Tag: children

The Relationship between Poverty, Attainment, and Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing: Making a Difference to the Lives of Children and Young People

Focusing on early adolescence, a critical stage in development, this programme looks to examine the relationship between poverty, attainment, and children’s mental health as a means of addressing the attainment gap between rich and poor.  The attainment gap is a global and complex problem, which requires international and multi-disciplinary perspectives.  It will bring together academics, policy makers, and practitioners to question: what we currently know about the problem, how we can best extend our understanding of these relationships, and how this can inform public policy and practice.  A sense of belonging to school lies at the intersection of poverty, attainment, and mental health.  Through engagement with children the programme will build children’s voices into discussion, ultimately contributing to the Scottish Attainment Challenge.

Programme Team:

Dr Joan Mowat (University of Strathclyde) – Inclusion, Children with Social, Emotional, and Behavioural Needs, Leadership for Social Justice
Dr Gale Macleod (University of Edinburgh) – Education, Young People Identified as having Disruptive Behaviour
Alastair Wilson (University of Strathclyde) – Social Mobility, Mentoring, Widening Participation
Dr Anna Beck (University of Strathclyde) – Educational Policy, Teacher Professionalism
Graham McPheat (University of Strathclyde) – Social Work and Looked After Children
Professor Stephen McKinney (University of Glasgow) – Creativity, Culture, Poverty
Dr Louise Marryat (University of Edinburgh) – Mental Health, Public Health and Policy
Lee Knifton (University of Strathclyde) – Head of the Mental Health Foundation
Marian MacLeod (Children in Scotland) – Policy Manager, Children’s Welfare
Patricia Lyon (Place2Be) – Cluster Manager, Counselling for Children
Paula Dudgeon (Glasgow City Council) – Educational Psychology
Professor John McKendrick (Glasgow Caledonian University) – Applied Human Sociology, Poverty and Inequality
Fiona McHardy (The Poverty Alliance) – Research and Information Manager
Aileen Wilson (Inverclyde Children’s Services) – Children’s Rights and Participation
Dr Gillean McCluskey (University of Edinburgh) – Multi-agency working, Pupil Voice
Sara Spencer (Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland) – Project Manager

Storify of the Final Stigma in Childhood Project Seminar Now Available

The Stigma in Childhood programme seeks to address the unique issues for children who experience stigma, as well as common issues which allow learning from the experience of stigma in adulthood. In this, it considers how stigma is experienced by children from different places, and how it manifests itself; for children themselves, in families and communities, and in provision of services. Bringing together learning from theory, research, policy and practice, it will promote change for children and young people living with stigma and marginalisation.

Continue reading “Storify of the Final Stigma in Childhood Project Seminar Now Available”

Stigma in Childhood: The Fostering Network’s Young Champions

The past two Stigma in Childhood project seminars have emphasised the importance of the experience and contribution of the children and young people who remain at the heart of the project.  In particular, at the most recent event, Professor Pranee Liamputtong argued that research should be conducted with, as opposed to on, children and young people.

Continue reading “Stigma in Childhood: The Fostering Network’s Young Champions”

Storify of the Second Stigma in Childhood Project Seminar Now Available

The Stigma in Childhood programme seeks to address the unique issues for children who experience stigma, as well as common issues which allow learning from the experience of stigma in adulthood. In this, it considers how stigma is experienced by children from different places, and how it manifests itself; for children themselves, in families and communities, and in provision of services. Bringing together learning from theory, research, policy and practice, it will promote change for children and young people living with stigma and marginalisation.

Continue reading “Storify of the Second Stigma in Childhood Project Seminar Now Available”

Which children? Whose views? Intersectional Childhoods and Inequalities

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and University of Strathclyde, together with the Scottish Human Rights Commission and Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People,  have recently concluded a seminar series on ‘Children’s Rights, Social Justice and Social Identities in Scotland: Intersections in Research, Policy and Practice’, funded by the  Scottish Universities Insight Institute.

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The concept of ‘intersectionality’ has become increasingly popular within and beyond academia, whether in debates about feminism or in relation to the multiple forms of discrimination faced by particular social groups.

In short, intersectionality is about understanding the different and unequal social and economic outcomes for particular groups based on interactions between race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, age and ethnicity. This means to recognise the diversity within seemingly ‘homogenous’ groups (such as ‘women’ or ‘children’), and to draw attention to how the actions of social movements and policy makers often minimize the importance of differences within and between such groups.

Its growing popularity has led to intersectionality being described as a ‘buzzword’ (Davis, 2008), yet there is little discussion about the place of children and young people in such debates. Continue reading “Which children? Whose views? Intersectional Childhoods and Inequalities”