Book Review: M Vanstone and P Priestley P (eds), Probation and Politics: Academic Reflections from Former Practitioners
| Author | Brian Stout |
| DOI | 10.1177/2066220317747060 |
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
https://doi.org/10.1177/2066220317747060
European Journal of Probation
2017, Vol. 9(3) 267 –269
© The Author(s) 2017
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2066220317747060
journals.sagepub.com/home/ejp
Book Review
M Vanstone and P Priestley P (eds) Probation and Politics: Academic Reflections from Former
Practitioners, Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, 2016; 292 pp.: ISBN 978-1-137-59557-7, €74.96
(hbk)
Reviewed by: Professor Brian Stout, Western Sydney University, Australia
This is a fascinating and important book, with an unusual combination of compelling
personal reflections and contemporary policy discussion. Maurice Vanstone and Philip
Priestley have brought together 16 authors, all of whom are probation officers turned
academics. All are immersed in the English and Welsh probation experience: all describe
having spent their entire careers in that jurisdiction as practitioners and academics. The
book is written with a clear and stated purpose, to express dismay at the ‘Transforming
Rehabilitation’ (TR) policy that could destroy of probation as a public service in England
and Wales. The authors’ insights and observations come from their depth of experience
and scholarship as well as a strongly held commitment to the values and traditions of
probation.
Every chapter contains a description of the contributor’s decision to become a practi-
tioner, an account of practice experiences followed by transition into academia. It is
always interesting to gain some personal insight into the lives and experiences of academ-
ics who are known and admired through their writing and these stories are fascinating,
both in their personal insights and their account of the unfamiliar world that is the recent
past. The personal accounts contain considerable variety, with pathways to probation
including political activism, international travel, academic achievement and a variety of
work experiences including nursing, teaching and hostel work. The contributors are united
in demonstrating both a commitment to working with people and an intellectual curiosity
about solutions for individuals and appropriate policy responses. A common theme in the
autobiographies is that the authors spent time working as social workers and social work
academics and had to reassess their career options and professional identity when proba-
tion training was separated from social work training. David Smith speaks for many in
saying that he did not leave social work, social work left him (Philip Whitehead makes the
same comment in relation to probation itself). Other policy and legislative changes impact
on identity; there are no former missionaries in the cohort of authors but Maurice Vanstone
is not alone in lamenting a journey from being a radical to being a state functionary.
Although the authors look back over their careers with fondness for the practice envi-
ronment that has gone, the majority explain that this is not a rose-tinted view of a golden
747060EJP0010.1177/2066220317747060European Journal of ProbationBook Review
2017
Book Review
To continue reading
Request your trial