Programme 1: Social and political education in non-formal settings 1978-86.
Action research programme – coordinator and lead researcher (Department of Education and Science funded 1978-81 – DES assessor John Slater – followed by extensive literature review and case studies (1982-6). Associated publications: Creators not Consumers 1980, 1982; Organise! 1981; Questions for Survival 1984; and Political Education. Approaches in the Community, 1987. Associated articles chapters: 1981, 1987.
Programme 2: The development of youth work practice and policy 1985-94.
Literature review, interviews, case studies (1985-1991). Associated books and publications: Developing Youth Work 1988; and with Tony Jeffs (eds): Youth Work (BASW Practical Social Work Series),1987; Welfare and Youth Work Practice,1988; Young People, Inequality and Youth Work, 1990. Associated articles with Tony Jeffs: 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994. Other articles: 1991.
Programme 3: Theory and practice of informal education. 1986-1999
Literature review, action research and case studies (1986-9; 1995-8). Associated books: Developing Youth Work 1988; Using Informal Education, 1990 (edited with Tony Jeffs); Informal Education: conversation, democracy and learning, 1996, 1999, and 2005 (with Tony Jeffs). (Undertaken as part of a Rank Research Fellowship)
Programme 4: Education in the community . 1989-1994
Literature review, interviews, workshops, participant observation, case studies (1989-1993) (Supervised by A. V. Kelly and G. Edwards and partly funded by the Rank Foundation). Associated book: Local Education, 1994. Associated articles: 1991, 1992 (with Tony Jeffs), 1992.
Programme 5: A critical appraisal of aspects of the Rank Foundation Youth or Adult? and Gap volunteer initiatives. 1988-2014
This included assisting with the evaluation and write-up of participating projects (over 60 in Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and undertaking action-research programmes associated with new training initiatives. Associated publications: Youth or Adult? Working Papers,1988; The Challenge for Voluntary Youth Work Organizations, 1991; Youth or Adult? The first five years, 1993; Setting Up and Managing Projects 1994; 1996a, 2000, Evaluation: Learning what matters, 2006 (with Alan Rogers); Journeying together. Growing youth work and youth workers in local communities, 2010 (edited with Alan Rogers); Learning through outdoor experience. A guide for schools and youth groups, (edited with Alan Rogers) 2012 (funded by the Rank Foundation).
Programme 6: The art of helping others. 2004-7
Undertaken with Heather Smith. Literature review, case studies, workshops, action research. Associated book: The art of helping others, 2008.
Programme 7: An evaluation of the BIG Lottery/DfE myplace initiative. 2009-11
Undertaken with Jean Spence and others. Funded as part of the support programme for the initiative. Associated publications Myplace Evaluation Final Report, DfE 2011; Myplace Evaluation Interim Report, DfE 2010.
Programme 8: Re-imagining education – why the differences between pedagogy and teaching really matter. 2019-
Undertaken with Tony Jeffs, this work is linked to a forthcoming publication that explores the development of modern schooling and some fundamental misunderstandings of teaching and pedagogy within English language discourses around schooling. It makes the case for exiting the curriculum prison and embracing an orientation to education pioneered by Comenius and others. Associated articles 2019, 2020, 2025
Programme 9: The Scottish housing crisis – and what needs to be done to put things right. 2022-
Research arising from the development of the Hope Cohousing project in Orkney, and broader work on housing in Scotland. The case is made for fundamental changes in housing policy including the need to encourage ‘right-sizing’, expand community-led affordable rental provision, and move away from the fetish of house ownership. Associated articles: 2022/24; 2024/5
Acknowledgement: the opening picture – calm place – is by gato-gato-gato and is used here under a ccbyncnd4 licence.