Please join us for the second online meeting of the academic year to hear about two projects with children and young people; and to contribute your ideas for the 2021-2022 programme. We will look forward to seeing you and hearing your thoughts.
Wednesday, 9 March 2022 – 3.30-4.30 pm
Zoom Meeting
Please email Dawn Mannay for the meeting link mannaydi@cardiff.ac.uk
Beyond Bad Behaviour? Exploring Student Activism in UK Schools
Dr Esther Muddiman and Dr Rhian Barrance – School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
In this session we will explore the character of children’s school-based activism as part of our ongoing research in this area. Drawing on our analysis of survey data from secondary school pupils in Wales, and newspaper reports on pupil activism in the UK over the last twenty years, we consider how and why children participate in protests or campaigns about their schools and education. Our data pose questions about who participates in what forms of activism, and what sorts of activities get recognised by teachers and parents as legitimate activism as opposed to just bad behaviour. We conclude by considering our next steps and reflecting on how involvement in activism might relate to children’s understandings of the role of schooling and education.
For more information on associated research see – Barrance, R. 2020. The right to protest: A children’s rights perspective on the school climate strikes. [Online]. British Educational Research Association Blog.
Available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/the-right-to-protest-a-childrens-rights-perspective-on-the-school-climate-strikes
Perception of control as a key factor in differentiating manageable and problematic young carer roles.
Dr Ed Janes – Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
Thirty years of research with young carers has focused on the experiences and lives of children who have caring responsibilities for family members with an illness or disability. The predominantly qualitative research has focused on young carers who access support projects and often have substantial responsibilities, but there is an increasing recognition of a larger young carer population with more diverse experiences. This presentation reports the results of a phenomenological study that identified and recruited young carers who were unknown to services, as well as those that were accessing support. Researching the experiences and lives of the wider young carer population enabled the identification of control as central to the management of the caring role, and reframed the challenges identified in previous research as threats to this control. The session will conclude with the introduction of a young carer control model that differentiates between manageable responsibilities, reduced control and enhanced risk and considers the differing needs of the whole young carer spectrum. This research is part of my doctoral study, Caring Lives: What do young people with caring responsibilities for family members need to thrive?
Please contact the conveners of the Childhood and Youth Research Group – Dawn Mannay mannaydi@cardiff.ac.uk or Phil Smith smithpr1@cardiff.ac.uk if you have any questions.
