Lone parent obligations: destinations of lone parents after Income Support eligibility ends (Research report no 710)

"As part of the Lone Parent Obligations (LPO) changes, from November 2008 lone parents with a youngest child aged 12 or over were no longer entitled to receive Income Support (IS) solely on the grounds of being a lone parent. Since then, the age of the youngest child has reduced to ten and over from October 2009 and seven and over from October 2010. Lone parents who are no longer eligible for IS have been able to move to other benefits as appropriate, including Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA). The JSA regime has been amended to include flexibilities for parents, for example, in the hours of work they are required to seek. The aim of this evaluation is to explore whether and how lone parent employment interventions provide an effective incentive to look for paid employment, alongside an effective package of support for workless lone parents, to enable them to find, enter and sustain paid employment." - Page 1

Tackling concentrated worklessness: integrating governance and policy across and within spatial scales

Spatial concentrations of worklessness remained a key characteristic of labour markets in advanced industrial economies, even during the period of decline in aggregate levels of unemployment and economic inactivity evident from the late 1990s to the economic downturn in 2008. The failure of certain localities to benefit from wider improvements in regional and national labour markets points to a lack of effectiveness in adopted policy approaches, not least in relation to the governance arrangements and policy delivery mechanisms that seek to integrate residents of deprived areas into wider local labour markets. Through analysis of practice in the British context, we explore the difficulties of integrating economic and social policy agendas within and across spatial scales to tackle problems of concentrated worklessness. We present analysis of a number of selected case studies aimed at reducing localised worklessness and identify the possibilities and constraints for effective action given existing governance arrangements and policy priorities to promote economic competitiveness and inclusion

The impact of learning on employability

The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (Inclusion), the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) and the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) were commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2007 to undertake a survey on the impact of learning on employability. This report presents the key findings of the survey. The survey investigated the impact and benefits of general learning in further education (FE) on: the economic status of workless individuals - their progression into work and off benefits; and the personal impact of learning - in terms of improving skills and increasing confidence. Approximately 10,000 learners were interviewed by telephone from June to August 2007. They had all undertaken an FE course which completed in 2005-06, and all were eligible for fee remission due to receipt of workless benefits. Ten per cent of the sample were working less than 16 hours a week when their course started, and all were aged between 20 and 55. The key findings were that nearly four in 10 (38 per cent) of learners who were claiming workless benefits at the start of their FE course have worked since finishing their learning and one in three learners have moved into work and are no longer claiming workless benefits. Employment outcomes are less positive for learners with multiple disadvantages. However, those with multiple disadvantages do benefit from a positive impact of learning in terms of improved communication skills, improved employability skills and increased confidence

Social innovation, social enterprise, and local public services: undertaking transformation?

This article discusses some of the challenges encountered in embedding effective and sustainable social enterprise and social innovation within established political institutional systems to deliver local welfare services. It draws upon evidence analyzing social innovation and social enterprise in Scotland to contribute to the debate over whether social innovations and social enterprises are able to meet expectations in addressing the significant challenges faced by welfare systems. The article clarifies the meaning of both these contested concepts and explains how social innovation and social enterprise relate to similar ideas in social and public policy. The evidence suggests that actually operating social enterprises and social innovations do not embrace the image of them promoted by enthusiasts as either “entrepreneurial” or “innovative”. Furthermore, they bring distinctive challenges in delivering local welfare services, including potential tensions or rivalry with existing public agencies. The article suggests that social enterprises and social innovations are not themselves instigators nor catalysts for systemic change, but that their impact is constrained by structural conditions and institutional factors beyond their control

Left to their own devices: An exploration of context in seamless work‐related mobile learning

Publication status: PublishedAbstractThis study investigated the seamless mobile learning practices of UK government workers at various life stages, to understand how context impacted decisions about how, when and where learning was undertaken. Following Hedegaard, the context was understood as involving settings embedded within institutions. Drawing on analysis of data from public domain blogs and reports and anonymised trace data showing e‐learning visits via a mobile device, a picture of institutional practice and values was developed. Against this backdrop, a survey of 50 individuals followed by semi‐structured interviews provided information about seamless mobile learning projects. Mobile learning was often fragmented and ad hoc, rather than part of a longer, seamless learning project. A distinction between just‐in‐time learning and just‐in‐case learning was apparent, with the latter often postponed. For mobile workers, mobile learning focused on current work setting, whereas workers who could work in many interchangeable settings might move to somewhere they could concentrate. Mobile learning was sometimes motivated by a sense of a lack of time and a need to stay ‘on top of things’ as much as by interest in a topic. Sustained seamless mobile learning projects occurred if there was institutional support for learning that was also of individual interest and if learners had the ability to orchestrate their learning. Learners reported these seamless mobile learning projects to be enjoyable and compelling. This paper contributes to the evidence of seamless mobile learning practice over the life course and illustrates the value of considering an individual's relation to various institutions in conceptualisations of seamless mobile learning. It also offers pointers for the future design of seamless mobile learning tools including a need to offer learners the opportunity to sometimes separate ongoing learning which is related to distinct institutions.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Mobile devices accompany their owners across settings that were previously considered separate, such as work, college and households. This has the potential to impact work/home and other boundaries. From a pedagogical perspective, mobile devices may support seamless learning, in which experiences across distinct settings result in a holistic and unified understanding. What this paper adds It introduces the concept of the institution to conceptions of seamless learning. It illustrates the ways in which different institutions (workplaces or educational institutions) can shape individual experiences and decisions about when and where to learn. It provides evidence that some working adults engage in seamless learning projects and describe this as compelling and enjoyable, but that others prefer to separate distinct life spheres. Implications for practice and/or policy There may be value in institutions and designers supporting people who want to engage in seamless mobile learning. However, it is important to be aware that not everyone wants to engage in seamless learning. Seamless learning is more likely to occur when individual and institutional priorities are aligned across several institutions, so there will be challenges for a single institution seeking to promote it. </jats:p

Left to their own devices: work-related seamless mobile learning

Today many workers carry portable devices – smartphones, tablets and laptops – which have the potential to alter work-related learning practices by facilitating seamless mobile learning. However, the specific ways in which this may happen remain unexplored for many groups. Drawing on Hedegaard, this study sought to understand the seamless mobile learning practices of civil servants and related agency workers by focusing on affordances and demands experienced in activity settings embedded within institutional practices and values. This methodological approach involved reviewing documents and trace data (records from a learning management system), as well as collecting data via a survey and semi-structured interviews, to form a view of the values and practices of seamless mobile learning as well as resulting conflicts. The resulting analysis revealed the dynamics and tensions in practices which span multiple settings, illuminating the challenges of learning in a seamless manner. Specifically, the findings show that much mobile learning involved abstraction from setting and appeared fragmented and ad hoc, as opposed to forming part of a longer, orchestrated, seamless learning project. Engagement in mobile learning arose from a sense of a lack of time and need to stay “on top of things” as much as from a keen interest in the topic in question. However, in rarer instances, seamless mobile learning was possible and more sustained. Institutional support for learning that was also of individual interest was important for supporting learning over time, even where projects were self-initiated and self-orchestrated. The individual ability to orchestrate learning also played a critical role. This study presents a picture of seamless mobile learning, frequently studied within educational or recreational institutions, within the institutions of work and private life. It contributes to the literature through proposing the use of an activity theory lens to consider the relationship of the learner’s setting to their learning as well as to their broader institutional context and, through drawing methodologically on Hedegaard’s work, proposing the addition of the concept of institution to definitions of seamless learning.</p