'Embers, and Fragments': Social Haunting in Youth Work, Impact Measurement and Policy Networks
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| Title: | 'Embers, and Fragments': Social Haunting in Youth Work, Impact Measurement and Policy Networks |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Louise Doherty (ORCID |
| Source: | Journal of Education Policy. 2025 40(5):930-949. |
| Availability: | Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 20 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Accountability, Educational Policy, Networks, Youth, Foreign Countries, Policy Analysis, Educational History, Evidence Based Practice, Policy Formation, Educational Trends, Futures (of Society) |
| Geographic Terms: | United Kingdom (England) |
| DOI: | 10.1080/02680939.2024.2398208 |
| ISSN: | 0268-0939 1464-5106 |
| Abstract: | How do education policy processes and networks operate in sectors that have been chronically defunded? This article discusses elements of contestation and doubt in the context of a policy agenda around impact measurement in youth services in England. Drawing on interviews with policy makers, influencers and critics, it combines analysis of a policy network with theories and methodologies of social haunting, as developed by Avery Gordon, Justine Pors and others. Youth policy, in its present denuded form, is haunted by ghosts of policy past: a mourned tradition of publicly funded, practice-led youth work that refuses to disappear; and spectres of policy yet-to-come: an idealised yet somehow unconvincing future of evidence-based practice and social return on investment. We suggest that engaging with ghosts can enrich understandings of policy making by foregrounding the discomforts that haunt policy networks, questioning the assumed rationality of evidence-based policy and highlighting the contested and interconnected nature of policy and practice futures. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Notes: | https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/855316 |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1489970 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | How do education policy processes and networks operate in sectors that have been chronically defunded? This article discusses elements of contestation and doubt in the context of a policy agenda around impact measurement in youth services in England. Drawing on interviews with policy makers, influencers and critics, it combines analysis of a policy network with theories and methodologies of social haunting, as developed by Avery Gordon, Justine Pors and others. Youth policy, in its present denuded form, is haunted by ghosts of policy past: a mourned tradition of publicly funded, practice-led youth work that refuses to disappear; and spectres of policy yet-to-come: an idealised yet somehow unconvincing future of evidence-based practice and social return on investment. We suggest that engaging with ghosts can enrich understandings of policy making by foregrounding the discomforts that haunt policy networks, questioning the assumed rationality of evidence-based policy and highlighting the contested and interconnected nature of policy and practice futures. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0268-0939 1464-5106 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/02680939.2024.2398208 |
