Dr Rosa Maria Mendizabal, from the MA Sociology of Childhood and Children's Rights talks about the goals of the program and examples of what students aim to accomplish through their dissertations.
What is the name of your program?
MA Sociology of Childhood and Children's Rights
Please can you give a little background to what the course covers for students.
This MA provides students with an opportunity to explore the complex links between the different socio-cultural and socio-political understandings of childhoods, children’s rights, and social justice through engagement with research-active lecturers studying varied and transnational childhoods, professionals from charitable and government sectors, and international activists.
What are your students generally interested in for their dissertation projects?
Examples of topic areas that students research through their dissertation are:
- The social, political, and economic changes that affect childhoods,
- Emerging forms of inequality,
- Children’s and young people’s social contributions, creative responses, and political activism,
- Intersections of childhood with class, ‘race’, gender, and ability,
- Transnational migration.
What kind of research skills do your students develop during their studies?
Students on this MA develop skills for:
- Conducting creative, participatory and change-orientated qualitative research with children and young people
- Critically analysing childhood policy and professional practice with children
- Contributing to public debates about challenging issues ranging from child labour to children's use of social media
- Undertaking collaborative projects with diverse participants
- Exploring and developing innovative approaches to working with and for children and young people