Childhood and Youth Studies and the Curriculum for Wales 2022: Synergies and Opportunities

In this paper we outline the academic field known as Childhood and Youth Studies (CYS), a multidisciplinary and international field that places children and young peoples’ lived experiences at the centre of debate, research and practice. CYS has emerged over the past 30-40 years as a distinct field of scholarship influenced by ideas from the fields of sociology, anthropology, psychology, geography and history. Our paper discusses the relevance of these key ideas to the work of teachers and school leaders within the context of the Curriculum for Wales 2022, which places the child at the heart of a holistic approach to education. This lends itself to a timely recognition of the potential synergies between education and CYS as allied and complimentary disciplines. We suggest there is an argument for all teachers and initial teacher education (ITE) providers to understand and engage with the academic field of CYS, which centres on the recognition of children and young people as social beings with rights and agency in society. We highlight key areas and issues of relevance for the work of teachers, school leaders and educators across different contexts, demonstrating how the field of CYS can act as a bridge between schools and the broader social world of children and young people, via research and teaching that engages with issues that are pertinent to contemporary childhood and youth. As a group of lecturers who teach on CYS undergraduate and postgraduate courses, we propose a need for closer dialogue and understanding between the scholarship of CYS and initial teacher education.