Childhood and Social Institutions faculty present at symposium in New Jersey
May 29, 2018
The Childhood and Social Institutions program at King’s is the oldest Childhood program in North America. King’s CSI faculty members were invited to present at the Rutgers-Camden Childhood Studies Symposium in May 2018.
Along with 45 faculty members and PhD students from various universities in North America, Dr. Sally McNamee and Dr. Pat Ryan discussed issues, challenges, and possibilities in teaching Childhood Studies at their institution in a series of papers and roundtable discussions.
The all-day symposium was called “The Present and Future of Childhood Studies: Practices and Pedagogies” with the aim to promote interaction and collaboration among scholars in this growing field.
Dr. McNamee explained how research by King’s faculty is often a result of engagement with students. That research then feeds back into classroom teaching.
“As part of my presentation, I discussed the Childhood Advocacy Certificate/Diploma at King’s. I explained how our teaching methods in student-led course CSI 3353 ‘Child Advocacy Internationally’ allowed student engagement with course concepts. Students then apply the concepts to ‘real world’ situations,” said Dr. McNamee.
At the Symposium, there were three sessions throughout the day with four guest panelists at each session. Dr. Ryan presented a paper entitled ‘Incommensurable concepts, institutional challenges.’ at the to open the morning session. Dr. McNamee presented, ‘Engaging childhood studies’ at the beginning of the afternoon session.
The symposium was part of a two-day 10th anniversary celebration of Childhood studies at Rutgers-Camden College of Arts and Sciences in New Jersey.
At King’s, Dr. Sally McNamee is an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for the Childhood and Social Institutions Program as well as the Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Programs. She will teach Childhood and Social Institutions, Lifeworld Childhoods, and Researching Childhood during the 2017/2018 academic year.
Dr. Ryan is an Associate Professor at King's. In the upcoming academic year, he will teach Capitalism and Law, Childhood and the Law, Childhood and Discourse Theory, Childhood and Public Policy, and the History of Childhood.
Childhood and Social Institutions at King’s is the only interdisciplinary program of its kind in Canada. It combines a unique focus on identifying often overlooked child competencies, a constructive questioning of existing understandings of childhood, and an exploration of the implications of the changing status of children and childhood in Canada and internationally.
This program takes a critical view of the social institutions around childhood – the home, the school, the legal system, and the educational system to help students understanding how childhood is experienced by children. Issues around children’s rights and children’s agency are a prominent feature of these courses.