Recent decades have seen a growing emphasis, in a number of professional contexts, on acknowledging and acting on the views of children. This trend was given added weight by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified in 1990. Today, seeking the perspective of the child has become an essential process in all sorts of tasks, from framing new legislation to regulating professions. This book answers the fundamental question of what it is that constitutes a ‘child perspective’, and how this might differ from the perspectives of children themselves. The answers to such questions have important implications for building progressive and developmental adult-child relationships. However, theoretical and empirical treatments of child perspectives and children’s perspectives are very diverse and idiosyncratic, and the standard reference work has yet to be written. Thus, this work is an attempt to fill the gap in the literature by searching for and defining key formulations of potential child perspectives within parts of the so-called ‘new child paradigm’. This has been derived from childhood sociology, contextual-relational developmental psychology, interpretative humanistic psychology and developmental pedagogy. The highly experienced authors develop a comprehensive professional child perspective paradigm that integrates recent theory and empirical child research. With its clear presentation of underlying theories and suggested applications, this book illustrates a child-oriented understanding of specific relevance to both child-care and preschool educational practice.

""This book examines under explored aspects of child education and the ways it differs in contemporary society. It also explores the scientific aspects of the interrelationship between child education and society"--Provided by publisher"--

In recent years the field has seen an increasing realisation that the full complexity of language acquisition demands theories that (a) explain how children integrate information from multiple sources in the environment, (b) build linguistic representations at a number of different levels, and (c) learn how to combine these representations in order to communicate effectively. These new findings have stimulated new theoretical perspectives that are more centered on explaining learning as a complex dynamic interaction between the child and her environment. This book is the first attempt to bring some of these new perspectives together in one place. It is a collection of essays written by a group of researchers who all take an approach centered on child-environment interaction, and all of whom have been influenced by the work of Elena Lieven, to whom this collection is dedicated.

Children's Places examines the ways in which children and adults, from their different vantage-points in society, negotiate the 'proper place' of children in both social and spatial terms. It looks at some of the recognised constructions of children, including perspectives from cultures that do not distinguish children as a distinct category of people, as well as examining contexts for them, from schools and kindergartens to inner cities and war-zones. The result is a much-needed insight into the notions of inclusion and exclusion, the placement and displacement of children within generational ranks and orders, and the kinds of places that children construct for themselves. Based on in-depth ethnographic research from Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Charlie is a young okapi who wants to be a detective, but his one big flaw causes a big, big problem...he's a very sloppy okapi! Join Charlie as he learns the importance of being neat while discovering that his weakness doesn't determine his destiny.

`The research methodology and the problems encountered when studying a subject such as domestic violence, coupled with the ethical problems of researching with children, are discussed at length in the book. This gives a good insight into the intricacies of conducting such a research study. The research looked not only at children who were known to have direct contact with domestic violence, but also what children in general thought and felt about domestic violence. The presentation of the findings, both in tabular and narrative form, was well presented′ - Accident and Emergency Nursing Journal `This book offers accessible and interesting reading. It is well written as one would expect from these authors.... There are a lot of pointers for the way forward in terms of both policy and practice. This is likely to become a seminal text′ - Research Policy and Planning ′This is a useful and challenging read for all of us who seek to work effectively and ethically in this complex area of practice′ - Professional Social Work `Just looking at the authors of this book tells the reader that they are about to embark on a pioneering piece of academic research... a comprehensive and authoritative piece of work′ - Domestic Abuse Quarterly `A vital tool for all those working with children′ - ChildRight ′Written in a lucid style and is easy to read... it is essential reading for all students in social work undergraduate courses and also in post-qualifying courses on child welfare and protection. In addition professionals who are directly working in the area of child protection, schools and criminal justice settings would find this book informative and useful in understanding what children and young people want, and need, in relation to living in domestic violence situations′ - Child and Family Social Work ′This book is powerfully written and is essential reading for professional working with and supporting abused women and their children. Its groundbreaking focus on children′s experiences adds much to our understanding of the complexities of domestic violence′ - Journal of Family Studies ′A treasure-chest of rich, diverse and powerful extracts from children and young people... in particular the material presented on different coping strategies used by children who have experienced domestic violence is an important contribution to an area about which very little is known′ - Adoption and Fostering Journal How do children who live with domestic violence cope? How do they make sense of their experiences? Do they receive the right sort of help from formal and informal sources? Drawing on the newest research designed to hear the voices of children and young people, this important book examines children′s experiences and perspectives on living with domestic violence. The authors explore: - the effect of domestic violence on children - what children say would help them most in coping with domestic violence - the advice children would offer other children who find themselves in similar circumstances, their mothers and the helping professions. This accessible book written for students, their teachers, researchers and all those working with children - across social work, health, child psychology and psychiatry, the law and education - will provide a vital insight into children′s own perspectives on domestic violence.

Perspectives on Children's Testimony presents current empirical research on the factors which influence adults' perceptions of the child witness. This volume provides researchers in both the psychological and the criminal justice communities with knowledge about adult beliefs regarding child witnesses, how these beliefs may influence jury verdicts, and the relationship of these perceptions to the credibility and accuracy of children's testimony. A variety of new techniques are employed in assessing adult views of child witnesses. Special features of the volume include: an in-depth treatment of techniques of interviewing child victims of sexual abuse, an examination of children's perceptions and knowledge of the legal system, and critical and theoretical integrations of the original, empirical papers.