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How effective are active labour market policies and public employment services?:lessons for Latin America and the Caribbean
No full textActive Labour Market Policies/Programmes (ALMPs) include a range of programme types and interventions, including training, employment incentives, direct job creation and subsidised employment . In addition, one of the most prominent ALMPs is a Public Employment Service (PES 1 ). The services provided by PES vary across countries but typically involve ‘intermediation’ services for employers and jobseekers , dissemination of labour market information and they may also play a role in coordinating other ALMPs, for example by commissioning specific training programmes and referring jobseekers to them. ALMPs can be contrasted with ‘passive’ labour market measures which involve the provision of various forms of welfare payments related to unemployment . Again, these vary f rom country to country but might include contribution funded unemployment benefits or redundancy payments and non-contributory cash transfers. In some countries PES have a role in the administration of these payments and may be involved in combining active and passive measures; as in the case where they ensure that passive beneficiaries receive intermediation or demonstrate that they meet ‘conditional - ities’ by performing job search activities or undertaking training. This latter function is more frequent where passive measures are more generous and can offset economic incentives to work. In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), most countries have a PES and many countries invest in a range of ALMPs , especially training programmes targeted at young people. Many countries have historically had contributory unemployment benefits but only more recently introduced non-contribu - tory cash transfer schemes which are typically not closely integrated with PES or AMLPs. Nevertheless, spending on both passive and active measures in LAC typically lags OECD averages . There is now a significant body of literature evaluating ALMP and PES effectiveness and a range of high-quality cross-country studies, systematic review and meta-analyses which summarise this litera - ture and evidence base. Despite apparently ‘mixed’ results, the consistent message that arises is that some ALMPs do work where they are well targeted, designed and funded . The empirical evidence is complex and nuanced but does broadly follow the theory: whether ALMPs work effectively is a mat - ter of being adequately funded, well-designed, appropriate participant selection and their fit with the relevant socio-economic context. The evidence also suggests some patterns in the relative effectiveness of different forms of ALMP. PES intermediation services tend to have small positive short-run impacts consistent with their low cost and duration. Training often has negative short-run effects because of lock-in during par - ticipation, but where longer-term measurements are available these often show effects turning positive (e.g. after a year or more). Again, this is consistent with their more substantive effect on skills formation. For the LAC region positive impacts include increased employment formality . Other programme types have more variable results and there are smaller numbers of studies to draw on. This evidence suggests that the key policy question is not ‘are ALMPs effective?’ but ‘how can ALMPs be designed to meet the needs of specific groups of participants and how might this be impacted by context?’ . On this second question, there are strong clues in the literature if not definitive answers. What stands out f rom this evidence is that the answers tend to follow theory. Well designed and well-funded programmes are more effective . Programmes that meet jobseeker (including between different social groups) and employer needs are more effective. This makes specificity in programme design and participation selection hugely important. Alignment between ALMPs and their context matters . As a simple example, training programmes need to meet the current skills needs of employers and recognise the existing skills of participants. Moreover, ALMPs will work differently in times of growth and surplus employment than they will in times of recession and surplus labour supply. As such, ALMP implementation should include ongoing performance management and evaluation in a way that helps policy makers, practitioners and stake - holders understand and monitor changing programme effectiveness and make iterative programme design changes as the evidence changes
Training to be a primary school teacher:ITT and beyond
No full textThe book contains comprehensive coverage of how centre based and school based training should be interwoven to produce a well sequenced and coherent overarching ITT primary curriculum.Using the language of the CCF and the ‘Learn that …’ and ‘Learn how to ….’ statements each chapter identifies key areas set out in the framework and provides a ‘complete’ handbook for the trainee teacher to follow across their ITT programme.The substantive content covered in the chapters within the book includes; developing a professional identify, understanding teaching and learning, working with expert colleagues (including mentors), progression across the subject and age phase primary curriculum, planning, adaptive teaching and meeting individual needs, inclusion, assessing learning, developing professional networks and how to plan to move forward in their teaching career (as graduates move from CCF to ECF) through engagement and understanding education within a societal context.Research informed practice underpins all aspects of the book and case studies support the main content. Reflective active learning sets in the form of reflective follow up activities provide trainees with the opportunity to apply the knowledge in context
Culturally aware access for success
No full textCulturally-Aware Access for Success is a collaboration between Leeds Trinity University’s Race Institute (LTU RI) and Go Higher West Yorkshire (GHWY) with Nathan Ghann from The Educate Group.LTU’s RI emerged from their innovative race equity work which enabled their institution to become the first University in Yorkshire to achieve the Race Equality Charter award, and the need to keep race and racism on the national agenda to enable sustained transformational change. bGHWY is a partnership of 13 HE providers in West Yorkshire, bringing together HE-in-FE providers of varying size and scope, universities across all HE mission groups, and a conservatoire, with the aim of reducing student lifecycle inequalities. Benefits include collaborating to address common issues, with learning across different institutional contexts. The Educate Group is a social enterprise dedicated to enabling degree success for underrepresented student groups by advancing staff development and deploying targeted student success initiatives.Inequalities for racially-minoritised students exist at all lifecycle stages, and HE attendance decisions in particular are influenced by cultural and religious factors. Detailed understanding of this – or the opportunity to implement it – can be missing from outreach/access teams, who can be drawn to the work from an interest in helping others but are not always representative of the groups they are trying to reach. Activity can take a colonial perspective influenced by long-standing unequal power dynamics with hierarchies of knowledge creators/holders versus learners, which does not always take account of learners’ wider lives and experiences.Cultural competence is defined as “a set of congruent behaviours, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (Cross et al., 1989, p.4). Cultural competence focusses on making changes at the individual, organisational and policy level (Bennett &Keating, 2008). Therefore, cultural competence has the potential to make a real difference to the HE sector to meet the needs of racially minoritised students.We are coming to the end of an innovative project, funded by Advance HE, which looks to support staff who participate in access and outreach activity to better understand cultural competence in HE, its measurement and development. Through this broader understanding, the research aims to influence policy and practice to develop deeper and broader cultural competence in HE in pursuit of greater equity in access, experience, progression and attainment of minoritised students
Collaborative online international learning as a tool for advancing social justice in legal education
No full textLament for a tree:theorising a human-nonhuman relationship
No full textWhen the sycamore tree at Sycamore Gap, made famous worldwide by the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and voted England’s Tree of the Year in 2016, was cut down last September, many individuals expressed grief and recounted their memories of the tree and what it meant to them, much as people do when grieving over the death of a relative or friend, and inspired a musical composition by Riccardo Pes called “Lament for the Tree” (2023). It also prompted Hairy Biker chef Si King to post on social media, “I hope whoever has done that has a conscience because you have just murdered a sentinel of time and elemental spirit of Northumberland”. A National Trust manager said the removal afterward was “like the funeral or the wake” of the tree (BBC 12/10/2023). The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) invited people to post their memories and photographs, as did other news sources, such as the Hexham Courant, while Hexham Abbey set-up a memorial for the tree where people could light candles. When a meme was shared criticising this response to the loss of a single tree when whole forests were being destroyed, it led me to defend those who mourned and to theorise how this was different. It includes an element of eco-grief due to the tree’s location in a landscape denuded of trees, highlighting their absence, as well as solastalgia (Albrecht 2005) – distress caused by change in the environment. In addition, the collective nature of this grieving leads me to consider the practice of lamenting, defined by Catherine Phillips and colleagues (2023) in their study of emails sent to a felled tree in Melbourne, Australia, as a shared shaping and expressing of loss. Protests against the felling of individual trees are fairly common, including for at least two felled recently during the construction of a high-speed railway line in England. However, key to examining this grief is the relational aspect in a natureculture (Haraway 2003) between persons (whether human or other-than-human) (Hallowell 1960; Harvey 2005; Ingold 2006)
‘Read 'The Trail' by Kafka for a good analogy’:UK teacher educator experiences of DfE Accreditation in England
No full textThe whole ITE sector in England has just been through a significant change, brought about by the Department for Education's ITT Market Review (DfE, 2022). We use the term ITE to reflect our thoughts on education versus training, the DfE use ITT (initial teacher training). Whilst the DfE DfE’s recruitment and retention strategy had promised streamlining of the ITT market, as it argued that doing so would make it easier to apply to teach, the review went further and recommended a whole sector accreditation process. Subsequently all providers were required to apply for reaccreditation in order to provide ITT from the 2024/25 academic year onwards, by way of a workload-intensive two stage process, where many providers lost accreditation in stage 1
An eight-week online mindfulness-based intervention for tinnitus:accessibility, adherence, and rates of clinically meaningful success
Get PDFObjectives Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of an external source and is experienced by up to 15% of the general population. There are many causes of tinnitus, but no cure is currently available. It has significant comorbidities with clinical anxiety, depression, and insomnia, and degrades quality of life in 1-2% of individuals. Currently, psychological interventions are the best way forward in assisting tinnitus habituation, but treatment availability and suitable experience to deliver such interventions are limited.Method 105 individuals with chronic tinnitus took part in this study. A curated eight-week mindfulness-based intervention consisting of weekly online body scan meditations was compared with a waiting list control group. Intervention outcomes were assessed by changes to tinnitus distress (Tinnitus Functional Index), tinnitus cognitions (Tinnitus Cognitions Questionnaire) and mindful awareness (Mindfulness Attentional Awareness Scale).Results As hypothesised, the online intervention saw clinically meaningful reductions in tinnitus distress (p<0.01) for 30% of participants (n=16). Furthermore, the intervention saw significant increases in trait mindfulness (p=0.042) and a significant reduction in negative tinnitus cognitions (p<0.01), when compared with waiting list controls. No changes to positive cognitions were observed (p=0.64ns.). 21 participants failed to complete the study and were considered ‘no change’ as per Intention-To-Treat (ITT) paradigms.Conclusions In the absence of accessible psychological intervention, online body scans are recommended for individuals with tinnitus as an effective and low-cost self-help tool. Reductions in negative thoughts around tinnitus are considered key to tinnitus habitation. Challenges with regards to adherence rates are discussed, and future directions considered, including recommendations for investigation in conjunction with other interventions
In conversation:an inside perspective of youth justice practice and experience
No full textThis reflective, dialogue between two youth justice professionals who have lived experience of being incarcerated children aims to provide an insight into their unique transition. Although living in very different parts of Britain, they discuss and reflect upon similarities in terms of strengths and challenges that come with being formerly incarcerated youth justice practitioners. Both authors share their insights of youth justice developments, their perspectives of participatory practice and how experiential knowing can impact relationship building with justice involved children
