The Centre for Rural Childhood (CRC), based at Perth College UHI, is a centre of international significance on all aspects of rural childhood.
Main Focus
Much of the focus on children’s issues until now has been on the urban child, though many children across the globe live in a rural context. CRC makes a direct contribution to enhancing the lives of children who have rural childhoods by providing an evidence-based approach to the development of policy and practice.
There are already a number of child-related research and teaching centres, but the CRC is one of the first to concentrate on 'rural' childhood. Given the UHI’s focus on the rural element of policy and practice across a range of topic areas, there are many opportunities for cross-sector collaboration in health, migration, education, sustainable economies, mountain studies and rural policy in general.
The Centre looks at all aspects of childhood issues, including health, education, crime, drugs, abuse, sexual exploitation and the experiences of immigrant children, all in a rural context.
Based on a commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Centre: undertakes research and consultancy on rural childhood; offers teaching and training courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels; offers continuing professional development and other professional training opportunities; meets the highest academic standards and contributes to policy and practice through evidence-based research.
It also engages in the Building a Europe for Children agenda set by the Council of Europe.
Priorities for the Centre include work on the rural experiences of migrant children, education and the mental health of young people, and international work has already been undertaken on combating the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children, many of whom come from a rural background marked by poverty and negative life experiences.
Though the Centre meets the highest standards of academic achievement through teaching and research, it also engages in political agendas relating to rural childhood through collaboration with voluntary agencies and NGOs. The main commitment of this exciting new initiative is ultimately to enhance the life opportunities of our children through the development of a centre of excellence on rural childhood issues based at Perth College UHI.
You can see our report on birth registration for Plan International on our reports and publications page.