From informal solidarity to structure and distrust: a story of colonized multi-agency partnership in community education

Abstract

As the interrelated causes of deprivation, social exclusion and academic underachievement are increasingly recognised, multi-agency working has become the new norm in community development and education. Despite the increasing prevalence of partnership models in post-devolution Scottish public policy, sustainable and fundamental transformations in working practices appear elusive.

This research investigates the perspectives of front-line partners at one community education project in the West of Scotland in order to fill gaps in the extant literature and enhance ‘practice-relevant scholarship’ (Antonacopoulou, 2010). By telling the story of partnership at Killoch Homework and Cookery Club (KHCC), the benefits and frustrations of multi-agency working for small community projects are highlighted, and characteristics that could support success and sustainability are identified.

A mixed-method case study approach incorporating semi-structured interviews, participant and non-participant observation was employed. In addition, ten months of voluntary activity at KHCC built a semi-ethnographic understanding of project dynamics. Collectively, this data was woven together to produce a rich profile of multi-agency working.

Habermas’s theory of lifeworld colonization (1987) provides an effective analytical framework for understanding transformations to the KHCC partnership, contributing to a growing application of Habermasian thought to organisational dynamics. Reforms and developments to the KHCC partnership are suggested, and lifeworld colonization is proposed as a useful tool for understanding broader multi-agency contexts.

Furthermore, a novel hybridization of colonization theory is developed, incorporating the work of Michael Lipsky (1980) and Ulrich Beck (1992, 2014). Hybridization of this kind is shown to be a crucial element of building social theory that can be put to work for the benefit of society.