See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242487315 'Getting to Know You': Engagement and Relationship Building Technical Report · January 2005 CITATION READS 1 56 10 authors, including: Davies Banda Bob Muir The University of Edinburgh Leeds Beckett University 21 PUBLICATIONS 71 CITATIONS 10 PUBLICATIONS 73 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Donna Woodhouse Sheffield Hallam University 30 PUBLICATIONS 14 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: GIPCAP View project National Evaluation of Positive Futures Programme - UK View project All content following this page was uploaded by Davies Banda on 26 May 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. ‘Getting to Know You’: Engagement and Relationship Building First Interim National Positive Futures Case Study Research Report Tim Crabbe Research Team: Davies Banda, Tony Blackshaw, Adam Brown, Clare Choak, Tim Crabbe, Ben Gidley, Gavin Mellor, Bob Muir, Kath O’Connor, Imogen Slater, Donna Woodhouse June 2005 Contents Page ‘Getting to Know You’: Executive Summary 3 Part One: Introduction and Methodology 12 1.1 Preface 12 1.2 The Projects 15 1.3 Methodology 21 Part Two: Starting Blocks: Baselines and Background 31 2.1 From mills and ginnels to suits and vindaloos: The Yorkshire case studies 31 2.2 From docklands to parklands: The Merseyside case studies 48 2.3 From the Costermongers to So Solid: The South London case studies 57 2.4 Community, belonging and territorialism 69 Part Three: Identification and Engagement 77 3.1 Targeting and referrals 77 3.2 Spaces and Places 82 3.3 Kudos, Glamour and Special Activities 86 3.4 Staff 89 3.5 Role Models and Peers 94 3.6 Girls, Young Women and Sport 96 Part Four: Relationship Building and Personal Development 101 4.1 Non Authoritarian Approaches 101 4.2 Gaining Respect 105 4.3 Cultural Intermediaries 110 4.4 Developmental Gateways: Progression and Pathways 114 4.5 Health, Lifestyle and Substance Misuse 119 4.6 Sustainability 123 Part Five: Conclusions and Future Directions 125 Bibliography 128 Appendices 131 Appendix 1: Activities Timetable for Kickstart 131 Appendix 2: Workforce Training Initiative - Staff Core Competencies 132 2 ‘Getting to Know You’: Executive Summary This report represents the culmination of the first phase of the Positive Futures (PF) Case Studies Research Project rather than a definitive set of findings as such. Rather like the PF programme itself it is very much a work in progress which is evolving all the time in the context of the action research approach we have adopted. This approach involves a cycle of action and reflection, with both the projects and research adapting in relation to the themes that emerge from the study as it progresses. Nevertheless whilst this element of the research has been concerned as much with the establishment of relations with projects and participants as investigating the relationships between them, we have begun to identify a number of tentative themes and findings. These themes are presented in a fashion which is intended to guide the future direction of projects every bit as much as to gain abstract theoretical insight. Yet this recognition of the importance of practicality and direction should not distract from the importance of gaining a wider contextual feel for the programme. For whilst this summary is intended to highlight the key themes emerging from the research and the policy and practice issues associated with them, it is in the detail of the main report that a full appreciation of the PF approach emerges. It is from the more narrative accounts in these subsequent parts that we have drawn the conclusions and recommendations presented here and which will provide the baselines against which we assess future progress. Indeed these accounts are themselves drawn from three regional reports focused on the seven case studies that constitute the overall national research project. The Case Study Projects Positive Futures is characterized by a variety of delivery agents employing diverse approaches towards the work of the programme. These approaches can be summarized as follows: Type Organisation Approach Example Community based Voluntary Radical, innovative Calderdale and participant North Liverpool focused Southwark Local authority Statutory Traditional, formulaic, Sefton ‘top down’ Leeds Hybrid Partnership Pragmatic Keighley Wandsworth 3 Identification and engagement Targeting and referrals Key Issue: Does PF provide appropriate mechanisms for the targeting, identification and referral of participants? • Projects adopt a range of approaches towards the targeting, identification and referral of participants. • The Youth Justice Board’s ‘YIP 50’ list remains a common source of identification. • Pragmatic ‘outreach’ approaches are far more consistent with the spirit of the Cul-de-sacs and gateways strategy document. • Opening access to projects and engaging with young people in their own neighbourhoods can be a more effective means of engaging the ‘most at risk’ or ‘hard to reach’ young people than institutionalized formal referral mechanisms. • Successful engagement often relies upon making use of informal relationships with loose networks of partners. Policy and Practice: There is a need to select credible and flexible lead agencies and for PF projects to be more committed to the use of flexible, pragmatic ‘outreach’ approaches towards engagement rather than being referral agency driven. Spaces and places Key Issue: Are PF projects utilising appropriate sites for the delivery of activities? • Few of the projects make use of their own base for delivery purposes. • There is clear demarcation between those projects which focus activity in the local neighbourhood and those who seek out more ‘appropriate’ or ‘glamorous’ venues further afield. • The use of existing local facilities provides a number of significant benefits. • Where local rivalries and territorialism are present, PF projects can become part of the social processes which define these divisions. • Sporting activities can also generate transformative spaces which undermine animosities tied to local affiliations and notions of ‘race’. Policy and Practice: The PF approach is committed to the use of supportive and culturally familiar environments. In the main this suggests a preference for the use of local facilities and direction of resources into the immediate 4 neighbourhood in order to facilitate the transformation of places where there is nothing to do into spaces with something to do. Kudos, glamour and special activities Key Issue: Are PF projects selecting appropriate activities to engage young people? • Positive Futures is about more than offering a conventional youth club facility based approach where there is access to a free pool table. • Projects increasingly utilise a range of unusual activities, perceived by participants as ‘cool’, which stretch the definition of PF as a sport based social inclusion strategy. • Two case study projects make strong use of their partnership with Premiership football clubs and have been able to exploit their glamour very effectively. • In our case studies we have found a committed engagement with dance and dance instructors. • Those who are not directly associated with the project but who participants meet in the context of the activities can also provide added attraction. Policy and Practice: The use of activities which would not be defined as sports in conventional terms is a welcome development in the context of Cul-de-sacs and gateways emphasis that ‘young people are more likely to engage…if you start by teaching them something they think is worth knowing or like doing’. Staff Key Issue: Do project staff have the appropriate skills and personal qualities necessary to deliver PF? • There is no such thing as an archetype ‘community sports practitioner’. Rather all of our case study projects employ a disparate array of staff with distinct skills and backgrounds. • A typology of staff identities is beginning to emerge which we have characterized as ‘the boss’, ‘the buddy’, ‘the teacher’, ‘the joker’, ‘Mr Cool’, ‘the geezer’ and ‘the expert’. • Staff may play to or utilise different aspects of these characters or even occupy a number of positions simultaneously depending on the group they are working with. • There is a stronger identification amongst participants with members of staff who are of their area than those who are not. • Successful relationship building may be assisted by sports competency, but is primarily driven by the young people's identification with the socio- cultural background and approach of the workers. 5 • Projects’ capacity to create the right cocktail of characters with the necessary blend of skills to work in this multi-dimensional field will define their success. • In recognising that personality and life experiences are not sufficient qualities for the delivery of a strategically-led sports-based social inclusion programme PF has sought to develop a comprehensive programme of training • The Workforce Training Initiative has undoubtedly had an impact in terms of the level of staff expertise and confidence in relation to dealing with aggressive and abusive behaviour and substance misuse. Policy and Practice: Effective engagement relies upon a range of staff competencies, experience and personalities. In this context it is vital that staff and projects recognize that everyone can learn new and develop existing