Exploring the role of public services in relation to 'connected communities'; Learning from different conceptualisations of community-school relations

本研究以国家资助的学校作为公共服务的范例，探讨了学校在经历经济剥夺和相关不利条件的地理社区中的作用。回顾主要来自英国和美国的文献，它特别感兴趣的是如何将学校和社区联系起来的活动概念化，以及这表明如何发展弱势社区的自力更生、可持续性和福祉。提出了一个用于组织和分析文献的映射框架。它把注意力集中在：1。有目的地采取各种行动，将学校和社区联系起来，并在社区一级解决不利情况2。关于这些行动的目的，文献是怎么说的，谁有权力采取行动。文献表明，在现有的社会安排和结构中工作的专业人员似乎最能影响与公共服务有关的有形成果方面的弱势社区经验。这对正在出现的地方主义议程有影响。促进地方行动可能会加强对现有安排内改进行动的关注，决策者必须谨慎预测地方行动实际上无法实现的变革结果。加强地方行动需要专业人士和社区之间加强对话，至少促成共同议程。需要对实现这一目标的最佳机制进行研究。更具变革性的社会议程需要地方、区域和国家活动的长期协调，以便对更广泛的社会结构产生影响。

Taking state-funded schools as an exemplar of public services, this study has explored the role of schools in relation to geographical communities which experience economic deprivation and associated disadvantages. Reviewing literature primarily from the U.K. and U.S., it has been particularly interested in how activities linking schools and communities have been conceptualised, and what this suggests about how the self-reliance, sustainability and well-being of disadvantaged communities might be developed.A mapping framework for organising and analysing the literature is presented. It focuses attention on:i. the sorts of actions which have purposefully been taken to link schools and communities and tackle disadvantage at a community-levelii. what the literature says about the purposes of these actions and who has the power to act.The literature indicates that professionals working within existing societal arrangements and structures appear best placed to have impacts on communities' experiences of disadvantage in terms of tangible outcomes relating to public services.This has implications for the emerging agenda of localism. Promoting local action is likely to reinforce a focus on ameliorative actions within existing arrangements, and policy makers must be cautious about anticipating transformative outcomes which local actions cannot realistically achieve. Strengthening local actions will require greater dialogue between professionals and communities, leading, at least, to shared agendas. Research is needed into the best mechanisms for achieving this.A more transformative social agenda will require some long-term alignment of local, regional and national activities, in order to impact on wider societal structures.