Legacies of Change
Probation Staff Experiences of the Unification of Services in England and Wales
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8399962 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matt Tidmarsh (0000-0002-6063-9805, University of Leeds, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 468-486 |
| Publication date | 2024-02-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal of Criminology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0955 • E-ISSN: 1464-3529 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjc/azad042 |
| OpenAlex | W4386054767 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 14 |
| References cited | 29 |
A discourse of professionalism has proved crucial to driving recent organizational restructurings of the probation service in England and Wales. The Coalition Government argued that bureaucratic, state provision of services had stifled probation practice—for which the introduction of market logic, via the 2014 Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms, would restore professional discretion. And yet, the detrimental impact of TR on practice meant that re-professionalization was an important objective of yet more restructuring. This paper explores probation staff experiences of organizational change, particularly since services were returned to the public sector, in June 2021, through three dominant modes of workplace organization around which change has been articulated: professionalism, the market and bureaucracy. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 38 members of staff, it argues that the exercise of professionalism in probation has been, and continues to be, shaped by a legacy of organizational change that is both bureaucratic and dependent upon market(-like) mechanisms. It contends that the ongoing impact of a ‘discursive battle’ between market and bureaucratic forces has further eroded professionalism in probation
Battle · Bureaucracy · Discretion · Government (linguistics) · Managerialism · Political science · Politics · Professionalization · Public relations · Restructuring · Sociology · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Public Administration · Social Work Education and Practice
Listening to men on probation
‘You’re trying to juggle everything’
Examining the “On the Books” Versus “In the Field” Impacts of Probation Reform
Professional Registration of Probation Practitioners in a Devolved Welsh Probation Service
Making it count? Introduction to the special issue on professional registration in probation
Probation pracademics
‘Indifference, resistance, possibility
A professional register for probation practitioners in England and Wales
Indifference, resistance, possibility
Constrained voice and complicated loyalty
Regulating criminal justice
Anchors Through Change
Dirty Work in Probation
Probation, Technical Compliance and the ‘Drowning’ of Hope
Professionalism
The System of Professions
The Culture of Control
Profession of medicine
Professionalism in Probation
Doing Probation Work
Qualitative Research Practice
Punishment and Modern Society
The Mission Transformed
Understanding ‘quality’ in probation practice
Doing ‘strengths-based’ research
Making, unmaking, remaking
Probation migration(s)
Island in the neoliberal stream
Appreciative Inquiry and Relationships in Prison
On the Consequences of Defensive Professionalism
Whither Welfare Professionalism
Criminal Justice Identities in Transition
Professional Legitimacy, Identity, and Practice
The Welfare State and the Conservatives
The Appeal to 'Professionalism' as a Disciplinary Mechanism
When Welfare Professionals Encounter Restructuring and Privatization
Government reforms, performance management and the labour process
A new professionalism? Challenges and opportunities
| Unique citing works | 14 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 14 |