Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of 'excluded' youth

Thomson, P and Pennacchia, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9700-2704, 2016. Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of 'excluded' youth. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20 (6), pp. 622-640. ISSN 1360-3116

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Abstract

In England, alternative education (AE) is offered to young people formally excluded from school, close to formal exclusion or who have been informally pushed to the educational edges of their local school. Their behaviour is seen as needing to change. In this paper, we examine the behavioural regimes at work in 11 AE programmes. Contrary to previous studies and the extensive ‘best practice’ literature, we found a return to highly behaviourist routines, with talking therapeutic approaches largely operating within this Skinnerian frame. We also saw young people offered a curriculum largely devoid of languages, humanities and social sciences. What was crucial to AE providers, we argue, was that they could demonstrate 'progress' in both learning and behaviour to inspectors and systems. Mobilising insights from Foucault, we note the congruence between the external regimes of reward and punishment used in AE and the kinds of insecure work and carceral futures that might be on offer to this group of young people.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Inclusive Education
Creators:	Thomson, P. and Pennacchia, J.
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Date:	2 June 2016
Volume:	20
Number:	6
ISSN:	1360-3116
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/13603116.2015.1102340 DOI 1293532 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	22 Oct 2020 08:15
Last Modified:	31 May 2021 15:15
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/41395

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