The School Completion Programme (SCP) was first established in
Ireland in 2002 with what appeared to resemble a 'bottom up' model of
support. The programme was based on authentic effort at partnership
with schools, parents and relevant agencies through local management
committees and enjoyed a fair share of autonomy in how they would best
support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The aims of SCP
include: retention of young people in the formal education system,
improving the quality of participation and educational attainment of
targeted children, offering positive supports in primary and secondary
schools in countering educational disadvantage.
This democratic model of SCP as a local service responding to local need
has substantially shifted policy direction in recent years to a more
centralised and reductionist approach. The preponderance of macro
policy objectives set within an expedient model of economic return have
taken preference over a former shared ethos and responsibility for SCP.
The radical pedagogy of Freire, McLaren and Hill and Foucault’s
Politics of Health frame this critical study of SCP policy and clearly
demonstrate that the former dialogic, transformative and relational
stance has become increasingly difficult to maintain. We chart this cycle of disadvantage through a critical analysis of key SCP policy documents.
In keeping with an agenda mapped out by Global, European and Irish
austerity economics we show how this particular SCP programme is
rendered more bureaucratic and less effective. We conclude by drawing
on Freire and Greene to consider Posner’s (1998) idea of a curriculum of
conscience as a valuable counterweight to contemporary educational
reform.