2 Local professional power
Now that you are familiar with the role of professionals in delivering local public services, it is time to explore local professional power. As you work through the course content this week, consider entry points and techniques you could deploy to influence local public services’ inclusion policies and procedures.
As you might recall from previous weeks, power is ‘the network of social boundaries that delimit fields of possible action’ (Hayward 1998, p. 2). Power can be used positively or negatively, and power can be used to dominate, resist, or express solidarity with the less powerful (Allen, 1999). As a leader, you must think about power and how you can use your leadership to engage, work with, or resist the power you face or encounter. In other words, you must consider your freedom and how you use it. In this context, freedom is ‘the capacity to participate effectively in shaping the social limits that define what is possible’ (Hayward, 1998, p. 2). You will recall that power is often used with other descriptive words – power over, power to, power within and power with (Allen, 1999; Gaventa, 2006). As you go through this week’s material on local public services, think about the two keywords – power and freedom.