anil
A service, a ‘way of working’, or a profession? A discourse analysis of community education/ community learning and development in Scotland
Howard Sercombe, Gordon Mackie, and Anne Ryan
All of University of Strathclyde, UK
Community based informal education, like other practices, is fundamentally shaped by the discourses under which it is constituted. In Scotland, since 1975, the practice has been formally established by government policy as an amalgam of youth work, adult education and community development under a discourse of informal education. This combination carries its own internal tensions alongside the continually contested relationship between the field of practice and the State. This study analyses key documents in order to chart the shifts in discourse around the constitution of Community Education/Community Learning and Development (CE/CLD) since 1975. The analysis reveals the force of managerialist discourses which transformed understandings of the practice from post-war welfare state discourses as a service, to its reshaping as technique under New Labour. Current discursive work is directed to its reconstitution (still somewhat ambivalently) as a profession. This ‘re-professionalisation’ connects with similar movements in medicine, social work, parole and teaching which are attempting to reduce the costs of actuarial disciplinary techniques (in record-keeping, reporting, and the generation of outcome data) by returning professional trust and judgment to practitioners.
Keywords: Community, youth, adult, competency, managerialism, professionalization
Introduction
Community work as a field of activity in Scotland is at the same time an old practice and a relatively new one. The practice traces its origins to the social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century (Cooke, 2006; Tett, 2006), with focused State involvement emerging progressively through the twentieth century, accelerated by rapid social change
Howard Sercombe, Gordon Mackie, and Anne Ryan
All of University of Strathclyde, UK
Community based informal education, like other practices, is fundamentally shaped by the discourses under which it is constituted. In Scotland, since 1975, the practice has been formally established by government policy as an amalgam of youth work, adult education and community development under a discourse of informal education. This combination carries its own internal tensions alongside the continually contested relationship between the field of practice and the State. This study analyses key documents in order to chart the shifts in discourse around the constitution of Community Education/Community Learning and Development (CE/CLD) since 1975. The analysis reveals the force of managerialist discourses which transformed understandings of the practice from post-war welfare state discourses as a service, to its reshaping as technique under New Labour. Current discursive work is directed to its reconstitution (still somewhat ambivalently) as a profession. This ‘re-professionalisation’ connects with similar movements in medicine, social work, parole and teaching which are attempting to reduce the costs of actuarial disciplinary techniques (in record-keeping, reporting, and the generation of outcome data) by returning professional trust and judgment to practitioners.
Keywords: Community, youth, adult, competency, managerialism, professionalization
Introduction
Community work as a field of activity in Scotland is at the same time an old practice and a relatively new one. The practice traces its origins to the social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century (Cooke, 2006; Tett, 2006), with focused State involvement emerging progressively through the twentieth century, accelerated by rapid social change
References: Barr, A., Hamilton, R., & Purcell, R. (1996). Learning for change: community education and community development. Glasgow: Community Development Foundation. Beck, J. (2008). Governmental professionalism: re-professionalising or de-professionalising teachers in England? British Journal of Educational Studies, 56(2), 119-143. Bidwell, L., & McConnell, C Brown, M. (1994). An introduction to the discourse on competency-based training (CBT). In M. Brown et al., (Eds.) A collection of readings related to competency-based training: EAE604 curriculum and competencies. Geelong: Deakin University. Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Programs (1985). Report of the Committee of Inquiry into labour market programs: overview of the report and recommendations (The Kirby Report). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. Cooke, A Downing, L. (2008). The Cambridge introduction to Michel Foucault. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Driver, S., & Martell, L. (1997). New Labour’s communitarianisms. Critical Social Policy, 17 (52) 27-46. Duyvendak, J.W., Knijn, T., & Kremer, M. (Eds.). (2006). Policy, people and the new professional: de-professionalisation and re-professionalisation in care and welfare. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Elam, S. (1971). Performance based teacher education. What is the state of the art? Washington, D.C.: Association of American Colleges for Teacher Education. Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical discourse analysis. In T. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse as social interaction (pp.258-284). London: Sage. Foucault, M. (1961). Madness and civilisation. London: Tavistock. Foucault, M. (1984a). The history of sexuality: an introduction. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Foucault, M. (1984b). On the genealogy of ethics: an overview of work in progress. In P. Rabinow, (Ed). The Foucault Reader (pp. 340-372). New York: Pantheon Books. Foucault, M. (1986). What is an author? In In P. Rabinow, (Ed.), The Foucault reader (pp. 101-120). New York: Pantheon Books. Gee, J.P. (2004). Discourse analysis: what makes it critical? In R. Rogers (Ed.), An introduction to critical discourse analysis in education (pp. 23-45). Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates. Hacking, I. (1986). Making up people. In T.C. Heller et al. (Eds.), Reconstructing individualism (pp. 222-236). Stanford: Stanford University Press. Harris, J. (1998). Scientific management, bureau-professionalism, new managerialism: the labour process of state social work. British Journal of Social Work, 28(6), 839-862. Hilferty, F Jeffs, T., & Smith, M.K. (2005). Informal education: conversation, democracy and learning. Nottingham: Educational Heretics Press. Kirkwood, C Koehn, D. (1994). The ground of professional ethics. London: Routledge. Malcolm, H., Wilson, V., Hamilton, S. (2002). Working for democracy: review of community education training. Glasgow: University of Glasgow/Scottish Council for Research in Education. McConnell, C. (1997). The making of an empowering profession. Edinburgh: Scottish Community Education Council. Milburn, T., & Wallace, D. (2003). Community education, community learning and development. In T.G.K. Bryce, & W.M. Humes (Eds.), Scottish education: post-devolution (pp. 865-874). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Ministry of Education (1960) Nash, V., & Christie, I. (2003). Making sense of community. London: Institute for Public Policy Research. Rabinow, P. (1986). The Foucault reader. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Rogers, R., Malancharuvil-Berkes, E., Mosley, M., Hui, D., & Joseph, G. (2005). Critical discourse analysis in education: a review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 75(3), 365-416. Scottish Community Education Council (1984) Scottish Education Department (1975). Adult education: the challenge of change. Report by a Committee of Inquiry (The Alexander Report). Edinburgh: HMSO. Scottish Executive Education Department. (1999). Communities: Change through Learning (The Osler Report). Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Scottish Executive (2002) Scottish Executive (2003). Empowered to practice: the future of community learning and development training in Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive. Scottish Executive (2004). Working and learning together to build stronger communities. Edinburgh: Learning Connections. Scottish Executive (2006). Strengthening standards: improving the quality of community learning and development service delivery (The Milburn Report). Edinburgh: Scottish Executive. Sercombe, H. (1996). Naming youth: the construction of the youth category. Unpublished PhD thesis, Murdoch University, Perth. Sercombe, H Shain, F., & Gleeson, D. (1999). Under new management: changing conceptualisations of teacher professionalism and policy in the further education sector. Journal of Education Policy, 14 (4), 445-462. Simmons, J Strathern, M. (2000). Audit cultures: anthropological studies in accountability, ethics and the academy. London: Routledge. Tett, L. (2006). Community education, lifelong learning and social inclusion. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press. Van Dijk, T. (1985). Discourse and communication. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2009). Methods of critical discourse analysis. London: Sage.