Session Information
05 SES 04, Impact of Extended Schools and Area Based Initiative
Paper Session
Contribution
Across Europe, social and economic disadvantage are spatially concentrated. In urban areas especially, populations often experience multiple forms of disadvantage – including low educational attainment, poor housing, ill heath and unemployment (National Statistics, 2005). An ongoing challenge for education professionals is how to intervene effectively in these areas to break the link between education and disadvantage. Various European countries have a history of area-based initiatives (ABIs) which have tried to shape local education provision in response to an area’s distinct problems and possibilities (Demeuse et al., in press). These include Zones d’Education Prioritaires in France, Territórios Educativos de Intervenção Prioritária in Portugal, and in England, Education Actions Zones, Excellence in Cities and City Challenges.
Research suggests that ABIs have typically had limited impacts (Benabou et al., 2005; Rees et al., 2007) and experienced a number of common difficulties. In each country, the initial intention has been to develop ABIs in partnership with families, communities, and local administrations. In practice, however, they have typically become narrowly focused on issues determined by national priorities, rather than on local needs as identified by those in the area (Hatcher & Leblond 2001; Power et al 2005). A second general issue is that ABI’s aims, the actions they take, and the outcomes they anticipate, are often not clearly expressed or connected in any meaningful way (Dyson et al., 2009). For example, it is frequently assumed that improving examination results will improve employment rates – though how this will happen is rarely articulated (Dyson & Raffo, 2007). What if the area’s economic infrastructure is poor and there are limited employment opportunities? How will improving examination results change this situation?
With these issues in mind, this paper presents data from an ongoing study of an ABI being developed by a local municipal authority in England, which involves redeveloping all the authority’s educational provision for students aged 11-19. The ABI is innovative because it is locally generated (despite being in the context of a highly-centralised national education system); and rather than focusing on school improvement per se, it understands education as inextricably linked to the area’s social and economic regeneration.
The study has taken a Theory of Change approach (Connell & Kubisch, 1998; Connell & Klem, 2000; Mason & Barnes, 2007), its overarching research question being: What is the initiative’s underlying theory of change for the area? To explore this, the research has involved researchers working with those who are central to the initiative to:
- clarify the area-based issues it is intended to address; its anticipated long-term outcomes; its mains actions, and how, precisely, these are expected to lead to the intended outcomes
- map out, step-by-step, the intermediate changes that might be expected if the actions are leading towards the outcomes as anticipated.
As well as exploring what the initiative might achieve and the implications for other ABIs, the paper will also demonstrate the value of a Theory of Change approach in foregrounding misplaced assumptions, fuzzy aims, missing links, or potential tensions in the initiative’s plans.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bénabou, R., Kramarz, F. & Prost, C. (2005) The French Zones d'Education Prioritaire: Much ado about nothing? CEPR Discussion Paper No. 5085. Connell, J. & Klem, A.M. (2000) You can get there from here: using a theory of change approach to plan urban education reform, Journal of Educational and Psychological Consulting, 11(1), pp. 93-120. Connell, J.P. & Kubisch, A.C. (1998) Applying a theory of change approach to the evaluation of comprehensive community initiatives: progress, prospects and problems, in: K. Fulbright-Anderson, A.C. Kubisch & J.P. Connell (Eds) New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives. Volume 2: Theory, measurement and analysis (Queenstown, The Aspen Institute). Demeuse, M., Frandji, D., Greger, D. & Rochex, J.-Y. (Eds.) (in press) Évolution des politiques d’éducation prioritaire en Europe: Conceptions, mises en œuvres, débats (Lyon, INRP). Dyson, A., Jones, L. and Kerr, K. (2009) Inclusion and social disadvantage in the English education system: the role of area-based initiatives. Paper presented in the international research forum, ‘A Comparative Analysis of Equity in Inclusive Education’, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, U.S.A., 2-4 February 2009 Dyson, A. & Raffo, C. (2007) Education and disadvantage: the role of community-oriented schools, Oxford Review of Education, 33(3), pp. 297-314. Hatcher, R. & Leblond, D. (2001) Education action zones and zones d’education prioritaires, in: S. Riddell & L. Tett (Eds) Education, Social Justice and Inter-agency Working: joined up or fractured policy? (London, Routledge). Mason, P. & Barnes, M. (2007) Constructing theories of change: methods and sources, Evaluation, 13(2), pp. 151-170. Power, S., Rees, G. & Taylor, C. (2005) New Labour and educational disadvantage: the limits of area-based initiatives, London Review of Education, 3(2), pp. 101-116. Rees, G., Power, S. & Taylor, C. (2007) The governance of educational inequalities: the limits of area-based initiatives, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 9(3), pp. 261-274.
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