ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that European modernity, armed with the sort of middle-class fantasies to which Honwana and De Boeck (2005) refer, has never seen the education and care of children as simply or solely a matter of concern for the particular children in question – the notion of a 'good childhood' is always intercut by the European Enlightenment's political project to achieve moral, social and economic progress through the education of 'the young'. It explores ways that the template child is applied in three areas of educational and social policy. These are: UNICEF reports by the Innocenti organisation on children and young people's well-being; Eurostat data concerning the size and structure of Europe's population of children and young people and the case of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests and the growing influence of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in debates about standards and educational attainment.
