Abstract
Contemporary social science research concerning governance tends to take an institutional perspective that privileges structural analysis. The resulting body of literature has an emphasis on classification, typologies and regimes. This approach has been criticized on the basis that it neglects the role of agency and context when research concerns complex and heterogeneous community governance cases. An emerging literature on hybridity in social services aims to address the limitations of structural accounts by acknowledging that diverse logics, ideas, and norms influence the way community based social services resist or adapt in turbulent policy environments. This article considers the strengths and limitations of hybridity in development of a research framework incorporating structure, agency and ideas. The relevance of hybridity theory for the Kids in Communities study—an Australian research project investigating neighborhood influences on child development across multiple case study sites—is evaluated.
Highlights
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently released its fourth report into quality in early childhood education and care—Starting Strong IV—with the starting line that “Early childhood education and care (ECEC) remains high on the policy agenda in manyOECD countries” ([1], p. 13)
This paper aims to describe the governance of ECEC services in Australia, in the state of Victoria, and reflect on options for guiding the research approach in case communities
From a supra-national perspective, the path to service reform in Australia is unique, the focus has been on quality assurance and there has been a significant investment in measuring child outcomes with the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), but Australia is one of only a handful of OECD nations where there is no statutory entitlement to either a place or free access to early care and education programs before school entry [1]
Summary
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently released its fourth report into quality in early childhood education and care—Starting Strong IV—with the starting line that “Early childhood education and care (ECEC) remains high on the policy agenda in many. Governance and services are two of the five socio-environmental factors (or domains) hypothesized as influencing child development for the purposes of the KICS research [9]. It is hypothesized that local governance is a factor influencing service quality and access in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and that this, in turn, has a bearing on child outcomes. This paper aims to describe the governance of ECEC services in Australia, in the state of Victoria, and reflect on options for guiding the research approach in case communities. The paper aims to consider the strengths and limitations of three waves of governance theory and the relevance of the alternative provided by the emerging hybridity approach when it comes to researching governance of ECEC services in a complex policy environment. The paper concludes with a suggested framework for research that draws heavily on hybridity as a way of resolving tension between structural and agential accounts where there is dynamic interaction between markets, hierarchies, and networks, and the development of unique third sector arrangements to manage competing logics in social service delivery
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