Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth
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 regime...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32457/ |
| _version_ | 1848794411439226880 |
|---|---|
| author | Thomson, Pat Pennacchia, Jodie |
| author_facet | Thomson, Pat Pennacchia, Jodie |
| author_sort | Thomson, Pat |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:15:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-32457 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:15:46Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-324572020-05-04T17:18:29Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32457/ Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth Thomson, Pat Pennacchia, Jodie 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. Taylor & Francis 2015-10-30 Article PeerReviewed Thomson, Pat and Pennacchia, Jodie (2015) Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth. International Journal of Inclusive Education . pp. 1-19. ISSN 1464-5173 inclusion alternative education behaviourism therapeutic approach Foucault http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2015.1102340 doi:10.1080/13603116.2015.1102340 doi:10.1080/13603116.2015.1102340 |
| spellingShingle | inclusion alternative education behaviourism therapeutic approach Foucault Thomson, Pat Pennacchia, Jodie Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth |
| title | Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth |
| title_full | Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth |
| title_fullStr | Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth |
| title_short | Hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth |
| title_sort | hugs and behaviour points: alternative education and the regulation of ‘excluded’ youth |
| topic | inclusion alternative education behaviourism therapeutic approach Foucault |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32457/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32457/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32457/ |