Fiona Smith

Contested Spaces Children's Experiences of Out of School Care in England and Wales

Based on research carried out with over 400 children in England and Wales, this article explores the complexity of the social space of the out of school club, an increasingly important environment in the social landscape of British childhood. By exploring the ways in which children construct and contest the meanings they attach to the material and social environments they inhabit after school and during the school holidays, we aim to show how the notion of `place is bound up with the action and behaviour of the children who inhabit these significant spaces of childhood. Moreover, by exploring out of school clubs as sites of domination and resistance, we aim to highlight some of the sociocultural struggles which are active in the constitution of the place of the club.

Power, positionality and practicality: Carrying out fieldwork with children

In this paper we provide a reflexive account of fieldwork in out of school clubs in a range of localities across England and Wales. By reflecting upon our personal experiences of researching with children aged between 5 and 12 years, we examine the impact of the positionality of the researcher on the research encounter, and highlight the ways in which relationships between adult researchers and child subjects are gendered. Finally, we identify a number of issues for researchers to consider when working with children in the field.

“It's not all about grades”: accounting for gendered degree results in geography at Brunel University

This paper explores the results of an 18‐month study at Brunel University that aimed to explain the significant gendered differences in academic performance amongst geography students. Male students are doing considerably less well than their female peers, being awarded far fewer first class and upper second class degrees, a phenomenon that cannot be accounted for by A‐level entry grades. This paper draws on interviews with students which suggest that differences in achievement are explained by the fact that males and females perform the role of student in very different ways. While females are generally performing the role of hard‐working, dedicated and focused student, males seem to be identifying with a ‘macho’ culture that glorifies sporting prowess and socializing at the expense of academic study.

What’s in focus? A critical discussion of photography, children and young people

Photography is an increasingly popular research method, used to explore a number of topics with a wide range of social groups, including children and young people. Drawing upon two UK research projects, focused on firstly childcare and secondly children’s mobility, this paper critically considers photography as a research method with children and young people. Firstly, we consider the production of photographs and the need to look behind the lens since this influences the final photographic product. Secondly, we argue that the interpretation of photographs should be undertaken with children to ensure we explore their intending meaning rather than interpretive meanings given by adult researchers. Thirdly, we discuss some of the different ways in which researchers have attributed ownership to photographs published in research publications. In doing so, we contribute to debates regarding photographic methods for research not only with children and young people, but also with other social groups.

Commodifying the countryside: the impact of out-of-school care on rural landscapes of children's play

The growing interest in rural geography has highlighted that symbolic representations of the ‘rural idyll’ are often contradictory to the lived experiences of many rural children. Increasingly, childrens spatial mobility is restricted due to adult concerns over childrens use of public space, and the continuing privatization of rural space. Whilst children are prevented from using the countryside as a resource, there is also a lack of provision and spaces dedicated to childrens play. One exception to this is the development of out-of-school care schemes. The rapidly expandingout-of-school care service is providing rural children with a significant, well-resourced place for children to play. This paperexamines childrens experiences of playing in the countryside, and discusses the impact of the developing out-of-school care service on the daily lives of children who experience the service. The paper also considers the impact of commodifying childrens play on the ability of all children to access a local play service.

Is there a place for children's geographers in the policy arena?

Despite a limited number of notable exceptions, childrens geographers are not generally engaged with the policy process. Drawing on research carried out for the UKs Department for Education and Skills, this paper will argue that childrens geographers are ideally placed to explore a number of important research questions appertaining to the impact of policy reform on childrens lives. It suggests that by actively engaging with the policy process, we, as childrens geographers, can bring a fresh and important perspective to the policy arena.

The training-to-work trajectory: pressures for and subversions to participation in the neoliberal learning market in the UK

The UK government has emphasised the role of lifelong learning in eradicating social exclusion and improving productivity and the skills base. With a neoliberal rationale that normalises economic participation, the unemployed are being offered (re)training to enable a swift transition to paid employment and encourage ‘personal responsibility’. Taking a critical feminist approach framed by the social control model of lifelong learning and Foucaults governmentality, this article explores efforts made to ‘encourage’ mothers to take up training to precipitate a move into the labour market. Drawing on interviews with training providers and mothers, it highlights pressures mothers feel when they have to comply with current training and employment norms, and points to the gendering of official constructions of progression. But using de Certeaus ‘tactics’, it also offers a reading of evasion in mothers training participation and progression: how mothers exert agency to ensure training better fits with needs, desires and caring responsibilities.

Women, work–life balance and quality of life: case studies from the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland

In this editorial we introduce the key themes explored by the articles that make up this themed section on ‘Women, work–life balance and quality of life’. As a collection, the articles emphasise the complexity of trying to define what work–life balance means to different groups of men and women in three locales (Bristol, West London and Dublin), highlighting that trying to attribute meaning to this concept is at the very least problematic. They do, however, paint a picture of persistent gendered inequality. Within the context of neo-liberal economic policy ‘encouraging’ women to take up paid work and training, it is still women rather than men who continue to be responsible for the tasks of social reproduction. The concept of work–life balance ignores the often blurred and ultimately socially constructed nature of what counts as work and what does not and tends to mask the large amount of reproductive work performed by women in the private sphere. Moreover, the research presented here makes clear that contours of power and powerful relations run through the conceptualisation of work–life balance as well as its practice and promotion by government, organisations and individuals.

UNICEF ‘Child Poverty in Perspective’ Report: A View from the UK

Abstract In February 2007, UNICEF launched the latest in a series of reports comparing the conditions of young peoples lives across the worlds more industrialised countries. The report ranked the UK as the lowest of the countries investigated. We give a critical overview of the report, identifying its limitations as well as some of the trends it reveals. We also discuss the poor placing of the UK in relation to current broader political and public debates.

Parents and policy under New Labour: a case study of the United Kingdom's new deal for lone parents

Within the context of neo-liberal economic policy, and triggered by the looming demographic crisis of an ageing society, a cornerstone of the policies aimed at parents of the previous New Labour administrations in the UK ‘encouraged’ parents to take up paid work or to make themselves ‘work-ready’ to provide the skills to compete in a globalised labour market. Underpinned by a belief that most citizens should be in a position to participate in the paid labour market, government rhetoric actively perpetuated a normative code of economic participation in a political climate that appeared to increasingly marginalise and denigrate the work of social reproduction. Notions of good parenting and, in particular, good mothering were variously tied to (re)employment, financial independence and offering a productive role model to children. ‘Good parenting’ was supported by a host of policies which aimed to enable parents to take financial responsibility for their families, ensuring their children did not grow up in poverty. In this paper, I consider the impact on parents and children of one of the key policies aimed at parents to come out of the UK in the last decade: ‘The New Deal for Lone Parents’. In doing so this article will highlight the role that economic and fiscal concerns have had in shaping the direction of policies aimed at parents in the UK. Drawing on empirical work which sought to explore the views of parents and their children of welfare reform, it will also argue that policy-makers must engage with children when developing policies aimed at parents.