Digital capital and socio-economic disadvantage : an examination of the digital practices and online career information seeking of year 11 students in new south wales government schools

This study examines the online career information seeking practices of Year 11 students within five New South Wales (NSW) state secondary schools of different socio-economic status (SES). The broader context of this study is the ongoing inequality within the Australian education system, particularly the continued underrepresentation of students from low SES backgrounds in tertiary education. With the large-scale adoption of information and communications technologies (ICTs) within Australian secondary schools, the study shows the powerful ways in which ICTs can inform and influence students' post-secondary school career transitions and opportunities. A growing body of literature over the last three decades indicates the interconnected nature of these phenomena, particularly among low-SES students; however, little research has been conducted from an Australian perspective. Indeed, an examination of the career information needs that motivate young people, how they resolve these needs online, the sources and channels they use and how these practices differ within this large heterogeneous group is lacking globally. This study adopts a mixed methods approach, drawing together insights from survey, interview and observational data from a range of participants: students, teachers, university admissions and marketing directors and a former NSW Department of Education (DoE) information technologies (IT) director. It develops Ignatow and Robinson’s (2017) concept of digital capital to highlight the relationships between young people’s digital practices and the structural constraints of their social environment which mediate them. It also builds on the work of Park, (2017a) which uses the notion of digital capital to examine new forms of digital inequalities across Australia. By further developing the notion of digital capital, this thesis progresses research on digital divides away from simplistic binary analyses of haves and have-nots, skilled and unskilled, to include potential real world outcomes from varied levels of digital capital and differential OISPs, thereby creating a more nuanced account of young people’s digital practices. It also highlights the connections between young people’s SES, digital capital and their position concerning on-going digital divides. The study proposes a typology of four distinct groups of students based on their differing online information seeking practices (OISPs) to illuminate how young people in Australia seek and use online information to inform their post-high school career choices. These are the Traditional Job Seekers, the Social Networkers, the Future Professionals and the Creative Dreamers. Each category represents students’ future career aspirations and digital practices, highlighting their differing stores of objectified and embodied digital capital and the opportunities and constraints of each. Except for the Social Networkers, this research shows that young people largely underinvest in online career information seeking, preferring traditional sources of information, particularly parents, older siblings and careers advisors, along with serendipitous factors such as accumulated self-knowledge to inform their post-school career and educational options. In a hyper-digitalised world, digital inequities have the potential to shape key life chances of young people in multiple ways, including their educational and career outcomes. This study suggests that the widespread proliferation and adoption of ICTs within secondary schools and the everyday lives of young people have done little to promote equal opportunities for all. It therefore suggests that teachers, parents, researchers and education policymakers need to move beyond the current one-size-fits-all approach to secondary school ICT initiatives, to instead develop flexible, school-based programs that more accurately reflect the highly differentiated digital contexts in which young people now find themselves

U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform

The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform was created by Congress to assess U.S. immigration policy and make recommendations regarding its implementation and effects. Mandated in the Immigration Act of 1990 to submit an interim report in 1994 and a final report in 1997, the Commission has undertaken public hearings, fact-finding missions, and expert consultations to identify the major immigration-related issues facing the United States today.LBJ School of Public Affair

ABSTRACT BOOK 50th World Conference on Lung Health of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union)

The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease is an official journal of The Union. The Journal’s main aim is the continuing education of physicians and other health personnel, and the dissemination of the most up-to-date infor mation in the field of tuberculosis and lung health. It publishes original articles and commissioned reviews not only on the clinical and biological and epidemiological aspects, but also—and more importantly—on community aspects: fundamental research and the elaboration, implementation and assessment of field projects and action programmes for tuberculosis control and the promo tion of lung health. The Journal welcomes articles submitted on all aspects of lung health, including public health-related issues such as training programmes, cost-benefit analysis, legislation, epidemiology, intervention studies and health systems research

Moving beyond 'the cheapest kind of understanding': enriching policy responses to BAME mental health inequality

For more than 70 years, significant disparities have been persistently reported regarding mental health trends and the England’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) population. Today, these disparities are generally accepted as inequality, acknowledging that BAME status often carries social disadvantages that can materialise in mental health contexts. The current Covid-19 pandemic and global rise of anti-racism protests have brought such issues into sharp relief. Despite the State’s declared ambition to decrease rates of mental health issues/distress, little has been implemented at a national level to address BAME mental health inequality. This thesis considers what policy-makers of future national strategies might learn from people from BAME backgrounds experiencing mental health issues/distress. Taking a critical realist perspective and responding to gaps in the literature informing policy, I move away from a focus on in-patient experiences. Employing a pan ethnicity and mental health issue/distress sampling approach, I conduct an in-depth exploration of the testimonies of seven participants at various intersectional locations within the BAME mental health space. Semi-structured interviews and unstructured ethnographic conversations over an 18 month period enabled participants to foreground the issues they felt were most pressing to discussions of mental health. The length of individual engagements and locations were continually adapted to meet the needs and wishes of participants. This thesis explores the topic of BAME mental health inequality in three key ways: how the issue is defined; determinants of inequality in a mental health context; and interactions with mental health support services. These themes align with issues raised by participants and the way that policy makers often consider health inequality, whilst also providing opportunities to engage with more critical perspectives that challenge epistemological and ontological assumptions. Within these top-level themes, multiple sub-themes emerge. I found these broadly aligned with those in the critical literature. Primarily that racism and migratory experiences are factors in mental health issues/distress for many people. However, participants also placed greater emphasis on wider social inequalities and intersectional experiences than is generally represented. Though concerns differed according to participants’ intersectional locations, they were present in all testimonies. In particular, the experience of poverty was continually raised as a key aggravating factor in mental health issues/distress, as was having to engage with processes that re-traumatise so as to receive support. This re-traumatisation often related to people’s intersectional locations. Additionally, this research found a strong indications that experiences of disability and their psychological impacts warrant further investigation. Using my findings to enable decision-makers to better align national policy with the lived experiences here presented, I suggest conceptualising BAME mental health inequalities as a ‘wicked problem’. This is with a view to engendering an understanding of the issue that encompasses the diversity of perspectives relevant to this population group, and a greater acknowledgement of the interconnecting and ‘open’ systems at play when developing policy responses. Additionally, I promote the employment of an intersectional lens to enrich understandings of how these systems interact to produce and maintain such imparity. I conclude by offering the conceptual tools of the ‘wicked’ problem and intersectionality as a means of enabling policymakers to move beyond the ‘cheapest kind of understanding’ in policy making. Without embracing these concepts within policy making in this topic area, it is unlikely that more that minor improvements will be possible. Embracing these provides an opportunity to build services better suited to the needs of intersectionally located people experiencing mental health issues/distress

The drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility in the supply chain. A case study.

Purpose: The paper studies the way in which a SME integrates CSR into its corporate strategy, the practices it puts in place and how its CSR strategies reflect on its suppliers and customers relations. Methodology/Research limitations: A qualitative case study methodology is used. The use of a single case study limits the generalizing capacity of these findings. Findings: The entrepreneur’s ethical beliefs and value system play a fundamental role in shaping sustainable corporate strategy. Furthermore, the type of competitive strategy selected based on innovation, quality and responsibility clearly emerges both in terms of well defined management procedures and supply chain relations as a whole aimed at involving partners in the process of sustainable innovation. Originality/value: The paper presents a SME that has devised an original innovative business model. The study pivots on the issues of innovation and eco-sustainability in a context of drivers for CRS and business ethics. These values are considered fundamental at International level; the United Nations has declared 2011 the “International Year of Forestry”