Children and young people's inclusion in public decision‐making

In this article Alison Partridge considers two examples of developing the participation and inclusion of children and young people in public decision‐making in Oxfordshire. The projects are compared with research findings focusing on the impact of participation on children, young people, adults and organisations. The author highlights the value and the challenges of such activity and outlines the learning in relation to developing a culture of participation within organisations. She concludes positively in relation to the depth of the contribution and the creativity that children and young people bring to decision‐making, while emphasising that the commitment, skills and resources required to effectively embed such approaches are considerable. At root involving young people in public decision‐making demands a willingness to challenge deeply held assumptions about children's rights and the existing power relationships between adults, professionals, organisations and children and young people.     

Child refugees,trauma and education: interactionist considerations on social and emotional needs and development

This paper focuses on the social and emotional needs of children and young people who are refugees. It was inspired by casework undertaken by the author involving a 13‐year‐old boy who was a refugee from Montenegro. A vignette of the case is presented in addition to a review of relevant literature to illustrate and discuss the various sources of trauma experienced by children and young people who are refugees, and the potential impact of these on psychological functioning and emotional wellbeing. Child refugees’ experiences of trauma are seldom restricted to experiences of loss, violence or persecution in their country of origin. Rather, there are multiple experiences in the country of origin, during migration and on arrival in a country of “refuge” that are potentially traumatic, and can have adverse effects on a child or young person’s development. Drawing on research with children and adults who are refugees, as well as research into post‐traumatic stress disorder and into the educational effects of trauma, the paper advocates interactionist and ecosystemic perspectives for understanding the difficulties encountered by refugee children, and considers possibilities for therapeutic intervention.     

Respecting and fulfilling the right of post-primary pupils to consent to participate in trials and evaluative research: a discussion paper

This paper provides an introduction to issues surrounding the participation rights of young people in research and the implications of their growing involvement in research as well as providing a discourse on the ethical implications related to consent. The unique contribution of this paper is that it considers children’s rights in respect to the increasing opportunities for young people to take part in evaluation research. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to acknowledge the growing involvement for young people in research and the implications of ensuring that their rights of participation are respected. Secondly, we will consider the children’s rights legislation and our obligations as researchers to implement this. Finally, we will explore consent as an issue in its own right as well as the practicalities of accessing participants. This paper will postulate that any research about young people should involve and prioritize at all stages of the research process; including participation in decision-making. We conclude by identifying five key principles, which we believe can help to facilitate the fulfilment of post-primary pupils’ ability to consent to participate in trials and evaluative research.     

School Exclusions in England: Children's voices and adult solutions?

This paper examines the rise in school exclusions in England in the 1990s. It discusses the definitions and different types of exclusion and how policies towards exclusion have been changing. It considers the groups of students that have been, and remain, at the greatest risk of exclusion and the main reasons given by schools for excluding students. Particular attention is focused on the views of excluded children themselves, collated from a wide range of studies, including primary research with excluded students and some of their parents. The 1999 government initiative to cut exclusions by one third by the year 2002 is then considered. The paper argues that much more attention should be given to the opinions and ideas of young people themselves in the search for a solution to young people's disaffection with education and England's high rates of exclusion.     

Changing families,changing childhoods: changing schools?

This paper reports key findings from a study of young people’s engagement in ‘atypical’ activities in their families. The project focused on young caring and language brokering as two roles that are not assumed to be ‘normal’ activities for children and young people. The findings presented are from a survey of 1002 young people and from one‐to‐one interviews with a sample selected from the survey sample. The voices of young people in the interview study are used in the paper to illustrate the diverse range of childhood experiences. The paper discusses some of the ways in which pastoral systems in schools can take account of diverse childhoods and family needs more effectively than they have done in the past.     

Flirting,dating, and breaking up within new media environments

Although romantic and sexual relationships are an important aspect of young people's lives, research on how young people negotiate their love/sex relationships is lacking. New media environments provide a new context within which young people negotiate their love/sex relationships; however, what is negotiated is often not all that different from what was negotiated before the advent of new media technologies. Using an online discussion board and individual in-person interviews, this paper explores how young Australians, aged 18–25 years, engage with dominant gendered discourses to negotiate their love/sex relationships within the context of new media environments. Previous research suggests that young people make use of new media technologies to flirt with one another, to initiate new relationships, to maintain their relationships, and to fight and end their relationships. This paper focuses on young people's practices of mediated flirting, surveillance, and breaking up. It considers the creative and agentic ways young people use new media technologies in the negotiation of their love/sex relationships.     

Can communitas explain how young people achieve identity development in outdoor adventure in light of contemporary individualised life?

In contemporary life, young people’s identity development is a popular topic for investigation. This includes better understanding their development and their participation in outdoor adventure. From ancient times to modern days, literature conveys the benefits of outdoor adventure on their identity development and more recently there is a growing focus on understanding how and why it occurs. This article discusses the author’s doctoral research conducted on the Western Australian Leeuwin II tall ship that explored the relationship between trainees’ personal development and their participation on this ocean-bound vessel in light of an individualised contemporary life. The study recognised the Leeuwin II tall ship as communitas contributing to trainees’ personal development. The article considers communitas explaining how and why outdoor adventure benefits young people’s personal development, which has implications for young people’s development in the twenty-first century.     

The power of positional competition and market mechanism: a case study of recent parental choice development in China

This article draws on data collected during a pilot study conducted in two west London schools exploring young people’s understandings of success. It considers ways in which ‘discourses of success’, as part of New Labour’s project of re‐inventing schooling, may shape young people’s subjectivity. The article examines articulations between New Labour policy and aspects of social difference and how these structure new identifications with success. In particular, the article explores how class, gender and ethnicity shape discourses of success and how they are implicated in their distribution. In conclusion, the article indicates how current education policy (particularly in relation to educational success) articulates the ‘public’ domain with dimensions of the ‘private’ self and suggests that understanding this is vital in the pursuit of social justice.     

ROMANIAN YOUTH AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

A major survey of the motivations of Romanian young people is being undertaken by the Institute for the Quality of Life. Some of its findings in regard to the attitudes of young people towards careers in research are reported as are also certain findings regarding the feelings of young people, who have already embarked on research careers, about their working and living conditions and prospects. Although research suffered greatly under communism, the prestige of research survived. After 1990, many young people were attracted into higher education and research. Since 1992, however, the economic crisis which has affected Romanian society as a whole has reduced some of the gains made in 1990. Salaries are not keeping up with the cost of living, and the equipment available for different kinds of research is lacking or is of poor quality. Many young people are now leaving research careers for better paying opportunities in the private sector, particularly in commercial activities.     

‘Fitting in’ and ‘standing out’: the peer group and young people’s development of reader identity

Abstract

The benefits of reading for pleasure and positive reader identities have been well established in previous research. However, much discussion regarding young people’s reading is underpinned by a discourse of deficit, placing emphasis on what young people should be reading. In an attempt to move away from this discourse, this article considers reading in the context of young people’s broader social and cultural worlds, exploring the role of the peer group in young people’s development of a reader identity. The article argues that the reading practices young people engage in are part of their broader social and cultural participation and, consequently, part of a broader project of identity formation. By highlighting the complexity of young people’s development of a reader identity and the meaning ascribed to specific reading practices, the findings challenge deficit models of young people’s reading lives, which underpin attempts to redistribute cultural capital through educational and cultural policy.     

Pure and bitter spaces: gender,identity and territory in Northern Irish youth transitions

This paper examines young people’s narratives of space and territory and the ways in which they are gender specific. Drawing upon data from two ESRC funded research projects beginning in 1996, the paper focuses upon the ways in which boundaries are perceived, constructed and managed in the everyday lives of young women and men growing up in one area of Northern Ireland. The paper considers how the territorial boundaries that young people adhere to create ‘pure’ and ‘bitter’ spaces which serve to reinforce their own sense of cultural and ethnic differences. It also looks at the experiences of those who travel beyond these boundaries, the impact of gender and the implications that traversing boundaries has on young people’s lives. Finally, the paper suggests that young women appear more willing and able to cross boundaries by seizing opportunities presented by cosmopolitanism and changing patterns of leisure. In so doing, young women challenge the legacy of ‘bitterness’ inherent in pure spaces.     

Care into Core

In 2002, the UK Government set the target of increasing participation in higher education to 50% of 18–30 year olds by 2010, with a particular focus on young people from ‘non‐traditional backgrounds’. In order to increase this participation, a range of initiatives have been introduced in an effort to encourage young people to enter post‐16 education. One significant initiative is Aimhigher, which specifically targets lower socio‐economic groups and aims to raise the attainment and aspirations of young people. This paper emerges from research conducted in 2008 into post‐16 withdrawal rates amongst Aimhigher students in the South East of England. Drawing from interviews and case studies with young people, further education (FE) colleges and schools, the paper argues that students benefit significantly from the intensive pastoral support provided in Aimhigher target schools, but that this is rarely carried over into FE. Although there is often significant pastoral support provided to students in FE, it is often quite disparate from that provided in Aimhigher schools and suffers from low take up. Whilst previous research investigating student withdrawal has focused on individual factors (socio‐economic status and ethnicity) or institutional factors (the labour market), this paper highlights the views of young people and argues that, through establishing effective and cohesive mentoring schemes, schools and FE colleges have a substantial role to play in reducing student withdrawal.     

Cognitive Behaviour Therapies and their implications for applied educational psychology practice

This paper critically considers the growing interest in the use of Cognitive Behaviour Therapies to support children and young people presenting with a wide range of social‐emotional difficulties. This focus has emerged since the prevalence of such difficulties in children and young people has increased over the past four decades, and the application of such approaches is no longer seen as being the sole preserve of specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), counsellors or therapists. To develop a critical understanding of the principles and core components of Cognitive Behaviour Therapies, two prominent approaches are reviewed. These are Ellis’s Rational‐Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), and Beck’s Cognitive Therapy (CT). The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the ways in which Educational Pychologists can directly and/or indirectly support the delivery of Cognitive Behaviour Therapies in their work.     

‘I Think It's Really Great that Someone Is Listening to Us ...‘: young people and the environment

This paper presents a qualitative study of the environmental concerns and attitudes of young people. The study arose when it was recognised that a quantitative study on youth environmental knowledge and attitude in which we were engaged could be enriched through qualitative research. A pilot qualitative study was conducted using focus group interviews with young people aged 15‐17 years in Brisbane, Australia. The findings of this study are reported. Of particular interest are the young peoples’ expressions of cynicism, frustration, powerlessness and hope that have not been identified in quantitative studies about youth environmental knowledge and attitudes.     

The motivations of mentors: promoting relationships,supporting pupils,engaging with communities

Mentoring as a means of supporting young people perceived as having difficulties or being at risk of disaffection has become an important feature of pastoral support approaches in and around schools in recent years. The provision of support that is based upon a highly personalised relationship and founded upon principles of unconditional positive regard has been a feature of many schools and has been endorsed at government and local authority levels. Drawing upon two recently conducted research projects, this paper considers the motivations of mentors, the definition and development of the mentoring role and the ways in which it is being developed in respect of young people. The authors suggest that a certain ambiguity and fluidity of definition of the role of the mentor may be a strength rather than a weakness when developing supportive pastoral systems. The paper considers the motivations of mentors and how these may impact upon the success of mentoring schemes.     

Young people’s views about their involvement in decision‐making

This paper reports on research conducted over a two‐year period in a large Educational Psychology Service (EPS) in England. Researchers were keen to ascertain the views of young people and EPS members about young people being directly involved in educational decision‐making and how their genuine involvement in such decision‐making might be best achieved. Focus groups were employed as a means of gathering data which were analysed using Content Analysis. Young people and EPS members ultimately identified “culture”, “attitudes”, “environment”, and “systems” as being the most important factors in ensuring the genuine involvement of young people in decision‐making.     

Measuring children and young people’s wellbeing in the school context

Although being rooted in the work of ancient Greek philosophers, contemporary research on wellbeing is a relatively new phenomenon. As a term in the literature, wellbeing is often used interchangeably with others, such as happiness, flourishing, enjoying a good life and life satisfaction. Furthermore, the wellbeing of school-aged children is only beginning to be explored with increasing recognition that research conducted on adults cannot be uncritically applied to children and young people. This paper aims to address some of the complexities in conceptualising, and hence assessing, children and young people’s wellbeing by drawing on a recently completed study examining the role of creative initiatives in fostering wellbeing. The new instrument that was developed to capture children and young people’s perceptions of their wellbeing in school is outlined. Data are presented from a survey of 5170 students from 20 primary and 20 secondary schools across England that identify four dimensions of wellbeing. Differences in self-reported wellbeing relating to age, gender and type of school attended (Creative Partnerships versus other schools) are explored. The implications of these findings, particularly differences related to type of school attended, given the focus of this special issue, are considered.     

The effects of low attainment on young people's outcomes at age 22‐23 in Scotland

A common concern among policy makers in Europe is the low level of qualifications of some school leavers and the possible consequences of this for their life chances and for countries' economic prosperity. This article considers the impact of young people's low levels of educational attainment on their later life chances, especially on labour market participation. It identifies the long‐term negative effects of low attainment and explores the extent to which family background also continues to influence young people's outcomes. It examines the outcomes of low attainment among young men and women and considers whether low attainment has a different impact on the prospects of young men and women. The article also investigates whether staying on at school improves longer‐term chances and opportunities for low attainers. These questions have strong policy relevance, and are explored using data from a nationally representative survey of Scottish school leavers.     

Violence in schools and representations of young people: a critique of government policies in France and England

This paper examines media discourses in France and in Britain relating to young people, violence and disaffection in schools, setting these within the framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which emphasises young people’s participation rights. It analyses policy initiatives developed since 1997 in each country to address concerns about young people, disaffection and violence, examining these in the light of research evidence. It considers how public policies are variously shaped by research findings and by media representations. In France, attempts to reduce violence in schools have been accompanied by recognition that schools structurally produce disaffection and violence. In England there has been a shift in policy discourses. In 1997 the primary emphasis was social inclusion, but greater weight has since been given to the need to combat crime. (Male) youth disaffection is linked to crime. Policies addressing standards and achievement have been prioritised over policies to combat social exclusion. In both countries researchers and the media give particular attention to urban communities where minority ethnic communities live. Individual schools are labelled as failing and large numbers of young people are excluded or marginalised. In both countries minority ethnic students are over‐represented among those formally excluded from mainstream education and in the least popular, most stigmatised, schools and classes. Violence and disadvantage are effectively institutionalised. Discourses in each country are racialised and disaffection is associated with minorities. Yet both countries offer universalist rather than targeted policy responses. Opportunities for student participation in school decision‐making are limited.     

IDENTITY AND SCHOOL HISTORY: THE PERSPECTIVE OF YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE NETHERLANDS AND ENGLAND

ABSTRACT:  The article presents the findings from a survey of over 400 young people in metropolitan areas in the Netherlands and England concerning their views on identity and school history. The research explored pupils' ideas about which facets of history were of interest to them, what history they believed should be taught in schools, and their views on the purposes of school history and history in general. The coding of the data made it possible to delineate between those from different ethnic minority backgrounds, boys and girls, age and level of education and first or second generation of migration. The study revealed significant differences between young people's ideas about history and identity, and those advanced by politicians and policy makers in the Netherlands, England and elsewhere. The concluding section of the paper considers the implications of the findings for policy makers in the field of history education in schools.