Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Discourses of Widening Participation and Social Inclusion Thesis How to cite: Carr, Jennifer (2006). Discourses of Widening Participation and Social Inclusion. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2006 The Author Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000534e Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk Discourses of Widening Participation and Social Inclusion Author: Jennifer Carr BSc (Hons) MSc (ERM) Discipline: Faculty of Education and Language Studies Submission For: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Submission Date: 30th September 2006 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisors, Julia Clarke and Martyn Hammersley, for all their help and support. I am sure that I have exhausted your patience many times over during my somewhat tortuous path towards completing this thesis! My heartfelt thanks for bearing with me. I would also like to thank all those people involved with Adult Learners’ Week, both learners and practitioners, who were so generous with their time and support. 2 Abstract This thesis explores the relationship between policies and initiatives designed to widen participation in post-compulsory learning and notions of social inclusion. Whilst both widening participation and social inclusion can be viewed as distinct policy areas, the focus for this research are the links between the two, the impact that these links have on the development of specific education policy initiatives and what that means for those implicated in these initiatives. This thesis begins with an examination of the way in which notions of social exclusion, lifelong learning and widening participation are constructed in policy texts and practices. I argue that dominant discourses of social inclusion, which emphasise equality of opportunity brought about through participation in paid employment, lead to an under-valuing in policy terms of learning programmes that seek to promote the wider benefits of learning. I also argue, however, that the potential exists for practitioners and learners to resist and subvert these dominant discourses. Drawing on the work of Bacchi (2002) I highlight how, through theorising the ‘spaces for challenge’, analysts can examine processes of micromanipulation – the unique ways in which marginalised people or groups raise problems or attempt to influence any agenda. Adopting a Foucauldian genealogical approach I explore the ways in which a specific widening participation initiative, that of Adult Learners’ Week (ALW), has been used by practitioners to both engage potential learners and influence Government policy. The range of data drawn on includes archive material relating to the ALW initiative; policy texts and documents; interviews with practitioners and learners involved with ALW and other widening participation initiatives; and, participant and non- participant observations of interactions between practitioners involved in planning for and delivering ALW. In this thesis I use the ALW themes of ‘Community, Culture and Citizenship’, ‘Equality and Diversity’ and ‘Skills for Life’ to explore examples of micromanipulation identified in the analysis of these data. This thesis concludes with reflections on the usefulness of adopting a genealogical approach and a discussion of the lessons that can be learned from the examples of micromanipulations discussed, including the challenges to widening participation that persist. 3 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ 4 INDEX OF TABLES AND FIGURES .....................................................................................8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 11 1.1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................... 11 1. 2 PART ONE - ‘JOINING UP’ THE ISSUES....................................................................16 1.3 PART TWO - DOING A GENEALOGICAL ANALYSIS: HOW DIFFICULT CAN IT BE? ............................................................................................................................................ 19 1.4 PART THREE - ADULT LEARNERS' WEEK: 'A VERY GOOD WAY OF PUNCHING THEM ON THE NOSE!' ....................................................................................................... 27 PART ONE - ‘JOINING UP’ THE ISSUES CHAPTER TWO: SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND WIDENING PARTICIPATION..................... 31 2.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 31 2.2 SOCIAL EXCLUSION: A ‘SHORTHAND TERM’ .......................................................... 33 2.2.1 THE SOCIAL EXCLUSION UNIT: PROVIDING ‘JOINED-UP SOLUTIONS TO JOINED-UP PROBLEMS’.......... 36 What is social exclusion? ............................................................................................................... 37 What are the causes of social exclusion? ...................................................................................... 40 What is to be done? The Government's 'new' approach................................................................ 44 2.2.2.THE ROLE OF LIFELONG LEARNING IN DELIVERING SOCIAL INCLUSION.............................................. 45 2.2.2 DOES IT HAVE TO BE THE ‘THIRD WAY’?........................................................................................ 48 2.3 WIDENING PARTICIPATION: ANOTHER ‘SHORTHAND TERM’................................ 56 2.3.1 WHY IS LEARNING STILL ‘FOR OTHER PEOPLE’? ............................................................................. 57 2.3.2 POLICY-AS-DISCOURSE ............................................................................................................... 60 2.4 CONCLUSION: ‘BETTER POLICY-MAKING’............................................................... 62 2.4.1 NIACE AND ALW........................................................................................................................ 64 PART TWO - DOING A GENEALOGICAL ANALYSIS: HOW DIFFICULT CAN IT BE? CHAPTER THREE: FOUCAULDIAN GENEALOGICAL ANALYSIS .................................. 66 3.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 66 3.2 FOUCAULT'S GENEALOGY: 'THE UNFOLDING OF A SPACE IN WHICH IT IS ONCE MORE POSSIBLE TO THINK' (FOUCAULT, 1970, P.342)................................................. 68 3.3 GENEALOGY AS AN ANALYTICAL STRATEGY ........................................................ 74 3.3.1 CONSTRUCTING THE ARCHIVE ...................................................................................................... 77 Objects ........................................................................................................................................... 78 Subjects.......................................................................................................................................... 78 Conceptual network........................................................................................................................ 79 Strategy .......................................................................................................................................... 80 3.3.2 MOVING FROM ARCHAEOLOGY TO GENEALOGY.............................................................................. 83 4 3.4 DISCOURSES OF WIDENING PARTICIPATION AND SOCIAL INCLUSION: A GENEALOGICAL PROJECT. ............................................................................................. 87 3.4.1 THE THEMES............................................................................................................................... 88 3.4.2 THE AWARDS .............................................................................................................................. 93 3.4.3 THE PARTNERSHIPS .................................................................................................................... 94 3.5 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 97 CHAPTER FOUR: THE DISCOURSES OF ‘EDUCATION FOR ADULTS’ AND ‘ADULT EDUCATION’ ...................................................................................................................... 99 4.1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 99 4.2 EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY......................................... 101 4.3. REFORMING 'EDUCATION FOR ADULTS' .............................................................. 107 4.3.1 'REFORM' AS A CONCEPTUAL NETWORK ...................................................................................... 109 4.3.2 REFORM AS AN OBJECT ............................................................................................................