Peter Hart

• PhD Applied Social Sciences
• Lecturer in Inclusion Childhood and Youth at University of Leeds

Research on the ethics of the home-school partnerships in secondary education is scarce. This paper uses data from three case studies to argue: students have a right to privacy which home-school partnerships can circumvent, parents can be used as a resource to leverage compliance from students which undermines young people’s privacy, and developing...

This conceptual study seeks to understand parent and teacher perceptions of “effective” home-school partnerships across three secondary schools in England, before problematising these normative understandings. Currently there is little research into home-school partnerships at a secondary level in the UK, and the policy environment is anaemic. To a...

Character Education in the UK is often considered controversial through its perceived neoliberal individualizing of character, disregarding of young people’s moral agency, and blindness to the effect of social structures. This article presents an alternative framework for character educators, focussed on the biographical narratives of the students...

This study investigated parents’ perspectives on a taught character education programme implemented with children in their schools and homes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with forty-one parents of secondary school students participating in the Narnian Virtues Character Education English Project. Parents answered questions relating to t...

This article reports on the differential impact of a curriculum intervention on students’ understanding and practice of virtue. The research is germane given Ofsted’s new requirement that its inspectors should assess how the curriculum in all schools in England and Wales supports students’ character development. Results are reported here for a tota...

This paper presents results from a qualitative case study project into effective strategies for fostering parent-practitioner partnerships in secondary education in England. It discusses the nature of a true ‘community partnership’ as a dialogic and productive partnership as opposed to a more common ‘information sharing partnership’. In doing so, t...

Character education through curriculum subjects has taken increasing political importance in England after its inclusion in the school inspection framework. Here we present a pedagogical approach to developing virtue literacy through English Literature. As part of a longitudinal, mixed-methods research project, this article uses empirical evidence...

The rigidity of professional boundaries have been critiqued in previous work and alternative models and metaphors have been offered, however few are rooted in empirical research that highlights normative practices. In this article, professional boundaries are examined in light of an ethnographic study into youth work practice in the UK. The quasi-q...

2017) 'Leading together in growing Methodist Churches : learning from research and practice in the North East of England.', Pro ject Report. Durham University, Durham. Further information on publisher's website: http://www.methodist.org.uk/learning/scholarship-research-and-innovation/research/connexional-research-pro jects/archive Publisher's copyr...

Based on empirical research, this article considers the different attitudes towards working ‘outof-hours’ (ie. outside of a typical youth work session) with young people. Using a survey of 55 youth workers in a small post-industrial town, it finds that there is a clear split between workers from Christian and secular organisations, with Christian o...

‘Professional boundaries’ set limits on appropriate behaviours in the relationship between the service users and practitioners. The professional literature often assumes boundaries are maintained by the practitioners, occupational bodies, or organisational policy. However in youth work this is under-researched. An ethnographic study of four youth c...

Although much has been discussed in secular social science literature on the use of professional boundaries in limiting interactions between practitioners and young people, there last been little empirical research into professional boundaries in a youth ministry context. Here it is argued, through the use of an ethnographic study of youth clubs in...