Childhood Studies - Literature Review

This literature review critically examines texts on child rights, including freedom of expression, quality education, challenges faced by children, and protection against sexual abuse. The review analyzes the limitations and strengths of the texts and discusses the implications for contemporary children in terms of social policy, rights, and welfare.

Running Head: CHILDHOOD STUDIES – LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Child rights or children’s rights refers to human rights that pertain specifically to
children, with particular attention being paid to the special care and protection that is
accorded to minors. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), a
child may be defined as a person who is below eighteen years of age unless; the law that
applies to the child is something that attains majority earlier. The rights of children include
their right to any type of association, be it an association with human identity and their
parents, as well as their basic access and need for healthcare, food, physical protection,
freedom from discrimination based on gender, colour, race and equal protection of civil rights
among others. This essay critically reviews severalimportant texts on child rights, assessing
the limitations and the strengths of the texts reviewed, and concludes with an analysis of what
the key points of the literature review imply for contemporary children with regard to social
policy, rights and welfare.
1. The Right to Freedom of Expression for Children
Nick Lee (2001), talks about the issues of silence and voice among children. After
providing a brief yet meaningful account of how the process of silencing children is known to
take place, from where it stems and the dominant framework that has facilitated its steady
development, Lee (2001), shows how this is a process that is very widely recognized as
something that is entirely unjust. In the view of Nick Lee (2001), children are often, never in
a position to defend themselves against exploitation and abuse and are rarely able to seek
protection from it either. Lee (2001), describes the various attempts that are made to provide
children with a voice or very simply, the scope or platform with which to express themselves
and to speak out against any abuse or torture that might be taking place against them. For this
purpose, Lee provides readers with a necessary overview of important provisions contained

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in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), with special reference being paid to
Article 12 of the Convention, while also talking about the changing positions held by
witnesses who are children in different criminal courts in both England as well as Wales. Lee
also alludes to the role played by information technology and television in giving children an
adequate platform for representing themselves. Lee (2001), concludes with the argument that
child ambiguity or the inability of children to defend and protect themselves from abuse is
something that is being increasingly recognized at the local, state and global levels. Policy
makers are in particular taking note of this inability of children to defend themselves in order
to ensure that only children are not made to shoulder the responsibility of such ambiguity.
2. Children’s Right to a Quality Education
Linda Mitchell (2015), points to how the policy pertaining to early childhood
education and care implemented by the government of New Zealand is one that has gone a
slow and steady process of evolution and the consequences this has had for participants in
different types of policy frameworks. She argues how such a policy is one that reflects
various types of ideas regarding labor force participation, childhood, the economy, education
as well as the role that is performed by the state in such matters. The research work that is
carried out by Linda Mitchell (2015), is one that pans out over a very broad period, starting
with the period of left rule that was prominent in the early part of the 21st Century to the
period of right wing politics that became so prevalent in New Zealand in the year 2009.
Mitchell (2015), argues that children’s discourses are now prioritized a great deal and this is
something that has replaced a long standing focus on matters of citizenship. She talks about
how education policies of late in the country are those that have removed crucial
qualifications for teachers as well as other types of professional support needed by faculty
members to impart quality teaching to children. Right wing politics have played a role in the

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quality of children’s education suffering considerably due to rigid and conservative policies,
with for profit organizations now playing a key role in this matter. Mitchell (2015), also
points to the role that is played by community planning in order to bring about an
improvement in the quality of life that is made available for children in the country and she
talks about how this is something that can positively influence the early childhood education
and care policy of the government of New Zealand.
3. Challenges faced by Children in Maintaining Diverse Roles in
Different Domains of Adult Life and Child Life
Boocock and Scott (2005), highlights the significant experiences that children are
made to undergo when they attend school. They argue that from the perspective of a child,
going to school is an activity that implies learning how to survive and to adjust in a highly
complex environment, that is an environment in which two very distinct types of social
spheres are seen to co-exist and that too in the same type of physical space. Boocock and
Scott (2005), argue how on one hand, there is this formal education which is controlled and
designed by adults, which takes place in assemblies, gyms, classrooms and in playing fields,
while on the other, the informal type of education which is controlled and designed by kids in
the lunchroom, in halls and in the playground, and also in classrooms, in areas that are out of
the earshot of adults. A bifurcation is seen to exist in their view, between the sphere
controlled by kids and the sphere that is controlled by adults, as well as between the highly
adult domains of informal education and formal education. Children according to Boocock
and Scott (2005) are expected to master the type of behavior that is seen to be acceptable in
both such domains. The bifurcation has been highlighted by the aspects of school life that are
controlled by adults and also by pointing to the manner by which kids learn to get along with
one another in school via the role that they perform as students. The various types of

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difficulties that are faced by children in adjusting to the different roles that they play in both
the spheres mentioned, have been well pointed out by authors, especially when it comes to
mastering the type of behavior that is regarded as acceptable in both of the mentioned
domains.
4. Right to Protection against Sexual Abuse for Children
Gervais and Romano (2017), have carried out qualitative research on the responsible
behavior that is carried out by adults in the event that one child engages in sexually offensive
behavior against another child. As many as sixteen interviews were carried out of parents
from as many as 10 families in the country of Canada, through the use of thematic coding
procedures. They point out the many different complexities that are exercised on the part of
caregivers when it comes to ensuring justice for both the offender as well as the victim, since
in such a situation, both are children. One of the most significant themes of the research is the
overwhelming challenges that were faced on the part of the caregivers when it comes to
attending the wellbeing of victims in this situation while dealing with the requirements and
needs of offending children as well. Gervais and Romano (2017), argue that non-biased and
comprehensive support services are needed for children as well as for caregivers in order for
the rights of affected individuals to be fully and properly upheld while meeting at the same
time, the needs and the best interests of children who are affected by sexual abuse. The
authors conclude that looking into the safety and well being of children and ensuring that
their rights are protected at all times is a complex affair, and that care givers need to be whole
heartedly involved in such a process in order to make sure that children suffer no abuse. In
the event that abuse does occur, it is the duty and the responsibility of caregivers to make sure
that justice is meted out to the offender while keeping in mind all the time, that this is a child

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that is perpetrating the abuse and also ensuring that the victim in the circumstances is well
looked after and rehabilitated.
Conclusion
The implications as highlighted in the literature reviewed indicates that child rights
and its protection is a complex and challenging issue and that adults need to play a full and
long lasting role in ensuring that such rights are guaranteed for children at all times. The
welfare of children and the upholding of child rights, including the right of children to quality
education, protection from abuse and freedom of expression, is something that needs to be
prioritized at the global, national and local levels, with adults performing a key role in
making sure that such rights are seldom ever violated.

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References
Boocock, S. S., & Scott, K. A. (2005). The two worlds of school. In Kids in context: The
sociological study of children and childhoods (pp. 121-143). Lanham, MD: Rowman
and Littlefield
Gervais, C. L., & Romano, E. (2018). Safeguarding child rights and enhancing caregiver
responsibilities among Canadian parents of youth who sexually offend. Child abuse &
neglect, 76, 502-514
Lee, N. (2001). Childhood and society: Growing up in an age of uncertainty. McGraw-Hill
Education (UK).
Mitchell, L. (2015). Shifting directions in ECEC policy in New Zealand: From a child rights
to an interventionist approach. International Journal of Early Years Education, 23(3),
288-302