Children, families and inter‐agency work: experiences of partnership work in primary education settings

Abstract

Despite UK government initiatives intended to address social exclusion, those with poor access to social and economic resources continue to experience unresponsive services. In these circumstances, small inter‐agency projects may offer accessible alternatives. This article explores the implementation of inter‐agency work at a local level, focusing on implications for families involved. It draws on a study of a Health Action Zone (HAZ) initiated project, working in primary schools in a deprived urban area, with children at risk of school exclusion. It examines children's and parents' experiences of the project, locating these within current social policy and social justice debates. While positive outcomes are evident, the article also highlights difficulties in inter‐agency collaboration, which potentially undermine support available to families and maintain pessimism about future improvements. By focusing remedies at the level of individual intervention, such initiatives may also neglect structural and organisational factors contributing to families' difficulties.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the other members of the research team: Meg Maguire and Sheila Macrae, King's College, London; and to Mike Cushman, London School of Economics, for their invaluable suggestions for improvements to this article.

Notes

1. Exclusion from school has replaced the older expressions of ‘suspension’ and ‘expulsion’—tactics for removing ‘difficult’ children from school (Wright et al., 2000, p. 1). Recent studies of young people in the UK suggest that disaffection from education can also be traced back to issues inadequately dealt with during earlier education years (Macrae et al., 1997; Ball et al., 2000).

2. In the UK, the term ‘voluntary organisation’ is commonly used to refer to not‐for‐profit, non‐governmental organisations.

3. Data which the research team has gathered concerning race need fuller exploration in a separate article. In the local authority area in our study, as elsewhere, children of African‐Caribbean origin are a significantly higher proportion of those excluded from school than other children. The IPSC team of six included one black (African‐Caribbean) woman worker; and the limited number of ethnic minorities represented in related professions also raised particular issues.