Lisa Russell

It's a question of trust: balancing the relationship between students and teachers in ethnographic fieldwork

The experiences encountered as a young, novice, female, white, northern English ethnographer investigating the sensitive topic of student resistance are examined. Research was conducted in two comprehensive secondary schools in Birmingham (England) and a state governed school situated in Sydney (Australia). The implications of investigating student resistance and the importance of how the researchers’ personal dispositions influence the research process are discussed. The significance of the role the researcher adopts in the school and how this impacts upon how the researcher experiences leaving the field are examined. The predicaments an ethnographer can find themselves in when trying to balance the trust relationship between students and teachers are discussed.

An arts project failed, censored or … ? A critical incident approach to artist–school partnerships

When a successful primary school engaged a writer to work with children on an arts project, the teachers and the writer thought that the result would be a lively, publishable product. When the writer worked with the children, he thought that he should use the childrens experiences and ideas as a basis for meaningful and engaged composition. However, the result was a text which the head‐teacher and her staff felt was inappropriate. They were concerned that it could bring disapproval from parents and possible adverse publicity. The head refused to publish but continues to worry about this decision. The writer describes the project as censored. In this paper, we suggest that this critical incident raises important questions about the nature of ‘partnership’ between artists and schools and the role of the flagship Creative Partnerships policy and programme. We suggest some possibilities for dealing with such situations in future and argue that Creative Partnerships must do more to promote dialogue about the critical role of the arts and artists in society.

Space, place and social exclusion: an ethnographic study of young people outside education and employment

This paper reports on the first two years of a longitudinal ethnographic study of 20 young people in northern England who have been officially classified as not in education, employment or training (NEET). Drawing on Henri Lefebvres conceptualisation of space as perceived, conceived and lived, this paper analyses how young people comprehend, use and encounter places and spaces relating to residence, work and learning, and the role of spatialities in reproducing or interrupting aspects of social exclusion and marginality. A number of key themes emerging from the data are discussed, including the interaction of conceived, perceived and lived space in young peoples struggles for subjectivity, the importance of agency and biography in shaping how different lived spaces emerge from this interaction, and the possibility of critical incidents causing shifts in lived space that intensify the difficulties young people face in finding appropriate education or employment. A particularly significant finding is that participants often feel isolated and lack control over their lives, resulting in alienation from authority and community that tends to further marginalise these young people, distancing them from meaningful contexts of education, training and work.

Data, data everywhere – but not all the numbers that count? Mapping alternative provisions for students excluded from school

It is now mandatory for English schools to ensure that young people, under 16 years of age, who are excluded from school are placed in an education and training programme within 12 days. The programme must be at least half time, and should offer a meaningful and balanced curriculum. The Every Child Matters agenda also suggests that schools must coordinate services with other agencies to ensure that young people deemed ‘at risk’ are assisted to stay in mainstream schooling. Our research project examined the educational and training provisions for permanently excluded pupils, and young people likely to be permanently excluded, across two Midlands counties. The research focus – who gets what – is fundamental to questions of equity, access and participation. The findings suggest that, despite some very good local practices and highly skilled practitioners, there is a lack of coordinated data about which programmes exist and who attends, and a proliferation of programmes with varying funding sources, costs, entry practices, and qualifications. It is argued that this situation bodes poorly for monitoring and for ensuring the entitlement to education and training of those young people who are most marginalised by and through their schooling. However, we are concerned about the possibilities for further intensification of staff work and increased surveillance on young people if our recommendations for equity monitoring and better quality control were to go ahead.

Ordinary lives: an ethnographic study of young people attending Entry to Employment programmes

This paper discusses the findings from a one-year ethnographic study of young people attending Entry to Employment (E2E) programmes in two local authorities in the north of England. The paper locates E2E within the broader context of provision for low-achieving young people and of UK government policy on reducing the proportion of young people who are not in education, employment or training. Although discourses associated with these categories of young people often present them in negative terms, the paper shows that this type of conceptualisation is inadequate to understand the lives of young people on the margins of education and employment. The paper also finds that the success of E2E in improving employability is mixed. The programme helps young people to improve their confidence, basic skills and personal effectiveness, as well as provides opportunities to acquire qualifications. However, employability is also linked to broader social and economic factors. Although E2E can help young people gain employment, particularly in relatively low-skill areas of work, in adverse economic conditions, the programme is unlikely to offer participants a labour market advantage.

Researching marginalised young people

Young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) are not a static, homogenous group. For most, being NEET is a temporary state as they move between different forms of participation and non-participation. This paper explores how the complexities of defining NEET, the re-structuring of the careers service and the nature of post-16 provision shape the way young people are identified, accessed and participate in ethnographies. Data drawn from a study exploring the experiences of being NEET are used to investigate the complexities involved when doing ethnography with ‘hard-to-reach’ young people. Challenges include gaining and maintaining access; conducting multiple site ethnography; and taking account of the socio-political context. Working with NEET young people across multiple sites and using various data collection techniques compound the issue of consent. This paper reveals how ethics, power and consent were experienced by the ethnographer and the young people. There is a need to understand how ethnographies are done in order to clarify how specific issues can be avoided and overcome.

Young people and labour market marginality: findings from a longitudinal ethnographic study

This paper is based on findings from a longitudinal study of 20 young people who have spent significant periods of time categorised as NEET (not in education, employment or training). Drawing on 3 years of ethnographic research conducted across two local authorities in the north of England, it focuses on the lived experience of a set of young people as they move between various sites of exclusion and participation in the labour market. Central to the paper are the experiences of three individuals and their attempts to begin work in the retail, care and catering industries. The paper illustrates a range of tensions between the aspirations of young people and the opportunities open to them. It provides a critical insight into some of the conditions which characterise work on the fringes of the labour market and the interplay between these and the attitudes, values and dispositions of the young people taking part in the research. The papers findings challenge popular discourses about young people on the margins of participation and pose questions about the articulation between education, work and training for those seeking to enter the labour market.

Playing the numbers game: Connexions personal advisers working with learners on entry to employment programmes

Transitions of young people from school to employment, further education or training have been a focus of government policy in the UK for at least the last three decades. Since the late 1990s, numerous policy initiatives have been introduced by New Labour in an attempt to reduce social exclusion through the increased participation of young people in work‐related training. This paper reports on a mixed‐methods research project exploring Entry to Employment (E2E) provision in the north of England. It outlines the experiences of Connexions practitioners working with learners and staff at four E2E providers and illustrates the complexities involved with young peoples transitions to and from E2E programmes. The paper shows that a marketised system driven by targets and funding constraints can compromise the ability of practitioners to best meet the needs of young people struggling with often difficult circumstances.

If these walls could speak: reading displays of primary children's work

The first thing a visitor notices when entering Hollytree primary school is the art-work displayed on every wall. This paper, based on a three-year ethnographic study of the school, mobilizes field notes and interview and photographic data to probe the meanings of this visual ‘display’. We argue that the walls (re)produce and promote normative meanings of ‘good work’, the ‘good student’, the ‘good teacher’ and the ‘good school’, which serve both internal and external purposes. They are also a means of promoting an inclusive culture which, while true of arts activities, may not always be the case in mainstream classes. In addition, the school walls support aspects of the school timetable of collective work, and also constitute resources for children to construct narratives about their collective and individual histories in the school.

Mentoring is not for you!: mentee voices on managing their mentoring experience

Learning mentoring programmes can be effective tools for increasing social, personal and educational development for young people. This article explores the views of girl mentees who experienced difficulty managing their mentoring programme within their school. Mentoring can be employed in different ways with different pupils to help the overall academic reputation of the school as well as helping individuals work through social and academic issues. The overarching finding from this research is that mentoring programmes can benefit relatively high achieving girls as well as those who may be defined as a ‘problem’ for the school. Schools that bring in outside agencies to assist those pupils considered in need of some extra support need to clearly communicate the mentor’s role and purpose to all members of school staff to ensure that effective mentoring can take place and sit comfortably within the school’s social inclusion policy.