Public duty and private prejudice: sexualities equalities and local government

Rather than critiquing social institutions and practices that have historically excluded lesbians and gay men, as did earlier social movements in the 1960s and 1970s, since the 1990s the politics of sexuality has increasingly been about demanding equal rights of citizenship. These citizenship demands have, at least to a degree, been answered via a raft of recent legislation in the UK including the Adoption and Children Act 2002, Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and by associated changes in policy making and practice that emphasize ‘Equality and Diversity’. In this article we consider how the implementation of sexualities equalities policies is related to processes of privatization and individualization. This is illustrated by using sexualities equalities work in local government as a case study to indicate how processes of change and resistance are aided by these processes. The article draws on findings from a study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equalities initiatives in local government in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which examined the views of those who now have a public duty to implement recent legislative and policy shifts and are obliged to develop equalities initiatives concerning ‘sexual orientation' and ‘gender reassignment’.     

More than the sum of its parts? inter‐professional working in the education of looked after children

This article highlights work underway in three English local authorities to promote effective inter‐agency collaboration around the education of looked after children. Insight drawn from these local authorities is used to review previous literature concerning inter‐agency collaboration in a variety of contexts. The relevance of previous research to issues concerning the education of looked after children is discussed and key factors associated with effective collaboration are highlighted. Barriers which have served to obstruct joint working and strategies adopted to deal with these are also discussed.     

Developing interprofessional relationships: tapping the potential of inter‐agency training

The creation of effective Local Safeguarding Children Boards in England and Wales is contingent upon the development of new interprofessional partnerships amongst practitioners, managers and strategic planners. Inter‐agency training will have a role to play in facilitating partnership development throughout an increasingly complex inter‐agency system. The following article reviews the recent history of inter‐agency training and the increasing clarity regarding its distinctive purpose. It highlights three theoretical frameworks that have been influential in the development of ideas about the most appropriate focus and process when working across organisational and professional boundaries. Finally, attention is drawn to an emerging consensus as to the core dimensions of effectiveness in interprofessional working relationships. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Working Part‐Time for the State: Gender,Class and the Public Sector Pay Gap

This article explores the role and nature of disadvantages associated with part‐time working in perpetuating the gender pay gap in the public sector. It does so by means of a detailed case study of local government workers in the UK, with particular reference to the more than one and a half million local government service workers covered by National Joint Council bargaining arrangements. The article draws from original pay data analysis and national survey work conducted by the author. It argues that little has changed since the findings reported 20 years ago by Beechey and Perkins with respect to the disadvantages experienced by part‐time workers and the ‘construction’ of employment in gendered ways. However, the role of class may have been understated in previous accounts: class fractions in gender‐segregated employment continue to hold deep significance and provide some potential for solidaristic approaches by trade unions alongside traditional ‘equality’ initiatives.     

Problem formulation in practitioner and researcher partnerships: A decade of experience at the Center for the Study of Social Work Practice

This article examines social work research problem formulation in the context of practitioner and researcher partnerships. The analysis draws from a decade of experience at the Center for the Study of Social Work Practice. The Center was established to bring university faculty together with agency practitioners to conduct practice research. This organizational partnership between a university and a social agency has resulted in a decade of experimentation on how this partnership can facilitate social work practice knowledge development. This article describes the studies conducted at the Center with specific attention to how research problem formulation has been influenced by the university and agency partners.     

Community development and control in a state-local partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand

This paper is a case study of an attempt, using community developmentmethods, by local members of a state-local partnership to gainmore governance control in the face of central government dominance.The process highlighted in this case study was a community visioningexercise that built on existing networks at a local level todevelop the higher degree of active community involvement requiredto achieve more autonomy to meet felt community needs throughoutthe local district. The resources activated through the community development processenabled the partnership to successfully challenge central governmentdominance and develop local initiatives. It also raised issuesaround the autonomous development of mana whenua (the indigenouspeople of that place) initiatives and those of outlying ruralcommunities. The overall conclusion is one that supports a strategicapproach to local empowerment through the community developmentprocesses of enhancing local interactive multi-stakeholder networksand using leverage to negotiate change, in this case, by exploitingseemingly endemic structural weaknesses of the central government.     

Young People as Moral Beings: Childhood,Morality and Inter‐Generational Relationships

This article uses the work of Goffman to explore how a group of older children presented a moral self in a study of inter‐generational relationships. By reflecting critically on their own behaviour and that of other young people and adults, they presented themselves as morally competent agents, whilst questioning the taken‐for‐granted moral competence of adults. Their presentation of a moral self involved portraying themselves as moral beings, whilst acknowledging that they are also moral becomings. The findings highlight how the embedded authority and associated moral accountability of adults in relation to children militate against recognising children's moral agency.     

Poverty,oil and corruption: the need for a Quad‐Sector Development Partnership (QSDP) in Nigeria's Niger Delta

This article starts by charting the conflicting position in Nigeria's Niger Delta between its petroleum wealth and the poverty of its inhabitants before observing how government corruption has hampered development agencies from rectifying this situation. It then examines trans‐national company (TNC) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives via a case study of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). It concludes that, while there are useful projects, their success is felt at a micro level that cannot supplant wider government development. Finally, the article sets out why Quad‐Sector Development Partnerships (QSDP) between an international development agency, the state, TNCs and civil society will help to neutralise the national problem of corruption so that Niger‐Delta socioeconomic development can be improved.     

Building an Evidence-Driven Child Welfare Workforce: A University–Agency Partnership

The federal government increasingly expects child welfare systems to be more responsive to the needs of their local populations, connect strategies to results, and use continuous quality improvement (CQI) to accomplish these goals. A method for improving decision making, CQI relies on an inflow of high-quality data, up-to-date research evidence, and a robust organizational structure and climate that supports the deliberate use of evidence for decision making. This article describes an effort to build and support these essential system components through one public-private child welfare agency–university partnership.     

Civil society,social accountability and service delivery in Zimbabwe

Post‐2000, the deterioration of Zimbabwe's socioeconomic and political conditions is widely acknowledged as phenomenal and unprecedented. Consequently, government and local authorities are struggling to provide basic services. At the same time, civil society initiatives are promoting transparency and accountability in service delivery. The article explains how civil society coalitions and citizens are promoting and demanding accountability in the delivery of public services by local authorities. In particular, it focuses on four critical issues; namely local authority–citizen engagement, social accountability focus areas, social accountability tools and emerging social accountability issues. The article concludes that civil society‐led social accountability initiatives are effective under conditions of civil society capacity, institutionalization of social accountability by local authorities, and negotiating local political dynamics.     

Daring ‘life‐return projects’ to post‐Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article discusses the prospects for realization of rights‐based return against the backdrop of a twenty years‐long (inter)nationally managed return process to post‐Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina. It draws on 42 in‐depth interviews with two different waves of returnees: early assisted returns (1997‐2005), and later self‐organised returns (2005‐2013). Our findings show that realization of return implicates the courageous well‐planned and self‐orchestrated life return projects, closely inter‐linked with the construction of the complex micro‐social structures buffering against the unpredictable macro‐social context of post‐Dayton BiH. Instead of being propelled by formal and assisted return programmes, it is rather the intricate relational practices with space(s) and people – continuously investing in the multisite local and transnational social networks, and flexible mobility and settlement patterns ‐ shaped by social agency of the returnees that lead to realization of the return projects.     

Participation or practice innovation: tensions in inter‐agency working to address disciplinary exclusion from school

This paper explores dilemmas and tensions between two models of school based inter‐agency meetings to prevent disciplinary exclusion from school. The first model is characterised by innovative practice developed through long established professional relationships and addresses both individual and strategic issues in supporting young people who are at risk of disciplinary exclusion from school. The second model strongly emphasises the right to participation of young people and their families in school based inter‐agency meetings. Research participants in three Scottish councils (parents, pupils, teachers and other professionals 1 ) had identified school based inter‐agency meetings as key to the process of inter‐agency working to prevent school exclusion.     

Joining up children's services: safeguarding children in multi‐disciplinary teams

In this article we reflect on the complexity and the contested nature of the roles of multi‐disciplinary teams working with children. This is an increasingly important issue in the current UK child welfare policy environment. The article uses the theories of Etienne Wenger to understand data gathered from five multi‐disciplinary teams working with children. We explore key issues relating to location; information sharing; models of understanding; and professional identities. We hope to demonstrate that the teams addressed tensions creatively through their engagement with diversity while at the same time developing common team values. We argue that effective strategies for making multi‐disciplinary teams work will combine inter‐agency issues with internal team‐specific aspects. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Communicating equality through policy documents: On legitimacy,double logic and stable translations

This article discusses gender mainstreaming (GMS) as a strategy to implement gender equality in public work organizations by analysing discourse in terms of the theoretical notions of translation and circulation in organizations to shed light on how gender equality and the mainstreaming strategy are formulated in the documents which govern the Swedish fire and rescue services. More specifically, it looks at how the goals regarding gender equality are circulated and translated. The results show that gender equality as a practice is created in the translation of national goals in terms of the local context and its specific gender equality challenges. Furthermore, the article discusses how vague formulations in the documents are stabilized through circulation between the government and the public agency in question. The results indicate the central role played by maintaining stable translations over time and the presence of a double logic of change in the processes, as well as the importance of legitimizing gender equality initiatives.     

Gypsy Justice versus Gorgio Law: Interrelations of Difference

Resonating with Frankenberg, this article explores the role of the individual stranger/outsider. The non‐Gypsy (gorgio) individual or system is often used to settle internal disputes among Traveller‐Gypsies, although rarely in the relatively benign role, as in Frankenberg's study. The outsider's system, while representing centuries of sedentarist and racist persecution, may also be open to manipulation. While popular discourse represents the Gypsies’ non‐literate system as an isolate in some potential evolution, the few studies of Gypsies’ resolution of conflict have attracted attention in other disciplines because they raise questions about alternative controls and local cooperation in post‐industrialist societies. Rather than any classical contrast and comparison, the article demonstrates inter relations of differences with emphasis on agency and institutions of law enforcement as a resource. My ethnographic material emerges not from former colonies but the once centre of the British Empire. The Traveller‐Gypsies also have relatively independent, appropriate means of settling conflicts. Hitherto, this detailed material from localized fieldwork rather than from afar, has been withheld for a safe passage of time. It may have become even more relevant.     

Ready,Set, Go … Again: Renewing an Academy–Agency Child Welfare Partnership

This article presents a case study of the renewed partnership between a midwestern public child welfare agency and a midwestern university school of social work. The partnership, which includes educating BSW and MSW students, preparing frontline child welfare case managers, and providing leadership training for supervisors and managers, demonstrates relational capital, relational embeddedness, and transparency, all of which are criteria for trust and strong partnerships. We discuss the unique development of collaborative relationships through the history of the partnership. This study provides an exemplar of how the academy and the agency communities can inform each other to enhance the well-being of children and families.     

Democratizing States and the Use of History*

Abstract A pervasive anti‐statism often blinds us to the democratic victories in the past and thus to possibilities in our future. This article argues that big government can democratize society and uses historical investigation to make the point. The study of history emancipates us from the tyranny of the present. Progressive social change has come about in the United States and elsewhere as combined bottom‐up, top‐down initiatives. I present two such cases of democratization during the New Deal era. The first is about rural sociologists' participatory‐action research with local citizens for policy planning. This program, while short‐lived, fed into the creation of the field of community development. The other is a land‐reform experiment among poor African Americans. In the 1960s these “resettlement communities” became local strongholds of the civil‐rights movement, and their descendants carry on the struggle today. I use these two historical instances to show that big states as well as social scientists have been effective agents of democracy, and suggest that they can be again. History then enable us to re‐imagine, re‐new, and re‐form our democratic tradition of rural sociology.     

Capacity building for rural development in the United States

Rural development in the United States places considerable weight upon the contribution of leadership in small communities to bring about local regeneration. This effort draws upon the theory and practice of capacity building processes. The application of this approach is examined through the experience of the Colorado Rural Revitalisation Project which was initiated in 1988 as a collaborative venture between two universities and a state agency. It concluded in 1992 having worked with 47 rural communities. The outcomes of the partnership programme related to learning and action are discussed and the results of an evaluation exercise are presented. A suite of local, institutional and national issues arising from the Project is identified. It is concluded that there is merit in greater interest being taken in initiatives like the Colorado Rural Revitalisation Project by policy makers, educationalists and rural communities in Europe.     

Inter‐professional Learning to Prepare Medical and Social Work Students for Practice with Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Social workers and medical practitioners, particularly those in general practice, provide services for individuals who experience social exclusion. Access to medical, health and social care services has been identified as problematic for refugees and asylum seekers, reflecting their marginalised status within society. It is widely accepted that multi‐agency responses and working together are key requirements in improving access to services and promoting social inclusion; however, achieving this across professional and agency boundaries often remains challenging. Joint planning and training have been suggested as being important in improving communication, leading to more flexible and creative services.

This paper describes the genesis and implementation of a series of innovative inter‐professional workshops for medical and social work students, focussing specifically on marginalised groups. Learning and teaching input was developed by, and came from, service users and qualified medical, health and social work practitioners. The paper focuses particularly on the sessions relating to refugees and asylum seekers. The content and structure of the sessions are discussed and students' responses are reported. The implications for future inter‐professional learning and practice in relation to socially excluded groups are highlighted.     

Perfecting the Craft: Formative Assessment of a University–Agency Partnership for Social Work Education

The aim of this study was to identify strengths and weaknesses of a Title IV-E partnership for delivery of child welfare education in the United States. A formative assessment was conducted for a newly developed partnership between a public child welfare agency and seven institutes of higher education. Using a qualitative design, interviews were conducted with professionals from the agency and from each college/university, as well as with students enrolled in child welfare courses supported by the partnership. Findings address strengths and benefits of the partnership, lessons learned, and suggestions for enhancement of program administration, curricula, field placements, and recruitment and retention. Respondents described numerous benefits of the partnership, particularly its contribution to professionalism and commitment among child welfare workers, improving the field of child welfare, and promoting a focus on outcomes of safety, permanency, and well-being for children and families. A concern to be addressed in future research and practice was integrating opportunities for education and career advancement for persons currently on staff at the public agency. Recommendations are discussed for improving university–agency partnerships in child welfare and beyond.