Here we have listed some key texts that develop or explore ‘conscientization’. The idea has been linked with the work of Paulo Freire and Pedagogy of the Oppressed – although Freire used to claim that he had not used the term since the early 1970s as it had been badly misused (Taylor 1993: 52). However, …
Author archives: infed.org
Contactpoint – because every child matters?
Server farm by sugree on flickr ContactPoint is an online database which contains basic information about every child and young person in England from birth to their 18th birthday. David Hoyle explores the nature of the system – and the critisicisms made of it. He asks is the scale of the threat to children and …
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Grace Coyle and group work
Grace Coyle and group work. Grace Coyle made an extraordinary contribution to our understanding of group work. She was also an important advocate for the work within US social work and an innovatory trainer. Contents: introduction · on group work · conclusion · bibliography · how to cite this article. Grace Longwell Coyle (1892-1962) made …
Mark Smith: Creators not consumers. Rediscovering social education
Written by Mark Smith, Creators not Consumers first appeared in 1980. We reproduce the complete text Two main themes run through Creators not Consumers. First, there is a concern to encourage young people to get involved in organizing things for themselves. This flows from a belief in the benefits of associational life both for the …
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Mark Smith: Creators not consumers. Introduction
The introduction to Mark Smith’s exploration of youth work and social education – Creators not Consumers. Rediscovering social education (1982). This booklet has been written to promote discussion about social education. In the twenty years or so since the term first came into common usage there have been a number of developments in youth work …
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Mark Smith: Creators not consumers. Chapter 1 – The ice skating trip
Chapter 1 of Mark Smith’s exploration of youth work and informal education – Creators not Consumers. Rediscovering social education (1982) Just after club had finished Neil came into the office and asked if we could organise an ice skating trip. He thought we could easily fill a coach if we charged £1.50 per person. How …
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Mark Smith: Creators not consumers. Chapter 2 – What the workers did
Chapter 2 of Mark Smith’s exploration of youth work and social education – Creators not Consumers. Rediscovering social education (1982). contents: · breaking down events · opportunism · learning by experience · being participative · the social context · conclusion · [page 12] The skating trip gives us a flavour of what social education might mean …
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Mark Smith: Creators not consumers. Chapter 3- Rediscovering social education
Chapter 3 of Mark Smith’s exploration of youth work and social education – Creators not Consumers. Rediscovering social education (1982). contents: · developmental needs · values · conclusion · [page 24] So far we have been looking at a form of youth work that puts learning first. In this chapter I want to ask what makes …
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Mark Smith: Creators not consumers. Chapter 4: Social education and politics
Chapter 4 of Mark Smith’s exploration of youth work and social education – Creators not Consumers. Rediscovering social education (1982). contents: the politics of developmental needs· what should workers do?· conclusion [page 34] Whilst many of the young people we work with face incredible injustices, are ignorant of their rights and are racist and sexist, our …
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Mark Smith: Creators not consumers. Afterword – Towards a critical social education?
The conclusion of Mark Smith’s exploration of youth work and social education – Creators not Consumers. Rediscovering social education (1982). [page 55] Looking back over the last chapter one word seems to spring out from the pages — the word critical. Its arrival is no accident. Three meanings of the word join together and make …
Mark Smith: Creators not consumers. Further reading
From Mark Smith’s exploration of youth work and social education – Creators not Consumers. Rediscovering social education (1982). [page 57] I have only listed books or articles that I feel are particularly helpful. Anybody who wants detailed references should contact me c/o NAYC Publications. 1. Bernard Davies : Part-time Youth Work in an Industrial Community …
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Developing critical conversations about practice
In this 1995 article Mark K Smith explores the use of study groups by practitioners to deepen and extend their practice. It looks at how we may transcend individualized responses through building ‘critical communities of enquirers’. contents: preface · introduction · collective explorations of practice · the mechanics of study groups · exploring practice collectively: …
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What is curriculum? Exploring theory and practice
Curriculum theory and practice.The organization of schooling and further education has long been associated with the idea of a curriculum. But what actually is curriculum, and how might it be conceptualized? We explore curriculum theory and practice and its relation to informal education. Contents: introduction · curriculum as transmission · curriculum as product · curriculum as process …
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Bernard Davies, social education, group work and youth work
Bernard Davies, social education, group work and youth work. Bernard Davies is a, perhaps the, key figure in the development of youth work in Britain in last forty years of the twentieth century. His work, initially with Alan Gibson, was central to social education becoming a defining feature of youth work in the 1960s and …
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Detached, street-based and project work with young people
Detached, street-based and project work with young people. Detached youth work has been around for more than a century. How did it begin, and how has it developed? What is the current state of detached and project work? Contents: introduction · early work · the emergence of detached youth work · detached work today · …
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Alan Rogers: Starting out in detached work
Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash Starting work as a detached worker can be an isolating experience; although there may be co-workers and managers willing to offer support and a community to relate to, workers are essentially on their own. Alan Rogers explores the experience in this classic booklet dating from 1981. contents: introducing …
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Developing community
A set of pages exploring the development, theory and practice of community development and community work Introducing community development : Walking social action: exploring social action and community development through a virtual walk in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. New : Reclaiming the radical agenda: a critical approach to community development. Margaret Ledwith argues we need to be …
Developing youth work: Informal education, mutual aid and popular practice
Developing Youth Work (1988) was an attempt to construct a coherent and distinctive understanding of youth work. It looked to informal education and association (mutual aid) as the core of the work, and argued that the youth service was in terminal decline. We publish the complete book. Contents preface introduction chapter 1: enter youth workers …
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Developing youth work: Preface
This book began life in 1982 as an attempt to construct a coherent and distinctive understanding of youth work. While it would be nice to claim that the thinking reported in these pages has matured and developed through constant reflection over the intervening years, the truth is that it has had a stuttering existence, competing …
Developing youth work: Introduction
So much of what is said about youth work either seeks to conceal or is the product of lazy or rhetorical thinking. The ahistorical, apolitical and anti-intellectual attitude of many in this area has meant that practice is peculiarly prone to influence by moral panics, fads and fashions. As such, the work is further threatened …
Developing youth work: Chapter 1 – Enter youth workers
contents: introduction · little ladies at home · the making of modern leisure · threats from within and without · psychology – the final piece of the jigsaw · the new provision · there will be drill · ennobling their class · bourgeois youth work · further reading and references This chapter has a strong focus …
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Developing youth work: Chapter 2 – The making of popular youth work
In this, the second chapter of Developing Youth Work, Mark Smith explores the emergence of working class and more community-based forms of youth work. In particular he looks at the development of work within chapels and other associations in the nineteenth century, and the development of practice in the 1930s and 1940s. contents: introduction · …
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Developing youth work: Chapter 3 – Definition, tradition and change in youth work
In this the third chapter of Developing Youth Work, Mark Smith explores the clusters of key ideas that appear to inform the ways in which youth workers see their tasks. Six broad bodies of customs, thoughts and practices are identified – and the power of tradition explored. contents: introduction · traditions in youth work · …
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Developing youth work: Chapter 4 – The demise of the youth service?
In chapter 4 of developing youth work Mark Smith explores the situation facing youth work and the youth service in the late 1980s. He argues that the youth service will whither away, but that youth work in different forms will develop, but not necessarily grow. contents: introduction · growing inequality and a new social condition …
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Developing youth work: Chapter 5 – Beyond social education
This chapter (5) from Developing Youth Work (1988) explores the notion of social education – and how it came into usage in the British youth work tradition. Mark Smith argues that there are particular problems around the personalist orientation that it involves, and the extent to which the idea of selfhood involved is ethnocentric. He …
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Developing youth work: Chapter 6 – Good purpose
Here Mark Smith, in chapter 6 of Developing Youth Work, explores what might lie at the heart of youth work. He underlines the educational nature of the work. He also returns to notions of human well-being and suggests that educators are concerned with enlarging people’s appreciation of it, and developing their ability to act. Smith …
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Developing youth work: Chapter 7 – Informal education
In Chapter 7 of Developing Youth Work (1988) Mark Smith argues for the rehabilitation of the notion of informal education. He critiques dominant, administrative definitions and instead looks to process. contents: introduction · informal education and its alternatives · what is informal education? · critical dialogue · informal education and problems with curriculum · in …
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Developing youth work: Chapter 8 – Developing popular practice
In chapter 8 of Developing Youth Work (1988) Mark K. Smith explores the possibilities of popular practice. He sets out some of the elements that will need to be attended to if work that looks to mutual aid, conversation and informal education are to be realized. contents: introduction · the potential of popular practice · …
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Developing youth work: Bibliography
The complete bibliography for Mark Smith (1988) Developing Youth Work Abercrombie, A. and Turner, B.S. (1982). ‘The Dominant Ideology Thesis’, in Giddens, A. and Held, D. (eds). Classes, Power and Conflict. London, Macmillan. Adams, R. (1988). ‘Finding a way in. Youth workers and juvenile justice’, in Jeffs. T. and Smith, M. (eds). Welfare and Youth …
John Dewey on education, experience and community
John Dewey on education, experience and community. Arguably the most influential thinker on education in the twentieth century, Dewey’s contribution lies along several fronts. His attention to experience and reflection, democracy and community, and to environments for learning have been seminal. (This ‘John Dewey’ page is due to be extended). John Dewey (1859 – 1952) …
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Dialogue and conversation for learning, education and change
Dialogue and conversation for learning, education and change. ‘Dialogue’, Freire says, ‘is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world’. Here we explore this idea – and its roots. Contents: introduction · Gadamer – horizons of understanding · emotions and virtues · Habermas: dialogue, power and distortion · Bohm on …
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Dialogue, conversation and praxis
In this piece Paul V. Taylor examines: dialogue as a norm of behaviour; dialogue as a theory of knowledge; dialogic competence; conversation and interpretation; and praxis as action and reflection. Contents: introduction · dialogue and conversation · communicative competence · the I and the you of dialogue · interpretative dialogue · dialogue and citizenship · …
Dialogue – a proposal
The full text of the very influential paper by David Bohm, Donald Factor and Peter Garrett contents: dialogue – a proposal · why dialogue · purpose and meaning · what dialogue is not · how to start a dialogue · dialogue in existing organizations · copyright notice David Bohm (1917-1992) was a distinguished physicist who …
Charles Dickens and informal education
Charles Dickens and informal education. Already the most famous English novelist when Victoria came to the throne, he continued to chronicle his age and became an important facilitator of self-education. Charles Dickens (1812-70). Critical success came to Dickens quite early in life. The Pickwick Papers was published in 20 monthly installments beginning in 1836; Oliver …
Waldo Mcgillicuddy Eagar and the making of boys’ clubs
Waldo Mcgillicuddy Eagar and the making of boys’ clubs. W. McG. Eagar was a key figure in the establishment and development of the National Association of Boys’ Clubs. He also wrote the definitive history of the movement. We examine his contribution. contents: introduction · boys’ clubs · conclusion · further reading and bibliography · links …
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What is education? A definition and discussion
Education is the wise, hopeful and respectful cultivation of learning and change undertaken in the belief that we all should have the chance to share in life. Mark K Smith explores the meaning of education and suggests it is a process of being with others and inviting truth and possibility. contents: introduction • education – …
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Education for democracy
contents: · introduction · the meaning of democracy and the meaning of education · John Dewey, democracy and education · A. S. Neill on democratic schooling · · further reading and references One of the major tasks that education must perform in a democratic society, Kelly (1995: 101) argues, ‘is the proper preparation of young …
Education and civic life
Tom Bryan’s (1912) paper was an important statement of education involving the whole person and looking to solidarity and association. contents: preface · introduction · education as the development of faculties through knowledge · education as development of the whole person · education for solidarity and association · how to cite this piece Tom Bryan …
Educational settlements
Educational settlements. Mark Freeman explores the development of educational settlements in Britain and the significant role that Quakerism played. He also outlines some of the key issues they have faced. Contents: introduction · origins of the educational settlement movement · the role of educational settlements · educational settlements in the ‘special areas’ · crisis and …
Elliot W. Eisner, connoisseurship, criticism and the art of education
Elliot W. Eisner, connoisseurship, criticism and the art of education. Elliot W. Eisner has deepened our appreciation of education in a number of areas. Here we examine his argument that education involves the exercise of artistry and the development of connoisseurship and criticism. We also assess his contribution to the debates around school reform. contents: …
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Encounters for learning, education and change
Encounters for learning and change. Pedagogues, animators and informal educators work for encounters – face to face meetings. They also work for encounter – relation or engagement with themselves and others. Contents: · seeking situations of co-presence · co-ordinating activities · encounter and personal growth · encounter and relation · further reading · how to …
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Enterprise, young people and youth policy: an overview
Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash Sarah Lloyd Jones of the People and Work Unit explores the growing interest in enterprise and highlights some of the different elements in relation to youth policy. She also identifies some key issues. contents: introduction · individual enterprise · community enterprise · risk · the cultivation of enterprise · conclusion …
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The evaluation page
A developing set of pages exploring theories, issues and practices in evaluation general evaluation – the theory and practice of evaluating informal education, lifelong learning and social action bringing evaluation to the grassroots. Margo Menconi on evaluations in activist settings action research: its role in evaluation for educators and activists. communities of practice – such …
Bringing evaluation to the grassroots: Insights gleaned from studying the mobilization for global justice
There are many approaches to evaluation as well as many contexts in which evaluation has been carried out. This paper by Margo Menconi describes possible issues in carrying out evaluations in activist settings; describes the evaluation efforts of one activist group; and then suggests possible relevant evaluation approaches that might be helpful to activist groups. …
Evaluation for education, learning and change – theory and practice
Evaluation for education, learning and change – theory and practice. Evaluation is part and parcel of educating – yet it can be experienced as a burden and an unnecessary intrusion. We explore the theory and practice of evaluation and some of the key issues for informal and community educators, social pedagogues youth workers and others. In …
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Every child matters: change for children
Every Child Matters, informed much policy development around services for children and young people in England after it appeared in 2004. The Government’s aim, it was stated, was for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to: be healthy; stay safe; enjoy and achieve; make a positive contribution; …
Problematizing every child matters
Every Child Matters was an English government paper that grew into a wide-ranging and influential strategy for work with children and young people. David Hoyle reviews the statement and resulting strategy, and critiques it. He reveals some profound difficulties for those it touches – especially informal educators. contents: introduction · the genesis of every child …
Experience
Experience. Is there is a difference between ‘having an experience’ and ‘knowing an experience’? ‘Experience’ can be quite is a problematic notion. It is a well-worn term that is often used with little attention to meaning. In the twentieth century is, arguably, the work of John Dewey has done much to help rescue the notion …
Extended schools and services – theory, practice and issues
Extended schools and services – theory, practice and issues. In an attempt to emulate full-service schooling initiatives in the USA an English scheme looked to develop extended schools providing a range of activities and services often beyond the school day, ‘to help meet the needs of its pupils, their families and the wider community’. We …
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Facilitating learning and change in groups and group sessions
Facilitating learning and change in groups and group sessions. Just what is facilitation, and what does it involve? We explore the theory and practice of facilitation, and some key issues around facilitating group sessions. Contents: introduction · what is group facilitation? · core conditions and the facilitator · the facilitator’s role · core values · …
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