Transcript Document

Curriculum: A Paralysing Policy?
• Consider Concept of Curriculum
• Context in Northern Ireland Pre-Curriculum
• Curriculum Three Periods
– Curriculum Imposed (1987-1996)
– Curriculum Integrated (1997-2003)
– Curriculum Decline (2003-2013)
• Conclusions
• What Next?
Curriculum in Youth Work
• Many meanings and Different Definitions
• total curriculum 'totality of experiences within
the provision
• Control, culture, emphasis on knowledge
• Product- instrumental/ passive, hierarchical &
linear
• Process- Development/ Active/ Autonomous/
Experience/ Competence/ Overt Values
The Northern Ireland Context
• The Troubles
– the most sustained violent conflict over National
Identity in Europe (Acheson 2006:13)Over 3700
deaths (equivalent to 11,500 fatalities in Finland
115,000 in UK, 600,000 in USA (Hargie 2003))
– 1969-1976 are considered the most violent period and
accounts for over 1/2 deaths
• Political Upheaval
– Suspension of the regional parliament (Stormount)
– Public sector response to street violence and civil
unrest
Impact of Troubles on Local
Government
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'Direct Rule' Ministers in Westminster
Highly centralized system of public administration
Local government emasculated
Key services transferred to Quangos
Structure was intended to be a-political
Youth work clearly linked to education Youth
Work separated from Community Development
Pre-Curriculum Youth Work
• 1972 & 1973 Youth Work Provision Statutory
Duty
• £125,000 in 1972, £3.5 Million in 1975/76£8
Million by 1980143 Purpose Built Centres, fulltime posts, professional training,
• Emphasis on sport and recreation targeted at the
"assumed needs of young men." (Harland &
Morgan 2003)
• 'Hidden Curriculum' = diversionary/ social
control/ Prevent Civil Unrest
1980’s Post Welfarism
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UK Conservative Government (1979)
"Political & social climate changed" (Davis)
Monetarist policies to reduce inflation and expenditure
Unemployment in UK was 12.5%, in North England
16% in Northern Ireland 20%, in some areas 30%
• Levels remained high throughout the 1980's
• Large focus on Community Based Employment
• Hidden Curriculum = Diversionary/ Social Control/
Economic
Curriculum Imposition
• Concept of a National or 'Core' curriculum in schools
could be applied to youth work (Similar in other parts
of UK)
• Imposed by a 'Direct Rule' minister from England in
1987
• Policy Define objectives of youth services
– To promote greater understanding/ Cross community
involvement
– Service to others
– Social education
– Partnership between YP/ Adults/ Community
– Opportunity to express views and participate
– Entrepreneurship
ELB (NI) Order 1986
The Education and Library Board Youth
Services operates under Article 33 of the
Education and Library Board (N.I.) Order
1986.
Each Board shall secure the provision for its
area of adequate facilities for recreational,
social, physical, cultural and youth service
activities and for services ancillary to
education and for that purpose.........
1987 Programme Core Requirements
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Equal Participation
Cross Community
Counselling provision
Voluntary community service
Opportunities to test values and beliefs
Develop political awareness
Involvement in creative and aesthetic activities
Provision of sport
Youth enterprise schemes
Response from the Youth Sector
• Initial reaction was 'confusion & panic‘
• Two main responses emerged
1. Compliance
– bureaucratic accountability
– curriculum agreements
– lacked proportionality
– 'Content' interpretation of curriculum
– Dissonance: dilemma of working 'with' objectives,
not working 'to' objectives
Response from the Youth Sector
2. Commitment
– Significant work on curriculum guidance
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Community Relations
Political Education
Participation
Gender Equality
“Practice, Policy, and training were coming together at one time”
“Once in a life-time, the longed for tidal wave, of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme” (Heaney)
Approaching the New Millennium
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1993 Hume / Adams Talks
1993 Downing Street Declaration
1994 IRA Cease Fire
1998 Belfast Agreement
Curriculum Integration 1997-2003
• Youth Work: A Model for Effective Practice
• Adopted, published and launched by the
Department of Education in October 1997
• followed a review period
• Central Theme Personal and Social Development
of Young People
• Three Core Principles
• Commitment to preparing young people for
participation
• The promotion of acceptance and
understanding of others
• The development of appropriate values and
beliefs
A Model for Effective Practice
• clarified and simplified language
• focused on an articulation of youth work
purpose, rather than youth services
• attempted to remove prescription
• Orientated the curriculum towards 'process’
''such statements enabled curriculum debate to the
muted and in fact passed over in Northern Ireland”
(Harland et al 2005)
Youth Work: A Model for
Effective Practice (1997)
• Adopted, published and launched by the
Department of Education in October 1997
after substantial review period
• Central Theme
– Personal and Social Development of Young
People
• Three Core Principles
• Commitment to preparing young people for
participation
• The promotion of acceptance and understanding
of others
• The development of appropriate values and
beliefs
Youth Work: A Model for
Effective Practice (1997)
Programme Areas:
1. Health Education
2. Information, Guidance and counselling
3. Testing Values and Beliefs
4. Creative Arts
5. Outdoor Education
6. Sport and Recreation
7. Widening Horizons
8. Community Involvement
9. Community Relations
10.Political Awareness and Active Citizenship
11.Development Education
12.Environmental Awareness
13.Information Technology
Significance of 1997 Curriculum
• Clarified and simplified language
• Focused on an articulation of youth work
purpose, rather than youth services
• Attempted to remove prescription
• Orientated the curriculum towards 'process’
''such statements enabled curriculum debate to the
muted and in fact passed over in Northern Ireland”
(Harland et al 2005)
Acceptance of 1997 Curriculum
• Curriculum Integration was protracted
• Youth Service Policy Review
(1999)7Substantial Peace Funding from
EU
• The focus of practice shifted with
funding
• 2002 Curriculum added to initial
training
Developing Devolution 2000-2014
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1998 Belfast Agreement Direct
1999 Rule ended in December
NI Assembly unstable due unresolved issues
Assembly Established 2007
Review of Public Administration 2002
Proposed Education Skills Authority
Review of Northern Ireland schools curriculum initiated
In 2002 consultation on 'revision' of youth work
curriculum
Period of 'care & maintenance' (Knox 2008)
Curriculum 2003 Impact
• Creation of Curriculum Development Unit
– political attempt to shift influence
• Youth Work Strategy 2005-2008
– age appropriate curricula
– struggled with wider policy shift towards
outcomes2008
– New 'Priorities for Youth' Policy consultation
begins
An Clearer Focus?
• 2003 a 'revised' curriculum document reflected:
– impact of EU Peace funding
– Role of JEDI project
• values of equity, diversity and interdependence,
reflecting the changes in the sector and society
• presented an incongruous fudge between the
'conservative pluralism' in 1997 and a more
'radical pluralism' that the sector experienced in
as a result of the peace funding
Curriculum and Programme
Development Cycle
Priorities for Youth
• Strategic Alignment of Youth Work with
Department of Education Priorities
• Non-formal education role
complementing, reinforcing and
enhancing the learning that takes place
in formal education settings
• Emphasis on ‘outcomes,’ ‘evidence’ and
‘planning’ and ‘performance
management’
• Funding restricted to ‘priorities’
Priorities for Youth
• Priority 1: Raising Standards
– planning at regional level
– more focused age groups
• Priority 2: Closing the Performance Gap
– address educational disadvantage
– targeted provision/ financial cap on non-targeted
– extended provision
• Priority 3: Develop workforce
– performance management systems
– Outcomes/ Evidence/ Measurement
• Priority 4: Improving the Learning Environment
• Priority 5: Governance & Management
– significant changes to funding mechanisms
Conclusions
• Curriculum born and evolved as an imposed 'political project'
characterized by bureaucracy
• Evidence of a shift from 'content' to 'process‘
• "Control through the legitimization of discourse?“
• Emphasis on 'programme' lead to 'instrumentality'?
• ("Why does youth work always look like youth work?")
• As the sector engaged with the discourse, emphasizing
'process', curriculum's political influence diminished.
• Can a 'process' orientated curriculum meet an 'outcomes'
focused policy