative from the research ethics board) and his or her rights as a research participant;
• the possibility of commercialization of research findings.

d. To what extent are the potential research subjects competent to
provide free and informed consent? What are the major issues
that must be addressed by the researcher in seeking free and
informed consent from those who are not competent?

Provincial legislation and institutional policies differ with respect to the requirements associated with the participation of children or adolescents in research. Depending upon the jurisdiction and the specific context in which the research occurs, parental/guardian consent may or may not be required, but the students’ consent/assent to participate in research must be maintained throughout the study. Insofar as this study falls within the range of minimal risk, the teacher-researcher might propose to the REB that the adolescent students are capable of providing free and informed consent without seeking parental/guardian permission if this is permissible under relevant provincial legislation and school district policies. However, different cultural contexts may require special attention related to parental consent (e.g. parental practices in decision-making for children). In this case, given the teacher-researcher’s commitments to antiracism education, she may perceive that informing parents/guardians about the research focus provides an important educational opportunity for parents/guardians.