Howard Sercombe
Biographic Data
| ID | 765115 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Howard Sercombe |
| GIVEN NAMES | Howard |
| FAMILY NAME | Sercombe |
| SIGNATURE | SERCOMBE H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Edith Cowan University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4691-0539 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 39 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Schrödinger’s Cat, Charlie, and the Youth Worker
The concept of superpositionality was developed in the first half of last century in quantum physics. Superpositionality describes a condition in which an object can be in two (or more) different and apparently inconsistent states at the same time. According to quantum theory, the state of superposition holds until observation and measurement establishes one state or the other, and the superposition ‘collapses’. The process of observation, descri…
Banging tunes in the basement
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unique restrictions on human sociability. In response, exceptional initiatives using a range of existing technologies and platforms have emerged to mitigate lockdown isolation. Basement Traxx , a kind of hybrid DJ set streamed from a Glasgow basement, was one of these initiatives. As the lockdown was extended, it became a virtual gathering space, with unexpectedly powerful impacts on its audience. This research se…
Designing Alternate Reality Games for effective learning
The Alternate Reality Game (ARG) is a relatively new form of gaming. Offering puzzles across a variety of media, ARGs require players to navigate digital and real worlds, form social connections, and demonstrate a wide variety of skills. This paper presents an Action Research approach to the use of ARGs in tertiary education contexts. Through two iterations of an Action Research cycle, the research identifies benefits in student engagement, atten…
Making Practice Publishable
For centuries, universities have supported the pursuit of knowledge through the academic disciplines while also preparing students for the professions. These two purposes are frequently in tension: hence widespread comment on the ‘theory-practice gap’. Academic work has struggled for relevance in the field. Practice academics have struggled to find a validated place for their expertise in academia – including publication in academic journals. In …
The Ethical Foundations of Youth Work as an International Profession
A service, a 'way of working', or a profession? A discourse analysis of community education/community learning and development in Scotland
Community-based informal education, like other practices, is fundamentally shaped by the discourses under which it is constituted. In Scotland, since 1975, the practice has been formally established by government policy as an amalgam of youth work, adult education and community development under a discourse of informal education. This combination carries its own internal tensions alongside the continually contested relationship between the field …
Bullying and agency
Respectme is a human rights organisation working to reduce the impact of bullying in Scotland. In this work, some useful conceptual and practice frameworks have emerged, distinguishing between aggression, as legitimate, if sometimes unpleasant, dominance behaviour and violence, which is unethical action involving the intent to harm. Bullying pushes beyond dominance/subordination to render the person not just subject but abject: incapable of findi…
Working the Document
In the face of criticisms that professional codes of ethics are not effective in promoting ethical behaviour, this article explores a methodology developed in a major Western Australian youth work agency for applying a Youth Work Code of Ethics in practical, real-time situations. The experience resulted in workers being conscious of the clause-by-clause content of the code across a range of situations, and being able to use it as a resource in th…
The Gift and the Trap
Progressive developments in scanning technologies over the last decade have led to a surge of new research into the structure and function of the brain and into differences between the brains of teenagers and other adults. This work has not been free of controversy, notably around the question of deficits in the capacity of young people concerning risk-taking behavior. In a previous article, Michael Males mounted a challenge to this body of work,…
Did You See That Guy in the Wheelchair Down the Pub?’ Interactions across Difference in a Public Place
Most research undertaken on interactions between able-bodied people and people with physical disabilities has focused on the way that people with disabilities are de-humanised during the interaction process. Little attention has been given to the possibility that able bodied people are unsure of how to go about interacting with people with disabilities (Soder, 1990). Looking is a complex business. This paper reports a qualitative study of interac…
The face of the criminal is aboriginal
(1995). The face of the criminal is aboriginal. Journal of Australian Studies: Vol. 19, Cultures of Crime and Violence: The Australian Experience, pp. 76-94
Bullying and agency
Respectme is a human rights organisation working to reduce the impact of bullying in Scotland. In this work, some useful conceptual and practice frameworks have emerged, distinguishing between aggression, as legitimate, if sometimes unpleasant, dominance behaviour and violence, which is unethical action involving the intent to harm. Bullying pushes beyond dominance/subordination to render the person not just subject but abject: incapable of findi…
The Gift and the Trap
Progressive developments in scanning technologies over the last decade have led to a surge of new research into the structure and function of the brain and into differences between the brains of teenagers and other adults. This work has not been free of controversy, notably around the question of deficits in the capacity of young people concerning risk-taking behavior. In a previous article, Michael Males mounted a challenge to this body of work,…
Did You See That Guy in the Wheelchair Down the Pub?’ Interactions across Difference in a Public Place
Most research undertaken on interactions between able-bodied people and people with physical disabilities has focused on the way that people with disabilities are de-humanised during the interaction process. Little attention has been given to the possibility that able bodied people are unsure of how to go about interacting with people with disabilities (Soder, 1990). Looking is a complex business. This paper reports a qualitative study of interac…
Making Practice Publishable
For centuries, universities have supported the pursuit of knowledge through the academic disciplines while also preparing students for the professions. These two purposes are frequently in tension: hence widespread comment on the ‘theory-practice gap’. Academic work has struggled for relevance in the field. Practice academics have struggled to find a validated place for their expertise in academia – including publication in academic journals. In …
The face of the criminal is aboriginal
(1995). The face of the criminal is aboriginal. Journal of Australian Studies: Vol. 19, Cultures of Crime and Violence: The Australian Experience, pp. 76-94
Banging tunes in the basement
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unique restrictions on human sociability. In response, exceptional initiatives using a range of existing technologies and platforms have emerged to mitigate lockdown isolation. Basement Traxx , a kind of hybrid DJ set streamed from a Glasgow basement, was one of these initiatives. As the lockdown was extended, it became a virtual gathering space, with unexpectedly powerful impacts on its audience. This research se…
A service, a 'way of working', or a profession? A discourse analysis of community education/community learning and development in Scotland
Community-based informal education, like other practices, is fundamentally shaped by the discourses under which it is constituted. In Scotland, since 1975, the practice has been formally established by government policy as an amalgam of youth work, adult education and community development under a discourse of informal education. This combination carries its own internal tensions alongside the continually contested relationship between the field …
The face of the criminal is aboriginal
(1995). The face of the criminal is aboriginal. Journal of Australian Studies: Vol. 19, Cultures of Crime and Violence: The Australian Experience, pp. 76-94
Did You See That Guy in the Wheelchair Down the Pub?’ Interactions across Difference in a Public Place
Most research undertaken on interactions between able-bodied people and people with physical disabilities has focused on the way that people with disabilities are de-humanised during the interaction process. Little attention has been given to the possibility that able bodied people are unsure of how to go about interacting with people with disabilities (Soder, 1990). Looking is a complex business. This paper reports a qualitative study of interac…
The Gift and the Trap
Progressive developments in scanning technologies over the last decade have led to a surge of new research into the structure and function of the brain and into differences between the brains of teenagers and other adults. This work has not been free of controversy, notably around the question of deficits in the capacity of young people concerning risk-taking behavior. In a previous article, Michael Males mounted a challenge to this body of work,…
Working the Document
In the face of criticisms that professional codes of ethics are not effective in promoting ethical behaviour, this article explores a methodology developed in a major Western Australian youth work agency for applying a Youth Work Code of Ethics in practical, real-time situations. The experience resulted in workers being conscious of the clause-by-clause content of the code across a range of situations, and being able to use it as a resource in th…
Bullying and agency
Respectme is a human rights organisation working to reduce the impact of bullying in Scotland. In this work, some useful conceptual and practice frameworks have emerged, distinguishing between aggression, as legitimate, if sometimes unpleasant, dominance behaviour and violence, which is unethical action involving the intent to harm. Bullying pushes beyond dominance/subordination to render the person not just subject but abject: incapable of findi…
A service, a 'way of working', or a profession? A discourse analysis of community education/community learning and development in Scotland
Community-based informal education, like other practices, is fundamentally shaped by the discourses under which it is constituted. In Scotland, since 1975, the practice has been formally established by government policy as an amalgam of youth work, adult education and community development under a discourse of informal education. This combination carries its own internal tensions alongside the continually contested relationship between the field …
The Ethical Foundations of Youth Work as an International Profession
Making Practice Publishable
For centuries, universities have supported the pursuit of knowledge through the academic disciplines while also preparing students for the professions. These two purposes are frequently in tension: hence widespread comment on the ‘theory-practice gap’. Academic work has struggled for relevance in the field. Practice academics have struggled to find a validated place for their expertise in academia – including publication in academic journals. In …
Designing Alternate Reality Games for effective learning
The Alternate Reality Game (ARG) is a relatively new form of gaming. Offering puzzles across a variety of media, ARGs require players to navigate digital and real worlds, form social connections, and demonstrate a wide variety of skills. This paper presents an Action Research approach to the use of ARGs in tertiary education contexts. Through two iterations of an Action Research cycle, the research identifies benefits in student engagement, atten…
Banging tunes in the basement
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unique restrictions on human sociability. In response, exceptional initiatives using a range of existing technologies and platforms have emerged to mitigate lockdown isolation. Basement Traxx , a kind of hybrid DJ set streamed from a Glasgow basement, was one of these initiatives. As the lockdown was extended, it became a virtual gathering space, with unexpectedly powerful impacts on its audience. This research se…
Schrödinger’s Cat, Charlie, and the Youth Worker
The concept of superpositionality was developed in the first half of last century in quantum physics. Superpositionality describes a condition in which an object can be in two (or more) different and apparently inconsistent states at the same time. According to quantum theory, the state of superposition holds until observation and measurement establishes one state or the other, and the superposition ‘collapses’. The process of observation, descri…
Sociology (10 works) · Political science (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Public relations (5 works) · Social science (5 works) · Agency (philosophy (4 works) · Art (3 works) · Engineering ethics (3 works) · Epistemology (3 works)