Sessions will explore the history of welfare legislation and education reform in the 19th century, representations of childhood in art and literature, and the nature of children's literature. We will end by assessing the validity of contemporary reports of a 'crisis in childhood'.
Weekly sessions (Thursdays, 2.00pm - 4.00pm)
- 15 October
- 22 October
- 29 October
- 5 November
- 12 November
About the tutors
Dr Jenny Bavidge is University Senior Lecturer and Academic Director for English at ICE and is a member of the English Faculty. Jenny took her BA in English Literature and Language at Worcester College, Oxford and then an MA at Royal Holloway, University of London. She stayed at Royal Holloway to write a PhD on representations of urban space in the contemporary novel which she completed in 2001. She then took up a Lectureship in English at the University of Greenwich, where she stayed, becoming Senior Lecturer, until she joined the Institute in 2011. She is Vice-President of the Literary London Society and a member of the English Faculty’s Contemporaries group.
Jenny teaches within a wide range of areas, including 19th and 20th-century American and British literature, close reading and critical theory, and has also taught on film.
Dr Samantha Williams, University Senior Lecturer in Local and Regional History and Course Director of the Master of Studies in Local and Regional History from 2007/8, is an experienced local historian. Her research interests are poverty and welfare in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in south-east England and, in particular, unmarried motherhood. She is author of Poverty, gender and life-cycle under the English poor law (Boydell and Brewer, 2011) and is co-editor of A. Levene, T. Nutt, and S.K. Williams (eds.), Illegitimacy in Britain 1700-1920 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), as well as numerous articles in journals including Economic History Review, Rural History, Agricultural History Review, Social History of Medicine, Women’s History Review, and Archives.
Dr Nigel Kettley has had a wide ranging teaching and research career in the fields of sociology, educational studies, research methods and teacher training. Before joining the Institute of Continuing Education in 2007, he was a Research Associate in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, and earlier still a PhD student at Wolfson College. He is an active researcher in the areas of widening participation, educational attainment and lifelong learning more generally with a particular focus on issues of gender, social stratification and educational practice. Nigel teaches on a variety of courses for the Institute, supervises MPhil and PhD students, and works with undergraduates in his capacity as Director of Studies for Social and Political Sciences for Wolfson College.
Online support
This course will be supported by our virtual learning environment (VLE). You will be able to download course material, contact your tutor and talk to fellow students via the web at a time and place that’s convenient to you. To gain access to the VLE you will need to provide a valid email address when registering for the course.
