NEWS

A) CSCA NEWS

Description
Edited by two of the leading academics in the field of childhood studies, this collection draws together contributions from a number of different European countries. It sets out to explore the ways in which 'culture' is produced and reproduced through social policies and practices relating to children and to identify any commonalities or differences between them, a task which is of central importance to the debate about both individual and national identities in the context of a developing Europe. Drawing on a variety of empirical evidence - including the analysis of policy documents in different European States, the consideration of how 'childhood' is constructed and represented through the implementation of such policies, and the impact of these on children themselves , the book offers a revealing analysis of the different ways in which children are positioned by such policies throughout Europe and asks about the significance of these both for childhood and for the future adult citizens that today's children will become.


Contents
Foreword
European Childhoods: An Overview; A.James & A.James
Children as New Citizens: In the Best Interests of the Child; A.T.Kjørholt
Children In Nature: Cultural Ideas and Social Practices In Norway; R.D.Nilsen
Children's Cultures and New Technologies: A Gap Between Generations? Some Reflections on the Spanish Context; F.Casas
Children at the Margins? Changing Constructions of Childhood in Contemporary Ireland; D.Devine
Changing Childhood in the UK: Reconstructing Discourses of 'Risk' and 'Protection'; A.James & A.James
Institutional Upbringing: A Discussion of the Politics of Childhood in Contemporary Denmark; E.Gulløv
Education and the Cultural Politics of Childhood in Cyprus; S.Spyrou
Children's Culture, Cultural Education and Policy Approaches to Children's Culture: The Case of Germany; H.Hengst
Work and Care: Re-Constructing Childhood Through Child-Care Policy in Germany; M-S.Honig
Childhood in the Welfare State; J.Qvortrup
References
Index

Click to download the English and the Greek version

International Childhood and Youth Research Network

The Center has received a Networking and Partnerships Grant from UNDP-ACT to set up the Cyprus International Children’s Organizations Network. The project will result in the creation of a network of organizations which work with children whether as research institutions or in a more applied capacity such as for instance in providing services to children and their families or concerned with child or family-related issues (e.g., drug use, internet safety, education, etc). The project will start with the establishment of the network locally providing Cypriot organizations from both sides of the island with the opportunity to get together, exchange ideas, and create collaborations. The project will then expand outwards and establish an international network of organizations, focusing initially on Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East . Meetings with both local and international organizations will be held in Cyprus to establish the Network. The project will also result in the creation of an interactive website to facilitate the work of the Network and will culminate with an international conference that will bring together organizations which belong to the Network to share and exchange views and knowledge on the children.

World Forum on Justice, Religion and Conflict Resolution: Youth Dialogue Project

Public Discussion on Human Trafficking and Child Sex Tourism, 6th December 2005


The Center in collaboration with the Research Support Unit at Cyprus College and in partnership with various institutions and organizations from the UK and Greece has been awarded a grant by the European Commission to carry out a project titled Integrating Children's Perspectives in Policy-making to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion Experienced by Single Parent Families: A Transnational, Comparative Approach. The project will address social exclusion and poverty as it relates to single parent families and their children in particular. More specifically the project will seek to provide a voice for children in single parent families to inform policy makers addressing child poverty and social exclusion in cross-national settings. This will be achieved through child-centred research which will inform policy-making about the need to account for these children's needs and perspectives. The project will also seek to increase the knowledge and understanding of public agencies and schools in particular in addressing the social exclusion of children from single parent families.

.....which was published by the Center in the summer of 2005. The book includes an introductory chapter on child labor in general together with historical information about child labor in Cyprus, a second section with historical photographs depicting children at work, and a third section with interviews offered by elderly individuals who worked as children in Cyprus. Individuals interested in purchasing the book can conduct the Center.

The Center has recently become a member of CRIN, the Child Rights Information Network. CRIN is a network of over 1,500 child rights organizations around the world. It strives to improve the lives of children through the exchange of information about child rights and the promotion of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Center was invited by the English School to offer a seminar to its teachers and administrators on handling diversity in the school setting. The seminar was offered by Spyros Spyrou on September 8, 2005.

 Spyros Spyrou was invited by EURONET to attend a regional seminar in Ljubljana (May 21) to discuss the issue of Children in the Enlarged European Union; he has also invited to attend the concluding seminar of EURONET in Brussels (June 13) on the same theme. On June 14, Spyros participated with other EURONET members in a discussion on children's rights at the European Parliament with MEPs.

The Center announces its first book publication (in Greek): Μικρά Χέρια: Η Συνεισφορά των Παιδιών στα Μεταλλεία της Κύπρου τον 20ο Αιώνα by Loucas Antoniou

Το Κέντρο ανακοινώνει την πρώτη έκδοση του: Μικρά Χέρια: Η Συνεισφορά των Παιδιών στα Μεταλλεία της Κύπρου τον 20ο Αιώνα από τον Λουκά Αντωνίου

 

Click here for EURONET Manifesto for Children
The aim of the Manifesto, which includes recommendations and demands for children’s rights in Europe, is to present the concerns of Europe’s Children’s Organizations to the candidates for the European Parliament. Please communicate this Manifesto to all concerned individuals and organizations.

Κάντε κλικ εδώ για το ΕURONET Μανιφέστο για παιδιά
O σκοπός αυτού του Μανιφέστου, το οποίο περιλαμβάνει εισηγήσεις και αιτήματα για τα δικαιώματα των παιδιών στην Ευρώπη, είναι να παρουσιάσει τις ανησυχίες των Ευρωπαϊκών οργανώσεων για τα Παιδιά στους υποφήφιους για το Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοβούλιο. Παρακαλώ διαβιβάστε αυτό το Μανιφέστο σε όλους τους ενδιαφερόμενους, άτομα και οργανώσεις.

EURONET Ηocuk Manifestosu iηin buraya tıklayınız
Bu Manifestonun amacı Avrupa Parlamentosu’nun seηimlerine katılacak olan tόm adaylara seslenerek, Avrupa’daki ηocukların hakları iηin tavsiyeler ve taleplerde bulunmak ve Avrupa Ηocuk Organizasyonlarının endişelerini sunmaktır. Bu Manifestoyu ilgilenen tόm şahıs ve organizasyonlara iletmenizi rica ederiz.

CD Μικρών Εθελοντών: Το Κέντρο Μελέτης Παιδικής και Εφηβικής Ηλικίας (ΚΕΜΠΕ) ενισχύει την προσπάθεια του φιλανθρωπικού ιδρύματος «Μικροί Εθελοντές» για την πώληση του CD Μικρών Εθελοντών. Η προσπάθεια των Μικρών Εθελοντών είναι να προσφέρουν ανθρωπιστική και οικονομική βοήθεια σ’ αυτούς που την έχουν ανάγκη. Μέσα στις προσπάθειες του για βοήθεια, το Ίδρυμα έχει κυκλοφορήσει ένα μουσικό ψηφιακό δίσκο με την χορωδία του και την αφιλοκερδή συμμετοχή του γνωστού τραγουδιστή Χρίστου Δάντη. Τα έσοδα από τις πωλήσεις θα διατεθούν για το πάρκο των Μικρών Εθελοντών και σε παιδιά με λευχαιμία. Το ΚΕΜΠΕ θέλοντας να στηρίξει την προσπάθεια διαθέτει προς πώληση τον μουσικό αυτό ψηφιακό δίσκο. Η τιμή του δίσκου είναι ΛΚ £5.00. Για τις παραγγελίες σας παρακαλώ τηλεφωνήστε στα τηλέφωνα 99774133 και 22713237.

Διάλεξη και Έκθεση Φωτογραφίας με τίτλο Εργασία στα Μεταλλεία της Κύπρου τον 20ο αιώνα και η Συνεισφορά των Παιδιών σ’ Αυτή: Την Παρασκευή 27 Φεβρουαρίου, το Κέντρο Μελέτης της Παιδικής και Εφηβικής Ηλικίας (ΚΕΜΠΕ) σε συνεργασία με την Παγκύπρια Εργατική Ομοσπονδία (ΠΕΟ) οργάνωσε διάλεξη και Εκπαιδευτική Έκθεση Φωτογραφίας με θέμα την Εργασία στα Μεταλλεία της Κύπρου και την Συνεισφορά των Παιδιών σ’ Αυτή. Η εκδήλωση έγινε στην Λαϊονική Στέγη για την Αποκατάσταση Απροστάτευτου Παιδιού. Ο πρόεδρος του ΚΕΜΠΕ, Δρ Σπύρος Σπύρου, και ο Γενικός Γραμματέας της ΠΕΟ, κύριος Πάμπης Κυρίτσης, εκφώνησαν χαιρετιστήριους λόγους. Ο βοηθός ερευνητής του ΚΕΜΠΕ, κύριος Λουκάς Αντωνίου, μίλησε για τα ευρήματα της έρευνας της εργασίας στα μεταλλεία. Τα εγκαίνια της έκθεσης φωτογραφίας τέλεσε ο έντιμος Πρόεδρος της Βουλής των Αντιπροσώπων, κύριος Δημήτρης Χριστόφιας. Η έκθεση φωτογραφίας μεταφέρθηκε στο ξενοδοχείο Λήδρα Πάλλας μέχρι και την Παρασκευή 5 Μαρτίου η οποία έτυχε ιδιαίτερου ενδιαφέροντος από δημοτικά σχολεία της Λευκωσίας.

Media Presentation: On February 4th, Spyros Spyrou and Takis Konis were invited by CyBC1 (RIK1) to talk about the Center on the program “Proti Kalimera.”

Grant: The Center has been awarded a grant for $50,000 by UNOPS (Bi-communal Development Programme funded by USAID and UNDP).  The grant will be used to carry out a number of projects including: a series of seminars on a number of key issues affecting children’s health and safety, namely, the problems of childhood obesity, smoking, and bicycle and car safety; the production of appropriate materials on children’s health and safety that can be distributed to children and parents; a research study on children’s perceptions of foreigners in Cyprus; and the carrying out of a campaign on diversity (including the organization of a seminar) through the production of appropriate materials. All project activities will be carried out in both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities and for this purpose two project assistants have been hired by the Center (one Greek-Cypriot and one Turkish-Cypriot) to help administer the projects.

ASSOCIATES’ NEWS

Nicoletta Christodoulou is currently involved with the following projects:

1. The Ann Lynn Lopez Schubert Tribute and Collective Memory Project:

The focus is on the ways in which Ann Lopez Schubert’s work on issues of democratic education and schooling, home schooling, piece education, and other issues within curriculum studies field has affected the profile and the outlook of many researchers in the field.  Biographical and autobiographical essays are used to illustrate from an arts-based and narrative perspective the broad range of impact experienced, lived and embodied in different ways and which generated wondrous possibilities.  This project will lead to the publication of these essays into a special issue of the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy.  With Dr Brian Schultz.

2.Mapping the Curriculum Studies Field in Cyprus Project:

The objective is to examine the development of the Curriculum Studies field in Cyprus from the early 1980’s until today: 1. as it is depicted within academic writing in the Greek language, and 2. as it occurs in Greek tertiary education institutions that offer teacher education programs; as presented in these institutions’ syllabi; and as emphasized by academics’ interests and studies.  Through a meta-analysis of curriculum publications and tertiary education syllabi, and using historical and critical inquiries, the themes of educational research published in Greek academic journals, the meanings ascribed to the term “curriculum,” and the directions the Curriculum Studies field is taking are examined.  This project may eventually lead to the establishment of a Cyprus Curriculum Studies Association. 

With Dr Stavroula Philippou.

3. The International Crosstalk Project:

The focus is on two groups of preservice teachers from different nations who use their strangeness and their familiarity to negotiate understandings of teacher’s classroom roles.  This is an interpretive project where narrative research and ethnography are employed to analyze the conversations between students and the meanings they construct.  Also the aim is to describe and interrogate the media/um used to conduct and capture the data for this study, video conferencing.  With Dr Walter Gershon.

4. University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) G-K12 and SKIT:

Both projects [UIC Graduate Fellows in K-12 Education (UIC GK-12), and its new iteration SKIT (Scientists, Kids, and Teachers (SKIT): A GK-12 Partnership with the Chicago Public Schools)] focus on UIC Fellows who work with mentor teachers in urban and suburban public schools to enhance students' experiences in and understandings of science and mathematics. NSF-funded projects (NSF grant #: DGE-9979537, $1, 317,220 200-2003 that evolved to NSF grant #: DGE-0338328, $1, 979,787 2004-2008). Role: Research Associate at no cost.

With co-PI Dr Varelas.
5. Technology In and For Multicultural Educational Settings (TIMES) Project:
The aim is to implement technology in multicultural settings conducting various technology-based educational activities.  Through qualitative and quantitative methods various dimensions such as cross-group collaboration and identity are examined. 

With Dr Nikleia Eteokleous.
In another dimension of the project, videoconferencing activities are employed to engage student teachers into various kinds of conversations, reflections, and assignments. 

With Dr Kyriacos Charalambous.
6. The Reflections Project: Journal writing on critical thinking and pedagogy:

The purpose is to examine and document teachers’ learning experiences, critical thinking, and reflections on important educational issues related to schooling, curriculum, teaching, learning, society, and diversity.  The student teachers are engaged into journal writing.

7. The Wonder and Ponder Through Artistic and Intertextual Inquiries Curricular Project:

The aim is to examine artistic inquiries for educational theorizing within pedagogy and curriculum.  Artistic texts (including films, novels, short stories, poems and songs) are used and analysed as sources of and for critical thinking, curriculum inquiry and pedagogical theorizing to study the out-of-school curriculum, experiences, and connections of pre- and in-service teachers.  Intertextuality and currere are some of the methods employed in the data collection and analysis.

8. The Ten Basic Schubertian Curricular Questions Project:
The focus is to ponder and wonder resources that guide our lives and issues that affect, intervene, change and create lives, assumptions, schooling, identities, opportunities, oppressive situations, education and so on.  Several curriculum inquiry, qualitative approaches are employed, such as arts-based, narrative, case study, philosophical, phenomenological, hermemeutical, autobiographical and biographical inquiries.

Seminars on NGOs: Miranda Christou and Spyros Spyrou have recently completed a series of training seminars on NGOs which extended from March to October, 2003. The series included four modules as follows: 1) Establishment of NGOs, 2) Management of NGOs, 3) Procedures for project, and 4) Communication and media.

Charis Psaltis has published the following article: Zittoun, T., Duveen, G., Gillespie, A., Ivinson, G. & Psaltis, C. (2003). The use of symbolic resources in developmental transitions. Culture & Psychology, 9(4).

And has one co-authored another article (under review):

Psaltis, C. & Duveen, G. Social Relations and cognitive development: The influence of conversation type and representations of gender. European Journal of Social Psychology.

In May, 2003 Charis presented a paper (Social representations of gender, peer interaction, and cognitive development) at the 4th Inter-University Conference on Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge and he is planning two more presentations, one in November 2003 (Towards a new epistemology: Identity and social constructivism) to be presented in an  invited seminar to the “colloque de recherchι” of the Institute of Psychology in Neuchatel, Switzerland) and the other one in May, 2004  (Sources of asymmetry and knowledge construction in social interaction) in an invited seminar to Facultι de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Switzerland.

Stavroulla Philippou has presented three papers based on her work as follows: Introducing a critical European dimension to the teaching of history: A multiple case study in Cyprus. AERA Annual Conference, Chicago, 21-25 April 2003, USA.
Εξεικονίζοντας τον εθνικό εαυτό Eλληνοκυπρίων παιδιών: διπολικότητα και ταυτότητα [Depicting the national self οf Greekcypriot children: bipolarity and identity]. Greek Psychological Association Annual

Conference, University of the Aegean, 21-24 May, 2003, Rhodes, Greece.
Children’s understandings of national and European identities: The case of 10-year-old children in Cyprus. BERA Annual Research Student Symposium, Heriot-Watt University, 10-11 September, 2003, Edinburgh, Scotland.

When the political complicates researcher and teacher roles in action research: the case of the European dimension in Cyprus. British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Heriot-Watt University, 11-13September, 2003, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The European dimension in education and pupils’ identity: a study of the impact of a primary school curricular intervention in Cyprus [doctoral thesis overview]. The A. G. Leventis Foundation Scholars Symposium, 15-16 April 2004, London, UK.

Κατασκευάζοντας την εθνική και ευρωπαϊκή ταυτότητα: η περίπτωση δεκάχρονων παιδιών στην Κύπρο. 8ο Συνέδριο Παιδαγωγικής Εταιρείας Κύπρου, 7-8 Μαΐου 2004, Λευκωσία, Κύπρος.

Peter Stevens presented the following three papers during the 2002-2003 year: In Pursuit of a 'Peaceful Equilibrium': AnEthnographic Account on the Nature of Ethnic Conflicts and Ethnic Conflict Management Strategies in Two Different Educational Settings’, EUROFOR-Conference-Ethnic Conflicts: Prevention, Intervention and Solution Strategies. Burg Schlaining (Austria), April 2002.

‘Planning Ethnographic Fieldwork in Educational Settings: An Impossible Necessity?’, British Educational Research Association Conference. University of Exeter (UK), September 2002.

(2003) ‘Learning From Each Other: Researching Ethnic and/or Racial Underachievement in the Netherlands and England’, British Educational Research Association Conference. Heriot Watt University (UK), September 2003.

Spyros Spyrou has been invited to join the editorial board of the Journal of the Institute for Educational Research. He also recently presented two conference papers:

Between the Distant and the Intimate: How Greek Cypriot Children Understand Filipino and Sri-Lankan Domestic Workers. Paper presented at “Childhoods 2005 Oslo,” Oslo, Norway, June 29 –July 3, 2005.

Small Bosses in the Making: The Ethics of Entitlement in Children's Relationships with their Domestic Workers. Paper presented at “Sustainable Social and Economic Development,” Cyprus College, Nicosia, April 14-15, 2005.

Spyros was also invited to give lectures to various groups including:
A Critical View of Education in Cyprus. Lecture Presented to American Educators at the Invitation of the Fulbright-Hayes Programme to Greece/Cyprus, Oktana, Nicosia, June 22, 2005.

Children's Identities and Discussion of the Film "Where is my Friend's Home?" by Abbas Kiarostami, Cine Studio, Nicosia, 2005.

National Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Lecture Presented at the Invitation of the School for International Training, Vermont, for the Cyprus Study Abroad Program (Cyprus: Transnational Identities, Intercommunal Relations, Nicosia, March 9, 2005.