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“It helped me when…” A Q methodological study exploring pupil views regarding the factors that support a successful reintegration into mainstream education following permanent exclusion
No full textExisting literature surrounding the topic of ‘school exclusion’ and ‘reintegration’ has predominantly focused on the views of professionals with regard to secondary school-aged pupils. The present study was emancipatory in nature and aimed at enabling Children and Young People (CYP) to express their views and ultimately, to ‘be heard’. An eco-systemic perspective was embraced to explore the views of pupils, who had experienced permanent exclusion and placement in alternative provision, regarding the factors that had supported their successful reintegration into mainstream education. Q methodology was employed to highlight some of the strategies that pupils may have experienced as helpful during the reintegration process. Nine pupils (aged 10-16) were asked to express their viewpoint through engaging in a Q sorting exercise, which involved ranking 37 statements (representing different strategies that may support reintegration) according to personal significance (from ‘most helpful’ to ‘most unhelpful’). The overall configuration of statements was subjected to factor analysis, from which a two-factor solution was identified. This highlighted two distinct viewpoints that existed within the participant sample regarding the factors that supported successful reintegration. Aided by the use of quantitative and qualitative data, the emergent viewpoints were interpreted and a descriptive account of each was written to ‘bring the viewpoint to life’. The findings were discussed in relation to existing literature and theoretical frameworks, and the implications for practice were considered. It is hoped that the research will address the need within the literature to listen to the views of CYP regarding ‘what works’ and to employ creative and innovative research methods to encourage their active participation in research projects. Limitations of the study were acknowledged and recommendations for future research suggested
‘I’m ready, are you?’ A psychosocial exploration of what school readiness means to the parents of children eligible for pupil premium.
No full texthis exploratory, psychosocial study looks at what it means to be ‘school ready’ to the parents of children eligible for Pupil Premium funding, in a mainstream inner London primary school. Existing research exploring the topic of school readiness and transition to primary school remains predominantly in international territories. Furthermore, there is paucity of rich, qualitative accounts of parental views and experiences, despite the vital role parents play in supporting their child's education. A psychoanalytically informed approach, Free Association Narrative Interviewing (FANI), was used to interview three participants twice. The interview data was analysed using Thematic Analysis. The five themes identified are discussed in relation to existing research and psychological theory. The implications for the Educational Psychology profession, as well as for schools and other professionals, have been explored. Limitations of the current study, and thoughts about future research are considered
Mentalization-based therapy for parental conflict - parenting together; An intervention for parents in entrenched post-separation dispute
No full textHigh-conflict relationship dissolution has been shown to cause substantial emotional risk and psychological harm to children’s developmental outcomes. Parents in chronic post separation conflict who repeatedly use the courts to address their disputes are by nature difficult to engage in therapeutic services. This paper describes the theoretical and practical key elements of a mentalisation-based therapeutic intervention, Mentalization-Based Therapy for Parental Conflict – Parenting Together (MBT-PT), that has been developed in order to address some of the unique challenges that these parents and the professionals working with them are facing. Specifically, the intervention aims to reduce anger and hostile conflicts between parents and mitigate the damaging effects of inter-parental conflict on children. The implementation procedure of the MBT-PT intervention among parents in entrenched conflict over their children, in the context of a random allocation pilot study, is briefly described. Next, the MBT-PT intervention is exemplified using clinical examples, followed by potential implications concerning practice and policy for professionals working with this population of parents
You never arrive at a place where you can put your feet up or put your foot down. A study of conscious and unconscious processes in assessments of black and ethnic minority families
No full textThis psychosocial study examines some processes at work when commissioners outsource to independent social worker experts (from a black and ethnic minority background social work), assessments involving black and ethnic minority children and families in cases where there are serious child protection issues.
Eight participants, (three commissioners, four independent social workers and one parent). were interviewed using the Free Associative Narrative Interview method (FANI). The psycho-social research method used values the subjectivity of the researcher, and the FANI method is consistent with this. (Holloway and Jefferson 2000). Data was analysed using a blend of thematic and narrative approaches, supported by reflections on the researcher’s own emotional experience of the interviews.
The findings of this study centre on assessments of parents from black and ethnic minority backgrounds who had experienced structural inequalities, discrimination and in some cases racism. The independent social work experts have used a particular framework to undertake the assessments and this has assisted them in formulating recommendations. Anxiety and conflict have featured heavily in the assessments. These anxieties are interwoven with the impact of racism on families, independent social work experts and commissioners working in modern social work organisations. Alongside this the importance of anti-racist social work is considered. Anti-racist social work recognises that racism exists within social work and offers a framework to tackle racism within social work. However, currently anti-racist social work appears to have slipped off the professional agenda and has been replaced by more ‘neutral’ discourses such as ‘diversity’. This allows one not to think about race and racism. It is a study of how anxieties are delegated to independent social work experts. My interest in this study stems from being a black, female, ethnic minority researcher and independent social work expert.
The key research findings are firstly, there are conscious and unconscious processes that have influenced the independent social work expert’s approach, which included being motivated and affected by their personal experiences with their own parents and families of origin.
Secondly, the way an assessment was presented by the independent social work expert was influenced by unresolved issues from their background.
Thirdly, the independent social work expert’s biographical material is significant both in shaping their capacity to do the work sensitively and in depth, but also in creating blind spots for them.
There are significant implications for social work practice. There is a need for a different model and approach to supervision in social work, which is informed by a recognition of the impact of conscious and especially unconscious influences of a practitioner’s biographical material. The importance of intersectionality is considered. This is thinking about how family/emotional/biographical factors are interacting with the dynamics of race/ethnicity, and how anxieties about all these in commissioners and practitioners produce a complex psycho-social knot that has to be understood and worked with if we are to do justice to these cases.
This deep and complex biographical investment in this work is both a source of strength and vulnerability. It is evident that there is something professionally and personally reparative for the independent social work experts, and myself as the researcher, in engaging in the discussions and reflections that make up the data and the findings of this research
Group, relations, unrepresented
No full textThe terrifying dimension of the psychotic state of mind (the madnessinducing quality that rumour has, which group relations conferences in the Tavistock tradition foster in the form of "casualties") is feared not only by the conference membership but also by their staff, who may lose sight of the fragility of the interdependence between container and contained if they conceive themselves as merely a concrete receptacle of the membership's distress. In order to fulfil its function as such, a container must be disturbed. Hence, reverie is not a romanticised calming state of maternal well-being to be communicated as reassurance, but the digestion of the unpalatable (Bion's concept of the nameless dread) for both contained and container. Such primitive states of mind are represented by the compulsion to repeat through enactments in a collusive participation between conference members and staff. However, the misrecognition of enactment as the membership's acting out impairs the learning for all. The paper includes illustrations from two recent group relations conferences
