Conference on Children, War and Violence

26th June – City Campus, University of Worcester

This conference, aimed at sixth form pupils, takes the recent centenary of the First World War and the seventieth anniversary of the VE as triggers to discuss aspects of children’s relationship to war and violence in the last 100 years; asking how children’s imagination and everyday lives have been shaped by conflict and violence.

The day provides a university-style learning experience for pupils with sessions on: boy soldiers, children’s literature, WW2 evacuation, violence in contemporary children’s lives including schools in Africa.  Lunchtime gives an opportunity to view the Infirmary Museum and an exhibition on Children in Worcestershire in WWI alongside a visit to either the Hive or the City Campus Coffee shop accompanied by Worcester University students.

For further information or to book places please contact discover@worc.ac.uk

9:30  – 10:00 Arrival and welcome

10:00- 10:35  What’s the real story of the Boy Soldiers in World War One? Simon Butler

This session will explore the following questions: How many volunteered? Why did they volunteer? Did anybody try to stop them? How many died? How many survived? Have we learnt any lessons?

10:35- 11: 10   Relocation, Dislocation and Evacuation: Children’s Lives disrupted by War Prof Maggie Andrews

War fractures families, disrupts lives and causes many children to be relocated. This session examines one local example of this: the World War Two evacuation in the West Midlands. Personal stories will be used in this session to explore how this mass relocation to rural areas changed children’s lives.

11:10  – 11:45  Romanticising War and Violence in English Children’s Literature Prof Jean Webb

Nineteenth century writers for children romanticised war and the portrayed violence as an unquestioned part of imperialism. Following the First World War and World War II there has been a shift which moves from celebrating the heroic nature of war to calling readers to question the effects that war has on the individual and the child in particular. This session will be an interactive illustrated talk.

11:45  – 12:00  Tweetathon discussion / question and answer session

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

1:00 – 1:35  Children, Childhoods and Violence.

Claire Richards –The National Centre for the Study and Prevention of Violence and Abuse at the University of Worcester

The presentation will consider examples of violence and cruelty that was part of some children’s lives in Britain before child protection and the profession of social work was established. It will also discuss contemporary concerns about vulnerable children affected by: domestic violence, child abuse and neglect alongside aspects of violence and abuse experienced by children and young people outside their home, such as bullying.

1:35- 2: 15   Violence in African Schools: types and sources

Prof Clive Haber – Birmingham University

This talk will question the assumption that education is necessarily and always good for the individual and society. In particular, it will question whether education is always good in ‘developing’ countries. It will do this by examining the types and sources of violence that exist in schools in Africa and suggest that much of this violence is facilitated or generated by schools themselves’.

2:15 – 2:30 Tweetathon discussion / question and answer session