Living socioeconomic and educational 'Disadvantage': learning from young people and their experiences of an innovative school-led model of provision.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Environment, Education and Development
Abstract
This research will consist of an in-depth case study of an innovative school-led model for intervening in the interconnected issue of socioeconomic disadvantage and educational disadvantage for young people in a school: 'SID support'. This is being developed and implemented by staff in the Social Investment Department (SID) of Manchester Communication Academy (MCA), which serves 11-16-year-old pupils in a high-poverty inner-city area. Now in its second year, the model involves SID-staff working intensively in partnership with learners giving cause for concern and their carers / families / peers, as a unit, to understand: (i) the complex webs of social determinants and interconnected relationships shaping the learner situation and his/her identity and agency; and (ii) how learners/families/peers/MCA, connected to other professional services, can work together to intervene in ways which account for the complexities of the learner's situation. Bespoke support plans are developed and implemented drawing upon MCA's wider partnerships and actions to tackle potential underlying forms of socioeconomic and related educational disadvantage - from addressing economic disadvantage, for example food poverty, to supporting educational disadvantage that relates to both social and cultural and material elements of socioeconomic disadvantage, for example university access.
This research seeks to better understand the relationship between MCA and the lived experiences of pupils in relation to this approach, by exploring the following research questions:
RQ1 In what ways does MCA think about and then intervene with regards to young people experiencing both socio-economic and related educational disadvantage?
RQ2 What is the lived experience of young people experiencing both socio-economic and educational disadvantage?
RQ3 How does MCA's approach relate to the lived experience of young people engaging with MCA provision and what does this suggest for the development of the approach?
In order to explore this relationship, this research will pursue a nested case-study design with MCA's pastoral provision as the overall case and main unit of analysis, and ten young people accessing this provision nested within this as the sub-units of analysis. Furthermore, using ethnographic and narrative techniques, this research will surface 'the story of MCA' in order to fully understand MCA's approach, including MCA's understandings and assumptions in relation to educational disadvantage, which underpin their approach (RQ1). Equally, the research will narrate the authentic 'stories' of a sample of young people engaging with MCA provision (RQ2). The purpose of this aspect of the research focus is to explicate the lived experiences of the young person. The aim is to surface the multifaceted complexities, informed in part by an analysis of the 'social determinants' of being located within a disadvantaged area associated with young people's transacted experiences in their every-day lives. This will consider the young person's fullness of life as a unit of analysis that includes family, peers, school, community and local area influence to (i) understand the interconnection of the young person and these influences and (ii) to explore how MCA understands these interconnections illustrated in the 'fullness of lives' of these individuals. Thereby exploring the various components of the young person's life holistically, for example the interconnected nature of family and schools. The research will then explore how MCA provision is located within the young person's experience in order to appreciate the dynamics of the young person's lived experience as it relates to MCA's approach. This will include a specific emphasis on surfacing both incremental/developmental shifts in young people's experiences which suggest a link that is suggestive of MCA provision both specifically through SID support and more broadly.
This research seeks to better understand the relationship between MCA and the lived experiences of pupils in relation to this approach, by exploring the following research questions:
RQ1 In what ways does MCA think about and then intervene with regards to young people experiencing both socio-economic and related educational disadvantage?
RQ2 What is the lived experience of young people experiencing both socio-economic and educational disadvantage?
RQ3 How does MCA's approach relate to the lived experience of young people engaging with MCA provision and what does this suggest for the development of the approach?
In order to explore this relationship, this research will pursue a nested case-study design with MCA's pastoral provision as the overall case and main unit of analysis, and ten young people accessing this provision nested within this as the sub-units of analysis. Furthermore, using ethnographic and narrative techniques, this research will surface 'the story of MCA' in order to fully understand MCA's approach, including MCA's understandings and assumptions in relation to educational disadvantage, which underpin their approach (RQ1). Equally, the research will narrate the authentic 'stories' of a sample of young people engaging with MCA provision (RQ2). The purpose of this aspect of the research focus is to explicate the lived experiences of the young person. The aim is to surface the multifaceted complexities, informed in part by an analysis of the 'social determinants' of being located within a disadvantaged area associated with young people's transacted experiences in their every-day lives. This will consider the young person's fullness of life as a unit of analysis that includes family, peers, school, community and local area influence to (i) understand the interconnection of the young person and these influences and (ii) to explore how MCA understands these interconnections illustrated in the 'fullness of lives' of these individuals. Thereby exploring the various components of the young person's life holistically, for example the interconnected nature of family and schools. The research will then explore how MCA provision is located within the young person's experience in order to appreciate the dynamics of the young person's lived experience as it relates to MCA's approach. This will include a specific emphasis on surfacing both incremental/developmental shifts in young people's experiences which suggest a link that is suggestive of MCA provision both specifically through SID support and more broadly.