Childhood poverty and social exclusion: From a child's perspective

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Policy Press, Oct 2, 2002 - Political Science - 192 pages
Childhood poverty has moved from the periphery to the centre of the policy agenda following New Labour's pledge to end it within twenty years. However, whether the needs and concerns of poor children themselves are being addressed is open to question. The findings raise critical issues for both policy and practice - in particular the finding that children are at great risk of experiencing exclusion within school. School has been a major target in the drive towards reducing child poverty. However, the policy focus has been mainly about literacy standards and exclusion from school. This book shows that poor children are suffering from insufficient access to the economic and material resources necessary for adequate social participation and academic parity. Childhood poverty and social exclusion will be an invaluable teaching aid across a range of academic courses, including social policy, sociology, social work and childhood studies. All those who are interested in developing a more inclusive social and policy framework for understanding childhood issues from a child-centred perspective, including child welfare practitioners and policy makers, will want to read this book. Studies in poverty, inequality and social exclusion series Series Editor: David Gordon, Director, Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research. Poverty, inequality and social exclusion remain the most fundamental problems that humanity faces in the 21st century. This exciting series, published in association with the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, aims to make cutting-edge poverty related research more widely available. For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.
 

Contents

The challenge of child poverty developing a childcentred approach
1
What do we know about childhood poverty?
13
Childrens access to economic and material resources
37
Fitting in and joining in
59
Family life and selfreflection
85
Experiences and perceptions of school
111
Childhood poverty and social exclusion
131
References
153
Appendix
169
Index
173
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About the author (2002)

Tess Ridge is a Research Fellow at the University of Bath. She has considerable experience in conducting research with children and young people.

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