Policy, Protectionism and the Competent Child

Abstract

This article examines the way that recent policy initiatives on childhood in Britain generate contradictory models of childhood. It is argued that the childcare and educational policy contexts suggest that children are (1) in need of greater protection, control and `redevelopment' and (2) more active in constructing strategies for dealing with problems within the home and the school. In an attempt to make sense of these seemingly irreconcilable definitions of childhood, the article locates policy within a broader context of shifting adult boundaries between public and private spheres which generate more fluid roles and responsibilities involving adults and children.

When Children are Asked About Their Well-being: Towards a Framework for Guiding Policy

“…This altered relation between parents and children has been taken as diminishing the differences between childhood and adulthood (Wyness 1996). Our research suggests that, in these negotiations, children quite clearly differentiate their role from that of the adults in their lives: the role of adults is seen to involve providing reference points and setting limits for action, which are negotiated over time.…”

Young Children's Rights and Public Policy: Practices and Possibilities for Citizenship in the Early Years

“…Again, these research‐based ideas have emerged from a diversity of disciplines (e.g. Alderson, 1999, 2000; Buckingham, 1996; Cannella, 1998; Clark, 2000; Corsaro, 1997; Hill and Tisdall, 1997; MacNaughton, 2000; Woodhead and Faulkner, 2000; Wyness, 1996).…”

Unreasonable expectations: the dilemma for pedagogues in delivering policy objectives

“…Indeed it can be argued that while children are located at the heart of policy development at a macro level, policy implementation at a micro level as manifest through the provision of children's services is firmly embedded within a mercantile paradigm. Effectively, in spite of a child-centred positioning in policy, as the ROI became increasingly prosperous and progressive in terms of building a knowledge society and encouraging female labour force participation, children have become problematic (James and Prout 1997;James, Jenks, and Prout 1998;Wyness 1996Wyness , 2000Wyness , 2006Corsaro 2005), resulting in a multiplicity of concerns, changing viewpoints and altering conceptions of childhood. James et al (1998, 10) succinctly describe prevailing perceptions of children as barriers to women's progression in the labour market, suggesting that they:…”