Children: Noble Causes or Worthy Citizens?


Book Description

Since the International Year of the Child in 1979, advocacy for children has intensified. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has propelled this advocacy decisively into the midst of the political debate over human rights. Attempts to construct and support the theoretical and empirical underpinnings for a fresh approach to children and childhood are also intensifying. Nonetheless, policies targeted at children continue to suffer from pervasive theoretical weaknesses. This is persistently constraining appropriate action. This book argues that for both theoretical and practical reasons children need to be understood in their own right. It asks fundamental questions about the perceptions we have of children and childhood and about the ways these perceptions emerge to influence and shape our assumptions, preferences and choices concerning children. It tries to deepen understanding and interest by clarifying the theoretical, ethical and pragmatic reasons for transforming the political neglect of children into recognition and action. The book is divided into two parts. The first part examines cultural and social variations in perceptions concerning children and the second part draws conclusions from the analysis. It concludes by proposing practical lessons which may be learned from the debate about children.




The Child as Citizen


Book Description

Marking the 20th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly's adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), this volume of the ANNALS considers conceptual, legal, and practical issues related to the realization of children as citizens.




Children


Book Description




Young Children as Active Citizens


Book Description

Young Children as Citizens explores how young children (birth to 12 years of age) can and should participate in civic life. It reflects new images of young children as social actors, together with the increased interest in children's rights in the public sphere. The contributors are early childhood researchers, pedagogues, children and policy makers from Australia and Europe. They present a rich diversity of research-based case studies in which policy-makers and educators have listened to young children¹s views on public issues and responded in respectful and ethical ways. Young Children as Citizens is a unique resource for policy-makers, those working in children's services and child advocates. It shows how best to consult young children and it presents a range of arguments that consulting young children about policies and decisions that affect them supports and enhances a vigorous democratic society. Students (undergraduate and postgraduate), teachers and researchers in early childhood studies can use individual chapters of Young Children as Citizens selectively to explore issues of increasing complexity in different courses. The book would be a good set text for Honours and Master's programs that address issues of children¹s rights.




Empowering Children


Book Description

Approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1989, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms that children in all countries have fundamental rights, including rights to education. To date, 192 states are signatories to or have in some form ratified the accord. Children are still imperilled in many countries, however, and are often not made aware of their guaranteed rights. In Empowering Children, R. Brian Howe and Katherine Covell assert that educating children about their basic rights is a necessary means not only of fulfilling a country's legal obligations, but also of advancing education about democratic principles and the practice of citizenship. The authors contend that children's rights education empowers children as persons and as rights-respecting citizens in democratic societies. Such education has a 'contagion effect' that brings about a general social knowledge on human rights and social responsibility. Although there remain obstacles to the implementation of children's rights in many countries, Howe and Covell argue that reforming schools and enhancing teacher education are absolutely essential to the creation of a new culture of respect toward children as citizens. Their thorough and passionate work marks a significant advance in the field.




Children's Rights


Book Description

The articles in this volume shed light on some of the major tensions in the field of children‘s rights (such as the ways in which children‘s best interests and respect for their autonomy can be reconciled), challenges (such as how the CRC can be made a reality in the lives of children in the face of ignorance, apathy or outright opposition) and critiques (whether children‘s rights are a Western imposition or a successful global consensus). Along the way, the writing covers a myriad of issues, encompassing the opposition to the CRC in the US; gay parenting: Dr Seuss‘s take on children‘s autonomy; the voice of neonates on their health care; the role of NGO in supporting child labourers in India, and young people in detention and more.




Children's Rights 0-8


Book Description

Children's Rights explores the relevance of children's participatory rights in education, particularly at a time when there are competing demands in meeting the rigid curriculum frameworks whilst taking into account children's entitlement to participate in matters affecting their lives. It engages with theoretical and practical models of participation with an aim to support reflective practice. The chapters are informed by wider academic debates and examples from research and everyday practice in early year settings, making it an accessible read for students, practitioners as well as researchers.




South Africa is My Best World


Book Description

In this work, the author grapples with the nuanced concept of democratic citizenship education and how this affects the lives of young children. The book is based on a case study of nine-year-old children of an inner-city school in South Africa and their life experiences of a democratic South Africa as child citizens.




Routledge Handbook of Sport, Leisure, and Social Justice


Book Description

This is the first book to explore in breadth and in depth the complex intersections between sport, leisure, and social justice. This book examines the relations of power that produce social inequalities and considers how sport and leisure spaces can perpetuate those relations, or act as sites of resistance, and makes a powerful call for an activist scholarship in sport and leisure studies. Presenting original theoretical and empirical work by leading international researchers and practitioners in sport and leisure, this book addresses the central social issues that lie at the heart of critical social science – including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, religious persecution, socio-economic deprivation, and the climate crisis – and asks how these issues are expressed or mediated in the context of sport and leisure practices. Covering an incredibly diverse range of topics and cases – including sex testing in sport; sport for refugees; pedagogical practices in physical education; community sport development; events and human rights; and athlete activism – this book also surveys the history of sport and social justice research, as well as outlining theoretical and methodological foundations for this field of enquiry. The Routledge Handbook of Sport, Leisure and Social Justice is an indispensable resource for any advanced student, researcher, policymaker, practitioner, or activist with an interest in the sociology, culture, politics, history, development, governance, media and marketing, and business and management of sport and leisure.




The Right to Childhoods


Book Description

Analysing contemporary childhood by examining new lines of argument about diversity, disability and difference. >