'We know it works. . .': The Troubled Families Programme and the pre-determined boundary judgements of decontextualised policy evaluation. (November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Silver, Daniel; Crossley, Stephen
• Is Part Of: Critical social policy. Volume 40:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 566
• Page End: 585
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Subjects: anti-naturalist -- boundary critique -- evaluation -- policy -- troubled families programme; Welfare economics -- Periodicals; Socialism -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Social policy -- 1979- -- Periodicals; 361.94105
• DOI: 10.1177/0261018319892443
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0261-0183

Abstract

This article draws on the Troubled Families Programme (TFP) to highlight the ways in which particular contexts – such as socioeconomic and symbolic structures – are neglected in forms of evaluation with an establishment orientation. The article problematises two key aspects of decontextualised evaluation: firstly, the privileging of pre-determined relations of cause and effect; and secondly, the unproblematized framing of policy problems. More contextualised forms of evaluation are presented as a way to open up boundaries of investigation. Lastly, it is argued that an anti-naturalist foundation for evaluation can broaden the scope of learning beyond the original framing of a policy.