Claire Cameron is Reader in Education at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, UK. She has carried out research on children and young people, children's services and the children's workforce for over 20 years, with a particular interest in young people in institutional and marginalised circumstances and in care and education, and the interface between the two. She has a long-standing interest in European comparative research and was coordinator of the Young People from a Public Care Background: Pathways to Education in Europe (YiPPEE) study, funded by the European Commission's Framework Programme 7. Her interests also span the European professional of social pedagogy and what this may have to offer to professional practice with children and young people in the United Kingdom.