Programme 1: Social and political education in non-formal settings 1978-86.
Action research programme – coordinator and lead researcher (Department of Education and Science funded 1978-81 – DES assessor John Slater – followed by extensive literature review and case studies (1982-6). Associated publications: Creators not Consumers 1980, 1982; Organise! 1981; Questions for Survival 1984; and Political Education. Approaches in the Community, 1987. Associated articles chapters: 1981, 1987.
Programme 2: The development of youth work practice and policy 1985-94.
Literature review, interviews, case studies (1985-1991). Associated books and publications: Developing Youth Work 1988; and with Tony Jeffs (eds): Youth Work (BASW Practical Social Work Series),1987; Welfare and Youth Work Practice,1988; Young People, Inequality and Youth Work, 1990. Associated articles with Tony Jeffs: 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994. Other articles: 1991.
Programme 3: Theory and practice of informal education. 1986-1999
Literature review, action research and case studies (1986-9; 1995-8). Associated books: Developing Youth Work 1988; Using Informal Education, 1990 (edited with Tony Jeffs); Informal Education: conversation, democracy and learning, 1996, 1999, and 2005 (with Tony Jeffs). (Undertaken as part of a Rank Research Fellowship)
Programme 4: Education in the community . 1989-1994
Literature review, interviews, workshops, participant observation, case studies (1989-1993) (Supervised by A. V. Kelly and G. Edwards and partly funded by the Rank Foundation). Associated book: Local Education, 1994. Associated articles: 1991, 1992 (with Tony Jeffs), 1992.
Programme 5: A critical appraisal of aspects of the Rank Foundation Youth or Adult? and Gap volunteer initiatives. 1988-2014
This included assisting with the evaluation and write-up of participating projects (over 60 in Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and undertaking action-research programmes associated with new training initiatives. Associated publications: Youth or Adult? Working Papers,1988; The Challenge for Voluntary Youth Work Organizations, 1991; Youth or Adult? The first five years, 1993; Setting Up and Managing Projects 1994; 1996a, 2000, Evaluation: Learning what matters, 2006 (with Alan Rogers); Journeying together. Growing youth work and youth workers in local communities, 2010 (edited with Alan Rogers); Learning through outdoor experience. A guide for schools and youth groups, (edited with Alan Rogers) 2012 (funded by the Rank Foundation).
Programme 6: The art of helping others. 2004-7
Undertaken with Heather Smith. Literature review, case studies, workshops, action research. Associated book: The art of helping others, 2008.
Programme 7: An evaluation of the BIG Lottery/DfE myplace initiative. 2009-11
Undertaken with Jean Spence and others. Funded as part of the support programme for the initiative. Associated publications Myplace Evaluation Final Report, DfE 2011; Myplace Evaluation Interim Report, DfE 2010.
Programme 8: Re-imagining education – why the differences between pedagogy and teaching really matter. 2015-
Undertaken with Tony Jeffs, this work is linked to a forthcoming publication. Associated articles 2002, 2007, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2020