Girlhoods and social action: an intersectional approach to working-class girls' participation

In this thesis I explore how working-class, mainly racially-minoritised girls at three schools in London’s poorest boroughs participate in social action. There are multiple discourses about what it means to be a girl in the contemporary global North. These inform how girlhood is thought about, talked about, and practised, and shape expectations about how girls should be. The ‘successful girl’ is expected to attain academic and extracurricular achievements that destine her for a ‘successful’ future; the ‘good girl’ is expected to be docile and to be caring; and girls’ lives are shaped by ideas about authenticity or ‘being yourself’. Yet girls experience inequalities that can make these ideals difficult to achieve, especially working-class girls. They make important contributions to society despite experiencing significant challenges, but these girls tend to be invisible in the media and in public policy beyond concerns about their sexuality or educational attainment, and are often assumed to be White British. An important arena in which working-class girls contribute to society is through social action. In recent decades, successive UK governments have promoted youth social action – activities that make a positive difference to others or the environment, like volunteering – through initiatives to address inequalities in access and to boost participation. These usually consider inequalities along class lines, with strategies to address them involving removing practical barriers to involvement. However, inequalities are present in the experiences of social action and its consequences as well as in access to it. They are felt not along single axes such as class or gender or race, but instead by how these categories intersect. Inequalities are also not only experienced on an individual level but are shaped by how power operates across multiple domains (Hill Collins, 2000); discourses of girlhoods are embedded in these domains. This conceptualisation of inequality and power – an intersectional approach – is missing from policy and practice concerns. Moreover, what ‘counts’ as social action may be excluding important aspects of working-class girls’ participation. I find that working-class girls are expected to become successful by working hard at school and doing certain kinds of social action, but that this cannot guarantee their success; it therefore constitutes ‘hope labour’. Expectations to be good lead to the girls having to do as they are told and spending much of their time at home, where they are expected to be caring by doing care work. I argue that this care work should be considered social action. Finally, I show that the girls value authenticity (‘being themselves’) but find it difficult, and that feeling (in)authentic can both enable and constrain their social action. I identify a discourse of the authentic girl in which social action can be both self-transformation and self-expression. In doing so, I provide insight into how power and inequalities shape working-class girls’ lives and their participation in social action, and I show how an intersectional girlhoods approach can enhance our understanding of how social action might truly be more inclusive

The local government response to austerity in a small devolved country: the case of Wales

The 2008 Global Financial Crisis and subsequent austerity drive across Europe and North America has been particularly felt at a local government level. Wales presents a valuable case study through which to explore the impact of austerity on local government: it is a small country with a devolved government that is philosophically opposed to austerity, yet where cuts to local government have been drastic. Drawing on interviews with Welsh councils and key stakeholders, this paper explores three approaches councils have taken to managing austerity – efficiency, investment, and retrenchment – and finds that councils were already at a financial ‘tipping point’ before the pandemic. This paper concludes by considering the lessons that could be applied to the new challenge of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic

Evidence briefing paper: Children looked after in Wales

This evidence briefing paper summarises some of the key issues related to children looked after in Wales; and reflects upon issues that we expect the incoming Welsh Government to face after the 2021 Senedd election. The paper looks specifically at the growing number and rate of children in care, and variation among local authorities. It also considers the four key factors that affect children’s experiences and outcomes - reunification of children and birth families; the involvement of children and birth families in decisions about care; the joined-up provision of services for children and families; strategic commissioning, and the provision of children’s care placements

What Makes for Effective Youth Mentoring Programmes: A rapid evidence summary

There is a large body of research, policy and comment on youth mentoring schemes. Despite this, there is very little evidence on whether such programmes work and, if they do, what makes them effective. This rapid review of the literature explores the existing evidence around what factors make youth mentoring (or intergenerational) programmes effective. We found that youth mentoring programmes can improve outcomes across academic, behavioural, emotional and social areas of young people’s lives. These impacts are small, but nevertheless significant. There is no evidence that youth mentoring programmes can improve physical health, although few studies examine this particular outcome. The evidence provides a number of insights into what makes youth mentoring programmes effective, including that longer mentoring relationships are associated with better outcomes, the importance of training and motivation, the need for goal-orientated programmes and the key role of the matching process

Character education for social action: A conceptual analysis of the #iwill campaign

Purpose: This article integrates two distinct discourses to show how an Aristotelian account of character education can supply a valuable framework for developing a habit of social action. Approach: We use a review of relevant secondary literature, a documentary analysis of #iwill materials, and an Aristotelian conceptual framework to analyse the quality principles of the #iwill campaign—a cross-sector, cross-party collective impact campaign that encourages youth social action in the UK. Findings: We show how an Aristotelian account offers useful resources for conceptualising and applying #iwill’s six quality principles and addresses four practical and theoretical challenges in #iwill’s model. In particular, an Aristotelian account provides a more capacious conception of a habit and offers a revised model for understanding social action’s benefits to individuals and communities. Practical Implications: With over 800 partner organizations in the UK, #iwill has a significant impact on how social action is practised and supplies a valuable model for other campaigns to follow. By informing #iwill’s quality framework, this Aristotelian account seeks to amplify efforts to cultivate social action as a virtuous habit for life