Group Info
Members of the interdisciplinary Child and Youth Studies group draw on a range of approaches and research methodologies, including developmental psychology, childhood studies, sociology, anthropology, ethnography, cultural studies and cultural geography.
The group encompasses studies of children's and young people's experiences, representations, learning, development, inclusion and social participation. Of concern are the institutions and social practices that shape their lives, and the cultural and personal constructions of childhood and youth that mediate these processes. Research priorities reflect the diversity of childhoods (for example, related to social, economic and cultural contexts) and the diversity of children's lived experiences (for example, related to age, gender, parenting/family experiences, abilities, disabilities and mental health). Several members are engaged international research and in studies with a strong policy/applied focus, e.g. on early childhood care and education, and child labour. The group has good contacts with local schools, playgroups, maternity hospitals, youth groups etc. Research facilities include equipment for eye-tracking and video recording and analysis to support data gathering in the group's observation suite and in other settings. A Children's Research Centre has recently been established to support active research by children from local schools and further afield. There are 10 post-graduate students associated with the group and we have obtained research related income since 2001 of over £1,800,000.
Research
Go to the publication record to see our outputs.
Members
Cluster Director
Convenor
Members
- Ms Alison Clark
- Dr Janet Collins
- Dr Sarah Crafter
- Dr Sharon Ding
- Dr Dorothy Faulkner
- Dr Mary Jane Kehily
- Professor Mary Kellett
- Dr Cindy Kerawalla
- Professor Karen Littleton
- Dr Heather Montgomery
- Mr John Oates
- Dr Kieron Sheehy
- Dr Lee Farrington-Flint
- Dr Silvana Mengoni
- Nathalia Gjersoe
Visiting Researchers
- Professor David Buckingham
- Dr Alyson Davis
Full-Time Research Students
- Mr Jamie Galpin
- Mrs Jennifer Kearvell-White
- Miss Natalia Kucirkova
- Ms Sanna Nissinen
- Amanda Fine
- Joseph De Lappe
Part-Time Research Students
Grants
2008 & 2009
Timescapes: The Dynamics of motherhood Mary Jane Kehily and Rachel Thompson
http://www.open.ac.uk/hsc/research/research-projects/making-of-modern-motherhood/momm2.php
ESRC, £234K, 2008-2010
Executive Funding in Children with Specific Language Impairment. Lucy Henry and David Messer
ESRC, £230,000, 2008-2010
Gifted and Talented Children: Children’s Own Research. Mary Kellett
Perret Endowment, £75k, 2008-2010
The accuracy of Health Visitor assessment of the quality of mother-infant interactions.
Jane Appleton, John Oates & Magaret Harris
Burdett Nursing Trust, £41,000, 2009-10
Rethinking youth cultures in the age of global media,
David Buckingham, Mary Jane Kehily, Sara Bragg
ESRC seminar series, £17,990, 2009-2010
'Understanding children’s resilience in contexts of abuse and exploitation: An Evaluation of the Oak Foundation’s international Bamboo Project'.
Heather Montgomery and Martin Woodhead
£78,000
2007
Youth Voice in the Work of Creative Partnerships. Sara Bragg and Dorothy Faulkner
Arts Council England/Creative Partnerships, £129k, 2007-2009
http://www.open.ac.uk/youth-voice/index.shtml
Second Life and Education. Kieron Sheehy and Peter Twining
NAGTY, £25,000, 2007
Promoting Participation through Children’s Own Research. Mary Kellett
Milton Keynes Community Participation, £4k, 2007
2006
An evaluation of the factors affecting the uptake and impact on young people of the Milton Keynes Connexions Service. Kieron Sheehy, Rajni Kumrai, & Martin Woodhead, Milton Keynes Connexions Service, £14,500, 2005-2006
Early Childhood in Focus. Martin Woodhead and John Oates
Bernard van Leer Foundation, €160K, 2006-2007
You can download the full series of publications (or request paper copies) from the Bernard van Leer Foundation website.
Transitions in Early Childhood: a sub study of Young Lives Martin Woodhead
Bernard van Leer Foundation, €250K, 2007–2010
Literacy opportunities and links to povertySupporting two groups of 11-year-olds to research issues around literacy opportunities and links to poverty. This project is part of the JRF Education & Poverty Programme. Mary Kellett, Aqsa Dar
Joseph Rowntree Foundation, £27k, 2006
2005
An evaluation of the Milton Keynes Children’s Fund Project. Anna Laerke, Katy Simmons and Martin WoodheadMilton Keynes Children’s Fund, £35k, 2005-2008
Child of Our Time Scoping Study
Analysing feasibility of building closer links between The BBC, Child of Our Time project and ESRC-funded British cohort studies. John Oates, David Messer, Mary-Jane Kehily and Heather Montgomery. ESRC, £47K, 2006-2007
Evaluating the impact of children as active researchers. Mary Kellett
Carnegie Youth Trust, £19k, 2005–2006
School Transformation Project Through Student Research. Mary Kellett
Our Lady’s Comprehensive School, £11k, 2005-2007.
Evaluation of the Diana Memorial Trust's Young Researcher's initiativeSupport and mentoring of young researchers; and evaluation of their Diana Young Ambassadors programme
Mary Kellett, Dorothy Faulkner, Sue Bucknall, Aqsa Dar
ContinYou, £29,500, 2005-2008
The development of children's drawing behaviour and its decline: A survey studyFifteen month research project to investigate supportive and restrictive influences on artistic and drawing development throughout childhood
Esther Burkitt with Richard Jolley and Sarah Rose, University of Staffordshire
Leverhulme, £40k, 2005-2007
The Making of Modern MotherhoodsQualitative social science research project to explore motherhood as a changing identity among women in the UK
Mary Jane Kehily, Rachel Thomson, Lucy Hadfield, Sue Sharpe
ESRC, £164k, 2005-2007
Creative Partnerships Norfolk - Impact Study
Dorothy Faulkner and Mathilda Joubert (Synectics Education UK) with Karen Littleton, Dorothy Miell, Ros Searle and Denise Whitelock
Arts Council England and Creative Partnerships, £25,000, 2005-2006
Longitudinal study of child poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam
Martin Woodhead in collaboration with University of Oxford
Funding, DFID, via University of Oxford, £95K, 2005-2008
2004
A comparative analysis of the processes of teaching and learning occurring in human and computer mediated reading tuition. Clare Wood
British Academy, £4,928, 2004
Development of collaborative research in reading development between the Open University and Queen's University, Ontario, Canada. Clare Wood
Leverhulme Trust, £4,340, 2004.
2003
Excellence, Creativity and Innovation in Teaching and Education (EXCITE)
Dorothy Faulkner, Jane Henry, Karen Littleton, Dorothy Miell, Ros Searle.
Department of Education and Science & Esmee Fairbairn Charitable Trust, £20,000, 2003-2005
Needs of UK post-doctoral researchers in Psychology.
Sarah Norgate
Executive Research Board of the British Psychological Society, £1,500, 2003
Systematic literature review of pedagogical approaches for use with children with SEN in mainstream schools
Kieron Sheehy
Training and Development Agency for Schools, £75k, 2003-06
2002
Facilitated communication project. Andy GraysonNational Alliance for Autism Research. $93,000, 2002-2004
Impact of individual differences in children's use of software designed to support reading on learning outcomes. Clare Wood
International Reading Association, $9,470, 2002
Psychological consequences of treatment for retinoblastoma in young children and their familiesThe International study of Paediatric Services for young children with eye cancer. Karen Littleton and Sarah Norgate
The Retinoblastoma Society. £31,000, 2002-2004
Psychological consequences of treatment for retinoblastoma in young children and their familiesThe International study of Paediatric Services for young children with eye cancer.Sarah Norgate.Winston Churchill Memorial Trust International Fellowship, £4,750, 2004.
The development and dissemination of cost-effective training in systematic observation and assessment of behaviour within undergraduate and postgraduate psychology courses
Survey of provision and need in undergraduate psychology and postgraduate psychology departments in England. Development and dissemination of Observation Methods CD Rom and associated materials to support training of systematic observation within undergraduate psychology. Development and dissemination of Opening and Closing Sessions and Clinical note taking CD Rom and associated materials to clinical psychology departments. John Oates, Vicky Lewis and Sue Martin with consortium institutions - Leeds Metropolitan University, Newcastle University, Oxford University and Sheffield University
HEFCE FDTL, £275k, 2002-2008
Young People’s Experience of Drugs and Drug Use: evidence from young people themselves. Mary-Jane Kehily
OU Research and Development Fund, £23,574, 2002-2003
2001
Mother’s models of their infants development of a psychometric instrument for use in research and practice. John Oates
ESRC + NHS, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, £113K, 1999 – continuing
Nature and development of blind children's understanding of medium scale space - continuing analysis of data and linking up. Vicky Lewis and Glyn Collis
Leverhulme Trust, £73,903, 2001-2003