Table Of ContentLiving the Label:
Youth work, young people,
being ‘at-risk’ and community-
based (arts/sports) programs
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the
requirements for the award of the degree
Doctor of Philosophy
From
Charles Sturt University
By
Rachael Clare Hutchesson
BTeach(Primary), BEd Hons (Primary )
School of Teacher Education
March, 2014
All the images/artwork used in this thesis
are used with permission from a personal
collection.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. ii
List of Tables ............................................................................................................... vi
List of Figures ............................................................................................................. vii
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... xi
Abstract ....................................................................................................................... xii
Chapter One: Thinking about Risk ................................................................................. xv
Introducing the Study ........................................................................................................ 1
Note to Self: Why Explore ‘Risky’ Labels? .............................................................. 1
The Research Focus ................................................................................................... 4
Note to the Reader: Youth and ‘Risky’, Sticky Labels ............................................. 8
Significance of the Study ......................................................................................... 11
Thesis Outline .......................................................................................................... 17
Chapter Two: Regulating Risk........................................................................................ 22
The Question of Youth? .......................................................................................... 23
‘At-risk’ and…? ....................................................................................................... 24
Policy and Risk ........................................................................................................ 28
An Australian Perspective: Policy and Risk ............................................................ 36
Chapter Three: Precarious (re)Positioning...................................................................... 49
The ‘Risky’ Me ........................................................................................................ 50
Looking for ‘Me’ and Finding Labels - Young People and Subjectivities ............. 50
The Discursively Produced 'Me'….………………………………………...52
Precarious Futures?: Young People and ‘Risky’ Labels…….…………………….54
'Risky' Rural Spaces……………………………………………………......55
Education and 'Risky' Identities……………………………………………56
The Double Risk: Indigenous and Becoming 'Me'…………….…………...59
Gender, Popular Culture, Schooling and Working the Risky Edge…..……64
Young People Managing Risk……………………………………………...68
Popular Culture – Fame and/or Alternative Ways Out of ‘Risky’ Lives…..72
Risk-taking, Gender and Schooling - with a Twist of Popular Culture……77
Programs, Policy and (Re) Positioning the Precarious ‘I’………………………...83
A Historical Understanding of Youth Work………………………………...83
Youth Work (Today) and Targeted ‘Risky’ Youth………………………….85
Engaging in community-based Arts/Sports Programs…………………….…...…86
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Community-Based Arts Programs…………………………………………...86
Community-Based Sports Programs ............................................................... 90
Mismatches: Policy and Practice…………………………………………………..93
Chapter Summary .................................................................................... 93
Chapter 4: Methodology: Understanding and Finding ‘Risky’ Spaces .......................... 94
Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................... 95
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 95
Subjectivity, Power and Governmentality ............................................................... 98
Performativity ........................................................................................................ 104
The Intersection of the Production of Text and Production of Self ....................... 107
Edgework ............................................................................................................... 109
Section Summary ................................................................................................... 111
Method .......................................................................................................................... 111
Research Design .................................................................................................... 113
Ethnographic Elements .......................................................................................... 115
Researcher Reflexivity……………………………………………………...115
Observation ................................................................................................... 119
Participant Observation ................................................................................. 120
Interviews ...................................................................................................... 121
Collection and Examination of Context-Specific Data ......................................... 123
Phases of the Study ................................................................................................ 124
Recruitment ................................................................................................... 124
Data Collection ............................................................................................. 126
Demographics – Youth Workers .................................................................. 126
Analysis of youth worker data ...................................................................... 127
Phase 2………………………………………………………………….………...129
Recruitment ................................................................................................... 129
Data Collection ............................................................................................. 129
Demographics – Young People .................................................................... 131
Analysis of the Young People Data .............................................................. 132
Chapter 5: Regulating Risk- ‘Risky’ Political Underpinnings ..................................... 136
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 137
‘Risky’ Aims.......................................................................................................... 140
YAP1……………………………………………………………………….140
YAP2……………………………………………………………………….149
‘Risky’ Fun and Contracts ..................................................................................... 152
YAP1………………………………………………………………………...152
YAP2………………………………………………………………………...158
‘Risky’ Mismatching – Themes Across the Seven Programs/Organisations ........ 160
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Access and Surveillance…………………………………………………….161
The Funding Game………………………………………………………….163
Outcomes vs Needs…………………….…………………………………...165
Timeframes and Sustainablity………………………………………………167
Section Summary ................................................................................................... 168
Chapter 6: Working with Risk - Troubling & Reinforcing Labels ............................... 171
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 172
Varying Degrees of Risk ....................................................................................... 174
The School/Education System is Flawed .............................................................. 183
Gendered Approaches to Regulation ..................................................................... 194
Art and Sport: Transforming or Regulating ‘Risky’ Identities? ............................ 204
A Summary of the Ways Arts/Sports Practices were used………………….205
Fame as a Way Out………………………………………………………….213
Chapter Summary .................................................................................................. 217
Chapter 7: Living with Risk – Risk with a Twist ......................................................... 221
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 222
‘Risky’ Understandings: Risk, Recognition and Resistance ................................. 224
Defining the 'Risky' Label………………………………………………….224
Resisting 'Risky' Recognitions……………………………………………..230
Jump on Board the ‘Risky’ Fun Ride .................................................................... 235
Why Are You Here?......................................................................................235
What is the Program About?.........................................................................238
What Will You Take Awat From the Program?...........................................241
‘Risky’ Education. ................................................................................................. 246
Risk = fame ............................................................................................................ 257
I'm a Big Bra Boy and I Don't Give a Crap………………………………..257
Hard Life = Shining Star…………………………………………………..260
High-‘Risky’ Appeal – Young People Working the Edge .................................... 262
The YAP Boys……………………………………………………………..263
The YAP Girls…………………………………………………………….268
Chapter Summary .................................................................................................. 272
Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 275
(End)note to Self .................................................................................................... 276
References ..................................................................................................................... 281
Appendices .................................................................................................................... 302
Appendix A............................................................................................................ 303
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Leaving the Field .......................................................................................... 303
Ethical Issues ................................................................................................ 303
Appendix B ............................................................................................................ 306
Youth Workers Interview Questions……………………………………….305
Appendix C ............................................................................................................ 307
Youth Workers Demographics……………………………………………..306
Appendix D............................................................................................................ 315
Young Peoples Demographics……………………………………………..314
v
List of Tables
Table 1: Summary of Youth Workers’ Demographics (Phase 1) …………...………127
Table 2: Detailed Demographics of Interviewed Youth Workers (Phase 1) ...……...306
Table 3: Summary of Young People’s Demographics YAP1 and YAP2 .……..……131
Table 4: Detailed Demographics of Young People in YAP1 and YAP2 ……………314
vi
List of Figures
Figure 1: Phases of the Study ……………………………………………………..112
Figure 2: Screen shot of L2L Brochure for Young People
and their Families (outside) ………………………………………………………..153
Figure 3: Screen shot Screen shot of L2L Brochure for
Young People and their Families (inside)………………………………………….155
Figure 4: Screen shot of the Links to Learning Guidelines 2012 …………………156
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"I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a
substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at Charles Sturt
University or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgment is made in the
thesis. Any contribution made to the research by colleagues with whom I have worked at Charles
Sturt University or elsewhere during my candidature is fully acknowledged. I agree that this thesis be
accessible for the purpose of study and research in accordance with the normal conditions
established by the Executive Director, Library Services or nominee, for the care, loan and
reproduction of theses.
……………………………………………………………
viii
Acknowledgements
Foremost, I would like to thank my supervisory team/s for the outstanding academic support
they have unwaveringly provided. This tumultuous journey began with Associate Professor
Sue Saltmarsh (main supervisor) and Professor Jo-Anne Reid as my first supervisory team.
Sue brought my research ideas to life, was constant in her (never ending) academic support for
the first two years and offered a sympathetic ear when life became tricky. I never would have
begun this without Sue, and for that, a great deal of appreciation is in order. Jo-Anne has given
me constant and ‘priceless’ academic support throughout the entire thesis journey - continuing
on to the new supervisory team when Sue moved universities and the distance was too difficult
for my family and I to cope with. The team that pulled me through the academic fog after the
death of my beautiful teenage boy, Dr Rylee Dionigi (main supervisor), Professor Jo-Anne
Reid and my dear friend, Dr Kristina Gottschall, I cannot thank you enough. They took me on,
knowing how broken academically and emotionally I was, and helped me relearn how to be
an academic. These three ladies have gone above and beyond the requirements of a supervisory
team, and I know without a doubt that I would not be writing these acknowledgements now
without them, their patience, academic smarts and the copious amount of time all three
(especially Rylee) put into reading and re-reading my thesis to provide constant feedback.
I would like to thank the passionate youth workers and inspirational young people who made
this research possible.
I am grateful for the financial support afforded by the Australian Postgraduate Award (APA)
Stipend, and research funding from The School of Teacher Education at Charles Sturt
University.
The emotional support freely given to me by my family and friends has been pivotal to the
completion of this thesis. Without my mother (Lynne) and her) untiring support, by watching
my little boy every possible afternoon (after she finished work), and whatever weekend she
could - despite trying to cope with her own grief of the loss of her first grandchild - I would
not have had the free time to write this thesis. I thank my dads - Dad (Jim) who passed not
long after I started my PhD, but was always there for me when I needed doctoral motivation,
and Dad (Phil) who is my rock and who financially made it possible for me not to have to
work as much while I was writing. Thanks to my Sydney friend Cathy, my Dubbo mates Kath
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and Damo, and the ‘Orange Gals’, Ali, Heather, Katrina, Mary for hanging in there with me
and sending lots of ‘you can do it’ texts late at night.
Last but far from least, I need to thank my boys. My little boy Leo who spent so many nights
(in this last year of writing) sitting next to me reading books and watching movies quietly (and
sometimes not so quietly if he woke when I was trying to write in the wee hours of the
morning) – you keep a smile on my face little man. My big boy TJ, who was/is my ‘bestie’,
the driving force behind my dissertation topic, and who would sit with his little brother while
I read copious amounts of literature and began to write - who (hardly) complained as long as
I served on him hand and foot, getting him strawberry thickshakes and chicken burrito wraps
at midnight. TJ, you put that smile on my face when you were born. You almost made it
through with me on this roller coaster ride my boy, almost.
Rachael Hutchesson
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