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‘Building Trust and Shared Leadership in a Community of Practice for Dialogic Conflict Resolution

1. Summary of the impact

Black, Asian and minority ethnic people form 48.1% of Lewisham’s population, one of London’s most deprived boroughs. Transformative education research at the university led to co-creation of knowledge-sharing processes, which nurtured improved community-police engagement through dialogic conflict resolution with marginalised BAME young people. In partnership with local charity Second Wave Youth Arts, UoG research enabled societal, practitioner and policy impact, by emerging leadership capabilities of marginalised young people and improving police and youth-worker professional practices. Gradually increasing mutual respect and understanding resulted in meta-perceptual and behavioural changes in community-police relationships. Trust between young people and police grew, contributing to neighbourhood safety, leadership development, and to the de-escalating of criminalisation of young people formerly triggered in police-community encounters (approximately 20,000 beneficiaries per year in Lewisham, London-wide and UK).

2. Underpinning research

The power of education research to transform societies is crucial in areas of deprivation such as Deptford, Lewisham, in the UK’s top 2-4% for Crime and Environment Deprivation (2015, IoD). Declining global trust in leadership and information sources (-5%) exacerbates public London-wide (-22%) and UK-wide (-26%) distrust in police fairness amongst Black communities. Analysis of inequalities and hyper-criminalisation of young BAME people reveal massive disproportionality in Stop and Search, with arrests of Black youths over 4 times more likely than White youths.

In 2004-05, University of Greenwich (UoG) researcher Jill Jameson interviewed 10 post-compulsory education leaders, including a young leader (YL) at charity Second Wave Youth Arts (SW). She identified trust [R7 p.159 ] and visible/invisible paradoxical behavioural elements as essential to effective leadership (interactively shared in a ‘dynamic, enigmatic series of processes …in socially situated communities’ enabling multiple pathways to ‘ownership of a collaborative mission’) [R7, pp.8-10; 179-193 ]. Simultaneously, Jameson led G1, the JISC eLISA; an e-learning project migrating study skills content to e-learning, repurposing resources for trialing with 14-19+ learners, in a collaborative team learning process, confirming findings that students are at their best when encouraged to be designers of their own learning [R1]. Jameson was awarded G2 for UoG to join the JISC infoNet CAMEL project, co-creating an intentional community of practice (CoP) model in a collaborative research process with four F/HE institutions. She proposed trust and tacit knowledge as key components of CAMEL [R7]. Findings from G1 and G2 led to Jameson’s G3 award: the eLIDA CAMEL project, recreating the CoP model of a long-term community of partners from different areas of expertise exchanging a shared passion for a domain of professional and social practice in a trustworthy space. This included mutually agreed boundaries and principles for knowledge exchange in formal and informal group activities that were truthful, nurturing, and respectfully egalitarian. These attempted to improve a learning practice domain via dialogic critique, produce new learning through knowledge management (KM), and design artefacts with guidance from a critical friend [R1, R2, R3].

Jameson uniquely tailored findings from R1, R2, R3, R5 and R7 into innovative longitudinal educational research with SW [G4], flexibly adapting the CoP model to incorporate a creative, youth-centred multi-layered process-based collaborative trust-building approach [R4]. It included a vital element of equalising power relations (self-regulated leadership visibility/invisibility, a designed stepping back from visible power [R6, R7, S1b, S6b] to listen, learn, and give space to others) to build trust with young people, police, and other authorities [R6]. This would enable critical conflict resolution, empowering young people’s tacit self-knowledge and confidence as emerging leaders, transforming formerly distrustful community-police relations. Jameson’s lead role in ESRC-funded HIVE-PED research seminar series [G5] linked to FE/HE progression research [R8] included SW as a partner, widening research dialogue on student empowerment/ progression to university experts in UK, Australia, USA, and South Africa. Jameson invited Ng’ambi (University of Cape Town) as SW international research partner, interactively engaging in dialogue on blind trust and critical thinking about technology for SW’s social media grooming event [S1b], underpinned by Jameson’s research on critical approaches to educational technology [R9, S4 a-f]. 2020 research on this and Shadow Games was disrupted by COVID-19.

G1 and G3 were carried out in partnership with academics from the Universities of Oxford and Kent, where Jameson (PI) designed a distributed collaborative evaluation methodology, applying social constructivist mixed methods, with academic learning technologists Ryan, Walker and Dastbaz (UoG) providing pedagogic and Content Management System support. In G2 Jameson led the UoG arm of the study, with Walker and Ryan supplying learning technology team support; other project partners included CIs from Leeds and Loughborough FECs, Staffordshire University, JISC InfoNET and ALT. For G5 Jameson (PI) tasked CIs Kersh, Bathmaker and Orr to lead seminars, and Ainley to present research findings. British Educational Research Association Special Interest Group Co-convenor (Loo) invited Jameson to co-edit 50% of R8 which included selected G5 outputs. Jameson was PI and sole author for G4, R4, R7, and sole investigator for research co-produced with members of SW’s leadership team.

3. References to the research

  1. Jameson, J., Ferrell, G., Kelly, J., Walker, S. and Ryan, M. (2006) ‘Building Trust and Shared Knowledge in Communities of e-learning Practice: Collaborative leadership in the JISC eLISA & CAMEL lifelong learning projects’, British Journal of Educational Technology, 37(6): 949-967. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2006.00669.x, https://bit.ly/3sLy5VN. G1,2 funded.

  2. Jameson, J. (2008) ‘The eLIDA CAMEL Nomadic Model of Collaborative Partnership for a Community of Practice in Design for Learning’, Electronic Journal of e-Learning (EJEL), 6(3):197-206. ISSN 1479-4403. https://bit.ly/3dNjAwv. G3 funded.

  3. Masterman, E., Jameson, J. and Walker, S. (2009) ‘Capturing Teachers’ Experience of Learning Design Through Case Studies’, Distance Education, 30(2): 223-238. DOI: 10.1080/01587910903023207, https://bit.ly/2S4DMSp. G3 funded.

  4. Jameson, J. (2010) Research Report: Second Wave Centre for Youth Arts. London: Second Wave Youth Arts / University of Greenwich. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1874937, https://bit.ly/3nv6B69. G4 funded.

  5. Jameson, J. (2011) ‘Growing the eLIDA CAMEL Community of Practice Case Study’, in O. R. Hernáez and E. B. Campos (eds.), Handbook of Research on Communities of Practice for Organizational Management and Networking: Methodologies for competitive advantage, Hershey, PA (USA): IGI Global, pp. 443-455. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-802-4.ch024, https://bit.ly/3tSykjw. G3 funded.

  6. Jameson, J. (2011) ‘Distributed Leadership & the Visibility/Invisibility Paradox in Online Communities’, Human Technology, 7(1):49-71. DOI: 10.17011/ht/urn.201152310899, https://bit.ly/3vfNEH1.

  7. Jameson, J. (2013) Leadership in Post-Compulsory Education: Inspiring leaders of the future, London: David Fulton Publishers (now Routledge). DOI: 10.4324/9781315065458, https://bit.ly/3nsTUIQ. Peer reviewed by publisher. Full text available on request.

  8. Jameson, J., Joslin, H., Smith, S. (2016) ‘Groundhog Day Again: Making sense of a complicated mess: HIVE-PED research on FE student and apprentice progression to higher education in England’, in Loo, S., and Jameson, J. (Eds.) Vocationalism in Further and Higher Education: Policy, programmes and pedagogy. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, pp. 37-50. ISBN 9781138947047. https://bit.ly/2QC3SeZ. Chapter peer reviewed. G5 funded . Full text available on request.

  9. Jameson, J. (2019), Developing Critical and Theoretical Approaches to Educational Technology Research and Practice, British Journal of Educational Technology, 50: 951-955. DOI: 10.1111/bjet.12775, https://bit.ly/3xUMVNB.

Grants awarded supporting underpinning research:

  1. Jameson, J. (PI), Lee, S. (CI); Dastbaz, M. (CMS support), eLISA Independent Lifelong Learning Project, JISC, Jan 05 - Jul 07, £185,000.

  2. Ferrell, G. (PI), Jameson, J. (CI), Chohan, N. (CI), Heasley, R. (CI), Stiles, M. (CI), Riachi, R. (CI), Collaborative Approaches to the Management of e-Learning (CAMEL) project, JISC InfoNet/HEFCE Leadership, Governance & Management Fund, Jul 05 - Jul 06, £38,900.

  3. Jameson, J. (PI), e-learning Independent Design Activities (eLIDA) for Collaborative Approaches to the Management of e-learning (CAMEL), JISC, May 06 - Dec 07, £65,000.

  4. Jameson, J. (PI), Good Practice in Youth Arts, SW, Jun 10, £1,500.

  5. Jameson, J. (PI), Kersh, N. (CI), Bathmaker, A-M., Orr, K (CI), (CI), Ainley, P. (CI), HIVE-PED Research Seminar Series: Higher Vocational Education and Pedagogy in England, ESRC, Oct 13 - Sept 16, £29,353, ES/L000903/1.

4. Details of the impact

In 1982, Second Wave Centre for Youth Arts (SW) was registered in Deptford as a charitable performing arts youth organisation to develop young people (YP) aged 13-24 under-represented in arts and cultural industries. Funders including Lewisham Council and the Home Office support SW’s creative programmes promoting civic engagement, social activism, and leadership in a safe space for YP to broaden knowledge, experience, and skills in creative, participative practice. SW’s website states, “In partnership with the University of Greenwich, our 'community of practice' (CoP) approach enables the voices of YP to be heard more widely and their views taken seriously as activists for change.” [S2d]. In the view of SW, the work of Prof Jill Jameson "has been a constant source of influence and ideas in the development of our youth-centred creative learning programme” and made an “extensive and sustained contribution to our evolving programme of youth arts activities, over 20 years of partnership work, including our Critical Encounters, Shadow Games and Hate Crime initiatives.”

SW’s Community Development Worker (anonymised as ‘PT’) [S1b] recalls the origins of its CoP approach : “Prof Jill Jameson became a regular visitor to Second Wave.... In 2004-2005, she contributed to Second Wave’s distinctive style and methods of creative learning [in] a sustained dialogue with our trustees, staff and young leaders. Prof Jameson underlined the value of our partnership work and introduced the concept of participatory research [in] a community of practice (CoP). The distinctive value of the CoP [is] a shared understanding of intractable problems.” This co-created model enabled long-term social learning and dialogic KM development in truthful, collaborative, equal discursive inquiry in a safe space [R1]. Dialogic processes, trust-building methods, and youth-centred leadership [R4, R7] included CoP methods to surface new depths of tacit knowledge [R1, R2], growing expertise, better community-police relations, and enhanced recognition of SW as an organisation achieving best practice in work with young people [S1a-b, S2a-c, S3a-f, S7, S9].

From 2004, SW introduced critical community safety issues into its creative arts programmes, focusing on YP-police interactions. To challenge disproportionate ‘Stop and Search’ experiences severely affecting local neighbourhoods, regular Critical Encounters workshops began, to continue for 17+ years, with impact accumulating in annual student-police cohorts 2013-2020, leading to life-changing transformational empowerment of multiple YP. Workshops were informed by Jameson’s research, trust-building CoP concepts and methods woven throughout discussions and presentations (2004-2020) [S1a-b]. Workshops led by young people (approximately 20 per year) included successive cohorts of local police officers participating in plain/casual clothes on equal terms with YLs, both sides bringing experiences and insights into drama-based role-reversal in safe workshop spaces. Knowledge-sharing interactive visible/invisible distributed leadership (VIDL) processes in Critical Encounters focused on tensions and responsibilities of managing difficult YP-police interactions at street level, and nurturing dialogic methods to avoid escalating conflict. PT [S1b] noted, “building solidarity, ownership of learning, and community cohesion” through CoP processes “validated YP’s needs, interests, and safety concerns”. SW’s Director said, “the importance of trust ... how to build leadership and trust as an organisation - that thematic focus at the heart of our work ... wouldn't be so specific as it is without Jill's involvement… that synergy, you know, of her saying, 'No, this is actually really important' is what has helped to influence and raise our awareness of how important that work is.” [S1a]*

In 2015, Shadow Games began: a youth-led programme on radicalisation [S4a-f], now a nationally recognised Home Office-funded Prevent Good Practice model [S4f], narrating the online grooming of Samuel, a young person coerced into violent extremism by older man Osiris. Reaching 6,826 pupils, Shadow Games voices YP’s concerns on grooming themes, explored via theatre, stimulating critical awareness in audience dialogue. Lewisham’s Select Committee noted (2019): “The success and innovative nature of this project has led to national recognition for Second Wave, and its inclusion in the national catalogue of best-practice Prevent projects.” [S4f]

Throughout 2004-20, such SW programmes explored and analysed key issues of trust and leadership. PT said, “Young leaders became …exponents of innovative [CoP] practices”, and police, relieved to be in a safe, informal trustworthy dialogic space [S6a-d], “introduced their own professional expertise” [S1b]. An officer recalled: “police [are] used to being in charge… guardians of everyone...the power of [this] is that we enter this space: we are not the custodians, leaders or in charge, but are given permission to come into this space where it belongs to someone else.... we are welcomed, so, a weight comes off… Critical Encounters is so important because it's trust-building work.” A Territorial Support Group officer said the CoP partnership work “created a really good model of practice to be shared more widely, [which is] extremely valuable.” [S6,S5a-b,S7,S9]

Impacts on policy and practice included significant improvements and greater confidence in knowledge-generation, trust-building and leadership processes across all operations for SW, resulting in recognition such as 2015 British Empire Medal to Phil Turner, Second Wave, for services to Young People, Police and Community Engagement; Home Office 2014-19 Best Practice Awards for Work with Young People; 2014 Mayor of London Peace Award; 2017 Trophy of Appreciation, Lewisham Safer Neighbourhoods Board; and SW YP invited roles to advise police in Lewisham’s Independent Advisory Group/Youth IAG, and Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Directorate IAG [S1a-b, S2a]. As an expert on building trust and leadership in CoPs in education research, Jameson helped frame public discourses on YP’s relationship with police in SW’s invited contribution to the ‘Report of the Inquiry held by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children 2013-2014, “It’s all about trust”: Building good relationships between children and the police’, [S7] in which SW’s model of building trust and equalising power, influenced by Jameson’s research, was linked to improved community-police relations and changes in police training, evidenced in testimony for SW’s successful Queen’s Anniversary Award (2021) [S9]. PT notes , “both SW and UoG were key partners working together to achieve these” and other impacts [S1b]. Jameson/SW’s COVID-19-postponed research will resume to develop the dialogic trust-building UoG-SW model with Cambridge University Educational Dialogue Research Group (CEDiR), Lucy Cavendish College, and Ng’ambi for South African take-up in areas with similar challenges.

Improved community-police engagement/social policy: The research on trust and leadership in YP’s engagement with police improved community-police relations, police training and social policy (as oral evidence from PT, 3 SW YP, and involved police officers recorded), directly influencing Recommendation 8 in the 2014 Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children, “It’s all about trust”: Building good relationships between children and the police, recommending “The College of Policing should promote the direct involvement of ...young people in the training of police … and involve ...young people with experiences of stop and search in its review of stop and search training... commissioned by the Home Secretary.” (pp.12-13; 27-28) [S7]. The 2015-16 National Police Chief’s Council’s Strategy aligned itself to the report’s priorities [S8], the research contributing widely to shifting policy and thinking in the way the MPS approaches community engagement, in both training and qualifications [S5a-b; S6d]. PT [S1b] noted that “participation in this model of research has been transformative… whereas previously, “a stark deficit of trust” meant positive relationships with YP was a low police priority vs . “a focus on enforcement action viewing young people as enemies of public order”, the CoP led to a “gradual shift from narrow views of law enforcement to wider contextual understandings of the duty to protect young people from harm, impact of vulnerability and safeguarding, changing perceptions in policing”. London SE Command Unit aims (2020-23) now include: “to increase participation with Youth, BAME and Faith communities across the 3 boroughs” (Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley) [S1b, S5a-b]. “This ‘engagement approach’ recommends ‘strong relationships with community partners and leaders’ to ‘play an active role in promoting shared values and building trust.’ The strategy insists on policing with care, compassion, and respect, ‘learning from communities to improve trust and public confidence,’” all findings from UoG research, PT observes [S1b].

Sustainability of progress is a crucial finding, given reversal of significant earlier achievements improving Stop and Search (complaints decreased from 24/25 per year in 2008 to 0 in 2017, and confidence in police increased from 33% to 67%) in Lewisham: but progress stalled (2018) when a senior inspector retired. ‘Peter’ said, “the year I left, I think we'd had, for the previous 3 years… absolutely no complaints”. [S6a] The research therefore includes, as PT says, “a steady process of mobilising resistance to shortcomings in police practice, a critical perspective maintained with elevated persistence, often with a sense of swimming against the tide. The support of [UoG] documenting different phases of this journey is extremely helpful, providing a consistent overview, understanding of continuity, as changes of thinking [were] introduced, explored, and gradually included [in] the CoP.” [S1a-b, S2a-c, S3a-f, S9].

Impacts on the community: Beneficiaries of SW’s work in 2015-20 (approximate total per year 20,000) included 42 young volunteers, 24 YP in employment/ work experience organised at SW, 72 youth arts workshops attendees, 9 performances for youth audiences of 360+; 15 learning support sessions for 60+ participants, 25 Lewisham Hate Crime Forum participants, including 10 police officers and Territorial Support Group officers, 15 outreach sessions with 300+ local people in community settings; 16 training sessions for 30 young volunteers; 9 drama performances for intergenerational audiences of 450+; 3 social action projects for 30 young volunteers; 15 training sessions for 18+ young workshop leaders, 3 intergenerational outreach events for 100+ local new users. [S1a-b, S4a-e, S10]. PT wrote [S1b]: “Working with academics, professionals, decision-makers… sharing experiences, debating ideas, addressing issues of direct importance, was transformative for young people’s view of themselves and their abilities to influence a world often appearing hostile to their interests and needs” [S1b, S3a-f]. Impacts from Aug 13 - Dec 20 were:

  • Transformation from fear/anger to confident assertion of legal rights: “I learned YP also have the power to change the narrative: it all changes when you know your rights.” [S4a]

  • Quality of life enhancements: skills, job success, trust in/compassion for police : “It definitely was the instrumental part of my having the confidence to be who I am” [S3e]; “ SW is like an intensive course for life”, We learned “really invaluable skills that we now both use in our careers” “It opened up discussion for compassion”; “ They built this trust.” [S3c]

  • Building community trust, leadership and awareness of YP policing: “It's building trust within the whole community, so communities don't feel like they're on their own.” “We feel proud to have questions answered in the highest level about the impact of Stop and Search on YP, to make sure that's always in the conversation.” [S2a, S1a, S3a-f, S4a]

Impacts on young people: PT noted, “Our YLs found difficulty acknowledging their own… expertise”, so Jamesondrew attention to [research on] the value of a sustained CoP, …mutually respected values, underpinning trust, ...and shared leadership” [R1b, R6]. One YL said , “This is where I first came across Prof. Jill and the partnership with UoG. In our first meeting we [discussed] young people, trust, and leadership. The Young Leaders programme was a product of that conversation. I took the lead on the programme…. to transform spaces outside of SW where young people as critical thinkers were active vocal members of their community.” [S3a]. The Actor playing Osiris said, “ Jill has been to Shadow Games … at the end, there's a discussion… she has given some very, very good, knowledgeable answers for a lot of YP… those discussions are very, very important. Those safe spaces for young people, young adults, the knowledge of people from UoG like Jill, to come and give some gems, as we’d say in our community, drop some gems on young people, yeah!” [S4a] PT noted Jameson’s advice surfaced unrecognised “tacit knowing” in creative workshops, [S1b], building YP’s confidence to participate equally, design their own learning [S1a, b, S3a-f, R1, R3] and, in 2013-2020, take on IAG roles, representing YP’s views on policing at the House of Lords, House of Commons and New Scotland Yard [S1a-b, S2a, S10].

5. Sources to corroborate the impact

S1 Testimonials/Interviews: (a) Director; (b) Community Development Worker (PT), SW

S2 Testimonials/Interviews: (a) Chair of Trustees; (b) Treasurer; (c) Trustee, SW; (d) SW

website: https://bit.ly/3tv96qj

S3 Testimonials: YLs (a) SK, (b) ‘Patsy’, (c) ‘Sally’, (d) ‘Sunny/Rita’, (e) ‘Jasmine’ (f) Report

S4 Testimonials/Interviews: ‘Shadow Games’ (a) SW Actor, (b) Digital Manager, (c) Prevent Officer; (d) SG Website: https://tinyurl.com/yzrp54w3 (e) Teachers’ notes; (f) Scrutiny Report: https://bit.ly/3hm8uAP

S5 (a) Testimonial: Metropolitan Police London SE BCU (b) Report of Interviews/Surveys

S6 Testimonials/Interviews (a) ‘Peter’, Retired Senior Detective; (b) ‘Leroy’, TSG Officer; (c) ‘Simon’, Retired Senior Police; (d) ‘Adam’, Detective Inspector, Central Specialist Crime

S7 2014 Report, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children: https://tinyurl.com/8wr7mbmd

S8 National Police Chief’s Council: National Strategy 2015: https://bit.ly/3hahk4B

S9 Queen’s Anniversary Award SW/UoG/Challenging Hate Crime partners’ testimonials

S10 Lewisham Council Main Grants 2017-18 Report: SW: https://tinyurl.com/m7pyhrcz

Additional contextual information