Abstract

This fully updated third edition of Learning Through Child Observation is a handbook for professionals working in, or students preparing to work in, children's services.

This accessible text examines the value of observation, its use in assessment and the practical aspects and methods of observational study. The authors focus on the importance of fully recognising the child's developmental and emotional state when intervening, and the need to see children 'holistically' and as unique individuals within the wider context of the family and community. This new edition reflects updates to policy and practice and further develops the critical perspective on contemporary thinking about childhood and observational methods. This edition has also expanded its focus to include observation of primary-aged children.

A popular text, it will appeal to students and professionals in all children's services, whether in pre-school, schools, social care, mental health or health settings.

Child observation has a long history and this new edition of Mary Fawcett's popular title intriguingly reflects changing concerns for work with children over the past 20 years when the book first appeared. The embedded historicity in the most recent edition strengthens the book's main message, that we should attend carefully both the context of observation and to what we ourselves bring to that context through our own experiences. The book is aimed at a broad range of students who need to develop skills in using observation as they prepare for their particular place in the children's workforce, starting with a simple introduction to major theorists in the field of childhood studies, the different reasons to observe - to learn, to assess, to research, to safeguard and to be professionally alert - and different methods of observation from unstructured diaries to more structured approaches. The practicalities of observation are given due prominence alongside the importance of ethical considerations. Students will certainly value the chapter on what to do with the information they have gathered, how to manage the sometimes controversial links between observation and assessment and the importance of clarifying terminology when sharing observations in interprofessional contexts.
Jan Georgeson, Research Fellow, Plymouth Institute of Education, UK

Mary Fawcett is an early years consultant and also an evaluator for 5x5x5=creativity, an arts-based research organisation focusing on the creative values, environments and relationships that support the expression of children's feelings, thoughts and ideas. She was formerly a social work lecturer and Director of Early Childhood Studies at the University of Bristol.
Debbie Watson is Reader in Childhood Studies at the University of Bristol and the Director of the PhD programmes. Debbie is an experienced teacher in schools and in Higher Education. In particular, her interests are in the sociology of childhood, diversities in childhood, research with children and in the wellbeing of children and young people.