PA234-5-AU-CO:
The Social History of Childhood

The details
2024/25
Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 13 December 2024
15
21 April 2023

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

(none)

Key module for

BA L520 Childhood Studies,
BA L521 Childhood Studies (Including Year Abroad),
BA L522 Childhood Studies (Including Placement Year),
BA L523 Childhood Studies (Including Foundation Year)

Module description

In this module, students will learn to reflect critically on the history of childhood. The module examines how childhood has been conceptualised in the past; analyses different ideological models of a 'child'; and considers the diverse lived experiences of children. Throughout the last two hundred years, ‘childhood’ has been the object of intense social concern and debate, as something to be managed, safeguarded, shaped, idealised or demonised, developed, promoted or commercialised as the case may be. Focusing on Britain (in order to make the most of local resources and to contextualise contemporary practice), we will cover some key events in the development of modern social policies towards children, but we will do so in the context of particular debates and arguments about children’s lives and experiences. In this sense, the history of childhood is very much the history of conversations by adults and changing groups of professionals about children. However, throughout the module, we will also explore what life was like for children in the past and how it was shaped by social and cultural shifts. We will explore excerpts from written documents, vignettes from oral history, and material culture to get an understanding of the enormous changes in the diverse experiences, living conditions, and rights of children. This angle on the experience of childhood will be supplemented by a field trip and supported by the first assessment task.


The module supplies an important background context to the themes introduced in year 1 and also links to issues of the ‘representation’ of children explored in ‘Wild Things: Literature, Childhood, Psychoanalysis’ this year.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:



  • To give students a broad historical overview of changing conceptualisations of childhood and the lived experiences of children since the late eighteenth century.

  • To examine how understandings of childhood and children's experiences have been shaped by political, economic, social, national, and international contexts.

  • To introduce students to the changing relationship between parents, children, and the state

  • To give students historical contexts through which to understand the development of modern educational and social policy around children.

  • To develop students’ skills in analysing the material culture of childhood

  • To use the historical understanding as a springboard for critical reflection on, and evaluation of, the shifting meanings of childhood.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:



  1. Demonstrate an understanding of key developments in the history of childhood in Britain since the late eighteenth century.

  2. Demonstrate an understanding of changing conceptualisation of childhood and the diverse lived experiences of children.

  3. Analyse key debates over the historical construction of childhood.

  4. Demonstrate an understanding of the changing relationship between children, parents, and the state.

  5. Demonstrate knowledge of formative moments in educational and social policy towards children and the historical context for this.

  6. Analyse and interpret material culture and construct a historical argument in written form.

Module information

Syllabus:


Introduction: Why the History of Childhood and What is a (Historical) Child?


Innocence and Deviance: Childhood and Parental Affection in History


Children and the Family


Children at Work


Waifs, Strays, and Delinquents: Rescue and Migration


Children of the State: Welfare and Schooling


Field Trip


The Scientific Child: From Child Study to Child Guidance


The Anxious Child: War and Child Psychoanalysis


The Century of Childhood? Children in the Twentieth Century

Learning and teaching methods

9 x one-hour lectures 9 x one-hour seminars 1 x field trip 1 x 2-hr revision seminar

Bibliography

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting
Coursework   Object or Document Analysis  04/12/2024  30% 
Coursework   Essay  17/01/2025  70% 

Additional coursework information

1 x Object or Document Analysis (30%), 1 x 2,500 word essay (70%)

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Katharina Rowold, email: k.rowold@essex.ac.uk.
Student administrator, room 5A.202, telephone 01206 874969, ppsug@essex.ac.uk 01206 874969 Room 5A.202 Undergraduate student administrator: ppsug@essex.ac.uk 01206 874969 Room 5A.202

 

Availability
Yes
Yes
No

External examiner

Prof Heather Montgomery
The Open University
Professor of Anthropology and Childhood
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 8 hours, 8 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information

Disclaimer: The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its Module Directory is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can be necessary to make changes, for example to programmes, modules, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include a change of law or regulatory requirements, industrial action, lack of demand, departure of key personnel, change in government policy, or withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to modules may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery or assessment of modules and other services, to discontinue modules and other services and to merge or combine modules. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications and module directory.

The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.