Children as social actors, agency, and social competence: sociological reflections for early childhood

The study of children in early childhood has, for most of the last 100 years, been dominated by developmental perspectives. This has resulted not only in a huge body of work documenting, accounting for and theorising how children grow up (controversies notwithstanding), but has also led to early childhood being in effect ›colonised‹ by this type of science and by questions of development and change. Qvortrup (1994: 4) summed this up as a dominant focus on what children will become to the neglect of what they are as persons in their early life. This hegemonic emphasis on development has been to the detriment of understanding childhood and children’s lives from a fully social scientific perspective. Until the 1990s the grip of developmental framings of the study of children and childhood left little room for sociological accounts of childhood, other than those stemming from theories of socialisation. This situation was challenged by sociological work which foregrounded an empirical sensibility towards children as social actors. This opened up a space of enquiry for understanding the social significance of the subjectivities of children and the implications of these for analyses and theorisations of both those social phenomena which are directly relevant for children and/or childhood and those which intersect with children’s lives and social worlds

Methodological insights from researching temporality in families with teenage children

The often unremarked processes through which gender and generation play out in families with teenage children in, through, and over time, was the topic of a mixed qualitative methods study, drawing on the accounts of multiple family members – 14 and 15 year olds and their resident parent(s). Using this as a case study the paper critically considers a number of methodological, ethical, and political issues faced in undertaking the research, particularly with respect to research with children. These pertain to challenges of a social constructionist approach and to research from multiple perspectives. We argue that there are paradoxes and contradictions that arise between a social constructionist approach and the practicalities of carrying out research into dynamic phenomena, such as “generationing”, particularly when trying to understand this from multiple perspectives. But rather than consider these as flaws we show how they are in fact opportunities for insight into the interplay between the structural and the dynamic nature of intergenerational relations

Nuevos estudios de infancia, política de infancia y derechos de los niños y niñas

In a time where the future of democracy is at stake, it is necessary to recognize the significance of the contribution that the “new” childhood studies can make to securing that future, particularly with respect to establishing the importance of the agency and social competence (in different arenas of everyday life) of children as political social actors. The combination of these recognitions with the task of conceptualizing childhood politics (as politics with children) and an emancipatory development in the field of children’s rights is vital for fuller socio-theoretical and socio-political debates on solutions to the problem of positive human future for all generations. In this paper, we show how the conceptualizations and empirical work from childhood studies enhance the role that children’s rights can play in the improvement of democratic processes at a societal level, i.e. real participation. This is something that goes way beyond the tendency to treat children’s rights as an individual concern, arguing instead for a consideration of children’s rights and agency as a social requirement for democracy

The relevance of ‘competence’ for enhancing or limiting children’s participation: unpicking conceptual confusion

Recent debates about children’s participation rights, formulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, primarily focus on ‘effectiveness’ of implementation. However, children’s participation remains problematic, its limited impact on adult power in decision-making or on the nature of decisions made persists, and reservations about children’s competence as participants are implicated in both. In respect of this, we analysed conceptualisations of competence in 67 articles, published between 2007 and 2017 in six childhood studies’ journals, where ‘competence’ and its variations appear in the abstract. Although competence is rarely defined, conceptualisations were wide-ranging, covering competence as skills, as compliance with adult views, and as a trope signalling the field of childhood studies. As a result of our findings, we argue that epistemological clarity is vital for this concept to be useful regarding children’s participation and that attention must be paid to the different kinds of competence relevant for ‘effective’ participation

How can technology make this work? Preservice teachers, off-campus learning and digital portfolios

Utilising appropriate Information Communication Technologies (ICT) as instructional tools in teacher education can be a challenging yet worthwhile endeavour. This paper reports the difficulties and benefits of a recent inter-university project requiring preservice primary teachers to construct professional digital portfolios using the support of ICT. Challenges with regard to communication and learning were numerous as 34 preservice teachers (PSTs) from three universities in NSW (situated in country towns, and in Sydney) worked together as a collaborative learning community. Meeting regularly face-to-face during the 12-month process was not always possible and so ICT resources were employed to facilitate instruction and communication. An action research methodology generated a data set of surveys, observational field notes, and student assessment artefacts. We share the findings in this paper so that others may learn from our experiences in using free access software and commonplace hardware when constructing digital portfolios with students who are some distance from campus

The Iowa Homemaker vol.29, no.7

Guilty or Not?, Geraldine Moran, page 3 Flowers for Vicky, Frances Bosnak, page 4 Corporate Personalities, page 6 Here’s An Idea, Joy Moore, page 10 Selling – a Fast-Paced Career, JoAnn Breckenridge, page 12 What’s New, Virginia Foth, page 14 How to Care for Your Nylons, Joan Ahern, page 1

Introducción : cultivando los aspectos culturales al hacer investigación

El objetivo de esta introducción es enmarcar dentro de la complejidad cultural de nuestro mundo contemporáneo, las 14 contribuciones incluidas en este volumen especial. No debe descuidarse la particularidad de hacer investigación cualitativa en específicos contextos locales, nacionales o de lenguaje. Se brinda una breve descripción de cada artículo para presentar este nuevo volumen sobre las prácticas cualitativas de investigación en algunas de las periferias de nuestro globalizado mundo académicoFraming the 14 contributions included in this special issue on "Advances in Qualitative Research in Ibero America" within the cultural complexity of our current world is the objective of this introduction. The particularity of doing qualitative research in specific local, national, and even language contexts should not be overlooked. A brief description of each article is provided to introduce this new issue on qualitative research practices in some of the peripheries of our globalized academic worl

Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of the Thymus: A Case Report

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus is an extremely rare malignant mediastinal neoplasm, and to our knowledge, only 13 cases have been reported. We report a case of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus that was seen in a 53-yr-old man with right chest pain. Chest CT scan showed a huge, cystic mass having a focal solid portion with direct invasion of the adjacent anterior chest wall and pericardium in the anterior mediastinum. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the thymus should be included in the differential diagnosis for masses of the anterior mediastinum associated with extensive cystic changes, although the carcinoma is exceedingly rare