While Child–Computer Interaction (CCI) research frequently reports successful outcomes, challenges and failures in studies conducted in school context are rarely examined in detail. This paper addresses this gap through a collective reflection on when and how research with children in school contexts can be considered successful, and what challenges threaten such success. Based on decades of CCI experience from fifteen researchers across multiple countries, the study used a structured, multi-phase process informed by confessional research and child-centered ethics. The analysis identifies nine aspects of success across three areas (stakeholder experience, data generation, and children’s engagement) alongside fifteen recurring challenges organised into seven areas. We also map the relationships between successes and challenges, revealing ethically consequential tensions often overlooked in published accounts. The paper offers practical guidance, an analytical vocabulary, and a reflective method to foster more transparent and ethical CCI research in school settings.

This paper examines how children’s capacity to imagine educational futures is shaped by the conditions under which participatory speculative design is introduced. Drawing on workshops with 47 eighth-grade students in India, we explore how scaffolding influences engagement with emerging technologies and future-oriented thinking. Across two sessions, students encountered generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), virtual reality, and a social robot, engaging in design fiction and scenario drawing. Our findings show that rather than generating distant fantasies, speculative design enabled a critical examination of students’ existing educational contexts. With careful scaffolding, children articulated transformative visions that challenged exam-centric schooling and prioritized emotional well-being; without it, imaginaries remained anchored to present constraints. We contribute to Child-Computer Interaction research by framing scaffolding as a decolonial intervention essential for future-making in high-pressure pedagogical environments. Specifically, we propose affective scaffolding and agency-preserving design as frameworks to bridge emotional gaps and ensure human-centric innovation in the Global South.

In this paper, we use the Child-Centred Ethics framework to critically reflect on the planning, implementation, and impact of twelve (2-4 year) projects with children (ages 2-18 years) in Finland, the UK, India, Japan, and the USA. Our analysis reveals diverse ethical challenges and experiences: adapting materials based on the abilities, interests and agendas of the children, teachers, and schools, considering consent and assent as continuous processes, and exploring impacts beyond the project duration. We also discuss handling data ownership among participants and international collaborators, and managing difficult situations that arise, such as, participants pushing the boundaries of technology and people, technical breakdowns, and in situ negotiations of roles among teachers and researchers. We use our analysis to extend the CCE Framework in two distinct ways; incorporating adult stakeholders and impacts beyond a projects’ lifecycle. Our work contributes to research on ethics in Child-Computer Interaction (CCI) research, addressing how to plan, implement, and create an impact in CCI projects with children.