Drawing on interviews with 33 young people between the ages of 14 to 17 attending three English schools we examine their experiences of a personalised education system. The policy climate in England has for some time been one of intense and persistent reforms. The Labour Party took office in 1997 and advanced 'personalised learning' as a central reforming concept that made use of individual targets, data and pupil voice in the learning process. We identify that while the opportunities for productive voices are evident, the young people's experience of it is inconsistent. Notably, the use of targets and data has often made them invisible and mute, and this affects how they understand the purposes of schools and their place within a school. Outcome data are a necessary and proper concern of schools. However, we suggest that the conceptualisation of learning, and the relational processes involved, are being damaged through the interpretation of voice as a means of delivering instrumental data sets. We argue this point using a conceptualisation of social practice and ethics drawn from Alasdair MacIntyre.
In response to high-profile cases of child abuse and heightened public concern, the safeguarding agenda in England seeks to reform relationships between in loco parentis adults and children or young people across a range of settings, applying managerial methods to regulating conduct. Referring to material relevant to many such settings, this article considers the way in which the application of managerialism has imposed particular approaches to moral issues, specifically by reframing moral distinctions (e.g. 'right' and 'wrong') in terms of technical language and pro/prescriptions of practice. Policies and practices premised on the imperative that touch between adults and children should be avoided at all costs are considered in particular, and the managerial approach is contrasted with ideas derived from MacIntyre's account of practice based on virtue ethics. To exemplify these issues a video campaign, Keeping Children Safe in Music, devised and promoted by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Musicians' Union, and one episode in particular, is analysed. The focus is on how moral (and musical) issues are sidelined and replaced by managerial and defensive instructions, based on the notion that children will be protected from harm if even well-intentioned adults avoid touching them.
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