ABSTRACT
Early intervention work, preventative interventions and restorative and corrective practices for ‘at-risk’ and disaffected young people abound. Training in doing it, manuals to support practice, websites for ongoing support point to increasingly ‘professionalised’ strategies. North America has been prolific in developing and branding specialist, ‘manualised’ services. Along with this have gone powerful dissemination, merchandising and ‘product testing’. To prevent education failure and the development of antisocial behaviour we have Headstart, High/Scope Perry Preschool, DISTAR and Cognitive Enrichment Advantage, Webster-Stratton parenting programmes and Fast Track to name just a few. For addressing delinquency, there is an equally wide range of structured, restorative arrangements. In the UK, we demand evidence-based practices and that doesn’t mean a bunch of committed practitioners and clients saying ‘it works’. We want randomised longitudinal controlled trials. These impress us most of all. The High/Scope Perry Pre-school project reporting 20 years on that one dollar invested saves seven dollars and six cents is the star in that respect.
