Stephen Baron

The cultural mediation of state policy: the democratic potential of new community schooling in Scotland

The purpose of this paper is to assess the democratic potential of New Community Schools (NCS) as developed by the Scottish Executive in one of its first major educational initiatives. It traces the background to the initiative, locates it within the particular circumstances of the historical, political and cultural contexts of Scotland, and defines its particular ambivalence with regard to deliberative democracy. This ambivalence, it is argued, results from the mediation of state policy. Policy, we argue, does not so much ‘migrate’ as become culturally ‘mediated’ in generative local contexts. It has to accommodate itself to, and be assimilated by, different national cultures - even, perhaps especially, across the national boundaries of an increasingly devolved UK, framed simultaneously by a global context. The paper evaluates NCS in terms of the ends and purposes of deliberative democracy under such conditions of possibility. Finally, it infers from the early NCS experience a number of conditions for democratic renewal.

The concept of the learning society for adults with learning difficulties: human and social capital perspectives

In this paper, it is argued that adults with learning difficulties represent a significant marginalized group within society whose experiences may shed light on a range of political and social values affecting those in the mainstream, as well as on the periphery. We begin by considering some possible meanings of the learning society and some features of the social and economic context which have promoted interest in the concept. An economistic reading of the learning society may prove problematic for adults with learning difficulties, since it may be argued that this group is unlikely to be highly productive and therefore will not provide a good return on money invested in education and training. Although an emphasis on social capital may lead to the inclusion of people with learning difficulties, this outcome is by no means automatic since high levels of social cohesion may be based on the ruthless exclusion of those regarded as deviant. Finally, we suggest some ways in which promoting the concept of lif...

Gender, social capital and lifelong learning for people with learning difficulties

Social capital is currently a very popular idea in social science. In this article, it is argued that the idea of social capital has tended to be developed in a somewhat unidimensional way which takes little account of wider social factors which structure peoples lives. A gender critique of social capital ideas is developed and the extent to which social capital theory may be useful in understanding the ways in which lifelong learning is experienced by people with learning difficulties is ubsequently considered. It is argued that social capital thinking is useful in understanding the nature and effects of peoples social networks, but that social capital will be limited in its usefulness until existing theories incorporate wider sociological understandings.

Models of disability: the relationship between theory and practice in non-statutory organizations

Drawing on a study exploring the meaning of the ‘learning society’ for adults with learning difficulties, this article examines the relationship between theory and practice in a number of voluntary and user organizations active in the learning disability field. It begins by outlining the ethos of normalization and the social model of disability. Nine out of 10 organizations taking part in the study explicitly or implicitly identified the social model as the main framework for their activities. However, significant inconsistencies in agencies’ accounts are identified at theoretical, policy and practice levels. A number of possible explanations for these findings are examined.

From Washington Heights to the Raploch: Evidence, Mediation, and the Genealogy of Policy

This paper provides an analysis of the New Community Schools (NCS) initiative as developed in Scotland. As our analysis makes clear the evidential base of this development was, at the outset, extremely slender. From that base, however, NCS has migrated to diverse localities within which it has had significant impact while itself being impacted upon by local conditions and contexts. We are particularly interested in the democratic potential of this process of migration: the extent to which, and ways in which, localities can speak back to the centralising sources of power through the mediation of policy. Our analysis focuses on NCS from inception, through formal announcement by the then Scottish Office, to the first year of implementation within a particular local authority in central Scotland. The paper is organised around what we see as three major shifts in the migration of NCS during this early period of its development. We argue that evidence of how, why, and to what effect policy ‘travels’ is crucial not only for the purposes of academic analysis, but also to the effective implementation of policy at the local level. Our central concern is with the self-reflexive development of policy through the formative analysis of evidence relating to its mediation.

Captured Customers: people with learning difficulties in the social market

Abstract This article explores the experiences of education, training and employment services for people with learning difficulties, examining the operation of the social market across these different spheres. It begins by discussing some broad features of the market within the public policy arena and the particular models adopted in post‐school education, training and community care. Subsequently, drawing on the research project The Meaning of the Learning Society for Adults with Learning Difficulties the authors interrogate the accounts given by different professional groups of the way in which the market works in practice and juxtapose these with the experiences of people with learning difficulties whose lives were explored through ethnographic case studies. The authors conclude that the choices of those with the most significant learning difficulties are restricted because of their impairments, but some degree of choice is possible for all. For most people with learning difficulties, choices are restr...

Training from cradle to grave? Social justice and training for people with learning difficulties

In this paper we question whether the radical change in the life situation of people with learning difficulties triggered by the closure of long‐stay hospitals does in fact represent an adequate inclusion into civil society or whether people with learning difficulties continue to experience strong exclusionary tendencies. We will explore the implications of a range of contemporary social justice theories for people with learning difficulties and examine the justice inherent in arrangements for training people with learning difficulties made by Local Enterprise Companies (LECs). We argue that training may be seen as a crucible of social values since its distribution transmits powerful messages about who is considered salvageable or unsalvageable, who is likely to become economically active and who is to be consigned to some special status of otherness. Finally, we consider what conceptualizations of social justice might hold out most hope for people with learning difficulties.

Welfare for those who can? The impact of the quasi-market on the lives of people with learning difficulties

This article, drawing on the research findings from the ESRC-funded project ‘The Meaning of the Learning Society for Adults with Learning Difficulties’ explores how the introduction of the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act, with its emphasis on the establishment of a ‘mixed economy’ in social care, has affected the lives of people with learning difficulties living in a rural area of Scotland. The impact of the quasi-market, in particular the purchaser–provider split and the operation of contracts, on the lives of three adults with learning difficulties is examined.