I don’t know about you, but the news story  last summer about Megan Stammers, the teenager who ran away to France with her schoolteacher certainly gripped our household. It wasn’t just that our family had taken the same high-speed train from Paris just a few weeks earlier, or that the shopping street in Bordeaux where they were arrested was one we knew well from our own stay in the city. What really prompted heated discussion around our kitchen table was the issues that the story through up – about adult responsibility, the age of consent, and the definition of childhood.

Because the schoolgirl in question was still only 15, she was legally a child and therefore cast in the news coverage as the victim of an abduction by her 30-year-old teacher, Jeremy Forrest, who ran the risk of being accused of child abuse and branded as a sex offender. This outraged at least one teenaged member of my own family, who thought the girl was old enough to make her own decisions, and for these to be respected, however wayward they seemed to others. And, of course, if the girl had been just a year older, and the teacher perhaps a few years younger, the media might have told the story differently: as one of two romantic young lovers running away to seek their happiness.

The story provides a useful illustration of some of the issues discussed in Block 1 of K802. Do we tend to construct children and young people as passive ‘victims’ – even when they’re almost adults – and thus deprive them of ‘agency’ and responsibility for their own actions? Does this influence our response to issues such as teenage pregnancy, for example? And to what extent are our reactions culturally conditioned? After all, 15-year-olds in some societies (and in our own society, in centuries past) are often married with children, and thus treated as responsible adults. Does this mean that all our attitudes to children and childhood are socially and culturally constructed? Or are there certain basic, universal ideas associated with childhood that we should hold on to?

None of this is to take away from the rather sad realities of this particular news story. Inevitably, it ended badly, with the teacher in custody and the schoolgirl back at home, presumably heartbroken. Perhaps the TV pundit who said he felt sorry for both pupil and teacher, because at the end of the day they were both just a couple of rather immature children, had it about right.  What do you think?

If you’re interested in studying K802,then follow the link to the OU website to find out more. The next presentation begins in October 2013 – but it’s never too early to express an interest and start planning!

2013 could be the year in which you take a step up to Master’s level study - and to improving your academic and professional prospects.

Rachel Thomson, who co-edited the Reader with Martin Robb, and contributed a chapter on ’Troubling boundaries between the personal and the professional: teachers becoming mothers’ (as well as starring in our Youtube video!) left the OU at Christmas to take up a new post, as Professor of Childhood and Youth Studies at Sussex University. We wish Rachel well – but we’ll certainly miss her.

In Rachel’s place, we’ve welcomed to the K802 team our colleague Andy Rixon, who also wrote a chapter for the Reader, entitled ‘Childcare social work: perspectives on the professional’.

There’ll be more posts about the course in the coming months – so watch this space. And if you’re interested, do take time to browse through some of the older posts on this site – they’ll give you a flavour of the course.

The K802 module website is now live, so if you’ve registered for the module, you’ll be able to log in via your OU ‘StudentHome’ page. That’s now the place to get updates and join in K802-related discussions – the site even has its own blog, exclusively for K802 students and tutors.

The K802 year starts officially at the end of this week – on 1st October. So if you’re a new student, about to start your studies on the module – good luck, and we look forward to meeting you over at the K802 site!

All of this means there’ll be rather less activity on this (public) blog in the next few months. We’ll be back with news, views and updates, later in the year.

Coincidentally, that’s also the date that the K802 website goes ‘live’: so, if you’ve registered for the module, you’ll be able to access all the online learning materials, discussion forums and social media tools you need from that date.

If you’ve already registered for K802, we look forward to working with you over the coming year. If you haven’t yet signed up: what are you waiting for?

If so, you might be interested in this ad:

The Faculty of Health and Social Care at The Open University is seeking high-quality applications for funded full time studentships and self funded part time students.  The Faculty’s research focuses on issues such as ageing and later life; reproductive and sexual health; death and dying; living with a disability and/or long term condition; children and young people; parenting and families. Our research draws on various methodologies and forms of analysis and much is based on multidisciplinary work across the social sciences, in particular drawing on medical sociology, critical psychology, anthropology and other critical, applied social sciences

The Faculty has a lively post-graduate student community undertaking wide-ranging research both in the UK and internationally. 

Studentships commence from autumn 2011. Applicants must normally reside in the UK for the duration of the studentship.

For detailed information, and to apply online, go to http://www3.open.ac.uk/employment; or contact Faculty Research Office, Tel: 01908 858373 or e-mail hsc-research-enquiries@open.ac.uk  Closing date: 12 noon on 31 August.  Interviews to be held in October.

Equal Opportunity is University Policy

Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and apart from the mainstream.  We’ve failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong.  We’ve even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run completely counter to our values.

The speech echoed some of the concerns raised by Heidi Mirza, in her contribution to the OU module K802 Critical Practice with Children and Young People (though it’s fair to say the author probably wouldn’t agree with all of the prime minister’s conclusions). In a chapter in the module Reader entitled ‘Walking on egg shells: multiculturalism, gender and domestic violence’, Professor Mirza, who is based at London University’s Institute of Education, argues that an ‘overly sensitive multicultural approach’ has had negative consequences for black and minority ethnic young women, particularly those who are victims of so-called ‘honour’ crimes. The argument of the chapter is complex and difficult to summarise here, but it challenges those who work with children and young people to think about how sensitivity to cultural diversity might conflict with a respect for universal human rights – including the rights of the child.

Mirza’s chapter is a key text in Unit 2 of K802, which goes under the heading ‘Culture, diversity and practice’. Another important resource for this unit is an article by Pragna Patel of the campaigning organisation Southall Black Sisters, which explores the impact of multiculturalism on schools and highlights the dangers – particularly for girls – of over-emphasising a ‘singular religious identity’ which might come into conflict with their identities and needs as young women.

Marise Gowenlock of Multicultural Family Base, Leith, interviewed for the K802 DVD

The issues raised by Mirza’s chapter and Patel’s article are difficult and controversial, but of vital importance to professionals working in increasingly diverse, multi-ethnic settings. One of the DVDs produced for K802 is a case study of Multicultural Family Base, a social work project in Leith, Edinburgh which, as well as working directly with a variety of ethnic communities, seeks to prepare professionals to work with children and families in a multicultural society. The DVD includes video footage of social work students interacting with groups of young people and parents, as well as audio interviews with both trainees and experienced professionals.

The unit on culture, diversity and practice forms part of the first block of K802 – which explores the conceptual context of work with children and young people. The blocks that follow look in turn at the changing organisational context, and the overlapping personal and professional contexts, of everyday practice.

If you work with children and young people and want to contribute to this debate, feel free to leave a comment on this post. Better still, why not register for K802, and take part in discussions with students from a variety of backgrounds in different parts of the UK, about this and other key issues facing today’s workers in children’s and young people’s services?

That’s just not good enough. We need a diverse range of providers, with a greater gender balance, surrounding children with a range of role models – different people to learn from and relate to.

But why all this concern about recruiting men, and why so much anxiety about their supposed under-representation in childcare, teaching and other areas of work with children? Is there really any evidence that children ‘need’ male ‘role models’, if they’re to flourish?

A male childcare worker

These are some of the questions I tackle in my chapter ‘Men wanted? Gender and the children’s workforce’ in the Reader for the new Open University Masters module Critical practice with children and young people (K802), published by Policy Press. In the chapter I review the ways in which work with children has been ‘gendered’ in the past – and analyse the factors influencing current worries about men’s absence from children’s services.

The chapter challenges what I term the ‘male role model discourse’ that dominates much media and policy discussion, particularly around the needs of boys and young men. I argue that this discourse draws on a highly simplistic understanding of gender development, one which ignores the plurality of relationships that shape young men’s transitions to adulthood. I maintain that trying to identify a special, distinctive ‘masculine’ contribution to boys’ development often ends up reinforcing outdated gender stereotypes. It can also lead to diminishing the vital role played by women – both mothers and female workers – in nurturing young men.

If you want to read the whole chapter, you’ll need to buy the book – but if you register for the OU module, you’ll get the Reader as part of your package of learning materials (which also includes three DVDs and access to a new website).

(This post first appeared over at my personal blog, where you can read more about my research and teaching on children and families, and issues of gender and identity.)

If you work with children and/or young people, of any age, in any sector (education, social work, early years, youth work, health, etc) and you’re looking for a stimulating distance learning course that will help you to move on in your career, and enhance your knowledge, understanding and skills – then K802 is for you.

If you register, you’ll study a multimedia package that includes print, online and audiovisual materials. You’ll have the support of a tutor, and be able to network online with people from around the UK – and beyond.

If you want to find out more, and get instructions on how to sign up, follow this link.  If you want a flavour of the module, why not watch our short Youtube video? And feel free to scroll through earlier posts on this blog – to learn about the module components, and some of the issues covered by K802.

We hope to welcome you on K802 in October.