E. Kay M. Tisdall

Not So 'New'?: Looking Critically at Childhood Studies

The ‘new’ sociology of childhood emerged over 20 years ago, arguing for the social construction of childhood to be acknowledged and for the recognition of children and young peoples agency and rights. Other disciplines joined this growing academic area, from childrens geographies to law, so that the phrase ‘childhood studies’ has become a popular label. Policy and practice both influenced, and were influenced by, childhood studies, particularly in relation to promoting childrens rights. This paper provides an insiders critique of the current state of childhood studies, with attention to theoretical challenges and its applicability across Majority and Minority Worlds. From a childhood studies’ perspective, the paper suggests the potential of notions of relations, relationships and reciprocity.

Researching with Children and Young People: Research Design, Methods and Analysis

Introduction - E. Kay M. Tisdall, John M. Davis & Michael Gallagher Ethics - Michael Gallagher Data Collection and Analysis - Michael Gallagher Group Work Toolkit - Louise Hill, Michael Gallagher & Claire Whiting Involving Children - John Davis Dissemination - or Engagement? - E. Kay M. Tisdall

Is the Honeymoon Over? Children and Young People's Participation in Public Decision-Making

Children and young peoples participation in public decision-making is now firmly on international and national agendas. This article concludes the special issue on such participation, by discussing three central issues for children and young peoples participation: what is counted – or discounted – as legitimate forms of participation; the potential usefulness of theorisations of governance, citizenship and social capital; and how the roles of adults (participation workers) can be understood. The article celebrates the success of the rhetorical push for children and young peoples participation, while suggesting that the tensions and dilemmas of current practice and policy need to be addressed by new and revitalised ideas and challenging theorisations.

Exploring children and young people's relationships across Majority and Minority Worlds

How can we learn from research and practice in both Majority and Minority World contexts? How can we challenge the current academic area of childhood studies, with new and revised theorisations around children and young people’s agency and relationships? This special issue addresses these questions, capitalising on the intensive seminar series funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. The series, titled ‘Exploring Children’s Relationships Across Majority and Minority Worlds’, was held between April 2010 and October 2011. It was organised by the Co-Directors and Associate Directors of the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, a consortium research centre of Scottish universities. Most of the ideas presented in this special issue emerged out of lively discussions at these seminars and we gratefully acknowledge the contributions of all seminar participants. We use the terms ‘Majority World’ and ‘Minority World’ (see also Panelli et al. 2007) to refer to what has traditionally been known as ‘the third world’ and ‘the first world’ or more recently as ‘the Global South’ and ‘the Global North’. This acknowledges that the ‘majority’ of population, poverty, land mass and lifestyles is located in the former, in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and thus seeks to shift the balance of our world views that frequently privilege ‘western’ and ‘northern’ populations and issues (Punch 2003). The dichotomy does risk over-simplicity: for example, the ‘rising powers’ of countries such as Brazil, China and India do not sit easily within either category, and each category contains considerable and salient differences. At the same time, the dichotomy has proved a useful device to challenge thinking throughout the seminar series, particularly given the lack of learning across research conducted in these contexts. Across the papers, we generally use ‘children and young people’ to refer to the age group under the age of 18, as defined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This phrase aims to respect that many older children prefer the category ‘young people’ to ‘children’. Papers may use ‘children’, when referring particularly to childhood studies, children’s rights, and when using quotations. A central concern of the ESRC seminar series was to explore the current state of childhood studies. The ‘new’ sociology of childhood of the 1990s carved out attention to children and childhoods (James and Prout 1990/1997, Qvortrup et al. 1994, Corsaro 1997/2004, James et al. 1998). Key assertions were developed: childhood is socially constructed; children are social actors and have agency and are not passive subjects of social structures and processes; childhood is differentiated by structural processes and social variables such as gender, ethnicity and class. These ideas have run alongside policy developments, such as UNCRC, which have globalised attention to the provision for, protection and participation of, children and young people (Hill and Tisdall 1997, Van Beers et al. 2006, Hartas 2008, Lansdown 2010). However, the sociology of childhood is no longer so new. It has become increasingly multi-disciplinary, with other disciplines picking up and extending ideas, such as anthropology, education, law, health studies, history and political science (represented by the trend towards calling the academic area ‘childhood studies’). In particular, within geography a sub-disciplinary group of ‘children’s geographies’ has been formed.

Children's Participation in Family Law Proceedings: A Step Too Far or a Step Too Small?

The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 established childrens rights to have their views considered in family law proceedings. These rights go further than elsewhere in the UK: in requiring parents to consult their children when making any ‘major decision’, in creating a range of mechanisms for children to state their views and through facilitating children becoming party to legal proceedings if they are legally competent. Such rights are not without controversy, either in abstract (Is it in childrens best interests to be involved in court proceedings? Should children have such rights?) or in practice (Do children and parents know of these rights and accompanying duties? How do legal professionals judge a childs competency?). This paper explores such controversies, using findings from a feasibility study undertaken with children, parents and legal professionals.

Antisocial behaviour legislation meets children's services: challenging perspectives on children, parents and the state

The balance between children, parents, and the state shifts in its nature over time and indeed is not necessarily consistent in, nor across, policy arenas. This paper examines one such shift, where the introduction of antisocial behaviour legislation has clashed with that of childrens welfare services. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 reifies distinctions between deserving and undeserving children, between good and bad parents, and between troubled and troublesome children. It demonstrates certain continuities in constructions of childhood and parenthood – i.e. children as the responsibility of their parents – but also much change – i.e. the ‘competent child’ largely replaces the ‘needy child’. The state, in its various forms, must be able to intervene over an increased breadth of behaviour and to patrol public space. The ‘community’ gains a legal place, through new appeals to the state to control public space and to control the behaviour of children.

Policies on special needs education: competing strategies and discourses

This paper critically examines the array of policy approaches that have been adopted in the field of special needs education in Scotland over recent years. These are characterized in the following ways: (1) supporting or changing the child—an individualized approach; (2) making schools inclusive for all—a systems approach; (3) challenging the mainstream—an anti‐discrimination approach. Each approach creates different distributions of power, accountability and resource allocation. They formulate categories and eligibility requirements that can both include and exclude children (and their parents), and create rights and duties with varied potential and limitations. Thus, the policy approaches may aver their promotion of inclusion but, in fact, they create a new quilt of inclusive and exclusive policies and practice. This is further examined through the analysis of official statistics, which suggests that there has been little difference in the proportion of children who are excluded spatially from mainstream schools and classrooms. Recent legislation, the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, claims to underpin a radical new approach to promoting inclusion. However, many features of the Act suggest that it will reinforce the power of professional groups, rather than investing more power in children and their parents. There is a real danger that, whilst policy frameworks shift, practices remain the same as a result of inertia and resistance to change.

The Transformation of Participation?: Exploring the Potential of ‘Transformative Participation’ for Theory and Practice around Children and Young People’s Participation

A wave of interest, policy and activities in children and young peoples participation has passed through many countries over recent years. As participation activities have proliferated, so have challenges arisen as people have sought to translate the rhetoric of children and young peoples participation into realities. Working across collaborators in Brazil, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom, this article draws on the collaborations interest in ‘transformative participation’ as a potential way forward. The article begins with reviewing the growth of this concept within development studies, including its ties with empowerment. The article seeks to go further, to consider other potential concepts and theories that may critique or add to ideas of ‘transformative participation’: namely the concept of ‘co-production’; and ideas of performance and multimodal pedagogy. The article discusses the potential for co-production to recognize children and young peoples assets, capabilities and abilities, and to facilitate deeper engagement in service and policy development. The potential of performance-as-participation is more testing, valorising different ways of participation and communication, emphasizing creativity, affect and embodiment rather than rationality and governance. Such ideas may have equal, or even more potential, for ‘transformative participation’.

Why Not Consider Citizenship?: A Critique of Post-school Transitional Models for Young Disabled People

ABSTRACT The transition from school to ‘adulthood’, for young disabled people, is generally considered difficult by the relevant literature and service providers in the field. The present transitional models, however, both lack a consensus on the criteria for a ‘successful’ transition and fail to incorporate the young people into the debate. The young people can be treated with little respect and given little control in transitional decisions, particularly as three negative statuses are typically attributed to them when they face transitional services: of being crisis-ridden adolescents, of being needy clients, and of being marginalized members of society. Instead, a transitional model based on citizenship is advocated, which would include re-locating the debate over ‘successful’ transition criteria with disabled people, altering the present ‘transitional service’ systems to revolve around the young people, and greater connections between disability advocacy organizations and young disabled people.

Listening to the views of children? Principles and mechanisms within the Children (Scotland) Act 1995

Great emphasis is now placed on consulting, listening to and hearing the views of children and young people. The Children (Scotland) Act 1995, along with its parallel legislation the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and the Children Act 1989, were critical in establishing this principle in UK legislation. However, practical questions remain about how to consult children and young people effectively and consistently. This article is based on a close reading of the Scottish Act and its regulations and guidance, in order to ascertain when, where and how childrens views are considered. While the Act makes a dedicated attempt to include principles and mechanisms for promoting responsiveness to childrens views, the final result is a complicated collage that is not easily grasped, is not consistent in its processes for consulting children and which places different requirements on professionals (and parents) depending on the area of law.