Transcript A Systems Level Focus on Overcoming Social Inequality

A Systems Level Focus on Overcoming Social
Inequality through Education and Community
Development: Early Intervention and Access
Dr. Paul Downes
Director, Educational Disadvantage
Centre,
Senior Lecturer in Education (Psychology)
A.Evaluation and Social Inequalities
B.Education as a Vehicle for Social Mobility:
Key Aspects of System Change
A. Evaluation and Social Inequalities
How are inequalities produced and reproduced in society ?
Through key forms of inequalities in education:
School attendance, School performance, Early School
Leaving, Access to Third Level Education and Educational
Attainment Generally
Through factors associated with early school leaving
Higher risk of substance abuse (especially heroin), heroin
use as a proxy for social marginalisation, Higher
unemployment, Higher risk of imprisonment etc
The need for wider indicators and benchmarks for social
inequality through a focus on structural, process and
outcome indicators
In the words of the UN Special Rapporteur on the
international right to health (2006):
‘54. Structural indicators address whether or not key
structures and mechanisms that are necessary for, or
conducive to, the realization of the right to health, are in
place. They are often (but not always) framed as a question
generating a yes/no answer. For example, they may address:
the ratification of international treaties that include the right
to health; the adoption of national laws and policies that
expressly promote and protect the right to health; or the
existence of basic institutional mechanisms that facilitate the
realization of the right to health…’;
55. ‘Process indicators measure programmes, activities and
interventions. They measure, as it were, State effort’;
57 ‘outcome indicators will often be used in conjunction with
benchmarks or targets to measure change over time’.
This framework moves beyond the qualitative/quantitative framework
as process indicators can be quantified
It allows for a more dynamic focus on how a system is changing in
relation to indicators – this is necessary for complex, changing
environments
It provides a focus on a system and subsystems in relation to indicators
as benchmarks for progress within a system and subsystem
(See also Downes 2007 and Downes 2008 for applications of these
indicators to wider contexts such as socioeconomic exclusion and
human trafficking in the Baltic States)
Some concerns regarding a drive to evaluation of projects engaging
with the most marginalized (Downes 2007a)
The danger that projects/schemes will engage in ‘cherry-picking’ those
who attend i.e., those most marginalized, with multiple disadvantages,
may become excluded from interventions as gains may be harder to
establish with this group. Evaluated gains for an intervention may be
due to the selection process of who is allowed and not allowed in to
the intervention
For those with particularly chaotic lifestyles an outcome indicator
which demonstrates no decline (though no gain also) may be a positive
outcome as without an intervention this stabilizing effect of no decline
may not have been achieved
Recognition is needed that every causal intervention still requires a
range of background supporting conditions for the cause to be
effective. These conditions may not be in place for those most
marginalized. This does not mean that the causal intervention is not
therefore of value
B) Education as a Vehicle for Social Mobility: Key Aspects of
System Change
Educational policies to promote a more inclusive society.
Can education be a social mobility vehicle ?
YES !
System change interventions need to focus on the levels of:
- individual, class in school, school, family, local community
(Downes 2003, 2004, 2009) as well as wider policy fora
A) Access strategies to education for traditionally marginalized groups
 a system level focus
 strategies at the different levels: institutional, local, regional,
national and EU level
 developing structural, process and outcome indicators for system
level change at each level
Other key emerging themes from LLL2010 FP6 study:
 non-formal education as a bridge into the system for socially
excluded
 the need for accredited training for local community leaders
 lifelong learning applies to prisoners (see also Maunsell,
Downes and McLoughlin 2008)
B) Early Intervention: The need for Community Based
Multidisciplinary Teams to Engage at a System Level with
Families most in Need and with Local Schools with High
Proportion of Traditionally Marginalised Students
See Familiscope Community Based Psychology Service,
Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland (originally funded through EU
sources) as a model of good practice of this (Downes 2004):
www.familiscope.ie
A Mental Health Focus:
 Need for teams to provide emotional and therapeutic
supports for children at risk of early school leaving, as well
as family support
There is a large body of international research across a
large variety of cultures on the pivotal role of positive
interpersonal communication and relations between
teachers and students to keep students in school (see e.g.,
Darmody et al 2007); the school needs to be treated as a
mental health system with supports to ensure this system
adopts supportive communicative practices
The team is engaged with teachers to develop their
conflict resolution skills
A Language Development/Literacy Focus:
 Speech and language therapists are part of such a
multidisciplinary team: Language and literacy are key to
mental health as well as staying on at school
 Literacy is an extremely complex area to teach: The team
focuses on system level development of language and literacy
at the levels of the child, family, teachers, whole school and
community
Community Based though working also onsite in a range of
schools
A Community Based Service helps gain the trust of children
and families particularly alienated from the school system
A community based approach is more cost effective as it
can service a wider number of schools rather than being
located solely in one or two schools
 It recognises the vital need for an outreach strategic
approach to reach the most marginalized, and that
‘information’ type approaches are insufficient to reach this
particularly vulnerable population
Other Issues as part of a Solution-Focused Approach
•Teacher Professional Development at Pre service and In service
for:
conflict resolution skills
literacy teaching skills
ethnic, social class diversity training (see Downes and Gilligan
2007)
•The role of the Arts at a Community Development Level and
School Level in:
overcoming fear of failure as there is no ‘right answer’ in the
arts
integrating the arts with literacy teaching and learning
emotional expression
conflict resolution
fostering community leadership in future generations (see
Downes and Maunsell 2007)
•The need for communal spaces for youth such as community
drop-in centers
these community spaces need to be as flexible as possible
in recognition that many potentially marginalized young
people need places to go to on ‘impulse’ rather than through
planning days in advance
•Recognition of the potential need for interventions to
overcome other problems such as hunger in school, lack of
sleep (frequently due to anxiety related issues, Downes and
Maunsell 2007)
• A community development and social innovation focus
needs further examination of the different kinds of
traditionally marginalized communities which may exist even
in the same city, as well as across countries and regions
a structural, process and outcomes indicators approach is
highly suited to assessing progress at a community
development level, as is recognized by the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Health (2005, 2006)
Recognition that factors other than family income affect the
future of new generations and intra/intergenerational
economic mobility requires acknowledgement of the
psychological factor of fear of failure highlighted in
international research (see Downes 2003 for an account).
Other emerging psychological themes are fear of success for
working class students (Ivers 2008), mental health stressors,
peer to peer support and cohort effects for learning, as well
as the need to stimulate voluntarism strategies generally and
particularly in Central and Eastern European contexts
References
Darmody, M. (2007) Strengthening the School Social Climate. Pp. 329-342. In Beyond
Educational Disadvantage (2007), (P. Downes & A-L Gilligan, Eds.), Institute of Public
Administration: Dublin:
Downes, P. (2003). Living with heroin: HIV, Identity and Social Exclusion among the Russianspeaking minorities in Estonia and Latvia. English version. Legal Information Centre for Human
Rights, Tallinn, Estonia.
Downes, P. & Maunsell, C. (2003). EMCDDA Expert Survey on family-based prevention,
community-based prevention and indicated prevention (early interventions). Survey Coordinator
for Ireland for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) (2003).
Downes, P. (2004). Psychological support services for Ballyfermot: Present and future.
Commissioned Research Report for European Union funded organisation, URBAN, Ballyfermot,
in conjunction with Ballyfermot Drugs Task Force.
Downes, P. (2007). Intravenous drug use and HIV in Estonia: Socio-economic integration and
development of indicators regarding the right to health for its Russian-speaking population.
Liverpool Law Review, Special Issue on Historical and Contemporary Legal Issues on HIV/AIDS,
Vol.28, 271-317
Downes, P. (2007a). Why SMART outcomes ain’t always so smart… pp.57-69. In Beyond
Educational Disadvantage (2007), (P. Downes & A-L Gilligan, Eds.), Institute of Public
Administration: Dublin:
Downes, P. & Maunsell, C. (2007). Count us in: Tackling early school leaving in South West Inner
City Dublin, An integrated response. Commissioned Research Report for South Inner City
Community Development Association (SICCDA) & South Inner City Drugs Task Force: Dublin
Downes, P & Gilligan, A-L Beyond Disadvantage: Some conclusions pp.463-491. In Beyond
Educational Disadvantage (2007), (P. Downes & A-L Gilligan, Eds.), Institute of Public
Administration: Dublin
Downes, P. (2008). The International Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and
Mental Health: A Key Legal Framework for Human Trafficking ? pp.278-289. In Not One Victim
More: Human Trafficking in the Baltic States, (P. Downes, A. Zule-Lapimaa, L.Ivanchenko &
S.Blumberg, Eds.). Tallinn: Living for Tomorrow.
Downes, P., Ivanchenko, L., Zalcmane, S., Smelt, H., & Blumberg, S. (2008). Conclusion: Key
Indicators Regarding Prevention, Protection and Prosecution in Relation to Human Trafficking in
the Baltic States pp.290-298. In Not One Victim More: Human Trafficking in the Baltic States, (P.
Downes, A. Zule-Lapimaa, L.Ivanchenko & S.Blumberg, Eds.). Tallinn: Living for Tomorrow.
Downes, P. (2009). Prevention of Bullying at a Systemic Level in Schools: Movement from
Cognitive and Spatial Narratives of Diametric Opposition to Concentric Relation. In Shane R.
Jimerson, Susan M. Swearer, and Dorothy L. Espelage (Eds.), The Handbook of School Bullying:
An International Perspective , Section III., Research-Based Prevention and Intervention (2009)
(pp.517-533). New York: Routledge.
LLL2010 FP6 study:
Downes, P. (2010). Access of adults to formal and non-formal education – Comparison of
policies and priorities across 12 European countries (work in progress)
Ivers, J. (2008). Fear of Success in North Inner City Dublin Youth. Masters Thesis, Educational
Disadvantage Centre, St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, Dublin
Maunsell, C., Downes, P., & McLoughlin, V. (2008). National Report on Lifelong Learning in
Ireland. European Union Sixth Framework Project ‘Towards a lifelong learning society: The
contribution of the education system’. Dublin: Educational Disadvantage Centre, St. Patrick’s
College, Drumcondra
21 February 2005 UNITED NATIONS Economic and Social Council, COMMISSION ON HUMAN
RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS. Report submitted by the Special
Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health, Paul Hunt, MISSION TO ROMANIA
UNITED NATIONS Economic and Social Council 3 March 2006 COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of
everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,
Paul Hunt