Just who do we think children are? : an analysis of submissions to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee, 2006 Debski, Sophie; Buckley, Sue; Russell, Marie Louise
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TextPublication details: Wellington Health Services Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington 2007Description: 62 p. ; computer file : PDF format (426Kb)Subject(s): Online resources: Summary: This report discusses a research project that examined a sample of submissions made to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee in 2006 on the Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill. Five groups were classified from an initial reading of 1716 submissions. These were: individual submissions in favour of the Bill; individual submissions opposed to the Bill; organisational submissions in favour of the Bill; organisational submissions opposed to the Bill; and unclear or unknown. A random sample of 170 submissions was extracted from the first four of the above groups and then analysed. The submitter's view of children, childhood, and parenthood was asked of each submission. In terms of the debate concerning physical punishment it was asked of the submissions that oppose and support physical punishment, how childhood was conceptualised by those people. The purpose of the research was to try and discover (from the submissions) if different philosophical positions existed concerning childhood, and if this was the case, whether a relationship existed between these and opinions on the Bill. Quantitative and qualitative data are reported. Two philosophical views on childhood were chosen from the literature. One was based on medical and psychological approaches which view children as 'human becomings', who are not yet competent, not yet able to reason, not yet knowledgeable, and in need of constant guidance from adults (see Qvortrup, 1994). The other view, from sociology, sees children from the perspective of what they can do and what they already are, as opposed to what they will become. This view conceptualises children as 'human beings'. It was found that a relationship existed between people's view of children and childhood, and their support for or opposition to the Bill. People who saw children as 'human becomings' were more likely to oppose the Bill and support punishment, while those who saw children as 'human beings' were more likely to support the Bill and oppose physical punishment. The authors discuss the implications of the findings for the promotion of positive parenting practices that do not use physical punishment.
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This report discusses a research project that examined a sample of submissions made to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee in 2006 on the Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill. Five groups were classified from an initial reading of 1716 submissions. These were: individual submissions in favour of the Bill; individual submissions opposed to the Bill; organisational submissions in favour of the Bill; organisational submissions opposed to the Bill; and unclear or unknown. A random sample of 170 submissions was extracted from the first four of the above groups and then analysed. The submitter's view of children, childhood, and parenthood was asked of each submission. In terms of the debate concerning physical punishment it was asked of the submissions that oppose and support physical punishment, how childhood was conceptualised by those people. The purpose of the research was to try and discover (from the submissions) if different philosophical positions existed concerning childhood, and if this was the case, whether a relationship existed between these and opinions on the Bill. Quantitative and qualitative data are reported. Two philosophical views on childhood were chosen from the literature. One was based on medical and psychological approaches which view children as 'human becomings', who are not yet competent, not yet able to reason, not yet knowledgeable, and in need of constant guidance from adults (see Qvortrup, 1994). The other view, from sociology, sees children from the perspective of what they can do and what they already are, as opposed to what they will become. This view conceptualises children as 'human beings'. It was found that a relationship existed between people's view of children and childhood, and their support for or opposition to the Bill. People who saw children as 'human becomings' were more likely to oppose the Bill and support punishment, while those who saw children as 'human beings' were more likely to support the Bill and oppose physical punishment. The authors discuss the implications of the findings for the promotion of positive parenting practices that do not use physical punishment.
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