Contemporary Childhood

Sean MacBlain PhD is a distinguished author and academic whose publications include: MacBlain (Sage, 2021) Children's Learning in Early Childhood; MacBlain (Sage, 2020) Child Development for Teachers; MacBlain, Dunn and Luke (Sage, 2017) Contemporary Childhood; Gray and MacBlain (Sage, 2015) Learning Theories in Childhood; MacBlain, Long and Dunn, (Sage, 2015) Dyslexia, Literacy and Inclusion: Child-centred Perspectives; MacBlain (Sage, 2014) How Children Learn. Sean's publications are used by students, practitioners and academics throughout the world and have been widely translated including into Chinese and Vietnamese. Sean was previously a senior academic at the University of St Mark & St John, Plymouth, England where he held the positions of Research lead for the Centre for Education and Applied Research, Research Lead for the Centre for Professional and Educational Research, Research Coordinator for the School of Education and Deputy Chair of the Ethics Committee. Sean has also worked as a Senior Lecturer in Education and Developmental Psychology at Stranmillis University College, Queen's University Belfast. In addition to this, Sean has worked for over twenty years as an educational psychologist and continues in this field as an independent practitioner. Jill Dunn is a senior lecturer in Stranmillis University College, Belfast. She was a primary school teacher working in Foundation Stage and Key Stage One classrooms before moving into teacher education. Jill teaches widely across the BEd and PGCE Early Years programmes. However, her main interests lie in the teaching of literacy in the early years. Jill has just completed her EdD in 2013 and her dissertation focused on children's views on using popular culture to teach writing. She has been involved in a number of funded research projects on literacy and is currently involved in an evaluation of iPads in the Early Years. Jill lives in Lisburn, Northern Ireland with her husband Ian and two daughters Holly and Katy.

SECTION 1 THE CHILD 1 The Changing Nature of Childhood Shifting landscapes: children's security Multiculturalism Inclusion and children with additional needs Austerity and poverty Children as carers State of play in the UK Emerging curricula and proposed initiatives 2 The Child's Perspective Current views on children's perspective Childhood studies and children's perspectives United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and children's perspectives Challenges and tensions in listening to young children's perspectives Methods for seeking children's perspectives in research Innovative methods for eliciting the views of young children Children's involvement in the research process 3 Social and Emotional Functioning in the Learning Environment Learning, happiness and well-being Attachment and the learning environment Loss in childhood: its impact on learning Fear and love in the lives of children Supporting children's social and emotional functioning outside of the home 4 Creating Optimum Learning Environments for the Child Today's challenges Identification and assessment: reflections on practice Ethical issues in the identification and assessment of children Low achievement and underachievement Children whose first language is not English Monitoring and evaluating practice SECTION 2 THE CHILD AND THE FAMILY 5 The Changing Nature of Families Divorce, separation and step-families The importance of fathers in families Grandparents and families Working with refugee and asylum-seeking families Working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families 6 The Parent's Voice Listening to parents Working with parents Parents' working patterns 7 Multi Professional Perspectives Evolving perspectives Safeguarding Challenges of multi-agency working Professionals and parents: working together Recent initiatives SECTION 3 MODERN AND EMERGING CHILDHOODS 8 Policy, Discourse and Identity Policy and practice Contemporary political ideology and philosophy Regulation, control and accountability Professionalism and professional identity 9 The Digital Child What is a 'digital child'? Digital media The affordances of digital media Starting where children are: the importance of children's learning experiences at home Children's digital lives in the new millennium E-safety for children in a digital world 10 International Perspectives International variations in practice Children and conflict Growth of technology Gender Provision for children throughout the world Economic costs of childhood The readying culture 11 Contemporary Issues in a Global Society Poverty and life chances Obesity Sexualisation of children Social fears Mental health Media and materialism The emergence of neuroscience Reflections on professionalism Child-centredness in a changing world

This important book attempts to place the developing child within the many worlds they exist, to give us a better understanding of both the most obvious influences on them, and also the more subtle. Never shying away from the controversial issues, this book is not about an ideal child development story, it is about how modern children are growing up in a world that is often very alien to the one practitioners grew up in, culminating in the final chapter that explores contemporary issues in our global society, such as poverty, obesity, sexualisation, mental health, media, materialism and more. -- Neil Henty