Boys' Stories of Their Time in a Residential School: ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ PDF
Preview Boys' Stories of Their Time in a Residential School: ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’
B O Y S ’ S T O R I E S O F T H E I R T I M E I N A Routledge Advances in Social Work R E S I D E BOYS’ STORIES OF THEIR TIME N T I A L IN A RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL S C H O O L ‘THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES’ Mark Smith “This is a wonderful book. It is so important, not only because it provides a fresh perspective on the unremitting abuse narratives that have come to characterise public understanding of residential child care, but also because it is a good exem- plar of how detailed case-studies can serve to challenge received narratives that do not tell the full story.” Dr. Ros Burnett, Research Associate, formerly Reader in Criminology at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford “A brave, powerful, and essential corrective to the singular story that has dom- inated accounts of residential care in recent decades. This book champions the many positive experiences of care in which joy, pain, laughs, and friendships cap- ture the complexity and relational closeness of personal narratives that too often go unheard.” Sebastian Monteux, former residential care worker, registered mental health nurse and lecturer in mental health nursing at Abertay University Boys’ Stories of Their Time in a Residential School This book provides rich insights into the pre and post care experiences of boys who were pupils in a residential school where the author worked over the course of the 1980s. It describes the boys’ trajectories through life, as well as detailing the rhythms, rituals, routines, and relationships that existed in the school. While the focus is on the (former) boys’ experiences, these are augmented by interview material from staff members, including religious Brothers, who worked in the school. Together, these different perspectives provide unique insights into an area of social work history that is ill-served by existing accounts, making the book required reading for all scholars and students of social work; social and oral his- tory; narrative sociology; criminology and desistance and social policy. Mark Smith is Professor of Social Work at the University of Dundee, Scotland. Prior to that he worked at the University of Strathclyde, where he set up the first Master’s programme in Residential Child Care in the UK, and at the University of Edinburgh, where, latterly, he served as Head of Social Work. Before entering academia, he worked in and managed residential care establishments for almost 20 years. He has published widely on residential child care and on social work more generally. He and his family maintain direct involvement in child care through fostering. Routledge Advances in Social Work Post-Anthropocentric Social Work Critical Posthuman and New Materialist Perspectives Edited by Vivienne Bozalek and Bob Pease Rights-Based Community Practice and Academic Activism in a Turbulent World Putting Theory into Practice in Israel, Palestine and Jordan Jim Torczyner Social Work, Young Migrants and the Act of Listening Becoming an Unaccompanied Child Marcus Herz and Philip Lalander Assessing Culturally Informed Parenting in Social Work Davis Kiima A New History of Social Work Values and Practice in the Struggle for Social Justice John H. Pierson Understanding System Change in Child Protection and Welfare Edited by John Canavan, Carmel Devaney, Caroline McGregor and Aileen Shaw The Complexities of Home in Social Work Carole Zufferey and Chris Horsell Social Work, Social Welfare, Unemployment and Vulnerability Among Youth Edited by Lars Uggerhøj, Vibeke Bak Nielsen, Ilse Julkunen and Petra Malin Boys’ Stories of Their Time in a Residential School ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ Mark Smith https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Advances-in-Social-Work/book-series/ RASW Boys’ Stories of Their Time in a Residential School ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ Mark Smith First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Mark Smith The right of Mark Smith to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-59870-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-33388-5 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-48616-6 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9780429486166 Typeset in Goudy by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. This book is dedicated to ‘Felix’ and to ‘Stu’, both of whom are central characters in it but neither of whom lived to see its publication. For that, I’m sorry. Contents Foreword x Acknowledgements xii 1 Introduction 1 2 The List D Schools and St Roch’s 12 3 The role of the De La Salle Brothers in the approved and List D Schools 24 4 Positioning myself in St Roch’s 36 5 The backgrounds of the St Roch’s boys 49 6 Education in its widest sense 61 7 A sense of care 74 8 Discipline and abuse 88 9 Moving on and looking back 104 10 The age of mistrust: Changing patterns of care and upbringing in neoliberalism 118 11 Making sense of the narrative gap 133 Epilogue: Looking back with sadness and not a little anger 149 Index 154
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