A survey into the prevalence and incidence of school bullying in Wales. Main report

This report presents the results from a survey into the prevalence and incidence of school bullying in Wales. The survey aimed to provide baseline evidence of the "incidence and prevalence of bullying" among compulsory school aged pupils in Wales by focusing on pupils’ experiences of bullying by other pupils during their school life, and allow the Assembly Government to "measure future changes to the level of bullying in Wales"

Investment Advice: Go for the MBA

Business school deans have been rushing to the defense of their graduate degree programs ever since Jeffrey Pfeffer and Christina Fong published their 2002 article questioning the value of an MBA. Not only did those authors debate the worth of the MBA in general, they suggested that the degree was only valuable if it was earned from a top-ranked school. A recent U.S.-based study shows this is clearly not the case. Researchers employed by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) surveyed thousands of graduates over the course of five years, collecting data that compared the costs and rewards of accredited programs across the U.S. Analysis shows that an MBA yields an excellent return on investment (ROI) for nearly everyone, regardless of the type of program, the race of the student—or even the ranking of the school. Pfeffer himself believes management education has undergone significant changes since his original article was published. (See his viewpoint regarding business schools’ possible overemphasis on MBA salaries in “What’s Right—and Still Wrong—with Business Schools” on page 42.) One thing that hasn’t changed is the enduring value of an MBA

School Effectiveness Framework pilots: an evaluation (research document)

"This report looks at the pilot to introduce the School Effectiveness Framework in schools in Wales. The School Effectiveness Framework (SEF) is an ambitious Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) programme that aims to raise attainment, to close the gap in attainment and improve children and young people’s well-being (WAG, 2008a). It has been developed through three phases and this external evaluation focuses upon the second phase, in which school pilot programmes were established in each of the four regional consortia (Central South Wales, North Wales, South East Wales and swamwac)..." - introduction

Job Embeddedness: A Theoretical Foundation for Developing a Comprehensive Nurse Retention Plan

Objective: Using a new construct, job embeddedness, from the business management literature, this study first examines its value in predicting employee retention in a healthcare setting and second, assesses whether the factors that influence the retention of nurses are systematically different from those influencing other healthcare workers. Background: The shortage of skilled healthcare workers makes it imperative that healthcare providers develop effective recruitment and retention plans. With nursing turnover averaging more than 20% a year and competition to hire new nurses fierce, many administrators rightly question whether they should develop specialized plans to recruit and retain nurses. Methods: A longitudinal research design was employed to assess the predictive validity of the job embeddedness concept. At time 1, surveys were mailed to a random sample of 500 employees of a community-based hospital in the Northwest region of the United States. The survey assessed personal characteristics, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job embeddedness, job search, perceived alternatives, and intent to leave. One year later (time 2) the organization provided data regarding voluntary leavers from the hospital. Results: Hospital employees returned 232 surveys, yielding a response rate of 46.4 %. The results indicate that job embeddedness predicted turnover over and beyond a combination of perceived desirability of movement measures (job satisfaction, organizational commitment) and perceived ease of movement measures (job alternatives, job search). Thus, job embeddedness assesses new and meaningful variance in turnover in excess of that predicted by the major variables included in almost all the major models of turnover. Conclusions: The findings suggest that job embeddedness is a valuable lens through which to evaluate employee retention in healthcare organizations. Further, the levers for influencing retention are substantially similar for nurses and other healthcare workers. Implications of these findings and recommendations for recruitment and retention policy development are presented

Internal and regional migration for construction work: a research agenda

This working paper reviews evidence from the literature on internal migration for work in construction in developing countries. The literature reviewed was found through a search of academic databases and selected by the authors. The review identifies cases and contexts in which migration for construction work leads to exits from poverty as well as those in which it entrenches poverty. We also focus upon migrant selectivity and discourses within the literature about migration for construction work. The review identifies gaps in the literature and important themes, in particular those issues and phenomena relating to poverty and development. The small and diverse set of literature, identified for the purpose of this paper, focuses mainly on South Asia. Several areas for future research are suggested throughout the paper and in the concluding section

Does migration for domestic work reduce poverty? A review of the literature and an agenda for research

This review of the published academic literature on internal and regional migration for domestic work in Africa and Asia shows a dearth of studies on internal migration for domestic work in South Asia, and both internal and regional migration for domestic work in East Africa and West Africa. The existing literature is heavily dominated by papers on the transnational migration of domestic workers from South East and East Asia which examine in detail the shortcomings of the legal framework for regulating working conditions and recruitment practices resulting in little protection for migrant workers against exploitation. The paper highlights the serious lack of attention paid to the impacts of migration for domestic work on poverty levels within families in source areas. This is a significant gap in the literature given that migration is usually a household decision in which one member migrates to access more remunerative employment and remit money home. The paper offers a number of suggestions for improving the evidence base on this important migration stream