In this process there tends to be an overarching

In this process,
there tends to be an overarching assumption that in
any given situation adults are right and children are
wrong. The ‘deficit’ model of childhood renders
much of children’s actual agency invisible. Children
are not taken seriously because it is believed that
they do not really know what they want or need,
and the perception is of children as objects or pos-
sessions whose views do not really matter.
37
The
potentially devastating impact of this failure to
respect the validity of children’s experiences is illus-
trated in a series of child abuse inquiries in residen-
tial care in the UK. It was found that an institutional
culture existed in which children’s accounts of abuse
were systematically discredited in favour of adults’
denials.
38
Without fear of exposure, the perpetrators
were able to continue their abuse and a climate of
impunity prevailed over a period of thirty years.
2.1.3 The goals of child development are universal
Conventional child development theory reflects
Western assumptions that the goals of development
are the attainment of personal, social and political
autonomy, independence and self-sufficiency. They
also view the attainment of rational thinking as an
ultimate goal in development. However, these goals
are far from universal. In most cultures in the world,
inter-dependence and integration are more valued
as the outcome of development. In part, these goals
are driven by social, economic and cultural impera-
tives. Certainly, the very shifting nature of assump-
tions about children’s role and place in society testi-
fies to the lack of any universality in their nature.
Modern Western economies, for example, require a
workforce that is competitive, highly educated, cre-
ative, flexible, communicative and independent; in
the past, by contrast, obedience, loyalty and punctu-
ality were more highly valued.
39
Accordingly, chil-
dren are expected to remain for an extended period
in education rather than to participate at an early
age in the labour market. The result is reduced
responsibility for children, and a far greater degree
of dependency. This development is associated with
a shift in perception to children as an emotional,
rather than an economic asset.
40
By contrast, in most
developing countries, many very young children are
actively engaged in domestic and paid work, often
with high levels of responsibility. However, it is
important to recognise that within all societies, chil-
dren’s experience is more nuanced. In many devel-
oping countries, a high premium is placed on chil-
dren’s education among those middle class families
who can afford to provide it – and of course, such
highly educated children are necessary for economic
10 Child development and the evolving capacities of the child Innocenti Insight

growth. More recently, in the West, Solberg found
that the levels of children’s contribution to house-
work increased significantly in Norway, in line with
women’s increasing participation in the labour mar-
ket.