Human Growth and Development - Tapa blanda

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)

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)

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)

The language throughout is unambiguous and accessible, the summaries are concise and the case studies give good practical applications to the theoretical concepts....The book is easy to understand and well structured. The ideas are presented in a logical and coherent format, which makes it a fascinating read (Ibadete Fetahu 2017-10-02)

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 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, however, 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. (More information about his fiction can be found at www.chris-beckett.com.)  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 is now a full-time writer.     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.