Abstract
Martin Robb and Rachel Thomson (eds), Critical Practice with Children and Young People. Bristol: Policy Press, 2010, 300 pp., £65 (hbk), ISBN 978 1847426826, £19.99 (pbk), ISBN 978 1847426819. 10.1177/1468017311413186
This edited collection has been produced for the Open University Module ‘Critical Practice with Children and Young People’ (K802), which is part of a Masters in Childhood and Youth, and is aimed primarily at experienced practitioners who wish to progress professionally and academically and has been designed to be relevant for a wide range of practice settings, including education, social work, healthcare, nursing, youth work and youth justice. It covers the whole age range from early years to young adulthood. It is written in the context of the major policy changes in the UK driven by Every child matters in England and Getting it right for every child in Scotland, where increasingly the aim is to improve service integration and to focus upon children’s outcomes and emphasize a ‘common core’ of knowledge for all those working with children and young people.
The rationale for the book – and also the course – is that in this rapidly changing professional and organizational environment there is a need for experienced practitioners to take leadership roles and that it is important they have a critical and reflective approach to their practice so that they can help shape change in the interests of children and young people, rather than simply respond to it. The book brings together authors from diverse backgrounds in research, teaching and practice. The 18 chapters are diverse in focus and are organized into three sections: conceptual context; organizational context; and personal and professional contexts. While some quite explicitly engage in theoretical and political argument, others are rather more descriptive in reporting on a particular piece of research or policy change. I was a little surprised that none of the chapters were devoted exclusively to discussions of what might be meant by, and different interpretations of, the ideas of both ‘critical reflection’ and ‘critical practice’. But, overall, the chapters are well written by authors who are clearly very able in their field and I found much here of interest. I particularly valued the chapter by Maria Eriksson and Keith Pringle comparing children’s participation in Sweden and England and Barry Luckock’s critical analysis of the ‘whole system’ approach for the ‘whole child’.
There is much in here which will be of interest to a very wide readership. And in many respects that is both its strength and its weakness. For this professional, theoretical and substantive diversity does ensure that many readers will be taken to new areas and therefore out of their comfort zones of familiarity – they will find it challenging and novel. But at the same time I was struggling to see what held it all together. We have here a range of very interesting ‘essays’ but I am not sure if on this occasion the sum is any greater than the parts. I felt the book was in real need of a rather more substantive Introduction which was a little more ambitious than providing a brief introduction and overview of the book; and unfortunately there is no Conclusion which might take on this task. It is very much left to the reader to make what they will of it. And in many ways it seems to me this is a great danger of many of the changes of recent years which – I think – the book is trying to provide a critical engagement with. For while it is very difficult to argue with many of the lofty ambitions of changes which try to bring about ‘integration’ and focus upon ‘children’s outcomes’ they are not easy ideas – in theory or practice – to get hold of and for which there are numerous interpretations and possibilities. While there is much of interest in this book I do wonder if it is an opportunity that has been missed.