Values and assumptions underpinning policy for children and young people in England

Biologising parenting: neuroscience discourse, English social and public health policy and understandings of the child

“…In her review of policy assumptions, Mayall (2006) argued that while there had been some changes in policymaking that recognised that children have a right to be heard, there were still underlying assumptions that the value of children was largely as future adults. She also argued that child protection is often prioritised over provision for children and children's participation is often tokenistic.…”

Changing children's geographies

“…Although child enrichment activities were valued by headteachers in all socio-economic areas, these differential understandings of their client base influence the implementation of policy. Headteachers in low-income schools adopt a future-orientated perspective on childhood seen in wider Government policy (Lister 2006;Mayall 2006) and seek to enhance children's future social mobility by ensuring their access to activities which develop social and cultural capital. Headteachers in higher income areas draw on alternative narratives about childhood as a time for freedom and family life to question the very busy schedule of some children (Katz 2008), suggesting that this time might be better spent with parents who are envisioned as highly competent.…”

The geopolitics of vulnerability: children's legal subjectivity, immigrant family detention and US immigration law and enforcement policy

“…Yet children's rights and feminist scholars have cautioned against fetishizing existing legal regimes as sources of children's empowerment, enfranchisement or political participation. For example, the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) contains an expansive set of entitlements for children, but the realization of children's political agency has been limited (Stasiulis 2002;Mayall 2006). Ruddick (2007a, 514) argues, further, that the child-subject defined by 'best interests' principles is 'an impossible subject since, by liberal definition, the child cannot speak for him or herself without adult authorization'.…”