For 50 years, researchers at UCL’s Thomas Coram Research Unit have been undertaking ground-breaking policy-relevant social research. Their main focus has been social issues affecting children, young people and families, and the services provided for them. Social Research for our Times brings together different generations of researchers from the Unit to share some of the most important results of their studies. Two sections focus on the main findings and conclusions from research ...

First published in 1991, Managing Mothers (now with a new preface by the authors) provides a detailed, authoritative inside story of the lives of parents, and particularly mothers, who return to work after the birth of a first child. It is based on a study of couples who have combined the transition to parenthood with two full-time jobs in the labour market. The authors provide extensive personal accounts from interviews and statistical data that shed light on the experience and s...

Viewing children as 'experts in their own lives', the Mosaic approach offers a creative framework for understanding young children's perspectives through talking, walking, making and reviewing material with an adult. This book demonstrates how children's views and experiences can stay in focus in early childhood provision. The multi-method approach brings together digital tools with interviewing and observation to enable adults to review current practice and implement change with children....

Neoliberalism, with its worldview of competition, choice and calculation, its economisation of everything, and its will to govern has ‘sunk its roots deep’ into Early Childhood Education and Care. This book considers its deeply detrimental impacts upon young children, families, settings and the workforce. Through an exploration of possibilities for resistance and refusal, and reflection on the significance of the coronavirus pandemic, Roberts-Holmes and Moss provide hope that neoliberalism...

This volume brings together contributors from 18 countries to provide international perspectives on the politics of parental leave policies in different parts of the world. Initially looking at the politics of care leave policies in eight countries across Europe, the US, Latin America and Asia, the book moves on to consider a variety of key issues in depth, including gender equality, flexibility and challenges for fathers in using leave. In the final section of the book, contributors look ...

Loris Malaguzzi was one of the most important figures in 20th century early childhood education, achieving world-wide recognition for his educational ideas and his role in the creation of municipal schools for young children in the Italian city of Reggio Emilia, the most successful example ever of progressive, democratic and public education.Despite Malaguzzi’s reputation, very little of what he wrote or said about early childhood education has been available in English. This book ...

Social pedagogy is an innovative discipline that supports children's upbringing and overall development by focusing on the child as a whole person. It has been described as where education and care meet or as 'education in its broadest sense'.This book provides a comprehensive overview of the theory, principles and practice of social pedagogy and the profession of social pedagogue. With chapters from leading international contributors, it outlines the roots of social pedagogy and i...

Challenging dominant discourses in the field of early childhood education, this book provides an accessible introduction to some of the alternative narratives and diverse perspectives that are increasingly to be heard in this field, as well as discussing the importance of paradigm, politics and ethics.Peter Moss draws on material published in the groundbreaking Contesting Early Childhood series to introduce readers to thinking that questions the mainstream approach to earl...

Taking a broad approach, Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care relates issues of early childhood to the sociology of childhood, philosophy, ethics, political science and other fields and to an analysis of the world we live in today. It places these issues in a global context and draws on work from Canada, Sweden and Italy, including the world famous nurseries in Reggio Emilia. Working with postmodern ideas, this book questions the search to define and measure quality in the ...

Early childhood education and care is a major policy issue for national governments and international organisations. This book contests two stories, both infused by neoliberal thinking, that dominate early childhood policy making today - ‘the story of quality and high returns’ and ‘the story of markets’, stories that promise high returns on investment if only the right technologies are applied to children and the perfection of a system based on competition and individual choice.But...

Care Work considers the current situation of care work and care workers, from childcare to eldercare, and from family carers to paid carers. It examines the composition of the current workforce (more than a million in the UK alone), the knowledge and education needed for care work, and the significance of where care work is undertaken (in the home, in institutions).Considering potential challenges and scenarios, the book poses big questions about the future of care work – ...

The early childhood services of Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy has gained worldwide interest and admiration. Drawing on the ‘Reggio approach’, and others, this book explores the ethical and political dimensions of early childhood services and argues the importance of these dimensions at a time when they are often reduced to technical and managerial projects, without informed consideration for what is best for the child.Extending and developing the ideas raised in Beyond Qualit...