This book is about the lives of 11-year-old children growing up in a Midlands city in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Based on interviews with their parents, it describes family life at the time, as well as the experiences, hopes and concerns of the children as they themselves become adolescents. The book reflects upon the changes that occur for children in the transitional period between childhood and adolescence. It looks at the friendship patterns of eleven-year-olds, their special intere...

Although psychologists by training, John and Elizabeth Newson have more aptly been described as pioneers in social ecology; they work from the conviction that the causes and the consequences of child-rearing attitudes can fruitfully be investigated only in the framework of the total social environment in which they occur. This book continues their analysis of child rearing in an English urban setting.

Infant Care and Motherhood in an Urban Community investigates the behavior and attitudes of 709 mothers towards their year-old babies. John and Elizabeth Newson, impatient with the voluminous and contradictory literature telling parents how their children should be brought up, decided to find out how they were being brought up. Infant Care in an Urban Community is focused on sources of advice that influence parents, how they feel about their children, and how the...

John and Elizabeth Newson investigate the upbringing of seven hundred Nottingham children as they reach the age of four. Parents are interviewed in their homes with a realistic yet human approach and the minimum of technical jargon, and the open-ended questions allow them to produce 'a detailed and descriptive study of how parents do in fact treat their children and - equally important - how children treat their parents.'No one can fail to be impressed by the concern and perceptive...

This volume looks at the social and intellectual forces which the child encounters in class-room and playground from the parent’s point of view. School and home are seen as the separate yet overlapping worlds of childhood – for some children more uncompromisingly separated than for others. In the social development of the child, school functions as a link between the kinds of demands (and immunities) which are characteristic of family life, and those which the child will discover in the wi...

John and Elizabeth Newson were well known for their studies of child rearing, which have combined a rigorous research methodology with sympathetic insights into family life and a lively approach to scientific reporting. ‘Path-breaking’, ‘brilliant’, ‘seminal’, ‘outstanding’, ‘fascinating’, ‘enthralling’ and ‘enchanting’ are some of the adjectives used by critics to describe their previous books.They now turn their attention to toys, the ‘pegs on which children hang their play’, a s...

John and Elizabeth Newson’s long-term investigation of child up-bringing attracted intense interest from its earliest beginnings: ‘pathbreaking’ and ‘seminal’ were adjectives that greeted their first report. The study is now established as one of the major projects of the seventies.This third volume of the series catches some seven hundred Nottingham children at a critical stage of their development: in transition from infant to junior school, they are moving out of the protective ...

This is a practical, accessible guide to early years practice. The author examines current theories about how children learn best and focuses on how we can support and extend the learning of young children. This fully revised edition discusses Birth to Three Matters, the new Childcare Bill and the development of children's centres, and has additional focus on the Foundation Stage ProfilePacked full with case studies, the book offers:practical advice on how to...

Following the disruption, hardship and challenges of the Second World War, the post-war years brought a sense of optimism and excitement, with families at last enjoying peacetime. This new book follows the lives of the nation's schoolchildren through the two decades following the war years, recalling what it was like for those experiencing the creation of a new school system; a system underpinned by the introduction of the 11 plus exam and the provision of free secondary e...

This key text covers the knowledge and skills that social workers need to get into practice with children and families.The book covers core components of child and family work such as building effective relationships, assessment, child protection practice and working with the law. Clear and accessible, this practical book features case studies, questions and exercises throughout. This third edition covers the very latest developments in child and family work, including changes in p...

More than a quarter of a century ago, Joan Freeman began this study of 210 children, comparing the recognized gifted, the unrecognized gifted and their classmates. This book: describes what happened to them and their families as they grew up and coped with their different circumstances. It also looks at the problems they faced, often described in their own words and contains personal details from in-depth interviews in homes and schools all over Britain, which are at times startling and so...

An exceptionally haunting memoir that also shows us what it is to be really human. In a hardware store, Joe sits on a display toilet amidst the throng of customers and wees, smiling serenely. He thumps crying babies. He is amazed when the car he runs in front of actually hits him. Joe is ten and mentally disabled. He's funny, fascinating and maddening, and this memoir tells his moving story, but also argues that until we know Joe's life, we can't understand our own. Through philosophy, psy...