Hugs and behaviour points: Alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth

Thomson, Patricia; Pennacchia, Jodie

doi:10.1080/13603116.2015.1102340

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…From the author’s experience of working in an AEP for 11‐17 year olds for over eleven years, and consistent within the limited research literature available (see, for example, Thomson and Pennacchia, ), reintegration into mainstream, or indeed a special school, is highly unlikely. For instance, the seven participants discussed in this current study were referred to the AEP because of expulsion or for non‐attendance and none have ‐ or will ‐ return to mainstream education.…”

Section: Education Other Than At School (Eotas)mentioning

confidence: 63%

‘There is more flexibility to meet my needs’: Educational experiences of autistic young people in Mainstream and Alternative Education Provision

Goodall¹

2019

Support for Learning

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Through a qualitative rights informed study, using semi‐structured interviews and a range of participatory approaches, seven autistic teenage boys in Northern Ireland discuss their educational experiences in mainstream school and within an Alternative Education Provision (AEP). Their experiences and advice demonstrate that the relational aspects of education, the understanding and flexibility afforded in the AEP, within a less socially intense, more predictable and less overwhelming environment and with other young people who had ‘similar’ educational experiences, better supported their needs. In short, for most of them, an accessible education and the feeling of inclusion was found within the AEP as opposed to the mainstream school they attended previously.

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Section: Education Other Than At School (Eotas)mentioning

confidence: 63%

‘There is more flexibility to meet my needs’: Educational experiences of autistic young people in Mainstream and Alternative Education Provision

Goodall¹

2019

Support for Learning

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“…While staff within PRUs have traditionally drawn on practices associated with social pedagogy, an ethic of care and a strong moral imperative to carry out their work, research has suggested that this has begun to change, particularly within the English education system (Thomson and Pennacchia, 2016). This work has illustrated how this informal, socially driven or therapeutic form of schooling has been challenged by recent policy changes which have exposed PRUs to more external accountability measures, reframing how they are run and changing the practices within them (Thomson and Pennacchia, 2016). For instance, in Thomson and Pennacchia's study (2016), processes for proving effectiveness of the profession were in place, where 'progress had to be visible and measured'.…”

Section: Pupil Referral Unit Practice: a Form Of Social Pedagogy?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst the teacher in charge recognised the need for care and support, there was also the necessity for improved educational outcomes. These external pressures were clearly more apparent to the head teacher, who articulated a shift in focus at the PRU like practices elsewhere (Thomson and Pennacchia, 2016). The head outlined a more traditional form of schooling that they were now aiming for, with an emphasis on learning and academic performance: … I think the big change has been … creating a team of staff who see themselves as a team … and we've had to accelerate that because of external pressures to improve, from Estyn and organisations like that … But bringing the focus on … teaching and learning has been the other really big change.…”

Section: External Accountabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These changes which are associated with a greater degree of external accountability measures and an increase in bureaucracy, have reframed teachers' and headteachers' professional practice. To what degree this reframing has occurred for staff in Welsh PRUs has not been researched, although political reform and external accountability has resulted in a significant shift in the professional role and identity of teachers working within PRUs in the English education system (Thomson and Pennacchia, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Care and Education. a Case Study: Understanding Professional Roles and Identities of Teachers Within A Welsh Pru

Smith¹,

Connolly²

2019

wales j educ

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This paper considers the professional work of teachers within Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) in Wales. Traditionally neglected by both policy and research, PRUs have become a focus of attention due to debates around attainment and the 'off rolling' of pupils from traditional schooling. Drawing on data from an ethnographic study of one Welsh PRU, this paper illustrates how teachers working within PRUs see themselves as occupying a hybrid space between teacher and social worker within a social pedagogic approach to teaching. We illustrate how this approach is underpinned by a strong moral and ethical account of their professional work. From this we illustrate how policy scrutiny and Welsh educational reforms have resulted in changes to teachers' perceptions of their working role and identity. While this policy focus is welcomed we suggest that any accountability frameworks introduced to judge Welsh PRU success need to adopt a highly contextualised approach which recognises the complex needs and backgrounds of PRU pupils and does not reduce success to only measures of academic attainment. By recognising the hybrid nature of professional practice and developing metrics of success which capture the social as well as academic needs of pupils within the Welsh PRU setting, Welsh Government (WG) will reinforce the social pedagogic approach of Welsh PRU teachers.

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“…As we have reported in detail elsewhere (Thomson & Pennacchia, 2015), AE disciplinary approaches are now strongly framed by the need to 'show' what is happening to, with and for students. This has lead to student attendance and conduct being monitored, graded and graphed across lessons, days, weeks and terms.…”

Section: The Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disciplinary regimes of ‘care’ and complementary alternative education

Thomson

Pennacchia

2015

Critical Studies in Education

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In schools, the notion of 'care is often synonymous with welfare and disciplinary regimes. Drawing on Foucault, and a study of alternative education across the UK, and looking in depth at two cases of complementary alternative education, we identify three types of disciplinary regimes at work in schools: (1) dominant performative reward and punishment, (2) team building and (3) therapeutic. We argue that while all three regimes aim to steer identified students back to the norm, the two complementary approaches that we saw avoided the narrow instrumental behaviourist approaches of the dominant pattern. In so doing, they also opened up wider horizons of possibility and ways to be and become.

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Hugs and behaviour points: Alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth

Cited by 19 publications

References 32 publications

‘There is more flexibility to meet my needs’: Educational experiences of autistic young people in Mainstream and Alternative Education Provision

‘There is more flexibility to meet my needs’: Educational experiences of autistic young people in Mainstream and Alternative Education Provision

Care and Education. a Case Study: Understanding Professional Roles and Identities of Teachers Within A Welsh Pru

Disciplinary regimes of ‘care’ and complementary alternative education

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