Child of Our Time: Turning 20

Updated Thursday 5th March 2020

In 1999, the groundbreaking BBC series, Child of Our Time began filming a group of babies from the moment they were born. Twenty years on, these children are now adults and can reflect in their own words on growing up during a time of considerable social change. Drawing on thousands of hours of archive footage this Horizon special focuses on three of the children - Eve, Jamie and Rhianna - to explore what would shape their lives in the new millennium.

Child of Our Time: Turning 20 will broadcast on Wednesday 11th March on BBC Two at 9pm. To find out more or to watch on BBC iPlayer, once available, go to the BBC programme page.

About the TV special

Find out more about this 60 minute episode available on BBC Two.

Child of our Time

Eve for Child of our time Copyright: BBC Eve, Jamie and Rhianna share their feelings on starting school, finding friends and their turbulent teenage years. Alongside the fun of childhood, all have faced challenges; they each reflect on how rebellion, family tensions and bereavement, together with positive influences from family, friends and school have played a part in making them the adults they are today.

Throughout this special, which is anticipated to be the final programme, other children from Child of Our Time also share their experiences and reflections on some of the issues that have touched their generation, including mental health, sexual identity and pressures to achieve.

More from the children

Watch updates on the children who took part in Child of Our Time and find out more about resilience in young people.

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Child of Our Time: Updates from the participants

Watch our short video updates from the young people who featured in Child of Our Time.

Watch now ❯Child of Our Time: Updates from the participants

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Young people and stress, vulnerability and resilience

Is risk and adversity damaging to young people? Not necessarily, writes John Oates...

Read now ❯Young people and stress, vulnerability and resilience

Child development and learning activities

Are you a parent? Do you work with young children? We've put together a variety of FREE fun tasks to share with your children to help aid them in their learning and development.

Take part now ❯Child development and learning activities

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Learn with the OU

Discover a range of related qualifications, modules and free courses available at the OU.

Qualifications:

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BA (Honours) Childhood and Youth Studies

What makes young people tick? What shapes and influences children's development? How can the adults who work with children support them more effectively? Childhood and youth studies is one of the UK's fastest growing academic disciplines. The OU is a pioneer in this field and over the last 15 years has developed this wide-ranging interdisciplinary degree for anyone working with children and young people or with a general interest in the field.

Learn more ❯BA (Honours) Childhood and Youth Studies

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BA (Honours) Early Childhood

If you currently work with children from birth to seven years, or are looking to learn more about young children's lives and experiences, this degree could be of interest to you. You'll investigate early childhood from national and international perspectives with a focus on the central importance of children's voices and the participatory nature of young children's experiences. You'll also gain an understanding of early childhood in diverse social, cultural and multi-disciplinary contexts.

Learn more ❯BA (Honours) Early Childhood

MA in Childhood and Youth

This postgraduate degree offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of childhood and youth ? covering aspects of theory, policy and practice. It is ideal if you are a graduate professional working with children and young people and seek to advance academically and professionally. It's also suitable if you're not currently working with children and young people but are looking to move into the profession. The degree deepens understanding and develops practice through a wide range of case studies within a global context that link theory to practice. These include education, the family, the law, children's rights, politicised childhoods, participation and voice, consumerist childhoods, ethnicity, religion, child criminology, child sexuality, and multi-cultural childhoods. It also offers you flexibility within the final dissertation module, where you'll choose between a small-scale inquiry or an extended literature review and research proposal. It will be of particular interest if you have completed an undergraduate degree in Childhood and Youth Studies, Early Years or Early Childhood, Education Studies (Primary) or Health and Social Care.

Learn more ❯MA in Childhood and Youth

Modules:

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Psychology of childhood and youth

This module explores key themes in the development of children through the early years, middle childhood and into adolescence, covering attachment, identity, emotions, representation and communication. The module integrates a range of approaches from developmental psychology and childhood studies, and makes extensive use of audio and video material, including a number of specially made documentary films. The module will be of interest to students of psychology, early years, and childhood and youth, and any student interested in theories and contemporary research in developmental psychology, including the influences of family and culture.

Learn more ❯Psychology of childhood and youth

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Childhood

What does it mean to be a child in today's world? Do popular images of childhood match the reality of young people's lives? How is childhood affected by poverty, ill-health and adversity? Do children have different rights from adults, and if so why? How are modern lifestyles and technologies changing children's relationships and identities? What part do children play in shaping their childhood? Such questions are the starting point for this cross-disciplinary introduction to childhood and youth studies, covering the age range 0?18 and including audio-visual case studies from three contrasting parts of the world.

Learn more ❯Childhood

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Young children's play and creativity

This module focuses on understanding play and creativity in early childhood from different and diverse personal and professional perspectives. It considers how other children and adults impact on the play decisions and creative choices children make. You will learn about how children express their ideas and interests through play and consider how children participate and are included in play and creative experiences. You will explore how children express their preferences through their play choices and the significance of creative spaces in following their interests.

Learn more ❯Young children's play and creativity

FREE courses:

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Young lives: is now a good time to be young?

This free course, Young lives: is now a good time to be young?, looks at young lives in the UK today, asking the question is this a good time to be young? It focuses on some of the factors that influence the divergent lives and complex experiences of children and young people today, taking an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the lives of children and young people. It focuses on some of the key issues in young lives such as continuing inequality and why some children and young people are more the focus of policy and intervention than others. It is written for both people working with, or intending to work with, children and young people and for those who have a more general interest in issues and debates related to children and young people.

Learn more ❯Young lives: is now a good time to be young?

Supporting children and young people's wellbeing

This free course, Supporting children and young people's wellbeing, looks at some of the broader concerns regarding wellbeing and the idea that children and young people today are increasingly reporting feelings of unhappiness. By completing the activities, you will be introduced to different ways of understanding children and young people’s wellbeing as well as a variety of practices and services that can provide support.

Learn more ❯Supporting children and young people's wellbeing

Introduction to child psychology

Childhood is a time of rapid growth and development, and studying these changes is endlessly stimulating. In this free course, Introduction to child psychology, you will be introduced to the discipline of child psychology and some of the key questions that guide the understanding of childhood. These questions include 'What influences children's development?' and 'How do psychologists study the physical and cognitive changes that occur during childhood?' As you work through this material, you will also gain a deeper understanding concerning how psychologists work with young children across a range of applied settings through activities and audio-visual materials.

Learn more ❯Introduction to child psychology

Meet the OU experts

Meet John Oates and Sheila Curran, The Open University academic consultants on the programme.

Copyright: The Open University Professor John Oates, Professor of Developmental Psychology

John has led the production of three Open University developmental psychology modules, including ‘Psychology of Childhood and Youth’. He was a member of the core team for English Early Support for families with children and young people with special needs and disabilities, and author and editor for e-learning in the Healthy Child Programme for NHS Health Education, focusing on mental health and developmental support.

John's research focus is on perinatal mental health and attachment and he has developed a screening tool widely used in health services in UK and other countries. He is the author of Scottish risk assessment regulations for child licensing in performances and is a regular script reviewer and safeguarding adviser for broadcasts. He has experience working on a variety of broadcast productions and was an OU consultant on the ‘Child of Our Time’ series.

Find out more about John and his research in his academic profile.

Copyright: The Open University Sheila Curran, Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies

Sheila is a member of The Open University’s Children’s Research Centre (CRC) and has research interests in children and young people’s rights, voice and participation, and in the practices and identities of professionals who work with young people. Sheila led on development of the OU’s courses and qualifications in Working with Young People and is currently has lead responsibility for two OU courses: ‘Youth: Policy in Practice’ and ‘Young lives, parenting and families’. She is also working on the production of a new OU course: ‘Exploring childhood and youth’.

Sheila has a professional background in teaching and in youth and community work. She has a wide range of experience of working with children and young people, including in local authority youth services, for Save the Children and other voluntary organisations, and as an advisory teacher for Gypsy and Traveller children.

Find out more about Sheila and her research in her academic profile.

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Publication details

Originally published: Monday, 2nd December 2019
Last updated on: Thursday, 5th March 2020

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Image 'John and Sheila - child of our time' - Copyright: The Open University

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