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Opening Remarks
Harold Richman, Director of Chapin Hall, opened the meeting by welcoming the representatives of the Indicators Project states and sketched the plans for the meeting. Ann Segal of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation welcomed those attending. Martha Moorehouse reviewed the history of the Indicators Project meetings, acknowledged Minnesota and Rhode Island for hosting earlier meetings, and expressed excitement about what the states had accomplished so far. State delegation leaders introduced delegation members and mentioned particular interests.
An International Perspective
Mairéad Reidy introduced Asher Ben-Arieh, Director of the Center for Research and Public Education at the National Council for the Child in Israel. His presentation was anchored by a series of overheads. These follow.
Who We Are
The International Project Goals
To reexamine "old" indicators of children's well being and compose a new set that will:
To suggest and invent ways and methods to use this field for promoting the well-being of children.
To prepare and impose a work plan for a multinational cluster of studies on the well-being of children.
The International Project Outcomes
All papers presented in our first meeting in Jerusalem (25 papers) were published in a special Eurosocial Report (No. 62). This volume presents the rationale and basis of our project and the thoughts that guided us through our work. A number of academic papers and a book were written and are either published already or are due to be published shortly.
The International Project Outcomes
A list of guidelines suggesting how to compose and use indicators in order to promote children's well-being has been agreed upon. The group has decided to avoid the minefield of suggesting a single theoretical framework for children's well-being.
The International Project Outcomes
We decided to work with a modified set of five domains of children's well-being with which we had become familiar. The domains are: economic resources and contribution, personal life skills, civil life skills, safety and health status, and children's activities
A list of some 50 indicators for all five domains was composed. All indicators adhered to the principles and guidelines of the project and all are theoretically based. A description on how they could be measured or whether there are any existing data sources accompanies each suggested indicator.
A Study of the State of the Child Reports
This study was based both on an extensive literature review, which examined seven electronic databases and collected data from an international network of informers regarding "state of the child" reports around the world. The databases used were: the U.S. Library of Congress, University of California library network, University of Newcastle library, University of Toronto library, Sydney University, University of South Africa and University of Hong Kong. The database research has resulted in 2,561 titles. After a thorough title screening, we were left with 241 titles and, after a thorough content screen, with 101. The international informers added 151 titles. After eliminating the duplicates, we had 134 state of the child reports to analyze and study.
Building a Common Language
One of the first things that struck us was the absence of any commonly widespread terms or language in the field. It seems therefore that any effort to analyze and learn from published reports, would have to start by clearing the fog that accompanies the discussion in the field. We therefore suggest the following terms and concepts as a basis for any future discussion.
Based on our international project and the state of the child report study, we are confident that the field is going through 4 major shifts:
What are the Consequences of Those Shifts?
We need to redefine the concept of children's well-being
We need to redefine the domains of children's well-being
We need new indicators
We need more data
Our Domains of Children's Well-Being -- Civil Life Skills
Concentrating on children's civic skills is vital for their well-being. Both in regard to its immediate meaning in children's lives and for their participation in long-term community, national, and global political life. We need to learn to what extent children are acquiring the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that are fundamental to democracy. We have decided to divide this domain into 3 subdomains: civic/community values and awareness, civic/community activities, and opportunities for civic/community activities.
Our Indicators-Civil Life Skills
Civic and community values and awareness:
Civic and community activities:
Opportunities for civic and community activities:
Our Domains of Children's Well-Being--Personal Life Skills
We found it helpful to divide this domain into 3 subdomains: interpersonal skills and resources, academic skills and resources, intrapersonal skills and resources. This gives a sense of going from social interactions with others, through developing skills for learning and then to skills of dealing with one's self.
Our Indicators-Personal Life Skills
Interpersonal skills and resources:
Academic skills and resources:
Intrapersonal skills and resources:
Our Domains of Children's Well Being--Safety and Physical Status
Safety and physical status are commonly thought of as the most basic components of well-being. A child who is not safe will likely neither live nor develop in an optimal way and may also be more vulnerable to physical injury and trauma. We have decided to split it into two sub-domains, i.e., safety and physical status. We believe such a differentiation will clarify the content of the domain. However, it may be that physical status is a subset of safety.
Our Indicators-Safety and Physical Status
Safety indicators:
Physical status indicators:
Our Domains of Children's Well-Being--Economic and Social Resources
We argue that children are not merely an economic burden on society (or the family). Children are themselves an economic resource and furthermore, children are active actors and contributors within their household or the broader economy. We have divided the domain into 4 subdomains: macroeconomics and distributive justice, expenditures on children, access to resources, and children's contribution and autonomy.
Our Indicators-Economic and Social Resources
Macroeconomic and distributive justice:
Expenditures on children:
Access to resources:
Children's contribution and autonomy:
Our Domains of Children's Well-Being--Children's Activities
Across political jurisdictions and cultures, children engage in work, play, creativity, consumption, social interactions, and other activities that are analogous to adult activities yet qualitatively different. Children are active in their families, among peers and community groups and in various social institutions such as schools, informal education, recreation, and information networks. Indicators in this domain may relate to the extent of engagement in activities, the nature of the activities, places in which these activities take place, and the children's perceptions of the relative importance and contribution of the different activities
Our Indicators-Children Activities
Distribution of children's time across types of activities
Percentage of time spent in obligatory vs. voluntary activities
Lessons Learned
We hope to achieve the following goals:
Questions
In response to a question about cultural differences in how countries plan to use data, Ben-Arieh suggested reading a paper by a University of Hong Kong faculty member on the importance of discipline.
Janel Harris asked if the activities of children might not be easily defined as positive or negative, an assertion with which Ben-Arieh agreed. She also asked if surveys were reliable ways to collect data on children's activities. Ben-Arieh said that he was convinced that survey data were reliable on children's activities down to a respondent age of six years. In response to other questions, Ben-Arieh said that he was not satisfied with what had been learned so far about children, and would not be satisfied until data were collected from children themselves about their lives. He also called middle childhood a neglected area of study.
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