Anthropology of Childhood

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

Anthropologists have taken children's lives into account from the early stages of the discipline, as visible in the works of, for example, Mead and Malinowski. These accounts, however, were often based on adult's views on children. More recently, anthropological interest has shifted from these socially constructed and symbolic understandings of childhood to an engagement with children's own perspectives and practices (James and Prout 1990). These approaches assume the centrality of children as actors, rather than passive beings who are being acted on; children are seen as complete humans, rather than as deficient adults-to-be. This perspective has enabled a wealth of cross-cultural, ethnographic studies to emerge, describing ideas and practices surrounding children and childhood. These include key events of the lifecourse, such as birth and death, but also a focus on how children are shaped by, and actively shape, their social environments, such as families and peers, educational institutions and religious communities.

Key themes address children in the context of play and labour, childrens' bodies, spaces and mobilities, as well as their experiences of, and responses to violence. This module aims to give an overview of anthropological engagements with childhood, both historically and including its more recent methodological innovations. Broader theoretical discussions are complemented by in-depth ethnographic material from cultures and societies across the globe.

Overview:

Week 1 'Childhood' as a cross-cultural concept
Week 2 Anthropological Perspectives on Children
Week 3 Rites of Passage
Week 4 Education and Morality
Week 5 Childrens' Bodies and Spaces
Week 7 Labour and Play
Week 6 Childrens' Mobilities
Week 9 Children and Violence
Week 10 Individual Term Paper Tutorials.

Current Developments in Childhood and Youth Policy and Practice

30 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

During this module you will interrogate contrasting policy assumptions about what constitutes a good childhood and about how best public policy and professional practice might secure and promote children's rights and well-being. The module curriculum will be organised around selected aspects of childhood and youth policy and practice in and beyond the UK. The rights framework provided by the UNCRC will be employed to structure enquiry. Case examples will be used to focus reading and discussion and these will be closely related to the research and professional practice interests of the student group. The module assessment is a 5,000 word case study. You will be required to negotiate a title that meets the generic learning requirements of the module whilst ensuring relevance to your personal and professional interests.

Curriculum, learning and society

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module critically engages with conceptions of 'quality' in education. You will focus on learning, pedagogies and assessment, and how they interrelate in pursuing quality. You will also explore curriculum theories, policies and practices at international, national and local levels. Key debates relating to quality such as relevance to context, learner experiences, standards, outcomes, lifelong learning and cross-national comparisons will also be addressed.

A major concern lies with global and local influences on quality in education. Global initiatives to be considered include the Education for All (EFA) movement and the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. You will also discuss the roles of local knowledges, languages and cultures in relation to quality education. There will be interactive sessions for you to share experiences and to reflect critically on definitions of 'quality' in education and on how you  might contribute to improvements through your own professional practice.

Dissertation

45 credits
Summer teaching, year 1

This module provides you with the opportunity to complete 15,000-word supervised dissertation on a topic of your choosing in the field of Childhood and Youth Studies. You will undertake a desk-based or original empirical study, enabling you to pursue in-depth research in an aspect of childhood and youth theory, policy and/or practice relevant to your particular interests.

Foundations of Education Policy, Planning and Development

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

The changing roles of government in relation to education services have multiple implications for stakeholders in education. This module explores approaches to educational planning, and considers the implications of contemporary governance concerns asociated with designing and implementing educational reform. You will gain practical experience in developing education strategies and costed plans aimed at achieving education and development targets. You will consider possible strategies to alleviate poverty and enhance social equity through education, whilst improving the cost-effectiveness of education systems. You also look at the various approaches to monitoring and evaluating education interventions and programmes to determine whether change has occurred and the cause of the change.

You will address technical and political aspects of implementing education reforms with reference, for example, to ones associated with decentralisation, privatisation and community participation. Given the role played by international agencies in shaping the education agenda in many developing countries, the module considers how different aid modalities and approaches such as those associated with Sector-Wide Approaches (SWAps), Poverty Reduction Strategy Programmes (PRSPs), budgetary support and the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) impact upon national education systems.

Introduction to Childhood and Youth Studies

30 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

This module introduces the field of study from the contrasting perspectives of a number of core disciplines that address the concepts of childhood and youth. Employing a life-span approach derived from developmental psychology and core preparatory readings, the module will present you with a range of disciplinary accounts that currently construct the social categories of 'childhood' and 'youth' within a comparative, cross-cultural frame of reference. These will include the view from law, social policy and social work, education, anthropology and sociology and medicine as well as psychology. Case studies will be used to ground discussion and analysis and enable you to make effective connections between theory and research and the policy and practice contexts in which they work or have a particular interest. The module assessment is two-fold. You will first submit a 1,000 word Review Paper one third of the way into the module for formative assessment and feedback only. On completion of the course a 4,000 word Long Term Paper will comprise the summative assessment. You will be required to negotiate titles in each case that meet the generic learning requirements of the course whilst ensuring relevance to your personal and professional interests.

Psychology in Education (Masters)

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module addresses the role that psychological research can play in understanding and supporting educational processes. Lectures will introduce you to material on broad theoretical perspectives concerning children's learning (eg cognitive development, socio-motivational factors) as well as specific aspects of children's academic development (eg key curriculum areas such as reading and mathematics; special educational needs). You will have an opportunity to share your evaluations of empirical research with each other in seminars, and will submit a portfolio of engaging assignments on a variety of topics. Throughout the module, you will be encouraged to consider the implications of psychological research for designing and implementing practical strategies to support learning and socio-emotional development in the educational context.

Research Methods (MA Childhood and Youth Studies)

15 credits
Summer teaching, year 1

This module introduces you to research methods in preperation for your dissertation. You will identify and select a research design and methodology appropriate to either a desk-based study or piece of original empirical fieldwork, and present your work in a final 3000-word research proposal.

Teachers: policy and practice in lnternational contexts

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

The module focuses on how teacher education can be organised to best enable teachers to improve their practice. In addressing this, it is necessary to consider how teachers learn to teach. The importance of the teacher to the teaching/learning process has never been in doubt and yet it is only relatively recently that the spotlight has been put on teachers, rather than on pupils, to examine the ways in which teachers learn and the theories and motivations that underpin their practice. Understanding how teachers learn to teach and how best to facilitate their learning are crucial issues to consider when designing policies to improve education in developing countries.

The aim of the seminars in the first part of the term is to give you a broad overview of some of the major issues, concepts and theories in teacher education and how they relate to practice. In the second part the module looks at contemporary issues related to culture and teacher development, teacher mobility, teacher motivation, supervision and mentoring, and teacher education by distance including the use of ICTs. These are all considered in the context of a variety of developing countries, and include consideration of the role of international aid in shaping the practice of teacher education.

Youth Justice

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module will examine how the law does and should respond to criminal and anti-social behaviour by children and young people. Given that much discussion of such behaviour tends to be extremely emotive and characterised by a rose-tinted view of the behaviour of previous generations of children, the module begins by reflecting upon the nature and extent of youth crime. Against the backdrop of contested constructions of childhood and children's rights it then explores the shifts in policy that have occurred in relation to offending by children. It examines how perceiving them as `children in trouble' to be helped or `young thugs' to be punished profoundly affects societal and legal responses. The increasingly tough approach taken by governments in recent years is scrutinised in the light of international instruments such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and sustained criticism from international bodies.
The module goes on to examine the youth justice process, including pre-trial diversion and the sentencing of young offenders, including the increasing use of custody. 

The module then examines a range of issues of current concern, including the age of criminal responsibility, the introduction of civil punitive orders such as ASBOs, the extent to which the state should make parents take responsibility for the actions of their children, the relationship between the media and youth crime and dangerous young offenders.