Bloomsbury Handbook of Children and Youth at Risk and Education

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the key issues relating to children and youth at risk, focusing on how they experience education and how education attempts to support them. It does this against a backdrop of increasing uncertainty, instability and socioeconomic tensions across the world, which are increasing the intensity of risk and the frequency of social and relational conflicts, such as violence, which increase young people’s vulnerability. Adopting a strengths-based approach to the upbringing, support and education of children and young people at risk, the handbook brings together contributions from academics and practitioners working in contexts ranging from Bulgaria, China and Germany to Turkey, the UK and the USA. The chapters cover the most pressing research issues relating to children and youth at risk, as well as key theoretical perspectives, methodologies and ethical issues. They examine areas such as poverty, crime, safeguarding, victimization, and young people’s experiences of schools, communities or institutions, in combination providing a systemic and interdisciplinary understanding of risk ecologies. Contributors also explore how professional and institutional development for these groups of young people should be constituted. This enables the book to bridge gaps between research, practice and policy and is suitable for anyone working with, researching with, or developing strategies to support children and youth at risk.