Program Overview

HIST257 - To Protect or Punish? Childhood and Youth in History

Year

2023

Credit Points

10

Campus Offering

No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.

Prerequisites

10 cp from 100-level unit in History or Politics and International Relations or Sociology

Unit Rationale, Description, and Aim

This unit focuses on the histories of vulnerable and marginalized peoples through a hands-on history research project. It aims to develop a deep historical understanding of why attempts to protect children and young people from perceived harms often effectively punished those same people. The unit introduces students to the notion that childhood has not always been understood or experienced as it is today and explores how social constructions of children and young people have changed over time.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

• Discuss theoretical and factual knowledge of changing ideas about childhood and youth in Western society
• Communicate clearly in written and/or oral form
• Locate, use, and appropriately reference primary and secondary materials
• Apply critical reading skills to understand the treatment of children and youth in history
• Interpret and reflect on key ethical and historical debates relating to real-world situations/case studies in the history of childhood and youth

Graduate Attributes

The unit develops the following graduate attributes:

• GA3: Apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making
• GA4: Think critically and reflectively
• GA5: Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills, and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession
• GA6: Solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account
• GA7: Work both autonomously and collaboratively
• GA8: Locate, organize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information
• GA9: Demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media
• GA10: Utilize information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively

Content

Topics include:

• Changing ideas about childhood and youth in Britain, Australia, and the United States from the eighteenth century to the present
• Historical changes regarding children, young people, and labor
• Historical developments with respect to children, young people, and the law
• Marginalized, vulnerable, and forgotten children and young people in history
• Contemporary debates around childhood and youth

Learning and Teaching Strategy and Rationale

The unit is designed to ensure that students engage in active learning through in-class activities, which allow them to practice hands-on research with historical sources. The learning and teaching strategy includes lectures, tutorials, reading, reflection, discussion, film screenings, skills workshops, and assignments.

Assessment Strategy and Rationale

A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. Assessment tasks include:

• Assignment 1: Skills Development Task (15%)
• Assignment 2: Hands-on History Research Project (50%)
• Assignment 3: Summative Task (35%)
• Hurdle Task (on-campus mode only): Participation in a workshop relating to either Assignment 2 or Assignment 3

Representative Texts and References

• Bellanta, M. Larrikins: A History. St. Lucia, QLD: University of Queensland Press, 2012.
• Cunningham, H. Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500. Longman: London, 1995.
• Davidoff, L. Thicker Than Water: Siblings and their Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
• Hendrick, H. Children, Childhood and English Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
• Kociumbas, J. Australian Childhood: A History. St Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 1997.
• Mintz, S. Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood. Cambridge, Mass: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004.
• Morrison, H. (Ed). The Global History of Childhood Reader. New York: Routledge, 2012.
• Musgrove, N. and Michell, D. The Slow Evolution of Foster Care in Australia—Just like a Family?. London: Palgrace Macmillan, 2018.
• Stearns, P. Childhood in World History. 2nd ed, New York: Routledge, 2011.
• Swain, S. and Hillel, M. Child, Nation, Race and Empire: Child Rescue Discourse, England, Canada and Australia. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010.