Challenging the youth policy imperative: engaging young people through the arts

Abstract

This paper challenges the orientations and assumptions underpinning policies for disadvantaged young people (DYP) in Australia. We argue that policy interventions for young people generally exhibit a binary divide, some policies fostering leadership and creative endeavours targeted on 'high-functioning' young people, especially within educational and arts milieus, while other policies, focusing on DYP, take a remedial orientation. The basis for this binary divide is, we argue, flawed social constructions of young people, constructions that pathologise or privilege behaviours, attitudes and lifestyles. The consequences for DYP are that remedial policies, designed to get and keep young people 'on track', are often ignoring deeper developmental needs. Using recent research findings from arts programmes for young people, the paper argues for a broader policy orientation, including developmental needs, to strengthen remedial policies and programmes and open the potential for pathways to resilience.

Setting responsible pathways: the politics of responsibilisation

“…Young people felt welcomed, their status as emerging adults was acknowledged and respected and they had a 'social space' of their own. It is clear that schooling and youth policies need to connect up with the 'identity making work' of students -become more holistic and developmental in focus, in order to foster genuine engagement and resilience (Smyth 2006b;De Roeper and Savelsberg 2009). …”

The Power of Music: an exploration of the evidence [PREPRINT]

“…This aided in breaking the ice, encouraging participants to engage in projective narration and helped the therapist to establish relevant, client centered treatment goals. In Australia, de Roeper and Savelsberg (2009) showed that taking part in a community-based hip hop culture project helped at-risk young people to develop confidence, skills, ambition and a stronger sense of identity, although they urged caution in interpreting the findings as the data were limited. Cobbett (2007) illustrated an integrative approach to working therapeutically with individual children experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties which combined music therapy with other creative therapies, particularly play therapy and drama therapy.…”

“…A systematic review of research on the impact of active music making on young people at risk within the criminal justice system in the UK, Australia, the USA, Canada and South Africa undertaken by Daykin and colleagues (2011) showed that music offered the potential for improvements in self efficacy, self esteem and self concept. Overall, the review concluded that music projects could help in positive identity construction providing a safe means for young offenders to express difficult emotions and anger, although very short projects where participants were unable to meet their goals could lead to frustration (de Roeper and Savelsberg, 2009). Fouche and Torrance (2005) in South Africa successfully worked with rival gang members.…”

Equal Access or Empowerment?

“…In an international context, research on young people's cultural participation explores the potential of ameliorating young people's supposed detachment from politics by having them participate in different art forms (Elliott 2016;Selwood, 1997;Zobl & Huber, 2016), while others challenge the perception of young people as politically detached (de Roeper & Savelsberg, 2009). A study on Danish students' understandings and experiences of participation showed that young people understand participation in ways that blur dualities of "personal and political, private and public, power and identity" (Eriksson 2016: 171).…”