Human Growth and Development - Softcover

Chris Beckett; Hilary Taylor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1473916267 ISBN 13: 9781473916265

Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2016

Synopsis

What is it that determines what sort of person we become?

Is a child s future personality already determined at birth, or is a newborn baby like a blank sheet, waiting to be written on by life?

Is our personality determined by anything, or do we choose for ourselves who we are, create

ourselves out of nothing?

This bestselling introduction to emotional, psychological, intellectual and social development throughout the lifespan will help you explore these questions and many more. 

 

Written for students training for careers in the helping professions, including nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, teachers and counsellors, the book covers topics which are central to understanding people whether they are clients, service users, patients or pupils. Following the shape of a human life, beginning with birth and ending with death, it combines theoretical concepts and reflective learning to help you develop an understanding of what makes human beings grow and change over their lives to inform your decisions and professional practice.

 

About this title

Review:

This is a very thoughtful and engaging book.  Students will find it a useful resource to begin their exploration of human growth.   It manages to encapsulate theoretical learning whilst promoting critical thought and further exploration (Judith Buck)

This book introduces the reader to a very wide range of theory and concepts relating to human growth and development across the entire lifespan from birth to death. It s a great introductory text with useful practical activities to encourage students to engage and reflect. (Dr Jo Bell)

The book is very accessible to both students and lecturers and works very well as an introductory source. The activities are a useful teaching aid and provide examples which help students make links between theory and real life. (Sam McMahon)

I am pleased to endorse the second edition of Chris Beckett and Hilary Taylor book which sets out a clear and accessible text to guide students in understanding human growth and development. It is particularly beneficial as students begin their journey in exploring theories to help understand the course of human life and get to grips with the complexity of development. I recommend this book as an introduction for all levels of academic study. (Dr Lesley Deacon)

This text offers an insightful journey through the life course exploring the events and experiences that shape us into the individuals we are. The text combines the underpinning theories with a practical discussion and useful activities help to guide application of thinking throughout. The text is invaluable for students and academics alike and is relevant across a wide range of subject areas.
(Liz Cade) --Review

An excellent book with an engaging style. Clear accessible information is supported by practical activities. A must have resource for those students and practitioners seeking to understand the application of a psychosocial approach to human growth and development.
(Vivienne Dacre) --Review

Human Growth and Development provides an excellent foundation to understanding lifespan changes and dynamics for social work (or social and health care students). This informative text is supported by activities and case examples which help connect theory and practice in a meaningful way.
(Fern Basnett) --Review

About the Author:

Chris Beckett qualified as a social worker in the 1980s, and worked in the field for 18 years, first as a social worker and then as a manager, latterly as the manager of a children and families social work team.  Like most social workers who qualified at that time, he started out as a generic social worker, working with a range of service users including children and families, old people, and people with mental health problems and disabilities, but his predominant area of work was always with children and families.

He moved into academic social work in 2000, working first at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge and then at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.  In addition to his social work text books, he has published academic articles on a variety of topics including the use of military language in social work, the importance of realism as an ethical principle, and statistics from Sweden about child abuse, following the legal ban there on corporal punishment.  His main research area has been decision-making in court proceedings about children, and decision-making about children more generally.

Chris has a parallel career as a writer of literary science fiction, and has achieved some acclaim in this field.  He won the Edge Hill Short Fiction prize for his story collection, The Turing Test, and the Arthur C. Clarke award for his novel Dark Eden.  He now divides his time between his academic career and his fiction writing.   More information about his fiction can be found at www.chris-beckett.com.  His view is that academic and creative writing have more in common than might at first sight appear: in both cases the author begins with a jumble of ideas that seem to him to be in some way linked together, and attempts, in large part by a combination of intuition and trial and error, to impose some shape and structure.

Chris has three adult children, and lives in Cambridge with his wife Maggie and sundry animals.

Hilary Taylor is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and a former social worker, social work lecturer and practice teacher.

About this edition

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1473916267
• ISBN 13: 9781473916265
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 280