Children & Society最新文献

This article explores lower secondary school pupils' perceptions of physically active learning (PAL). Specifically, we explore what educational purposes 12 Norwegian 9th graders perceive PAL contributes to. Five lessons with PAL were observed and informed three subsequent focus groups. Drawing on an abductive, reflexive thematic analysis, we examine how pupils articulate their experiences across activities. We use Gert Biesta's conceptualisations of qualification, subjectification and socialisation as an analytical lens to interpret the educational purposes pupils attribute to PAL. Our findings indicate that pupils primarily perceive PAL in relation to qualification, particularly in terms of engagement with subject content. However, what makes these experiences meaningful is closely linked to collaboration, participation and opportunities to engage in different ways, which can be interpreted in relation to socialisation and subjectification. Importantly, pupils' perceptions are shaped not by movement alone, but by how PAL is structured and enacted in context. These findings contribute to ongoing discussions about the educational purposes of PAL and suggest a need to reconsider the concept to better capture the broader educational experiences that pupils value.

Collaboration with justice-involved children is a central tenet of the ‘Child First’ guiding principle for the Youth Justice System of England and Wales. However, exactly what constitutes ‘collaboration’ is moot in policy, practice and research with vulnerable children in contact with support systems, and currently neglected within youth justice contexts. As we discuss, children's collaboration is typically modelled and operationalised in adult-centric, static ways, based on levels of involvement and how professionals can facilitate children's (often inequitable) participation in planning and decision-making. This article utilises data from justice-involved children who participated in the ‘Child First Collaboration Project’ via a Project Reference Group (n = 22) and system journey interviews facilitated by creative methodologies conducted with children across a range of youth justice stages (n = 66). Analyses identified a dynamic and relational ‘cycle of collaboration’ containing four inter-related mechanisms: asking, listening to, respecting and informing children, throughout processes within and beyond the Youth Justice System. Where this cycle and its mechanisms were enacted, children perceived child-centric, effective, authentic collaboration. Where they were not (or not fully), children perceived adult-centric, ineffective, disingenuous ‘collaboration’ more akin to tokenistic consultation. Therefore, it is recommended that the Child First ‘collaboration with children’ tenet and associated practice guidance be augmented to reflect this evidence-based and dynamic ‘cycle of collaboration’.

This article explores the processes of creating school shows in primary schools in Turkey and examines how teachers reinforce particular gendered constructions of femininity and masculinity through children's bodies in the making of these performances. Drawing on the insights from the sociology of the body within childhood research, the article is based on an ethnography conducted in a costume shop in Istanbul where teachers rent costumes for the shows, as well as interviews with teachers preparing the shows and observations made during the performances. The research reveals that the shows perpetuate gender norms and stereotypes while reproducing inequalities.

Child physical punishment was outlawed in Wales in March 2022. Previous research suggests that legislative changes prohibiting physical punishment can positively influence attitudes towards child discipline methods. This exploratory study investigated the impact of this legislative ban on Welsh parents' attitudes towards physical punishment and positive parenting practices through a qualitative online survey. Additionally, broader contextual factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, were considered in relation to parent and child well-being. Participants comprised 25 psychology students who were parents residing in Wales with children aged 0–18 years. Findings indicated that parental attitudes varied widely, alongside a perceived lack of support for parenting and child behaviour management. Gaps in parental knowledge regarding the illegality of physical punishment in Wales were also identified. Further research is required to clarify parental perceptions of discipline versus punishment. Moreover, the prospective influence of Welsh Government legislation on attitudinal shifts holds broader implications for the global abolition of child physical punishment.

In response to the rising number of children in youth care in the Netherlands, the Dutch Youth Act calls for normalisation, de-medicalisation and unburdening. The present study investigated the views of physicians and nurses working in youth healthcare on the concept of normalisation. We conducted qualitative research through semi-structured interviews with 18 youth healthcare professionals. Thematic analysis revealed that the professionals had no clear view of what normalisation is, yet they considered it a key element of their work. In addition, they demonstrated intra-individual ambiguity in their thinking and acting as professionals, which may stem from the tension between the Dutch policy-driven ambition to promote normalisation and the dominant biomedical discourse in which they are embedded. Our findings highlight the importance of establishing a shared language and practice regarding the concept of normalisation, more public and professional education about the nature of psychiatric disorders and subsequently the importance of exploring alternative perspectives.

Primary classrooms are dynamic spaces where young students learn to read and develop as readers. While reading inherently fosters an individual interaction with a text, its manifestation in a classroom transforms reading into a collective activity. This study explores young students' simultaneous, collective participation during private, unshared reading in the classroom, aiming to illuminate bodily practices of reading and discuss their relation to the interpretative work of reading. The data employed include observational (photographs and fieldnotes), reflectional (student logbooks) and experimental (co-creation sessions) methods regarding different reading activities performed with 10–11-year-old students in grade four at two different public primary schools in Sweden. The reading activities were mainly conducted during Swedish language classes, where the students commonly read a book of their own choice individually, alongside their classmates in the classroom. The paper is inspired by assemblage theory, adopts an abductive approach with data and theory, and employs the concepts of micro-discipline and sensory orchestration in the analysis. Results show individual and joint body-sensory dimensions attached to classroom reading practices. Becoming a reader thus emerges as a complex bodily trial, where each student needs to find ways for their own body to favour their interaction with the text while simultaneously respecting the potential needs of other students in a collective reading classroom. The study problematizes what reading becomes in institutionalized settings and who is and is not considered a reader in primary classrooms. Understanding how the classroom contributes to framing and shaping the ways in which primary students are (un)able to engage productively with reading is important. Institutionalized reading forms a significant part in the development of young readers and is critical to the early stages of young people's ‘careers’ as readers. This study contributes to a further understanding of often taken-for-granted aspects of reading.

This article examines how Holocaust-related trauma is represented in two diaries written by Jewish adolescents during the Second World War: Rywka Lipszyc's diary and Otto Wolf's diary. The article combines a thematically guided close reading of the diaries with a didactic discussion of their possible use in lower secondary literary education. The theoretical part situates Holocaust diaries as testimonial ego-documents that record not only historical events but also disrupted everydayness, fear, loss, isolation, threatened identity and attempts to preserve agency through writing. The article argues that such texts should not be used primarily to provoke emotional identification, but to support historically informed understanding, critical reading and reasoned ethical judgement. The analysis identifies trauma-related motifs in the selected diaries and interprets them in relation to testimony, memory and the ethical representation of the Shoah. The pedagogical section proposes a trauma-informed and testimony-sensitive framework for working with diary excerpts in lower secondary school: contextualisation before reading, careful selection of age-appropriate excerpts, guided close reading, comparison of testimonial perspectives, reflection on historical and moral questions, and non-intrusive forms of pupil response. The article contributes to Holocaust education and literary didactics by linking the close reading of children's Holocaust diaries with explicit safeguards against sensationalism, forced affectivity and performative empathy.

Globalisation has made Australia one of the most multicultural and diverse countries in the world. Yet, almost 50% of 18–24 year-old and 31% of 12–17 year-old Australian youth who speak a language other than English have experienced discrimination. Schools are key settings where youth experience racial discrimination, which increases risk to mental well-being. Although many school-based mental health programs acknowledge racism's impact, they often focus on the individual to understand and manage their emotions. This individual focus overlooks broader socio-cultural, structural and power-related social determinants of mental well-being: research finds that environments which support intercultural connectedness and ethno-cultural community links promote youth mental well-being. Research and practice often focus on youth from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds building intercultural connections, rather than promoting a two-way exchange where all youth are equal partners in this process. Informed by the narratives of culturally diverse young people, this paper reports their perspectives on mental well-being, after participating in a school-based program aimed at fostering intercultural understanding and reducing racism.