Education is a key driver of resilience against the backdrop of increasing uncertainty provoked by enduring forms of social injustice. Yet, for many children living in poverty, school is a site in which economic inequalities are reproduced and children experience further exclusion and stigma. Nearly a quarter of families in Europe are at risk of poverty. In the UK, nine in every class of thirty children are living in poverty. Poverty has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, further entrenching inequalities in educational attainment. The Cost of the School Day project, developed by two charities, the Child Poverty Action Group and Children NorthEast, aimed to understand the barriers and challenges faced by poor children during the school day in the UK and use this evidence to help schools reduce costs and remove stigmatising practices to bring about a fair education for children. Starting with the assumption that activity is collective and governed by particular rules and divisions of labour, this paper analyses how partnerships within the project worked and ultimately led to change by looking at evidence produced in school reports, thereby improving the lives of children, young people and their families and enabling them to thrive and succeed.

Across England, schools are working innovatively with other organisations to provide wide-ranging support to, and with, their local communities. In recent years, children's zone-style initiatives have been among the most extensive developments of these kinds. These comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs) are place-based strategies, working in highly marginalised neighbourhood contexts. They seek to develop a continuous 'pipeline' of holistic support for children and families, throughout their schooling, and in their school, family, and community contexts. Typically, zones also build on the legacy of England's previous extended schools initiatives, and on contemporary developments from the United States including the Harlem Children's Zone. This chapter defines and contextualises CCIs and discusses challenges and opportunities arising from one such initiative – Newcastle's West End Children's Community (WECC). This involves an alliance of schools, community members, local charities, cultural and health organisations, the local authority, and a university. It is a loose area-based network formed organically. Data are presented from an embedded, co-produced, action-research project which informs the Community's ongoing development. Our analysis is primarily at the meso-level with regard to both the macro and micro. The WECC primarily offers universal and selected strategies. The concepts of relational agency and expertise, and assets-based development, are used to explore the partnerships, strategies, and actions, emerging through CCIs. This chapter concludes that children's zones raise fundamental questions about whether or not schools and their partners can play a transformative role in developing innovative responses to mitigating the impacts of social and economic inequality, the importance of a transparent and effective governance structure, the involvement of additional partners, the adoption of strategic indicators, and how policy can support all these.

Ethics work in research is often conceived of as a process of research governance. The case study chapters, however, provide evidence of a much more sophisticated engagement with ethical dilemmas arising in research and an enactment of ‘everyday ethics’, in other words, a concern with our relationships with, and responsibilities to, other people (Banks, 2016). This emphasis on relationality can often lead to what Cook (2009) describes as ‘mess’ in research, which needs to be made sense of. This is in contrast to the notion of ‘well-ordered’ research, which underpins many of the ethical frameworks, principles and guidelines that are produced for research. The chapters also indicate the opening up of new spaces for research that raise new challenges in respect of ethical practice, including, for example, digital spaces (Case Study 4 – Minecraft Club). Case Study 8 – Democratic Engagement also demonstrates that both researchers and participants in the research process find ways in which to challenge conformity and research norms in order to access knowledge, and this is not always a harmonious process. The following sections try to make sense of the implications of these issues for the ethical practice of research. This chapter pulls together three key themes emerging from the case studies of research governance, ethical relationality and ethical spaces, presenting an analytical overview of all three areas using the concept of ‘willful subjects’.

Proponents of robust research design and methodology (particularly, although not exclusively, in more positivist-leaning epistemology) have often suggested that the role of the researcher should be as invisible, or distanced, as possible in the research process. Many of the case studies presented in this book take a more qualitative, interpretative approach, reflecting the often complex, situated, local and dynamic contexts in which out-of-school learning occurs. This raises particular challenges relating to the researcher role, especially when the researcher's presence materially changes the context and phenomena that are being researched. Some of the case studies describe the tensions and affordances of the researcher as insider/outsider and demonstrate how this role can develop and change as a project progresses and the implications this has for research practice, research quality and research governance.

This paper focuses on an evaluation of three projects working with young people in innovative ways to tackle societal alcohol misuse. Rather than presenting the findings of the evaluation per se, the paper presents learning from using theory-based approaches in a collaborative way to evaluate these complex, multi-strand initiatives. Traditional evaluations conducted by academics without collaboration with stakeholders can fail to meet the needs of those delivering interventions. Drawing on interviews with practitioners involved in delivering the projects, the paper adds new evidence to epistemological debates by introducing the notion of a ‘synergic theory of change’, whereby academic expertise and the skills, knowledge and experiences of stakeholders are subject to dialogue, and a theory of change becomes the result of collaborative consensus building. This way of using theory of change in evaluation requires researchers to work in a spirit of co-production and dialogue, and it can move evaluation away from being an exercise that seeks to judge interventions and, by extension, practitioners, to one which prioritises a shared learning journey. Using a synergic theory of change approach has the potential to change the nature of evaluation and lead to a different kind of relationship between researchers and practitioners than traditional methods-based approaches allow.

This chapter focuses on the learning arising from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) knowledge exchange secondment undertaken by a university researcher for a full academic year within a charity in a socio-economically deprived area of the North East of England. The charity worked alongside schools and other organisations to co-ordinate out-of-school learning activities, but there was a concern with the low levels of engagement by girls with the provision. A usual approach by the charity to finding out why the girls were not engaging with the activities provided might have involved asking the girls what provision they would like. Instead, we developed a participatory process where we – the researchers – worked with a group of young women to co-create a piece of research about their lives. As part of the process, we participated in a residential trip with them and their group leaders which provided a space – both physically and methodologically – for authentic dialogue and relationships of trust to develop. In this chapter, we outline the practical, methodological and ethical challenges (and opportunities) of engaging in this way in the context of a residential setting and conclude that this way of engaging with the girls led us to different kinds of insights that may not have been achieved with adopting more conventional research approaches.

The chapter will explore a collaborative theory of change approach that the authors used to evaluate three projects. The three projects worked with young people out of school in different ways to enable the young people to become agents of change in tackling the causes of alcohol misuse in their local Scottish communities. A theory of change approach provides a way of conceptualising programmes from inception, through to implementation and the evaluation of outcomes, in order to develop an understanding of how they work, for whom and in what circumstances. Using a collaborative model of this approach challenged prevailing notions of evaluation being the job of the evaluator and situated evaluation as a shared endeavour with the project staff. We outline the key attributes of such a collaborative model of theory of change and reflect on how this model can contribute to the evaluation of out-of-school activity.

This chapter describes methodologies used in the project ‘Out-of-school activities and the education gap’. The project explored how the out-of-school environment affects children, whether it impacts on primary school attainment and whether it reinforces existing socioeconomic differences. A mixed-methods approach combined three areas of research: statistical analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) linked to the National Pupil Database (NPD); a qualitative study through interviews with key stakeholders in 10 schools in London and the North East and the articulation of theories of change for how out-of-school activities may affect attainment. Patterns in how children spend their time, and whether and how this affects attainment, were investigated by analysis of the MCS linked to the NPD. Qualitative research with parents, teachers, pupils and activity providers from schools in London and the North-East afforded an in-depth understanding of drivers and barriers influencing how children spend their time and pathways by which activities may affect children's learning and development. The qualitative research also provided a narrative intersectional analysis of responses in terms of class, gender, ethnicity, religion and disability. Mixing quantitative and qualitative research was made difficult by the volume of data and the time needed to analyse and report each area separately, the different nature of data in the three areas of research and the timing of each phase of data collection. However, meaningful combining of methods occurred at the level of research questions and contributed to a more critical analysis of children's out-of-school activities than had been possible before.

This chapter introduces the anthology on risks in partnerships in education. We do this by taking a look at previous research evidence that examined the challenges that might occur when different partners come together with the intention of achieving a beneficial outcome for their communities. The chapter examines partnerships and the consequences when different partners come together and goes on to introduce the focus of the anthology which is based on the premise that partnerships are often associated with some risks. We use the example of our own partnership of authors who participated in this anthology to demonstrate the risks to partnership that arose during the global Covid-19 pandemic. The chapter introduces the thematic areas that make up the contribution of the anthology and presents the editors’ reflections.

Research conducted over the last two decades supports the development of a collaborative model of working – a Children’s CommunityChildren's communities – that can respond to educational disadvantage. By working in partnership to provide support and opportunities for children and families ‘from cradle to career’ and across all aspects of their lives (e.g. education, health, employment), organisations aim to create a ‘tipping point’ at which the effects of poverty can be challenged effectively and outcomes for children are improved. Building on the concept of a ‘Zone’, several Children’s Communities are currently being developed across the UK. One such Children’s CommunityChildren's communities, in the inner west area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in Northern England, has been led by a partnership (Trust) of 8 primary schools, and researchers from a local university. They have worked with local government, health services, local charities and the cultural sector to form a steering group which is driving the partnership to develop a vision for all children in the area, a robust long-term strategy for tackling disadvantage, and an effective set of actions. The development of this partnership has taken a long time and required an enhanced capacity for building relational power. During the process, conflicts of interest and cultural mismatches have been exposed, and accountability and autonomy questioned. The day to day demands of maintaining the collaboration have been considerable but developing relationships of trust and focusing on the wider vision have enabled the partnership to overcome some challenges, while others have proved more deep-seated and difficult to resolve. This chapter draws on the development of this collaborative model as a case study within which to highlight the learning that has emerged from working in partnership. It describes our progress as a partnership, the challenges that we have faced, and the solutions we have implemented, and analyses the risks inherent in the partnership that we were confronted with throughout the process.

The following paper examines the needs and perceptions of children and young people (age 8–18) towards Mobility as a Service (MaaS). MaaS offers a new paradigm in the access, planning and pricing of travel. To date, however, young people's views and needs have not been explicitly considered within this context. This is despite more general transport work demonstrating that young people have specific needs and perceptions that could influence their use of MaaS now, and their ongoing perceptions of MaaS across their life. Views of young people towards the MaaS concept were captured through workshops using Lego™. Thematic analysis identified specific considerations for young people's perceptions of MaaS around the experience of travel, travel choices, technology, safety, and status and identity. These results include barriers to acceptance and adoption of MaaS, but also reservations regarding the underpinning transport services. These results also demonstrate the importance of recognising young people as active agents in the use of transport rather than passive users, while sharing many of the concerns of adult users. Young people have a rich and complex voice that needs to be considered in the context of a digitalised 21st century transport service provision and understand young people as having agency around their travel choices. As such this paper fills a critical research gap in the MaaS literature.

This paper makes the case for fairness as a driver towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of equitable quality education. We outline a dialogic fairness framework attending to the principles of relational justice in both the service of reducing educational inequalities and improving democratic qualities. The prominence of education as a theme in Fairness Commissions from many UK municipal councils afforded the opportunity to find out if and how fairness could be considered a driver of change towards greater equality in education. Our work with the Newcastle Fairness Commission generated a number of principles of fairness and education, as well as a framework to help operationalize these principles in schools, that we detail in this paper. The framework that was generated was one that recognizes fairness as a form of relational justice arising from a dialogic approach. It was based on a process that used multi-stakeholder interviews and a roundtable inquiry. Views arising from the process interviews and roundtable discussion were consistent with other research into young people's understandings of fairness and education. More research is needed to find out how fairness is understood and enacted by education stakeholders and how these conceptualizations, perspectives, and experiences might combine to improve educational equity and democratic qualities.

This paper makes the case for fairness as a driver towards the UN Sustainable Development Goal of equitable quality education. We outline a dialogic fairness framework attending to the principles of relational justice in both the service of reducing educational inequalities and improving democratic qualities. The prominence of education as a theme in fairness commissions from many UK municipal councils afforded the opportunity to find out if and how fairness could be considered a driver of change towards greater equality in education and generated a number of principles of fairness and education, as well as a framework to help operationalise these principles in schools, that we detail in this paper. The framework that was generated was one that recognises fairness as a form of relational justice arising from a dialogic approach. It was based on a process that used multi-stakeholder interviews and a roundtable inquiry. Views arising from the process interviews and roundtable discussion were consistent with other research into young people’s understandings of fairness and education. More research is needed to find out how fairness is understood and enacted by education stakeholders and how these conceptualisations, perspectives and experiences might combine to improve educational equity and democratic qualities. The role of fairness as a driver of educational equity Education’s importance as a key global challenge is suggested by the 4 United Nation Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) being ‘Quality education’, aiming to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all (United Nations, 2018). The other

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from an evaluation of an intervention (Moving Parents and Children Together (M-PACT+)) aiming to address the effects of parental substance misuse (PSM) in school settings. The paper considers the evidence of effectiveness, and goes on to explore how schools were involved with the intervention. Design/methodology/approach A theory of change was developed for the intervention, which identified key steps of change that were expected for the beneficiaries (family members and children). Mixed methods were then used to form a portfolio of data to support or refute the theory. The data included quantitative validated scale data and questionnaires at various points in time with staff, and participants (including children), and qualitative data obtained from school staff, intervention staff, families and children. Findings This paper concludes that the evidence supports the theory that providing M-PACT+ in school settings can begin to address the effects of PSM for the families that engage with it. Further, the paper shows that the ethos of the schools involved influences how families are identified and referred, and that interventions of this kind are most likely to succeed where they are integrated into an ethos where there is a shared responsibility for a broad child well-being agenda between schools and other community agencies. Originality/value This paper explores the evaluation of a unique family intervention. The findings will be of value to those seeking to implement such interventions in partnership with schools and/or community agencies.

This paper examines how school-based practitioners supporting children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) use particular social capital relations. Social capital theory together with selected ‘Productive Pedagogies’ items, are applied to re-frame and understand the co/production of support for such children. Empirical data from the ‘Language for All’ study, which investigates SLCN provision in schools in England, are analysed to understand support network social capital. Novel insights on the types and purposes of inter-professional connectedness within SLCN support networks, in particular how relational agency is inflected by affect, are offered.

This paper discusses a research project which sought to find out about young people's views on fairness in education in English schools. Fairness is an everyday term, which in policy hides multiple and contradictory positions across the political divide. In education, we find a policy context that focuses on distributional justice and equality of opportunity but also on principles of freedom and choice. This paper argues that engaging with how young people understand fairness contributes to models of social justice in education. Focus group data and written statements on fairness from approximately 80 young people aged 16-18 from five very different English schools were analysed. Students' primary concerns, absent from educational policy, were the themes of relational justice and stakes fairness, which are eclipsed by current recourse to distributive justice and meritocratic ideals. We argue that a focus on the lived experience of fairness is therefore necessary to widen the discourse about what is fair in education and to reinvigorate public debate about the values on which our education system is based.