Local Authority Policy Research Articles

‘Role stretch’: assessing the blurring of teaching and non‐teaching in the classroom assistant role in Scotland

With the increasing number of teaching and classroom assistants across the UK there is now much debate about what their role should be. In particular concerns have arisen about the extent to which they overstep the boundary from supporting teaching and learning into teaching pupils. This study assesses this issue within Scotland. It draws on a national survey of 2000 head teachers, teachers and classroom assistants and interviews with directors of education in nearly half of all Scottish local authorities. Findings from the research suggest a small number of classroom assistants in Scotland are overstepping the boundary into teaching. The paper concludes with an explanation as to why this is happening taking into account aspects such as local authority policy, school size and the individual characteristics of the classroom assistants.

Impact of doctoral research on local authority policy and practice

This article follows on from a workshop at the SDEP Annual Conference during which the authors gave an overview of their respective doctoral research projects. They then focused on the impact of this work on their own local authority and described their personal experiences of completing a doctorate. In this way they were able to describe the role of the educational psychologist as a research practitioner and reflect on the benefits and challenges of doctoral study.

‘It is a case of changing your thought processes, the way you actually teach’: implementing a complex professional learning agenda in Scottish physical education

Background: It has been proposed that twenty-first century physical education needs to be reorientated and restructured to meet the lifelong learning needs of pupils from diverse socio-cultural, emotional, and developmental backgrounds. It follows that quality physical education (PE) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities for practising professionals are needed to support these aims. In Scotland, professional and policy-making groups have specifically called for at least 120 minutes of quality physical education to be delivered each week by appropriately trained staff. Purpose: This paper highlights three phases of PE CPD beginning in 2001 that have been structured to include teaching professionals working in Scottish primary schools. We illustrate how collaborative learning communities emerged through the PE CPD. While emphasising the merits of collaborative learning principles, we also describe how these learning communities operated as complex educational systems. We specifically discuss how these communities were linked in a ‘nested’ relationship with local schools and local authorities. We also discuss how learning communities self-organised and innovated in relation to the instigation of ‘turbulent’ practices and knowledges. Findings: The study follows ten practitioners who participated in Basic Moves PE CPD programmes over the past 10 years in Scotland. During the initial phase (2001–2004), the participants were enthused about the reflective and collaborative learning model that was used in regular workshops and courses. These members felt that this approach to PE CPD improved on traditional one-day and generic courses. In Basic Moves PE CPD courses, administrators provoked critical and even uncomfortable discussions in order to challenge teachers' pre-existing views of physical education. Consequently, the group organised and emerged as a ‘community of practice’. Many of the study participants continued to work together and even became Basic Moves PE CPD instructors themselves. However, as the programme increased in popularity and expanded to a national level in 2004, the PE CPD followed an ‘empty vessel’ model, whereby new participants were given course material over a short duration in a few centralised workshops. Feedback suggested that this ‘top down’ approach would not facilitate the emergence of learning communities, as many of those involved in local PE delivery became isolated and felt marginalised in their practice. Subsequent discussions led to the development of learning communities that were supported in local communities by former and current participants. These ‘tutor networks’ reflected the complex relationships that existed between pupils, teachers, headteachers, PE specialists, local authority managers and policy makers. Conclusion: Our analysis suggests that the PE practitioners in our study worked alongside a range of educational stakeholders within a broader ‘nested system’ that was constantly evolving and changing. Accordingly, we argue that contemporary PE CPD must challenge practitioners to become critical and innovative learners in the context of dynamic learning communities. This version of PE CPD requires sustained support at the local level and directly involves PE practitioners, their peers, and local authority leadership in the planning and operational phases.

High dwelling density as sustainability solution in Lancaster

Dwelling density is a tool used to predict, describe and control land use. Through policy guidance, targets are created that promote efficient use of land, reduce the operation of private transportation and increase mixed use. However, decision makers often are unsure how these targets translate into practice at the site scale and how sustainability is impacted. This paper examines one such site in Lancaster, in the northwest of the UK – Luneside East. Local authority policy on dwelling density, both at the site and local scale, is outlined. A sustainability solution (i.e. an action taken today in the name of sustainability) and intended benefit are taken from the policy (i.e. high dwelling density to improve efficiency of land use) and analysed using a futures methodology to understand whether the solution is resilient to whatever the future holds. The analysis is discussed alongside other sustainability issues and solutions.

Socio-spatial diversity of Marseille at the turn of the 21st century

In recent years, cities have significantly changed due to globalisation processes that influence also social aspects of their functioning. Hence, immigrant inflows are observed, social segregation and polarisation significantly increase, and city space is transformed by gentrification processes. Social conflicts seem to be an integral part of the functioning of contemporary cities, what can be seen on the example of French cities. The aim of the article is to show socio-spatial diversity of Marseille, the second largest city of France, with the largest port serving as an economic and immigrant gateway to the country, and as a consequence, making the city prone to socio-spatial restructuring. The study involves the analysis of the demographic and socio-economic diversity of the city's ZUS (zones urbaines sensibles) - districts delimitated by local councils as objectives of urban policy due to social problems concentrated there. They are concentrated in the ‘triangle of poverty’ of Marseille. The districts highly populated by immigrants represent at the same time the highest level of deprivation. This residential segregation involves mainly Maghrebians. These foreigners overrepresented in the lowest social classes and in the poorest districts are an ethnoclass prone to ghettoisation. However, in contrast to other French cities, social conflicts that burst into riots of the banlieue were almost absent in Marseille in 2005. The reasons for this are the historically determined central location of the deprived districts and failure of the gentrification process, and the policy of local authorities.

Enhancing Park and Ride with access control: A case study of Southampton

Implementing and promoting more sustainable forms of urban transport are key policies of Local Authorities throughout the UK. Park and Ride (P&R) is one such system implemented widely in the UK, especially in historic towns and cities with limited road and parking space in the centre. Some cities (e.g. Rome and London) have also implemented forms of ‘access control’ to reduce congestion and/or pollution in central areas. This paper describes a feasibility analysis of a unique application studied for potential implementation in Southampton—the integration of P&R with access control on a key corridor in Eastern Southampton where traffic demand is likely to increase significantly in the coming years because of new housing developments. The system concept is a P&R facility with express buses to the City centre, keeping the corridor free-flowing for these buses (and other traffic) using a combination of bus lanes and access control. Following an outline of the policy context and system design, this paper then describes the corridor and network modelling undertaken to predict the impacts of the scheme and alternatives of it. This has been based mainly on the CONTRAM dynamic traffic assignment model, which covers the whole of Southampton and its surrounding motorway network. The assessment of the benefits of the various options in this scheme showed that the combination of P&R with signalised access control was the best option to improve the movement of people on the corridor. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential issues for implementation, including the need for complimentary measures and a consistent policy framework.

Link or Breach? The Role of Trust in Developing Social Capital within a Family Literacy Project

This article examines survey and focus group transcripts of a well-established early years literacy project in Scotland in light of contextual information about changing local authority policy in order to look at the gains in social capital identified by participants and the extent to which these indicate lasting durable change that will reap later benefits for both individuals and the community in which they are situated. Contextual information provides the basis to examine the interlinking dynamics and resources of a network of volunteer and statutory organisations that support the project and raises questions about how its benefits will be sustained should that network be seriously undermined by the changing policies of local and national government authorities. In analysing the issues at stake in sustained empowerment, a comparison is made with Bagley's work in a contrasting early years project in England. The article questions the appropriation of the metaphor of capital to the dynamics of social relations, particularly when issues of trust are at stake. Trust, it is argued, is of particular importance in decisions about how linking capital can be said to be reinvested. By looking at layers of data the conclusions that might be reached relying on statistical measures alone are problematised.

An unholy alliance: Swiss citizenship between local legal tradition, federal laissez-faire, and ethno-national rejection of foreigners 1848–1933

This article traces the development of the federal structure of Swiss citizenship between the founding of the federal state in 1848 and the entrenchment of a restrictive naturalisation and establishment policy in the interwar period. Considering the difficult integration of foreign residents through naturalisation in the past and present in Switzerland, the author examines the causes for the granting and refusal of Swiss citizenship. She shows that the development of and arrangements for access to Swiss citizenship cannot be reduced only to notions about the Swiss nation or national interests. They are the result of a permanent process of political negotiation and coordination between the federation, cantons and local authorities; owing to its importance in social assistance matters, local citizenship constituted an impediment to naturalisation until well into the twentieth century. In contrast, the federation and certain cantons like Zurich, Basle and Geneva had sought since the 1880s to reduce the strongly increasing number of foreign residents by liberalising naturalisation. The outbreak of the Second World War put an end to these endeavours. With the rise of a ‘new right’ since 1900, the setting up of the Central Office of the Foreign Police in 1917, and the institutionalisation of the authorities' ‘fight against foreign infiltration’, Swiss nationality law became ethnicised. Cultural ‘assimilation’ into the ‘particularity of Swiss society’ was now regarded as a precondition for becoming a Swiss citizen. The new federal rejection of foreigners thus joined with the traditionally restrictive policy of local authorities in an unholy alliance that began to breach only in the 1980s.

Reviewing the Incisive Influences of the Theories on Regional Economics

Numerous theoretical expositions have been investigating concepts by means of more quantified and stylized methodologies in addition to taking into account the geographical considerations even though they confront considerable confusion with regional policy fundamentals. They have enhanced the thinking about sources and factors of varied patterns of growth, the determinants of endogenous regional economic development, and mechanisms of different production structures. As a consequence, remarkable developments have been made in the field of regional literature, for instance: Romer has endogenized Solow's exogenous technical progress accounting for a large proportion of growth process, and thus, technology has begun to be considered as the major source of income differences, New Economic Geography models are on the way of the formalization of mechanisms of regional competitive advantage. Comprehensive approaches mainly suggest that the process of convergence may be more complex and occur in slower pace than found in early models. In addition, the New Economic Geography and the New Trade Theories predict a more differentiated convergence view suggesting that location matters and those different sectors might exhibit different dynamics over time. The former also stress national convergence, but regional divergence as the most likely outcome of a process of economic integration. On the other side of the coin, regional literature has reintegrated geography into their formulations so as to investigate local dynamics. The New Trade Theories and the New Economic Geography models are marked expositions in line with this trend. Strong emphasis has been placed on drawing up tailor-made combinations of policy objectives and regionalisation for successful systematic structures. Essentially, local and regional governments/authorities and their abilities are viewed as crucial for deploying a whole series of public and private units. In this regard, Porter sets out that the public and private sectors play different but intertwined roles in building such an environment. During the 1990s, a relocation of power has taken place alongside the establishment of network structures fostering learning processes, and programming encapsulating endogenous and knowledge-promoting growth strategies have come to the fore. The determinants of such approaches involve a systematic process to build strong institutional and social capital under the shifting responsibilities for economic development and a collaborative process involving government at multiple levels. There has also been a revolution in thinking on how regional policy should operate in a sustainable pattern. The literature of industrial districts and innovative milieux conceptualise the ways of successful collective learning, a set of competences or capabilities needed by firms/organizations in innovative networks. This literature proposes that durable civic traditions tend to be difficult to change; supporting such self-organising innovation-oriented systems require powerful social/cultural premises in association with a network of public and private institutions in a region. Therefore, it ought to be incorporated highly targeted efforts and well-chosen instruments in the policies of regional governments and local authorities. The new industrial district and innovative milieu literature give invaluable insights for developing a policy in this respect.

Alternative Interpretations: Exceptional Circumstances and the Bluestone Development in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

This paper focuses on the debate around the planning application to build a major holiday village in a National Park, an application complicated by the fact that the proposed site straddled the boundaries of two planning authorities driven by very different policy agendas and attitudes towards sustainability which acted as lenses for their interpretation of the term “exceptional circumstances”. The situation was further exacerbated by extensive cross-membership of the two planning authorities with elected members from the local authority forming the majority of members on the National Park authority without reciprocal membership from the National Park authority on the local authority. Thus, local authority policies bled across the boundary into the National Park authority. Planning permission was granted and, although its legality was later challenged in court, was subsequently upheld. Through convergent and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders different discursive constructions of the term exceptional circumstances, which enabled stakeholders to rationalise their reactions to the proposal and their subsequent support (or not) for it, crystallised. The paper concludes that for cross-boundary proposals with very different policy drivers each side of the boundary, as is the case for a local authority and a National Park authority, that planning applications must be referred for external, independent scrutiny.

Planning for Rural Development in Scotland: A New Role for Local Landscape Designations?

This article assesses the potential for non-statutory planning tools, Local Landscape Designations (LLDs), to deliver rural development in Scotland. This research is motivated by new Scottish guidance which encourages designations in general, and LLDs in particular, to be more positive, strategic tools for rural development activities. LLDs were originally conceived to protect and enhance significant areas of valued countryside yet they remain neglected in contemporary planning research and policy. A critical assessment of LLDs across Scotland was undertaken using both primary and secondary data. The results reveal a significant mismatch between positive national guidance and local authority policy and planner attitudes, the latter characterised by more protectionist positions and limited strategic planning. Although case study findings in Aberdeenshire reveal that more planning applications in LLDs have conditional approvals as opposed to the wider countryside, key differences have more to do with the subjective views and priorities of planning committees rather than the efficacy of LLDs per se. The article concludes that the current conceptualisation, operation and performance of LLDs needs to be more robust, and better aligned to reflect a positive focus on community and rural development matters in order to differentiate them from wider countryside policies. However, augmenting resources to reflect the increased attention to the landscape agenda in Scotland is a core prerequisite.

On Rats, Refuse, and Recycling

They say that no one is more than a few feet away from a rat, in town or country. In the UK, the distance must be shrinking year by year. The latest National Rodent Survey reveals that, between the reporting years 1998/1999 and 2004/2005, the increase in numbers was three times higher for rats (39%) than for mice (12.5%).1 These are not pets (white rats) but the brown rat, or Rattus norvegicus. The survey also counts “summer rats,” up by 69%, not because this is a different species but because of a concern that the seasonal pattern of R. norvegicus sightings has changed. Improved standards of human living do not appear to be affecting rat populations in the UK for the better, and a similar picture has been described for Baltimore, MD, where a rat population of 48,420 was estimated in 2004, this being little changed from half a century earlier.2 The UK’s National Pest Technicians Association (NPTA) highlights six factors contributing to the increase.1 These are not unique to cities, but somehow, rats in the countryside are acceptable, while in towns they are not. The factors are a mix of the individual and the institutional, and there is the occasional clash between ecofriendly activities and pest control. For example, putting out food for wild birds, if done to excess, results in spills that attract rodents. Composting, which the NPTA refers to mischievously as “recycling mania”, can also encourage rats, if done inappropriately. Urban local authority policies have been causing concern too. The Local Government Association is thinking about charges for refuse collection above a certain weight, and as public refuse disposal becomes more complex with European diktats on recycling, it is not unheard of for rubbish bins to be emptied once a fortnight instead of weekly. This policy may encourage recycling and/or rats, and in the city of Oxford, for example, some residents are not at all happy with the change.3 Waste disposal is now a big issue in the UK, where the average annual weight of nonrecyclable refuse is more than 500 kg per household, far more than in any other country in the European Union.4 Most of this goes to landfill, and sites are running out. Just as carelessly disposed of food waste in cities attracts rats, urban foxes, and birds, so do landfill sites draw gulls far inland from their usual haunts. When refuse collectors go on strike, cities soon become unbearable, and the residues of half-eaten fast-food meals are a regular feature of city streets today. Happily, there have not yet been epidemics of leptospirosis, hantavirus disease, plague, rabies, salmonella, shigella, campylobacter, toxoplasma, or toxacara infections that can be blamed on unwelcome quadripedal or avian urban visitors. However, the ingredients for threats to public health are in place—for example, in Europe a watchful eye is being kept on the urban fox and human alveolar echinococcosis.5,6 What does it take to tilt the urban waste problem from the merely unpleasant to the downright dangerous?

Economic Policy of Local Authorities in Reforming Russia

The article gives a review of national experience of development and implementation of local economic policy in 1995-2005, as well as brief analysis of the impact that the reform of local self-governance system imposes on priorities of and tools used for local economic policy after 2005. Research is based upon the survey of 70 municipalities from 32 Subjects of RF.

A programme for Health Impact Assessment in Brighton and Hove

HIA is based on the theory of health determinants, which recognizes that well-being is determined by a wide range of economic, social and environmental factors, by heredity and medical intervention. The intended HIA procedure represents a new approach to the evaluation of all local authority policies in order to assess their potential health impacts and to improve the quality of governmental decisions, through recommendations to enhance predicted positive health impacts and minimize negative ones.

The history of the country park, 1966–2005: Towards a renaissance?

The origins of the Country Park are examined and the implications of those origins are analysed. Country Parks are followed through to the present, including their enthusiastic sponsorship by the Countryside Commission, their role in local authority policy and practice, and the decline noted in the 1999 House of Commons Select Committee inquiry into Town and Country Parks. In the last two years, the Country Parks Network, administered by Green Space and funded by the government, has shown the tenacity of the Country Park, and there are encouraging signs from the Countryside Agency of renewed interest, and its hopes for a ‘Renaissance in Country Parks’. A summary of this period is also included, but an assessment of the effectiveness of its initiatives must wait for more time to pass.

Race Equality and Leisure Policy Discourses in Scottish Local Authorities

ABSTRACT This article presents and discusses the findings of a survey designed to assess two issues. First, it considers the extent to which Scottish local authorities have sought to discover and provide for the specific needs of their black and minority ethnic (BME) populations. Second, it provides preliminary reflections on the impact of political, organisational and legislative change upon the policy and practice of Scottish local authorities in their delivery of services to their BME populations. It raises questions about the potential for improvement in local authority leisure services following the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2002. The study was carried out in the context of previous research by Horne (1995) and thus sought to assess the extent to which there had been change during the intervening period in the approaches of Scottish local authorities. Results suggest that the environment in which local authority leisure providers operate has changed significantly since 1995. All local authorities now have formalised equal opportunity policies and race equality schemes. Whilst there exist examples of good practice, the degree to which local authorities seek to discover and meet the needs of their BME populations varies considerably. Analysis of the discourses of local authorities suggests that the extent to which the ethos of equality has permeated organisations remains uneven. Scotland, a country of some five million people, is actively seeking a flow of Fresh Talent to flourish alongside native‐born Scots and secure its place as an essential part of the global economy (Scotland is the place to be for opportunities www.scotlandistheplace.com).

Ein revolvierendes Gewerbeflächensystem in interkommunaler Zusammenarbeit als Weg zu einem haushälterischen Umgang mit gewerblich-industriellen Flächenressourcen

This article discusses the question of the possible contribution towards the reduction of land consumption which might be achieved through intermunicipal co-operation in the acquisition, designation (for planning purposes) and in the marketing of commercial sites. By way of an example, the authors take as the basis for their study a status quo analysis of local-authority policy on commercial sites and land-use designation in the Märkischer Kreis. In their findings they are able to identify considerable inefficiencies in both the designation and the utilisation of sites. These findings can be seen as largely representative of other regions exhibiting similar structures. On this argumentational basis, the authors develop an instrument based upon a jointly-managed land pool; here sites are „booked in”, earmarked for planning purposes, and serviced for subsequent development. This pool also includes brown fields. The aim is to minimise the amount of open space being redesignated for commercial use, and to enable access to the most suitable locations at an intermunicipal level, which can then be put to efficient utilisation.

From Stool to Statistics

Background: Limitations associated with the under-reporting of enteric illnesses have long been recognized but the extent and variation of this under-reporting in Canada has not been examined. Given the public health value of surveillance data, a closer examination of under-reporting of enteric illnesses in Canada was warranted. Methods: Paper-based surveys were administered (a) to all laboratories in Canada licensed to process stool specimens and (b) to all local public health authorities in two provinces. Results: Of the laboratories surveyed, 67% (n=274) conducted on-site testing of stool specimens for enteric bacteria, 31% (n=126) for parasites and 10% (n=42) for viruses. In the year 2000, these laboratories processed 459,982 stool specimens, of which 5%, 15%, 8% and 19% were positive for enteric bacteria (excluding C. difficile), C. difficile, parasites and viruses, respectively. Variations in laboratory testing and health authority reporting protocols and policies were identified. Of the laboratory-confirmed cases of AGI reported to local public health authorities, 5% (n=846) were not reported to provincial counterparts. Conclusion: A significant proportion of AGI cases submitting stool specimens are not captured in Canada’s passive surveillance system due to unknown etiology. A much smaller proportion of laboratory-confirmed cases reported to local public health authorities are not captured at the provincial or national level. Given that the number of laboratory-confirmed AGI cases represents such a small fraction of all community cases, strategies to compensate for under-reporting and efforts directed at harmonizing laboratory and local public health authority policies and practices would be welcomed.

From stool to statistics: reporting of acute gastrointestinal illnesses in Canada.

Limitations associated with the under-reporting of enteric illnesses have long been recognized but the extent and variation of this under-reporting in Canada has not been examined. Given the public health value of surveillance data, a closer examination of under-reporting of enteric illnesses in Canada was warranted. Paper-based surveys were administered (a) to all laboratories in Canada licensed to process stool specimens and (b) to all local public health authorities in two provinces. Of the laboratories surveyed, 67% (n=274) conducted on-site testing of stool specimens for enteric bacteria, 31% (n=126) for parasites and 10% (n=42) for viruses. In the year 2000, these laboratories processed 459,982 stool specimens, of which 5%, 15%, 8% and 19% were positive for enteric bacteria (excluding C. difficile), C. difficile, parasites and viruses, respectively. Variations in laboratory testing and health authority reporting protocols and policies were identified. Of the laboratory-confirmed cases of AGI reported to local public health authorities, 5% (n=846) were not reported to provincial counterparts. A significant proportion of AGI cases submitting stool specimens are not captured in Canada's passive surveillance system due to unknown etiology. A much smaller proportion of laboratory-confirmed cases reported to local public health authorities are not captured at the provincial or national level. Given that the number of laboratory-confirmed AGI cases represents such a small fraction of all community cases, strategies to compensate for under-reporting and efforts directed at harmonizing laboratory and local public health authority policies and practices would be welcomed.

Community Networks and Cultural Intermediaries: The Politics of Community Net Development in Greater Manchester

Using original research materials of in-depth interviews with community network development workers, multimedia and graphic designers, public authority managers, and a number of case studies (a Bangladeshi Electronic Village Hall, Manchester Multimedia and Networking Centre, the Manchester Community Information Network, and Virtual Manchester) this article traces out the views of interviewees on the trajectory of community and civic net provision in the city. Sources of discontent were found in: commodification of local civic nets, a prevalent middle-brow approach to web page design, the influence of ‘cultural intermediaries’ in and on publicly funded telematics and multimedia software development agencies, the impact of an entrepreneurial ethos in local authority policy formation, and pedagogic and patronizing attitudes towards local communities on the part of local area net development agencies. The article argues that, alongside structural corporate ICT power and the technological and scientific ICT R&D professions, these problems have a telling impact on the nature of civic and community net development. As well as criticism of the prevailing nature of city nets, the article more positively prompts a call to local authorities to adopt a form of ‘critical regionalism’ in order to put the control of civic nets back with the communities they are supposed primarily to be aimed at. This means empowering community ICT nodes, involving them directly in the development process, and moderating the impact of corporate ICT and cultural intermediaries within publicly funded ICT agencies. Given the renewed role for local governance in conditions of globalization such policies would aid the development of thriving and viable local community networks.