an article by Victor Lally (University of Glasgow, UK) and Madeleine Sclater (Glasgow School of Art, UK) published in
British Journal of Guidance & Counselling Volume 41 Issue 3 (2013)
Abstract
Careers work in the twenty-first century faces a key challenge in terms of digital technologies: to evaluate their potential for careers work in challenging settings.
Given the rapidity of developments, technologies require evaluation in research innovations and naturalistic settings. Virtual worlds offer potential for careers and guidance work, and the therapeutic domain. To illustrate this, we present examples in which young people explore their feelings and ideas, plans and difficulties, while preparing for film-making. During this they develop important life transition skills.
We argue that the power of virtual worlds – to support emotional and cognitive engagement – could be utilised in practice settings.
We conclude that they are serious candidates as digital tools in the careers and guidance domain.
Full text (PDF 22pp)
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Understanding the place based social value created by new-start social enterprises: evidence from ten rural UK communities
an article by Chris Dayson (Sheffield Hallam University) published in People, Place & Policy Online Volume 7 Issue 1 (2013)
Summary
Social enterprise, characterised by organisations enacting a hybrid mix of non-profit and for-profit characteristics, is increasingly regarded as an important component in the regeneration of areas affected by social and economic deprivation. In parallel there has been growing academic, practitioner and policy interest in “social value” and “social impact” within the broader “social economy”.
This paper engages with these debates through analysis of resident perceptions of the social value created by National Lottery funded new-start social enterprise projects in ten rural UK communities.
In particular it considers what can be learnt about the relationship between different approaches to social enterprise activity in rural contexts and the social value created for local people and communities.
Full text (PDF 16pp)
Summary
Social enterprise, characterised by organisations enacting a hybrid mix of non-profit and for-profit characteristics, is increasingly regarded as an important component in the regeneration of areas affected by social and economic deprivation. In parallel there has been growing academic, practitioner and policy interest in “social value” and “social impact” within the broader “social economy”.
This paper engages with these debates through analysis of resident perceptions of the social value created by National Lottery funded new-start social enterprise projects in ten rural UK communities.
In particular it considers what can be learnt about the relationship between different approaches to social enterprise activity in rural contexts and the social value created for local people and communities.
Full text (PDF 16pp)
The role of education in economic growth: theory, history and current returns
an article by Theodore R. Breton (Universidad EAFIT, Medellin, Colombia) published in Educational Research Volume 55 Issue 2 (June 2013)
Abstract
Background
This paper was prepared to address the issue of whether current levels of public expenditures on education are cost-effective in countries with widely differing average levels of education.
Purpose
The paper examines the role of education in economic growth from a theoretical and historical perspective, addresses why education has been the limiting factor determining growth, discusses why certain countries have provided education to the masses and others have not, provides estimates of the quantitative importance of the direct and the indirect effects of education on the economy, calculates the marginal national return on investment for 60 countries, and examines the implications of these results for government policy.
Methodology
The paper presents the results from other studies and estimates the marginal product of human capital and of physical capital and the relative importance of post-secondary education in 2005 using cross-country estimates of national income and the stocks of human capital and physical capital. The estimates of the stocks of human capital were developed from historic rates of public and private investment in schooling, the cost of capital during schooling, and students’ foregone earnings.
Results
The paper presents evidence that education has direct and indirect effects on national output. Educated workers raise national income directly because schooling raises their marginal productivity. They raise national income indirectly by increasing the marginal productivity of physical capital and of other workers. In highly educated countries the spillover effect on other workers is minimal, but in less-educated countries the spillover effect appears to be much larger. In all countries, the positive effect of rising human capital on the productivity of physical capital is required to offset the diminishing returns to investment in physical capital and make rising investment in physical capital financially viable in the growth process. The empirical results indicate that investment in schooling is subject to diminishing returns but that the marginal return at the national level is still considerable in highly educated countries, over 10% in 2005. In the least educated countries, the marginal return is much larger, in excess of 50%, but since most of this effect is indirect, its magnitude is not generally appreciated. Achievement of these returns requires public investment in education because the direct return to the educated individual is insufficient to overcome the high cost of private financing. The results also indicate that investment in post-secondary education does not provide any additional effect on national income beyond the effect of investment in education generally. The implication is that governments may allocate their limited funds to primary and secondary schooling of the poor without suffering a loss in GDP growth.
Conclusions
These very high macro-marginal returns to education make it possible for poor countries to grow very rapidly if they make a major public commitment to raising the average level of schooling of the masses.
Abstract
Background
This paper was prepared to address the issue of whether current levels of public expenditures on education are cost-effective in countries with widely differing average levels of education.
Purpose
The paper examines the role of education in economic growth from a theoretical and historical perspective, addresses why education has been the limiting factor determining growth, discusses why certain countries have provided education to the masses and others have not, provides estimates of the quantitative importance of the direct and the indirect effects of education on the economy, calculates the marginal national return on investment for 60 countries, and examines the implications of these results for government policy.
Methodology
The paper presents the results from other studies and estimates the marginal product of human capital and of physical capital and the relative importance of post-secondary education in 2005 using cross-country estimates of national income and the stocks of human capital and physical capital. The estimates of the stocks of human capital were developed from historic rates of public and private investment in schooling, the cost of capital during schooling, and students’ foregone earnings.
Results
The paper presents evidence that education has direct and indirect effects on national output. Educated workers raise national income directly because schooling raises their marginal productivity. They raise national income indirectly by increasing the marginal productivity of physical capital and of other workers. In highly educated countries the spillover effect on other workers is minimal, but in less-educated countries the spillover effect appears to be much larger. In all countries, the positive effect of rising human capital on the productivity of physical capital is required to offset the diminishing returns to investment in physical capital and make rising investment in physical capital financially viable in the growth process. The empirical results indicate that investment in schooling is subject to diminishing returns but that the marginal return at the national level is still considerable in highly educated countries, over 10% in 2005. In the least educated countries, the marginal return is much larger, in excess of 50%, but since most of this effect is indirect, its magnitude is not generally appreciated. Achievement of these returns requires public investment in education because the direct return to the educated individual is insufficient to overcome the high cost of private financing. The results also indicate that investment in post-secondary education does not provide any additional effect on national income beyond the effect of investment in education generally. The implication is that governments may allocate their limited funds to primary and secondary schooling of the poor without suffering a loss in GDP growth.
Conclusions
These very high macro-marginal returns to education make it possible for poor countries to grow very rapidly if they make a major public commitment to raising the average level of schooling of the masses.
Workplace bullying and psychological health at work: The mediating role of satisfaction of needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness
an article by Sarah-Geneviève Trépanier (Université du Québec à Montréal, Quebec, Canada) and Claude Fernet and Stéphanie Austin (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada) published in Work & Stress: An International Journal of Work, Health & Organisations Volume 27 Issue 2 (2013)
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate how exposure to workplace bullying undermines psychological health at work.
Drawing on self-determination theory, this study proposes and tests a model in which the experience of workplace bullying predicts poor psychological health at work (higher burnout and lower work engagement) through lack of satisfaction of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness).
The results of this study, conducted among 1,179 nurses in Quebec, Canada, provide support for the model.
Workplace bullying negatively predicted work engagement through employees’ unsatisfied needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Workplace bullying also positively predicted burnout, via lack of satisfaction of employees’ need for autonomy. Invariance analysis also confirmed the robustness of the model across gender and job status. Implications for workplace bullying research and managerial practices are discussed.
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate how exposure to workplace bullying undermines psychological health at work.
Drawing on self-determination theory, this study proposes and tests a model in which the experience of workplace bullying predicts poor psychological health at work (higher burnout and lower work engagement) through lack of satisfaction of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness).
The results of this study, conducted among 1,179 nurses in Quebec, Canada, provide support for the model.
Workplace bullying negatively predicted work engagement through employees’ unsatisfied needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Workplace bullying also positively predicted burnout, via lack of satisfaction of employees’ need for autonomy. Invariance analysis also confirmed the robustness of the model across gender and job status. Implications for workplace bullying research and managerial practices are discussed.
The Three Paradoxes Of Generation Y
via the Future of Work by Linda Gratton
Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a considerable amount of attention focused on Generation Y from both the media and business world. The May 20 issue of Time Magazine led with a cover story labelling them the ‘Me, Me, Me’ generation: narcissistic, fame-obsessed, and self interested; Meanwhile PwC reported findings from a comprehensive Next Gen [PDF 16pp] study of its Gen Y employees – a cohort that will make up around 80% of its workforce within the next three years.
This recent focus on Gen Y reflects a building sense of nervousness around how this generation, the biggest since the Baby Boomers, will reshape work. It’s a nervousness I’ve felt from the HR leaders in my executive programme at LBS who often despair that this generation just aren’t accepting ‘the way things are done around here,' and are instead challenging long-standing processes and practices.
But is this anxiety justified? Are Gen Y really so different from their predecessors? And, if they are, do organisations need to change to accommodate them?
Continue reading
Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a considerable amount of attention focused on Generation Y from both the media and business world. The May 20 issue of Time Magazine led with a cover story labelling them the ‘Me, Me, Me’ generation: narcissistic, fame-obsessed, and self interested; Meanwhile PwC reported findings from a comprehensive Next Gen [PDF 16pp] study of its Gen Y employees – a cohort that will make up around 80% of its workforce within the next three years.
This recent focus on Gen Y reflects a building sense of nervousness around how this generation, the biggest since the Baby Boomers, will reshape work. It’s a nervousness I’ve felt from the HR leaders in my executive programme at LBS who often despair that this generation just aren’t accepting ‘the way things are done around here,' and are instead challenging long-standing processes and practices.
But is this anxiety justified? Are Gen Y really so different from their predecessors? And, if they are, do organisations need to change to accommodate them?
Continue reading
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Payday loan stories from our clients
an item from the Citizens Advice blog by Claire Bradnam, Case Study Officer
It would be impossible to miss the media coverage our report on payday lenders [I failed to find the report, sorry] generated in the last few weeks. High interest loans are hitting people hard.
There was a fantastic response to the survey which formed the backbone to our report, bringing together evidence from across the whole country.
Yet when facing headline figures individual stories can often be lost. The power of our clients’ stories is what make Citizens Advice stand out as a credible and powerful spokesperson.
Continue reading
It would be impossible to miss the media coverage our report on payday lenders [I failed to find the report, sorry] generated in the last few weeks. High interest loans are hitting people hard.
There was a fantastic response to the survey which formed the backbone to our report, bringing together evidence from across the whole country.
Yet when facing headline figures individual stories can often be lost. The power of our clients’ stories is what make Citizens Advice stand out as a credible and powerful spokesperson.
Continue reading
The End of Majority Home-ownership: The logic of continuing decline in a post-crash economy
an article by Nigel Sprigings (University of Glasgow, UK) published in People, Place & Policy Online Volume 7 Number 1 (2013)
Summary
There is a long tradition in the UK of using area based initiatives (ABIs) to attack problems of urban deprivation.
In 1998 the government launched an especially ambitious ABI: New Deal for Communities.
In 39 areas local Partnerships are driving forward ten-year programmes to narrow the gaps between these neighbourhoods and the rest of the country in relation to crime, education, jobs and so on.
Change data indicates that there has been continuing progress in NDC areas. But change has been more evident in relation to place based indicators, such as fear of crime, rather than people based outcomes such as fewer jobs, better health and do on.
The Programme confirms that regenerating deprived areas is a complex process not least because of continuing demographic 'churn' in these neighbourhoods.
Full text (PDF 15pp)
Summary
There is a long tradition in the UK of using area based initiatives (ABIs) to attack problems of urban deprivation.
In 1998 the government launched an especially ambitious ABI: New Deal for Communities.
In 39 areas local Partnerships are driving forward ten-year programmes to narrow the gaps between these neighbourhoods and the rest of the country in relation to crime, education, jobs and so on.
Change data indicates that there has been continuing progress in NDC areas. But change has been more evident in relation to place based indicators, such as fear of crime, rather than people based outcomes such as fewer jobs, better health and do on.
The Programme confirms that regenerating deprived areas is a complex process not least because of continuing demographic 'churn' in these neighbourhoods.
Full text (PDF 15pp)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
