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'Embers, and Fragments': Social Haunting in Youth Work, Impact Measurement and Policy Networks

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Title: 'Embers, and Fragments': Social Haunting in Youth Work, Impact Measurement and Policy Networks
Language: English
Authors: Louise Doherty (ORCID 0000-0002-4297-735X), Tania de St Croix (ORCID 0000-0002-7542-0611)
Source: Journal of Education Policy. 2025 40(5):930-949.
Availability: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 20
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Accountability, Educational Policy, Networks, Youth, Foreign Countries, Policy Analysis, Educational History, Evidence Based Practice, Policy Formation, Educational Trends, Futures (of Society)
Geographic Terms: United Kingdom (England)
DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2024.2398208
ISSN: 0268-0939
1464-5106
Abstract: How do education policy processes and networks operate in sectors that have been chronically defunded? This article discusses elements of contestation and doubt in the context of a policy agenda around impact measurement in youth services in England. Drawing on interviews with policy makers, influencers and critics, it combines analysis of a policy network with theories and methodologies of social haunting, as developed by Avery Gordon, Justine Pors and others. Youth policy, in its present denuded form, is haunted by ghosts of policy past: a mourned tradition of publicly funded, practice-led youth work that refuses to disappear; and spectres of policy yet-to-come: an idealised yet somehow unconvincing future of evidence-based practice and social return on investment. We suggest that engaging with ghosts can enrich understandings of policy making by foregrounding the discomforts that haunt policy networks, questioning the assumed rationality of evidence-based policy and highlighting the contested and interconnected nature of policy and practice futures.
Abstractor: As Provided
Notes: https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/855316
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1489970
Database: ERIC
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Louise+Doherty%22">Louise Doherty</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4297-735X">0000-0002-4297-735X</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Tania+de+St+Croix%22">Tania de St Croix</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7542-0611">0000-0002-7542-0611</externalLink>)
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  Data: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
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  Data: How do education policy processes and networks operate in sectors that have been chronically defunded? This article discusses elements of contestation and doubt in the context of a policy agenda around impact measurement in youth services in England. Drawing on interviews with policy makers, influencers and critics, it combines analysis of a policy network with theories and methodologies of social haunting, as developed by Avery Gordon, Justine Pors and others. Youth policy, in its present denuded form, is haunted by ghosts of policy past: a mourned tradition of publicly funded, practice-led youth work that refuses to disappear; and spectres of policy yet-to-come: an idealised yet somehow unconvincing future of evidence-based practice and social return on investment. We suggest that engaging with ghosts can enrich understandings of policy making by foregrounding the discomforts that haunt policy networks, questioning the assumed rationality of evidence-based policy and highlighting the contested and interconnected nature of policy and practice futures.
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      – SubjectFull: Educational Policy
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      – SubjectFull: Evidence Based Practice
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      – SubjectFull: Futures (of Society)
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      – SubjectFull: United Kingdom (England)
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