Children & Youth Perspectives Conference: Theory, Research and Practice in the European context

The conference contributes to the current discussion and further development on a child-centred perspective in the eld of Childhood/Children‘s studies in the EU and the Czech context. A critique of the adult-centred theory and research methods argues since 1990s that children and young people in traditional discourses are considered by adults as incompetent in their skills before developing into fully respectable adults. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) questions the implementation of children’s rights in children’s daily encounters with social institutions, such as family, education and schools, social services, health services, law institutes etc. The child-centred perspective aims to acknowledge, address and empower children’s voice while considering children as active social agents with their experiences and perspectives that are relevant for society. In this perspective, the conference will discuss the following themes:

1. Child-centred theory, concepts and research methods
2. Children, UN CRC, social disadvantages, institutions and services
3. Children, play & imagination
4. Children & Space
5. Children & Media

KEYNOTES
• Prof. Michal Molcho Dean of the School of Education and co-founder of Dept. of Children’s Studies, University of Galway, Ireland
• Prof. Kay Tisdall Professor of Childhood Policy at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• Prof. Marek Tesar Head of the School of Learning Development and Professional Practice, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand
• Dr. Lenka Vochocova Lecturer and researcher in communication, media studies, and youth, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Czech Republic

Conference committee

Tereza Javornicky Brumovska, PhD.; MSCA Research fellow, Dept. of Psychology and Life Sciences, Faculty of Humanities
Marketa Supa, PhD.; Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences
Anezka Kuzmicova, PhD.; Institute of the Czech Language and Theory of Communication, Faculty of Arts
Ms. Veronika Rocinova; research assistant, Faculty of Humanities
Ms. Marketa Michalcova; research assistant, Faculty of Humanities
Ms. Kristyna Gajova, research assistant, Faculty of Humanities