1. Schooling and Crime: Exploring the Links Troubles of Youth Friday, 03 June 2016

2. Lecture Outline Theories of Education ‘Disengagement’ and Policy Responses –Attainment –Disruption –Exclusions Links to Criminality School as Site of Crime/ Crime Prevention in Schools –Safer Schools Partnerships –Crime Reduction in Secondary Schools Education and Desistance Interventions –Mentoring –Avoiding Exclusion

3. Interpretations of Education Education is traditionally cited in positive, functional terms –Schooling provides skills, morality, social regulation, social ranking More critical commentaries –Education acts to maintain and reproduce social inequalities –Working class children, Black and female pupils have roles and expectations matched to realistically low achievements –For middle class children, education operates to reproduce culturally dominant modes of behaviour and achievement –Education perpetuates the myth of meritocracy

4. How important is schooling? Little independent effect of schooling? –Schools simply reflect the macro-, or meso- level effects of wider social order –Schools don’t affect individual success / failure, but represent an arena this is played out –Bernstein (1970) “Schools cannot compensate for society” Considerable effect? –Schools provide the critical mix for crime opportunity “at-risk of victimisation” members of society high value, sellable property motivated offenders (possibly) low-levels of effective supervision –Vital role in the labelling of young people –Coleman / Jencks (1972) more of an independent effect noted, esp. for low ability pupils from lower social class, or ethnic minorities

5. Disaffection and “Trouble” in Schools Tension between individual needs and that of the group is apparent throughout the education system Sources of ‘trouble’ for children in school –failure to do their work –behaviour towards others –Attendance Non-condoned absence Condoned absence

6. Source: Hayden, C et al (2007) Schools, pupil behaviour and young offenders; BRIT. J. CRIMINOL. Vol 47 pp 293–310

7. Steer Report (2005) The Practitioners’ Group on School Behaviour and Discipline “It is often the case that for pupils, school is a calm place in a disorderly world. We realise that this is not the case in every school, but in our experience, where unsatisfactory behaviour does occur, in the vast majority of cases it involves low-level disruption in lessons. Incidents of serious misbehaviour, and especially acts of extreme violence, remain exceptionally rare and are carried out by a very small proportion of pupils” some new forms problematic behaviour around new technology “in loco parentis”?: “a trend for parents to challenge schools at law…. has continued and intensified”

8. Links between Schooling and Delinquency Strong correlational links between school’s demographic characteristics and delinquency –Farrington and West (1973) suggest this is not a school ‘effect’, but reflects differences in intake –Rutter (1979) “15000 Hours” – sig. ‘school effects’ in attainment, attendance and behaviour in school: delinquency relatively unaffected by school Differences may explain research approach adopted

9. Delinquent / Delinquescent Sub- culture Mediating factor of group effects: –Numerous studies (Hargreaves (1967); Chambliss (1973); Willis (1977); Schwedingers (1985)) have identified oppositional sub-cultures that relate educational disengagement with delinquency –Over-deterministic? –Some evidence that delinquent sub-cultures are affected by ‘streaming’, and by school processes of marginalization

10. Disruptive Behaviour -> Delinquency? Objective measurement of “disruptive behaviour”? Criminalisation? –School problems acting as a ‘net-widener’ –Suspended / disruptive pupils deemed more problematic if they enter the CJS –School reports carry weight with magistrates

11. Truancy Level of Truancy Year 10 and 11(%age) Every Day1.5 2-4 times a week3.2 Once a week3.5 2-3 times a month5.4 Once a month4.7 Less Often12.2 Never69.5 Not a straightforward proxy for disaffection Often carried out to avoid certain lessons, not a particular dislike for school Poor neighbourhood and low-skilled family increases risk (Galloway 1985) Absenteeism records a strong predictor of exclusion O’Keefe (1994) using YCS data

12. Truancy and Criminality Causal links difficult to establish –Some find evidence of truancy coinciding with offending at that stage in life –Little evidence of offending whilst actually truanting –Once apprehended, truancy appears to be a significant factor in decisions made by police and the courts

13. Crime Reduction in Secondary Schools Key Factors in Enhancing Life Chances and preventing offending –Good quality staff / pupil relationships –Importance of recognising parental / carer’s roles –Commitment to implementation across the whole school –Integration of measures into wider practices

14. Exclusions and Offending Evidence of a close link between exclusions and juvenile custodial population?

15. The independent effects of permanent exclusion from school on the offending careers of young people David Berridge et al (2001) Aim: to establish whether permanent exclusion from school had an independent effect on offending career Research Problems: –official data; retrospective; informal practices; theoretical problem

16. Findings No recorded offences at all85 (32.3%) Only recorded offences after exclusion 117 (44.4%) Offences before and after exclusion47 (17.9%) Only offences before exclusion14 (5.3%) Total number of excluded pupils263 cases Offending after exclusion Total168 Offending intensified at time of exclusion13 a complex chain of events loosening affiliation and commitment to a conventional way of life: loss of time structures; a re-casting of identity; a changed relationship with parents and siblings; the erosion of contact with pro-social peers and adults; closer association with similarly situated young people and heightened vulnerability to police surveillance. A “solution” - Older boys

17. Findings (2) Substantial majority of excluded pupils were involved in crime Substantial majority of young people involved in crime had been excluded from school Other non-school risk (personality and socio- demographic) risk-factors also present Transition to secondary school problematic for many Black African-Caribbean students: greater teacher apprehension Permanent exclusions usually the end of a lengthy process of warnings and fixed-term exclusions: little planning for post-exclusion care, though

18. What Works? Educational Interventions Education: –metrics-rich: enabling a strong evidence oriented culture: however, –“Treatment” much more difficult to measure than outcomes –Need to consider varying “inputs” – social background etc. –Claims to effects beyond education probably the result of complex intermediary stages

19. Educational Interventions: examples Increased Parental Involvement in Education –(Spontaneous) large effects on educational achievement –(Planned) little evidence Pre-school education –Promising, incl. extra-educational metrics School Improvement Teams

20. Addressing Disaffection Learning Support Units / Pupil Referral Units –Net-widening / variation in practice / formation of delinquent peer groups Mentoring e.g. Mentoring-Plus –Central role of the relationship between mentor and young person –Positive impact most marked in relation to education / work – no evidence of effect on offending, family relationships, substance use and self-esteem

21. Responses to Disruptive Behaviour Level 1: Whole school strategies Policies and strategies: Behaviour; bullying; Equal Opps; SEN provision, teaching and learning strategies Agreements Home-school agreements Individual pupils Educational targets; behavioural expectations: Individual Behaviour Plans, Pastoral Support Plans: Personal Education Plans The curriculum PSHE; citizenship education; teaching and learning strategies Levels 2: In-school and more intensive support (patchy provision) Withdrawal rooms or Leaning Support Units; group and individual work; learning mentors Level 3: Combination and reintegration programmes and plans (patchy provision) Part-time at school: part-time at an FE college, sometimes with a view to reintegration; “Include” programmes Level 4: Out of School provision Pupil Referral Units, home tuition, residential placements Source: Hayden, C. (2005) Children in Trouble, Palgrave

22. Education and Delinquency Safer Schools Partnerships –Evidence of some improvement in attainment and attendance –Institutional reluctance to adopt Custodial Education –Effectiveness difficult to establish Self-selection bias; cross programme contamination; lack of effective follow-ups –Remains overwhelming evidence of the poor educational experiences of those in youth custody, and of the inadequacy of educational provision once in custody