Covering all of the core units and a range of optional units, this clearly presented book reflects the skills and knowledge required by candidates working in different care settings.

Childhood and youth have become increasingly important topics across a range of disciplines, professions, and studies, and The Short Guide to Working with Children and Young People is an accessible introduction to the main concepts and policies surrounding them. Surveying the key theoretical perspectives of child and youth studies, it prepares readers with new ways of thinking about working with children and young people. Clear, concise, and accessible, it allows students to make more informed choices about their career pathways.

In a European context of rapidly expanding early education/ care provision for young children, the staffing of these services is a critical quality issue. What are the requirements for professional education and training? How alike or how varied are the qualification profiles and fields of work? Through detailed country reports and comparative analyses across 27 countries, this book provides answers to these questions.

Draws on recent research to address key issues in residential child care policy and practice in the UK, offering guidance for developing best practice and improved outcomes for children and young people.

Twenty years after Gordon Sturrock and the late Professor Perry Else’s 'Colorado Paper' introduced the Play Cycle, this theory of play now supports professional playwork practice, training and education. The Play Cycle: Theory, Research and Application is the first book of its kind to explain the theoretical concept of the Play Cycle, supported by recent research, and how it can be used as an observational method for anyone who works with children in a play context. The book investigates the understandings of the Play Cycle within the playwork field over the last 20 years, and its future application. It addresses each aspect of the Play Cycle (metalude, play cue, play return, play frame, loop and flow and annihilation) and combines the theoretical aspect of the Play Cycle with empirical research evidence. The book also provides an observational tool for people to observe and record play cycles. This book will appeal to playworkers, teachers, play therapists and professionals working in other contexts with children, such as hospitals and prisons. It will support practitioners and students in learning about play and provide lecturers and trainers with a new innovative teaching and training aide.