CRITICAL REVIEW: IAN HUTCHBY
THE DISCOURSE OF CHILD COUNSELLING
Katia Al Najjar
CSI 3360
Professor Patrick Ryan
December 08, 2017
Ian Hutchby wrote the book, The Discourse of Child Counselling as a mission to delve deeper into the world of child counselling. The purpose of the book is to study the “naturally-occurring” interactions between child counselors and children who are in the midst of parental divorce or separation. Hutchby uses a method known as conversation analysis to examine and analyze the tape recordings and subsequent transcripts of different counselling sessions out of a high street child counselling and family mediation practice based in London, UK. He examined several different counselling …show more content…
With his view of children as only beings, he completely bypasses the idea of ‘becomings’ entirely, but seeing children as becomings does not necessarily have to be this evil thing. As children and even as adults we are constantly in a state of becoming, you can view them as beings in their own right and as becomings of the future. Looking at children as they are in the present only is to ignore the past and the future, and those are both integral parts of a person. Growing up is an important and inevitable part of childhood, which Hutchby fails to acknowledge. Another limitation that Hutchby faces is that he operates from the idea that all the interactions between the child and counsellor are ‘naturally-occurring,’ but this is not necessarily the case, who is to say these interactions are ‘natural?’ There are several factors in these recordings that could take away from the naturalness of the conversations, including the fact that it is being recorded in the first place, which he does acknowledge in his book.
Despite its flaws, The Discourse of Child Counselling is nevertheless a valuable tool for the numerous audiences it may or may not be intended for, including “sociologists of language and interactions, childhood and organizations and professional child counselors themselves.” This book could be beneficial for several professionals working with children in a variety of occupations as it provides a basis of useful and relevant methods to foster therapeutic conversations between children and
THE DISCOURSE OF CHILD COUNSELLING
Katia Al Najjar
CSI 3360
Professor Patrick Ryan
December 08, 2017
Ian Hutchby wrote the book, The Discourse of Child Counselling as a mission to delve deeper into the world of child counselling. The purpose of the book is to study the “naturally-occurring” interactions between child counselors and children who are in the midst of parental divorce or separation. Hutchby uses a method known as conversation analysis to examine and analyze the tape recordings and subsequent transcripts of different counselling sessions out of a high street child counselling and family mediation practice based in London, UK. He examined several different counselling …show more content…
With his view of children as only beings, he completely bypasses the idea of ‘becomings’ entirely, but seeing children as becomings does not necessarily have to be this evil thing. As children and even as adults we are constantly in a state of becoming, you can view them as beings in their own right and as becomings of the future. Looking at children as they are in the present only is to ignore the past and the future, and those are both integral parts of a person. Growing up is an important and inevitable part of childhood, which Hutchby fails to acknowledge. Another limitation that Hutchby faces is that he operates from the idea that all the interactions between the child and counsellor are ‘naturally-occurring,’ but this is not necessarily the case, who is to say these interactions are ‘natural?’ There are several factors in these recordings that could take away from the naturalness of the conversations, including the fact that it is being recorded in the first place, which he does acknowledge in his book.
Despite its flaws, The Discourse of Child Counselling is nevertheless a valuable tool for the numerous audiences it may or may not be intended for, including “sociologists of language and interactions, childhood and organizations and professional child counselors themselves.” This book could be beneficial for several professionals working with children in a variety of occupations as it provides a basis of useful and relevant methods to foster therapeutic conversations between children and