A What Works Centre for Probation: Challenges and possibilities
| Author | Louise Jones,Michael Sanders,Eleanor Briggs |
| DOI | 10.1177/02645505211025077 |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Comment |
Comment
A What Works Centre
for Probation:
Challenges
and possibilities
Michael Sanders
What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, UK; King’s College London, UK
Louise Jones and Eleanor Briggs
What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, UK
Abstract
The What Works Movement in the UK Government has seen the establishment of 12
centres to focus on evidence-based policy in different domains. In this paper, we
present the challenges and opportunities posed by a What Works Centre (WWC) for
Probation, based on our prior experience of establishing WWCs in other areas.
Although there are legitimate and substantial challenges to some of the methodolo-
gical approaches of ‘What Works’, we conclude that Probation is in an unusually
strong starting position for such a centre to thrive.
Keywords
What Works, research methods, organisational change, organisational culture,
practitioners
Introduction
Is there a space for a What Works Centre in the field of Probation in the UK? This
was the broad topic of a roundtable hosted on the 26th November 2020 by Kent,
Sussex and Surrey Community Rehabilitation Company (KSSCRC). The roundtable,
Corresponding Author:
Michael Sanders, What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, London SW1H 9EA, UK; King’s College
London, 22 Kingsway, London WC2B 6LE, UK.
Email: michael.t.sanders@kcl.ac.uk
Probation Journal
ªThe Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/02645505211025077
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The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
2022, Vol. 69(1) 107–114
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