The Lost Boys or the Great Unwashed?
Collaborative Strategies to Address Disaffection
Joan Machell
CSET, Lancaster University.
Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, University of Sussex at Brighton, September 2-5 1999
Abstract
This paper will discuss the issue of multi-agency approaches which address the problem of disaffection. The aim is not to examine the effectiveness of these approaches in targeting this issue but, rather, to highlight the issues involved in developing effective methods of collaborative working. In order to illustrate some of the issues involved, I will refer to a number of projects, funded through the European Social Fund - Community Initiative, which are being undertaken by a consortium of agencies on Merseyside with which I have been involved as an external evaluator for a number of years. In order to set the context, I will begin by briefly presenting the wider context - including some theoretical perspectives which provide a basis for considering the nature of collaborative activities. Next, I will outline the local context within which the various multi-agency projects were developed including the membership of the collaborative partnership, the aims of the projects and examples of the different types of activities undertaken by the partner organisations. Some general issues relating to multi-agency approaches will be discussed using examples of practices within the Merseyside consortium to illustrate points raised. I will conclude by offering some tentative guidelines, based on completed and on-going evaluations of the projects, relating to those factors which appear to underlie effective multi-agency collaborations.
Introduction
Education, certainly in the further and higher sectors, has become increasingly linked with economic imperatives: whether examined from functionalist, Marxist or even traditional liberal or progressive perspectives, some kind of preparation for future work features as a prescriptive or descriptive element of education. However, there is an increasingly high proportion of predominantly, but not exclusively, young people to whom paid employment is fast becoming an alien concept - the 'Lost Boys' or the 'Great Unwashed' as they were described by, respectively, an FE tutor and a member of a local Council. Some are outside the labour market by choice, others through lack of qualifications and many because they lack the confidence to make the first moves towards further education, training or employment. Not surprisingly, given its particular social and economic position, Merseyside has a large proportion of young (and older people) who fit one or more of these categories. As an Objective One area, Merseyside has attracted considerable sums of money from the European Social Fund (Community Initiative) to address its various socio-economic problems. Of particular relevance to the issue of integrating young people into the labour market is the range of projects supported through the Youthstartstrand of the Employment Initiative. In terms of participation in education, training or employment, young people are not, of course, the only disaffected, disengaged or disadvantaged social group: older people such as the long-term unemployed, women with family responsibilities and those without formal qualifications are equally at risk of alienation from mainstream (or even informal) educational provision or the labour market. Again funded by the ESF, the Integrastrand is aimed at the needs of adults (i.e. those over 20 years of age) rather than younger people. These two projects, which are both strongly based on multi-agency collaborative approaches, form the main focus of discussion for this paper but I will also refer to other collaborative projects with which some of the Youthstart and Integra partners are also involved to illustrate innovative or effective strategies which aim to address the key issue of disaffection and social exclusion. The Youthstart project is continuing but, for this purpose of the paper, I will refer to data based on the experience of evaluating the first phase of Youthstart which was completed in 1998.
The Wider Context
Recent, and present, government educational policies have encouraged competition, rather than collaboration, amongst institutions. The competitive nature of funding mechanisms (such as initiative funding) coupled with the necessity of 'performing' well in league tables, TQAs and RAEs put pressure upon colleges and universities to look after their own interests first and foremost. At an individual level, a certain amount of competition is generally seen as an effective means of motivating young people but, inevitably, in any system which promotes competition, a few will win and, inevitably, many more will lose. Those who lose too often are at risk of becoming de-motivated and, to avoid repeated failure, will simply stop trying to compete and, effectively, 'drop out' of the system - either literally or in terms of their attitude to education. Ironically, it is strategies based on the idea of collaboration - the antithesis of competition - which appear to offer most potential benefits as a means of combating disaffection amongst young people.
Argyle (1991, quoted in McConnell, 1994) suggests that people choose to collaborate, or work co-operatively, for three possible reasons: for external rewards, in order to form further relationships and in order to share the activities in which they are involved. All these reasons apply to the projects which form the focus of this paper. A key aspect of collaborative working is that of mutual reciprocity. Axelrod (1990) suggests that as well as a concern for others or a concern for the group as a whole, there is always an element of self-interest in any co-operative activity. A 'healthy' amount of competition, therefore, is an integral, and unavoidable, aspect of collaboration.
Fullan (1999: 4) makes use of complexity theory to illustrate how collaborations are at their most effective. Complexity theory:
...essentially claims that the link between cause and effect is difficult to trace, that change (planned and otherwise) unfolds in non-linear ways, that paradoxes and contradictions abound and that creative solutions arise out of interaction under conditions of uncertainty, diversity and instability.
This suggests that, rather than seeking to establish consensus and shared values, the diversity of views and experiences of group members offer potentially innovative solutions to problems. This theoretical perspective also suggests that collaborative activities pose considerable problems for managers of:
coping with and even using unpredictability, clashing counter-cultures, disensus, contention, conflict and inconsistency (Stacey, 1996:xix-xx)
The challenge for managers of collaborative groups is to maintain a situation which is poised on the edge of chaos. In other words, there must be just enough structure and top-down control to provide security whilst allowing freedom for creativity and innovation at 'ground' level. As I shall illustrate later in this paper, the Merseyside projects provide good examples of effective management of a range of agencies who, certainly when they first began working together, represented often conflicting values and organisational cultures.
The Local Context
In order to better understand the aims of the projects and the rationale for the composition of the consortium involved, the following section provides some background details.
The Merseyside Consortium
The agencies involved in the projects first came together as a consortium some years ago to bid for funding under the Youthstart Initiative. The group is now (after some initial changes in composition) made up of two FE colleges: Knowsley Community College and Liverpool Community College, The City of Liverpool Youth Service, Sefton Youth Service and Careerdecisions Ltd. The Integra project involves the two Colleges and Careerdecisions Ltd. The consortium has continued to work together on continuation projects. The two colleges do not compete for students as both serve different catchment areas. Knowsley has a main campus at Kirkby and other sites around the Knowsley district. Liverpool Community College is based in and around the City Centre. The same is true for the two Youth Services: the Liverpool Service operates mainly within the City whilst the Sefton Service is located in Southport with bases in the Sefton area. Other partners involved are Lancaster University (as external evaluators) and Liverpool Football Club. Youthstart is co-ordinated by a project manager at Knowsley College and Integra by a manager at Liverpool Community College.
Transnational Activities
As Youthstart and Integra are both EC-funded projects, transnational activities are an essential aspect of the collaborative nature of both projects. The aim of the transnational activities are the sharing of training systems and networked arrangements with transnational partners, the parallel development of working practices across transnational boundaries and the exchange of experiences and ideas through conferences and work placements. In the case of the latter, frequent visits take place where project staff, practitioners and, in some cases students, gain experience of the practical ways in which other countries are addressing the problem of disaffection. Visits to other projects and organisations are a particularly successful aspect of both projects and have resulted in extremely useful exchanges of ideas as well as other links being made and networks developed. The Merseyside consortium have worked, or are working, with organisations in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Greece, France, and Italy. Some joint materials have been developed (such as CD-ROMs).
The Projects
A (fairly) brief summary of the aims and main areas of activity of the projects illustrates the strong emphasis within the projects on collaborations and multi-agency strategies as an effective means of meeting the needs of the target groups. Not only did the consortium members make use of each others' experience and skills in their own particular areas of professional expertise, they were also able to draw on those of their transnational partners. Unlike other pan-European projects, 'working together' with partners in other countries (although not, as might be expected, without its problems) was by no means a 'cosmetic' exercise undertaken to meet project requirements but was a key element in bringing to the project fresh insights into common problems and concerns - not just for project management but also for the trainees and staff who took part in the transnational activities and, in particular, the visits to other transnational projects.
The broad objective of Youthstart[1](and the continuation project Youthlink which is currently running and being evaluated by CSET) is to produce new forms of guidance and support for 16-20 year old unemployed young people in Knowsley, Sefton and Liverpool which will build on approaches developed and shared with transnational partners. The target group specified is young people who remain outside available opportunities in further education, training or employment. Characteristics of this target group are lack of formal qualifications, low self-esteem and poor motivation. A major concern of Youthstart is, therefore, to overcome some of these barriers which exclude such young people from education, training and the labour market. The innovatory aspects of Youthstart are identified in the proposal as:
networking of complementary resources from those agencies working with disadvantaged unemployed 16-20 year olds
development of a common curriculum for the training and development of staff from these agencies
accreditation of the common curriculum and subsequent sharing with other communities
young people receiving training and national accreditation to assist with careers counselling and guidance
networking with all local institutions who are involved in Colleges, Youth Service, Social Service, Careers Service and Employment Service
peer counselling and guidance
young people and professionals forming a team that will offer an outreach careers guidance and counselling service
availability of a competence-based Youth and Community Work qualification aimed specifically at part time and volunteer workers
During the course of the project, some of these innovatory aspects were modified as a result of unforeseen changes in the constitution of the originally planned consortium.
The intended quantitative outcomes by which the innovative nature of the project would be measured were identified as:
1.the establishment of a coherent network of agencies
2.the number of agencies' staff receiving accredited training
3.the number of careers/guidance information sessions held at outreach centres within the community
4.the number of people receiving national accreditation for counselling and guidance
5.the number of institutions networking careers/guidance in the Merseyside area
In order to meet the project objectives, each of the partner organisations undertook a range of activities. It is beyond the scope and intention of this paper to describe all the project activity which took place. Just some examples of the considerable volume of work which took place include:
research into the experiences of young people who are homeless and/or in care on Merseyside and across the UK and the production of a profile to inform the development of mentoring packages for use with the group
asurvey of young people in focus groups in order to identify gaps in their social/learning development with the aim of informing the development and production of Life Skills packages
the development of enhanced 'customised' guidance packages as part of a mentoring support programme
consultations with school staff in order to identify Year 11 students who had indicated an intention to go to college on leaving school and who appeared to be at risk of either failing to start FE or of 'dropping-out' of the FE system at an early stage
development of study skills packages including 'Revision Strategies', 'Exam Techniques' and 'Research Skills' and the adaptation of existing psychometric assessment tests to address the needs of those young people most at risk of dropping out of the system
a series of events ('bridging' programmes) in two inner-city schools designed to motivate young people towards participation in FE.
identification of courses at Liverpool Community College with unsatisfactory retention rates and the development of new materials and incorporation of existing psychometric assessment materials into a motivational programme designed to increase these retention rates
production of English and Maths Football Packs developed for the two Colleges in collaboration with Liverpool Football Club.
development of a Youth Forum project designed to empower young people to have a role in the economic development of a part of inner Liverpool linked to Objective 1 developments
action planning for life skills aimed at young women
the strengthening of links with Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Social Services Offices, the Probation Service, the YMCA, hostels for young people, the Merseyside Commission for Racial Equality and a number of Liverpool schools.
production of a handbook 'What Now?' by Liverpool Youth Service which contains information on a comprehensive range of topics relevant to young people.
activities for young people centred around a part-time programme intended to bring the target group back within the auspices of the Youth Service. This programme, called New Opportunities, was an accredited modular course with topics covering such issues as time management, team building, verbal and non-verbal communication, assertiveness awareness, identifying strengths and weaknesses, accessing employment and training, interview skills and numeracy skills
the development of a student booklet containing IT competences through investigating support and guidance services
staff training in, for example, information technology, motivational interviewing techniques, the preparation of learning materials, specific issues relating to the 16-20 year old age group (e.g. tutorial training, advice and guidance), counselling/working with students with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, working with students with special learning difficulties (e.g. signing, diagnostic screening).
Unlike Youthstart, the Integra[2]project is aimed specifically at older target groups (i.e. the very long term unemployed, offenders subject to statutory supervision, lone parents). Drawing on the experience and expertise of their transnational partners in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal, the objectives of the Merseyside partners within the project (the two FE Colleges and Careerdecisions Ltd) are to:
offer new and relevant forms of guidance to targeted groups of adults, suffering severe hardship, in Knowsley and Liverpool
improve staff training to increase the number of professionally qualified guidance staff available
share best practice both within the Merseyside partnership and the transnational partners
improve the quality of guidance provided by adopting agreed Quality Standards within the lifetime of the project
produce a guidance tool kit and materials for use with the target groups and similar groups elsewhere beyond the lifetime of the project.
Activities undertaken so far by Integra include the development of a tutorial pack by Liverpool Community College which includes case studies of ex-College students who have since progressed into training or employment. The case studies are intended to provide disaffected adults with 'role models' and to motivate and encourage active planning and goal setting. Knowsley Community College have produced (and trialled) a CD-ROM multimedia package to act as a guidance tool for use by tutors working in Outreach centres. This holds information on all courses that are on offer in the local centres and at the College and can be accessed by individuals to assist them with decisions about their future options. As well as course information, it also provides details of benefits, grants and childcare facilities. Evaluations indicate that those students who have tried the CD-ROM are very impressed with the range of information offered and the interesting way in which this is presented to them. Careerdecisions have designed and delivered a series of training events for guidance staff aimed at preparing careers advisors and careers assistants for working with unemployed and disaffected adults - a new and challenging client group for many staff.
As well as the Youthstart project, CSET were also involved in the evaluation of two other projects aimed at combating disaffection and disadvantage: Horizon and NOW(New opportunities for Women) which were both based at, and run by, Knowsley Community College. In the case of these two projects the collaborative elements involved strong links and co-operative activities with transnational partners. The overall aim of Horizon was to develop a new multi-media information training programme which would involve drawing upon the expertise of each of the three transnational partners in the project so that: