127 research outputs found
Epilogue: Imagining Child Rights Futures
No full textThirty years on from the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (United Nations (UN), 1989), this final chapter reflects critically on what has been achieved since the adoption of the UNCRC in 1989 to realise the rights of children younger than 8 years, the current state of their rights, and what remains to be done to secure young children’s rights. The chapter discusses briefly some limitations to young children’s rights and evidence and policy, before addressing challenges and imagining futures when young children’s rights are respected. The chapter concludes by advocating for a revised UNCRC that recognises young children as capable social actors from birth, calling for universal global ratification and urging all States to find ways to assume their full responsibilities to ensure that all children’s rights are enacted, including those of our youngest citizens
Epilogue: Imagining Child Rights Futures
No full textThirty years on from the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (United Nations (UN), 1989), this final chapter reflects critically on what has been achieved since the adoption of the UNCRC in 1989 to realise the rights of children younger than 8 years, the current state of their rights, and what remains to be done to secure young children’s rights. The chapter discusses briefly some limitations to young children’s rights and evidence and policy, before addressing challenges and imagining futures when young children’s rights are respected. The chapter concludes by advocating for a revised UNCRC that recognises young children as capable social actors from birth, calling for universal global ratification and urging all States to find ways to assume their full responsibilities to ensure that all children’s rights are enacted, including those of our youngest citizens
The Scholarship of Generosity: A Festschrift in Honor of Beth Blue Swadener
No full textThis introduces a special issue of the International Critical Childhood Policy Studies Journal dedicated to the scholarship of generosity. It takes the form of a Festschrift in honor of Professor Beth Blue Swadener, whose career, steeped in scholar-activism and reciprocal mentorship, exemplifies this sorely needed praxis (theory into practice) in a world both literally and socially afire. However, while this collection exists to honor one person, it is of broader interest and significance to scholars and students in critical childhood policy studies, for it is simultaneously a hopeful illustration of the ripples made by one person’s lifework, and a call to action for scholars to live up to higher education’s social responsibilities (Boyer, 1990; Fitzpatrick, 2021; Kromydas, 2017; Patel, 2021). The issue’s ultimate purpose is to provide examples that cause readers to think, I’m already doing that. I know others who are doing that. I’d like to do that.https://educate.bankstreet.edu/sc/1012/thumbnail.jp
Towards a more participatory fulfilment of young children's rights in early learning settings : unpacking universalist ideals in India, Scotland and the EU
No full textWhile investment in early learning may seem to offer a pathway to the fulfilment of children’s rights, in this chapter we argue that the how of that fulfilment is often deeply problematic, particularly in terms of participation rights. Drawing on empirical projects conducted in Scotland, India, and the EU, we offer examples of children’s lived experience within pedagogies informed by universalist ideals. Regimes of standardisation and universalism, though claiming to improve the quality of early experiences, do not address the lived, culturally sensitive reality of rights for children, families and caregivers. In fact, children’s participation rights may particularly suffer when standardised solutions are imposed. Throughout the chapter, we argue that children’s right to education is not a neutral endeavour. Instead, participation rights are lived by children in relational contexts of power, bodily and moral discipline, resistance, and reflexivity. We hope that by making these tensions and successes visible, others will find inspiration on a journey toward a more participatory fulfilment of children’s rights in early learning spaces, that perceives children to be leaders of their own learning and creative beings who can provide solutions to their own everyday life issues
Safeguarding the Protection Rights of Children in the Eastern Caribbean
No full textAs signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the Eastern Caribbean region’s island states have made policy commitments and significant social progress in protecting children from violence, abuse and exploitation. Nevertheless, many Eastern Caribbean children continue to experience violence, abuse and exploitation, which hinders their positive development and indicates that UNCRC rights enshrined in Articles 19, 34, 37 and 39 have not been achieved universally. This chapter considers how the UNICEF Eastern Caribbean Area Office (UNICEF ECA) collaborates with governments, non-governmental and civil society organisations across health, education and social development sectors to address the issue of sexual abuse of children. The chapter discusses prevention and responsive protection strategies, implemented by the UNICEF ECA with its partners, including governments. The authors argue that the paramount challenges to the implementation of those strategies reside in finding strategies to promote the Eastern Caribbean states’ recognition of the multidimensional nature of the issue of child sexual abuse and their realisation of multifaceted, integrated solutions
The (In)Visibility of Infants and Young Children in Child Protection
No full textProtecting children globally is complex and legislation, policy and procedures are specific to each country. However, protecting children is complex and even when the ‘voices' of infants and young children are heard, they are not always listened to, or acted upon, by protection services. This chapter therefore critiques the global challenges of protecting infants and young children from abuse, with a specific focus on English child protection systems. The discussion will draw on Articles 19 and 39 of the CRC, which concern themselves with the protection of children and ensuring that intervention services are available to those who have faced adversity. It will also be a focus on children's right to protection and what they need to be protected from, as well as exploring the prevalence of abuse and why intervening in the Early Childhood period is crucial in improving long-term outcomes. There will be consideration of how child protection procedures facilitate (or not) the rights of the youngest citizens to be protected by their parents or caregivers, as well as the other adults and environments they interact with
Introduction: Young Children’s Protection Rights
No full textThis book is concerned with UNCRC Article 4 (OHCHR, 1989), which states that ‘Governments have a responsibility to take all available measures to make sure children’s rights are respected, protected and fulfilled’. Whilst some chapters in this book note successes in this respect, many reveal the failure of governments to shoulder fully their responsibilities. This chapter introduces the section of the book that addresses young children’s rights to protection specifically. The section chapters concern young children’s rights to protection from violence (Article 19), lack of a family environment (Article 20), protection and care when affected by war and armed conflicts and special protection and help as refugees (Articles 22 and 38). Chapters in this section also focus on young children’s protection from kidnapping, abduction, sale and trafficking, detention and punishment, child labour, sexual exploitation and abuse and the rehabilitation following victimisation by neglect, abuse or exploitation (Articles 11, 32, 34, 36, 37, and 39). However, several UNCRC Articles addressing young children’s protection rights are not addressed in this section’s chapters. That omission is an authentic reflection of the paucity of research and discourse concerning the lives of children younger than eight years who experience adoption (Article 21), drug abuse (Article 33), and juvenile justice (Article 40)
Confronting and Countering Bias and Oppression through Early Childhood Policy and Practice: An Introduction. [Special issue]
No full textAcross the globe, there has been sustained anti-bias and anti-oppressive scholarship and policywork addressing social inclusion in early childhood and teacher education, grounded in the work of Louise Derman-Sparks and the ABC Task Force, 1989 (Kumishiro, 2000; Murray & Urban, 2012; Swadener, Aquino-Sterling, Nagasawa, & Bartlett, 2009). In this special issue, contributors address a range of social inclusion focused policies and practices across continents, including the challenges and opportunities of implementing anti-bias education. This kind of research takes a principled stance as it works to ameliorate, and eventually eliminate, exclusionary practices impacting young children and their families. The primary goal of this special issue is to rethink the importance, conceptualizations, and enactments of scholarship on anti-bias and socially inclusive approaches in early childhood education contexts
Fall from grace? Reflecting on early childhood education while decolonizing intercultural friendships from kindergarten to university and prison
No full textEnabling children’s rights in Wales with Early Years Professionals: Policy and Practice.
No full textThe chapter will critically discuss and outline the Welsh Government’s funded training on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) with early years practitioners. Welsh Government policy framework is central to understanding the provision of rights and provision rights within an early year’s context in Wales. Children’s rights provision it is suggested could be enhanced through personal development opportunities that include reflection and application in practice and has the potential to contribute to debates on the social construction of children’s rights. Co-construction of knowledge was one positive outcome of the training / provision of rights and the process of raising awareness of the importance of provision rights in an early year’s context. A second outcome was a further understanding of how rights are socially and politically situated; illustrating the importance of enabling praxis within children’s rights professional development
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