Carol Jarvis
Research student
You can email Carol Jarvis directly; but for media enquiries please contact a member of The Open University's Media Relations team.
Biography
Carol trained as a librarian, then as a social worker, and went on to work for local authorities and voluntary organisations, initially in information and advice services, then developing innovative projects to meet the needs of children and families. She led early years and childcare work for the Borough of Poole and later was Family Support Strategy Manager for East Sussex County Council, before working on the roll out of extended schools development at a national level. Her MA in Social Work from the University of East Anglia was followed over 10 years later by a Master of Research at the Open University Business School, which was a pilot for her current PhD studies.
Carol’s research follows directly from her experience in addressing society’s ‘wicked’ issues through interorganisational cross-sector working. Whilst acknowledging the frustrations of this approach, she remains an advocate of partnership working.
Current research
Collaboration for children and the third sector: enacting leadership and governance in a complex space
This qualitative study will seek to uncover the perspective of third sector leaders on their participation in collaborative partnerships in children's services. Such partnerships have grown since government's 'Every Child Matters' (2003) advocated 'integrated working'. I will examine key policy texts to identify the discourse of the third sector role in partnerships for children, placing the emerging collaborative models in the context of the academic literature on collaboration. Issues of power, accountability and responsibility emerge from the initial literature review, and I will use informal interviews to gather the perspectives of informants from the third sector on their experience of collaboration in relation to these issues. How does the experience fit with the policy models, and how do participants manage the dual accountability to their own organisation and the partnership?
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