Case of plumbing in India

Thesis (S.M. in Management Research)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-31).While professionalization has long been understood as a process of establishing market closure and monopoly control over work, this paper presents a case where professionalization erodes rather than establishes occupational closure. Using the case of plumbing in India, I demonstrate how the Indian Plumbing Association (IPA), a newly formed organization of internationally-trained plumbing contractors and consultants, is using the rhetoric and structures of professionalization to threaten pre-existing ethnicity-based closure enjoyed by traditional plumbers from the eastern state of Orissa. By employing a discourse of professionalism and by instituting codes, training and certification programs, professionalization in this case is hurting Orissan plumbers by changing the basis of plumbing knowledge and opening entry to outsiders. This paper concludes by suggesting that professionalization is a modern trope that does not necessarily imply monopoly benefits and higher job quality for all the members of a given occupational group.by Aruna Ranganathan.S.M.in Management Researc

What Keeps Technology and Engineering Teachers in the Classroom? A National Mixed Methods Study

Teacher retention is a significant issue impacting educational agencies around the country. Factors that have been found to be predictors of teacher retention include sense of belonging, sense of efficacy, and job satisfaction. Many personal and professional characteristics of a teacher also have been found to predict teacher retention. The purpose of this research was to explore how these factors predicted Technology and Engineering Educators\u27 (TEE) teachers’ persistence to remain in the teaching profession. Furthermore, this research sought to identify programs that existed to help support TEE teachers in their persistence intentions. This research found teacher job satisfaction was a significant predictor of TEE teachers’ persistence intentions, while teacher sense of efficacy and teacher sense of belonging were not. Additionally, this research found job satisfaction was predicted by teacher sense of belonging. This research also found that most in-house professional development offered to teachers to support persistence intentions was perceived as ineffective to TEE teachers, while professional development offered through professional associations and state agencies was perceived as being more beneficial

In the Name of Human Capital: Navigating the Licensing Requirements of a Regulated Occupation as an Internationally Educated Refugee

Many skilled immigrants suffer from the nonrecognition of their foreign professional credentials within the US labor market. As such, they are often forced to accept employment in fields that do not make full use of their skills. Consequently, foreign trained professionals are underrepresented in the upper segments of the American labor market (Congressional Budget Office, 2010). This underrepresentation is usually attributed to a naturally occurring adjustment period as immigrants integrate into the US labor market. However, an alternative explanation is that regulatory institutions actively exclude immigrants from the upper segments of the labor market. The institutional design of licensing boards and regulatory regimes surrounding professions have erected barriers to immigrants and give advantages to American-born and educated workers. The nature of these barriers can be attributed to how different groups are understood by regulators and legislators. The social construction of policy design framework can detect how different immigrant populations are viewed and constructed. This study will use structured interviews and document analysis to compare licensing experiences of foreign-trained Iraqi pharmacists and US trained pharmacists in the state of Oregon

Attitudes and Action Plans of North Carolina EMS Education Leaders Regarding National EMS Education Program Accreditation

The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and action plans of North Carolina Emergency Medical Services (EMS) education leaders related to the impending policy initiative of national EMS education program accreditation. The study utilized a purposive sample of EMS education leaders in North Carolina, including the current program directors of nine nonaccredited associate degree programs in EMS in North Carolina and two administrative representatives from the North Carolina Office of EMS. Data were collected utilizing three different qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews, field notes, and document analysis. Five main recurring themes were derived from the data, including 1) accreditation will bring many benefits to programs that seek it, 2) accreditation will bring many challenges to programs that seek it, 3) the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians‟ decision to require national EMS program accreditation before graduates can take the national certifying examination had a resounding positive, but debatable effect on EMS education leaders in North Carolina, 4) accreditation will have a profound, positive effect on the EMS profession, and 5) the majority of the participants have an accreditation action plan. Overall, the attitudes of the participants towards national EMS program accreditation were positive. While numerous benefits were named by most of the participants, there still remains some question as to the benefits of accreditation. Participant concerns included lack of time and resources to prepare for accreditation and the overall cost of accreditation. The decision by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians requiring candidates to graduate from an accredited EMS program by 2013 forced many participants into action, preparing for and seeking accreditation much earlier than if no deadline had been established. Accreditation is expected to elevate the EMS profession to the stature of other allied health and mainstream health professions, to improve salary, to establish increased levels of professionalism, and to create continuity in EMS education across the United States. Finally, the majority of the participants have established action plans to address the accreditation process. Recommendations were made for action by local, state and national EMS entities and were made for future research involving accreditation

Understanding and Advancing the Preservation Trades (Appendix)

Showing a collective interest in the preservation and restoration trades workforce, four statewide preservation nonprofits (representing NY, VT, NH, and ME) joined forces in 2021 to create the Northeast Regional Initiative for the Preservation Trades. The initiative’s aim is to better understand this issue and develop courses of action to foster a more robust and sustainable preservation trades workforce. In 2022, specialists from UNH Cooperative Extension’s Community and Economic Development team partnered with this initiative to lead a multi-methods research project consisting of a survey, interviews, and focus groups with trades professionals, preservation specialists, workforce development professionals, educators, and other stakeholders

Alternatively certified teachers: A qualitative inquiry into their motivations, approaches to learning, and commitment to teaching.

Alternative teacher certification has evolved over the last twenty years as a response to real and perceived shortages of qualified teachers. The reduction of teacher certification requirements has been viewed by many as a solution to teacher shortage problems as well as a way to improve the quality of the teaching force by recruiting highly-skilled people from the private sector who have developed real-world experience with subject matter. Rather than arguing the merit of alternative certification, this study pursued an understanding of successful alternatively certified teachers in order to inform policy and practice.In this study, 18 alternatively certified teachers, identified by their principals as successful, were interviewed using a qualitative approach. Although this study reflects only a small sample of alternatively certified teachers in the state of Oklahoma, this study has addressed the questions of what were the common motivations of alternatively certified teachers, what were their approaches to learning how to teach, how were their professional identities developed, what kept them committed to the teaching profession, and to what do they attribute their perseverance and success. The study demonstrated that these alternatively certified teachers were searching for a career in which they could make a difference. They approached learning in a variety of ways but learned mostly from their interactions with colleagues through mentoring and professional development and through their classroom experience. Their professional identity developed over time but was related to their sense of efficacy in the classroom and affirmation from their peers. Many of the factors that kept them committed to teaching were the same factors that drew them to teaching in the first place---a sense of fulfillment and commitment to students. The major factor contributing to their success and perseverance was school climate, specifically collegiality and administrator support. This study also explored and challenged policy makers' and educators' prevailing assumptions regarding alternative certification

Assessing the Need for Evaluator Certification

Professional certification is arguably a means of validating a practitioner\u27s competency within their trade. Certification can also be beneficial for enhancing a profession\u27s prestige, improving academic programs, and helping to define the profession in question. However, certification can be considered not feasible, effective, or perhaps even necessary. Due to the likelihood of these conflicting viewpoints, it is essential for any profession to determine the support level from its members prior to implementing a certification process. This thesis presents the results from a 1998 survey for the American Evaluation Association, whereby their members responded to items regarding the need, effectiveness, feasibility of enacting a certification system for professional evaluators. Respondents were mixed in their attitudes. A slight majority indicated a certification system could be feasible. However, more respondents were unconfident than confident that certification can be effective or is even necessary; additionally, many were undecided on these issues

Exploring the industrial hygiene academic curriculum: Expectations and perceptions of the profession

Although the multi-disciplinary profession of industrial hygiene (IH) has been established for many years and IH practitioners have been prolific in developing the technical tools for recognition, evaluation and control of workplace hazards, few in the IH discipline have turned the tools and methods of academic research toward the academic curriculum itself. A review of the literature revealed that published research in IH curriculum has been minimal, and that none has considered comparing faculty and employer expectations. Evaluating the nature of the current IH curriculum, and the preferences and expectations of the IH profession for graduates’ competencies, is true to the goal of IH practice, i.e., conducting research as a basis for on-going evaluation and review of existing programs, and using research findings to plan preventive interventions in order to ensure continued good health of both programs and impacted individuals. This research was an initial, exploratory study to identify and assess the expectations and perceptions of the IH faculty and employers in the areas of IH curriculum content and structure. The expectations and perceptions of IH academic program faculty were compared with those of employers of graduates of IH programs. Characteristics of current IH academic programs were identified, as a baseline for future evaluation of the IH curriculum. Actual and expected undergraduate majors of those entering IH masters programs were identified to aid in targeting effective recruitment programs and efficient resource allocation. The study populations’ skill and capacity with computers and the Internet were assessed as an indicator of readiness to incorporate distance learning methodology and electronic media delivery into traditional classroom delivery of industrial hygiene education. Recommendations were given for model IH curricula derived from the survey participants’ responses, and for future work

Health Law and Administrative Law: A Marriage Most Convenient

This symposium explores the complex relationship between health law and administrative law. It is based on the observation that these two fields of law are peculiarly intertwined. It attempts to understand why this is so, as well as whether it is necessary and whether it is desirable. Would we as a society, that is, be better off if health law were less permeated by administrative law? Even if we would be better off, is it indeed possible to extricate health law from administrative law? This essay begins by defining health law and administrative law. It then proceeds to describe the function of law, the institutions through which law is made and applied, and how law is made and applied in the health - care industry, demonstrating the prominent role of administrative entities in health care. It next examines why the close relationship between health law and administrative law exists. In particular, it considers and rejects the thesis that this close relationship is an artifact of history. The article goes on to develop an alternative hypothesis that administrative entities play a major role in overseeing the delivery and finance of health care because of the need for such oversight and the lack of superior institutional alternatives. This essay concludes by considering why this permeation of health law by administrative law is likely to continue, and why this may not be such a bad result