Panel discussion led by Keith Bottomley CCCJ, University of Hull. The second international conference of the Centre for the Social Study of Childhood was held at the Dennison Centre 14th -16th September. Over 40 papers were presented covering topics such as children's learning and the media, informal learning practices in the street and playground, gender and interactional learning, family life, work and children's learning and social change, civil rights and citizenship. Plenary speeches were given by Andrew Pollard from Bristol University, Alan Prout, Director of the Children 5-16 programme and Sos Bayer and Jan Kampmann, lading educational researchers from universities in Denmark. The quality of the papers and the panel discussion on creativity and imagination which ended the conference ensured that the conference was a tremendous success and it is hoped that an edited volume will result from the conference to add to the Centre's growing publication list of books and working papers.
Plans are already underway for next year's conference.
This conference took place in March 1998 and considered the concept of social exclusion and its relationship to children's lives. Plenary speakers included Jonathan Bradshaw, Carol Smart and Jens Qvortrup. Participants, both national and international, come from multi-disciplinary backgrounds. These seminars take place three times a year and are a forum for national and international researchers to present their work. This regular meeting is a forum for Centre members to develop new research initiatives.