2nd Edition

Key Issues in Childhood and Youth Studies

Edited By Elizabeth Taylor, Bee Hughes Copyright 2026
282 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

282 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This fully revised and expanded second edition of Key Issues in Childhood and Youth Studies presents an informed and critical commentary on a range of key issues related to children and childhood, from birth to eighteen years.

Challenging current orthodoxies within the adult world on the nature of childhood, it is an essential text for students of childhood and youth studies as well as those studying relevant professional qualifications in social work, teaching and health. Exploring ideas from the historical development of childhood to the demonising of youth, it is divided into five clearly defined sections, each with their own editorial introduction which highlights the key themes: Creating Childhood, The Developing Child, Children at Risk, The Politics of Childhood, Bordered Childhood and International Perspectives.

Containing 15 newly written chapters and three revised pieces, this invaluable textbook provides an overview of childhood and youth studies and encourages students to think about the issues discussed and to develop their own ideas. Each chapter contains student activities, key concept boxes, recommended further reading and a reflection exercise.

Part One - Creating Childhood

 

Chapter One – Notions of Children and Childhood

Clara Kassem

 

Chapter Two – The First 1001 Days and Child Development

Aisling Culshaw and Sarah Yearsley

 

Chapter Three – Children, Childhoods and Children’s Literature

Elizabeth Taylor

 

Part Two - The Developing Child

 

Chapter Four – The Psychology of the “Disengaged”

Claire Kinsella, Linda Kaye and Dave Putwain

 

Chapter Five – Language Development

Clara Kassem

 

Chapter Six – Gender, Sexuality and Education

Bee Hughes and Graham Downes

 

Part Three - Children at Risk 

 

Chapter Seven – Children’s Mental Health

John Harrison

 

Chapter Eight – The Importance of Communication with Children in Social Work and the Lessons Learned

Vida Douglas and Julie Fourie

 

Chapter Nine – When a Parent Goes to Prison: Reflections from a Researcher-Practitioner

Lorna Brookes

 

Chapter Ten – Care Experienced Children and Mental Health Services: Fundamentals to Reflect Upon when Connecting with Children and Young People who have Experienced the Care System

Simon Nielson

Chapter Eleven – Access to Education for Care Leavers: Is Post-16 Education Accessible to Those Navigating the Care Cliff?

Chantelle Lunt

 

Part Four - Politics of Childhood

 

Chapter Twelve – Childhood: Testing to Destruction

Alex Snowdon

 

Chapter Thirteen – Children’s Human Rights: Still a Work in Progress?

Heather Montgomery

 

Chapter Fourteen – Intersectionality, Democracy and Education

Graham Downes and Bee Hughes

 

Chapter Fifteen – Secularism, Islamophobia, and the Erasure of Muslim Identities in Education: Reflections on the Michaela School Prayer Ban and the Trojan Horse Affair

Lila Tamea

 

Part Five - Bordered Childhoods

 

Chapter Sixteen – Dancing on the Fault Lines: A Lebanese Childhood

Rania Hafez

 

Chapter Seventeen – Palestinian Youth Under Conditions of Occupation

Michael Lavalette, Tracy Ramsey and Mohammed Amara

 

Chapter Eighteen – Undocumented: Insecure Immigration Status and Its Impact on Children and Youth

Jo Wilding

 

Chapter Nineteen – ‘Working’ Through the Pandemic: Local Migration, Children’s Lives and Education in Nepal

Angela Daly

Biography

Elizabeth Taylor is a Senior Lecturer in Education, Childhood and Communities at Liverpool John Moores University. Liz has over 30 years of experience of advocating for and supporting children, both as a Primary School teacher and lecturer. She was an editor for Key Issues in Childhood and Youth Studies (2010). Her research interests include creative pedagogies such as drama for learning, children’s literature and home education.

Bee Hughes (they/them) is an interdisciplinary researcher and Senior Lecturer in Media, Culture, Communication at Liverpool John Moores University. Bee’s work spans contemporary art practice, art history, visual cultures and cultural studies. They’ve taught several subjects in Higher Education, including Graphic Design and Illustration, Fine Art, Art History, Education Studies, Sociology and Media and Cultural Studies. Their research examines how everyday visual cultures and fine arts represent and (re)construct menstrual norms.