Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood, 7.5 credits

Main field of study

Course level

Advancement level

Course offered for

• Master´s Programme in Child Studies

Entry requirements

• Bachelor's degree equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen within the humanities, social sciences or the behavioral sciences with a major relevant to the programme. 
  Examples of fields:
  - anthropology
  - education
  - history
  - communication studies
  - media studies
  - language studies
  - psychology
  - social work
  - sociology
  - political sicence
  or equivalent
• English corresponding to the level of English in Swedish upper secondary education (English 6/B)
  (Exemption from Swedish)

Intended learning outcomes

After completion of the course, the student on advanced level should be able to:
- describe the ways in which the concepts of children and childhood have been given different meanings in various historical and cultural contexts;
- identify which factors have influenced notions of children and childhood in the past and children’s conditions in historical contexts;
- distinguish and discuss historical processes of change in regard to conditions for children and notions of children;
- account for various intellectual traditions in the study of the history of children and childhood;
- compare historical methods used in the analysis of children and childhood.

Course content

The course demonstrates how historical studies disclose how childhood is defined by time and space; how change and continuity in children’s conditions and attitudes towards children and childhood are related to historical research on, for example, family, work, education and the welfare system. Such examples are used to discuss how the state, civil society and the market, as well as demographic changes, have influenced notions of children and childhood as well as conditions for children in regional, national and global settings. Factors such as gender, ethnicity, class and age categorization, etc. are discussed in relation to how they have affected conditions for children and their implications on the meaning and change of childhood. The course also sheds light on various research and methodological traditions in the field of the history of childhood.

Teaching and working methods

Lectures and related discussions take place online on an interactive learning platform. In addition to lectures there are seminars, workshops, and group work online. Between the lectures and the seminars the students independently acquire the course literature, complete individual and group assignments, and communicate with other students online. Examining seminars, workshops and group exercises are compulsory.

The student must have access to e-mail and Internet. The course is presented in various multi-media formats. In order to guarantee a positive learning situation online, and, in order for the student to be able to actively participate in the course and communicate with fellow students and the teacher, it is therefore important that the student have access to the correct hard- and software. Information concerning the specifications of the equipment necessary for the course can be found in the study guide.

English is the language of instruction.

Examination

The examinations consist of active participation in seminars, workshops and group assignments online, as well as through individual written assignments submitted online. Detailed information on the examinations can be found in the study guide.

If the LiU coordinator for students with disabilities has granted a student the right to an adapted examination for a written examination in an examination hall, the student has the right to it. If the coordinator has instead recommended for the student an adapted examination or alternative form of examination, the examiner may grant this if the examiner assesses that it is possible, based on consideration of the course objectives.

Students failing an exam covering either the entire course or part of the course twice are entitled to have a new examiner appointed for the reexamination.

Students who have passed an examination may not retake it in order to improve their grades.

Grades

Other information

Planning and implementation of a course must take its starting point in the wording of the syllabus. The course evaluation included in each course must therefore take up the question how well the course agrees with the syllabus. 

The course is carried out in such a way that both men´s and women´s experience and knowledge is made visible and developed.

Department