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The Earth is currently undergoing a sixth global-scale ecological crisis. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report of 2021 highlighted a need to curb global heating at 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial baseline, and outlined a range of likely impacts of climate change on global societies should no action be taken, particularly in relation to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Despite this need, policy-based action at a nation state level is lacking, with talks at COP25 failing to reach necessary agreements. In response to this, and as we approach COP26, a significant global youth movement has been activated, with children and young people taking it upon themselves to highlight a need for climate and environmental action, calling for others to follow. This paper follows the emotional journey of one of its co-authors, 11-year-old environmental activist, Lucie. Through the innovative approach of co-production with Lucie, in this paper we detail the role of emotion in one youth activist's journey. From her initial reactions watching BBC’s Blue Planet II, to the multifaceted highs and lows that have followed as she strives for change, we illuminate the emotional implications such experiences may have on children and young people. Through co-constructed autoethnography, this paper analyses the emotional journey of a young environmental activist. It considers the role that emotions have played at various stages of her activism, and how hope has been utilised to overcome challenges.

This paper develops understandings of how being publicly identified and consequently labelled as ‘looked after’ can have damaging consequences for young people, particularly in how they are perceived by their peers in the context of schooling. Based on qualitative research in northern England utilising participatory approaches with young people and interviews with support staff, we explore barriers that inhibit young people’s sense of belonging. We highlight how the very processes and practices set up to support the young people can often have unintended consequences by routinely positioning them as Other, before considering the implications for education and schooling in particular.

Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes often use much narrower definitions of child soldiers, excluding many roles typically undertaken by girls. This chapter examines the remit and outcomes of DDR programmes to understand why they differentiate between the gendered experiences of child soldiers. It assesses how the outcomes of the programmes impact the futures of those both included and excluded.

Forest School offers children opportunities to explore the natural environment regularly over an extended period of time. It is based on six key principles, one of which states Forest School fosters a relationship with nature and develops long-term pro-environment attitudes through regular personal experiences in nature. We consider to what extent this aim is achieved by exploring the published evidence. We identify that a relationship with nature could be demonstrated under six themes although there is little robust evidence to support this. We suggest further research is carried out directly linked to this aim of Forest School.

The global disconnect between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), has been described as ‘a missed opportunity’. Since devolution, the Welsh Government has actively pursued a ‘sustainable development’ and a ‘children’s rights’ agenda. However, until recently, these separate agendas also did not contribute to each other, although they culminated in two radical and innovative pieces of legislation, the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure (2013) and the Well-being and Future Generations (Wales) Act (2015). This article offers a case study that draws upon the SDGs and the CRC and considers how recent guidance to Welsh public bodies for implementation attempts to contribute to a more integrated approach. It suggests that successful integration requires recognition of the importance of including children in deliberative processes, using both formal mechanisms, such as local authority youth forums, pupil councils and a national youth parliament, and informal mechanisms, such as child-led research, that enable children to initiate and influence sustainable change.

The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Rights Respecting Schools Award makes positive contributions to children’s lives and experiences at school. Within the overall context of education as a right, the Award supports children to learn about their rights and the rights of others. By learning through a rights-based framework, children experience a rights-based approach to education and start to become active rights thinkers and rights holders. This article presents findings regarding the lived experiences of children participating in a rights education programme from a primary school in England. The results are consistent with previous rights education research and confirm that teaching and supporting the human rights of children to children, through a rights education programme, encourages children to practice, protect and promote the rights of others within their school.

Appointing a dedicated youth minister would help the UK implement the UN's strategy, say experts

In the UK, integrated working is a term used to explain the coming together of professionals and agencies with the collective aim of working in partnership, breaking down barriers and providing an effective and efficient service that meets the needs of children, young people and families. However, this does not always happen. Professionals and agencies do not always communicate with each other, share appropriate information or understand each other’s role. There have been a number of child deaths, in which one of the primary contributing factors to the subsequent death of the child was a lack of integrated working by professionals and agencies. This paper explores the range of integrated working models and presents the barriers to the current ways of working. It argues that to meet the needs of children, young people and families, an integrated sector workforce needs a new way of working. It goes on to suggest a new member of the sector workforce, a ‘hybrid’, not only in the UK but within all children, young people and family sector workforces. Armed with a range of knowledge, skills and experience of multi-professional working cultures, this ‘hybrid’ professional could work with other professionals and the agencies within the sector workforce to build on collective strengths and overcome barriers to meet the needs of the children, young people and families in need of their combined expertise.

Children learning outside the classroom: From birth to eleven, edited by Sue Waite, London, Sage, 2011, 236 pp., £21.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-85702-048-2This book delivers exactly what the title ...

Childhood in society for early childhood studies, by Rory McDowall Clark, Exeter, Learning Matters, 2010, 140 pp., £15.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-84445-384-9 The obvious dilemma faced by any author...