Childhood poverty and social exclusion : from a child's perspective

Childhood poverty has moved from the periphery to the centre of the policy agenda following New Labour's pledge to end it within 20 years.

However, whether the needs and concerns of poor children themselves are being addressed is open to question.

Without a deeper understanding of poverty as a lived experience in childhood, policies targeted at eradicating child poverty may fail.

Using child-centred research methods to explore children's own accounts of their lives, this book presents an opportunity to understand the issues and concerns that low-income children themselves identify as important.

The findings raise critical issues for both policy and practice - in particular the finding that children are at great risk of experiencing exclusion within school.

School has been a major target in the drive towards reducing child poverty.

However, the policy focus has been mainly about literacy standards and exclusion from school.

This book shows that poor children are suffering from insufficient access to the economic and material resources necessary for adequate social participation and academic parity. "Childhood poverty and social exclusion" will be a valuable teaching aid across a range of academic courses, including social policy, sociology, social work and childhood studies.

All those who are interested in developing a more inclusive social and policy framework for understanding childhood issues from a child-centred perspective, including child welfare practitioners and policy makers, should read this book.