Stimulating the innovation potential of 'routine' workers through workplace learning

Governments worldwide seek to upgrade the ‘basic skills' of employees deemed to have low literacy and numeracy, in order to enable their greater productivity and participation in workplace practices. A longitudinal investigation of such interventions in the United Kingdom has examined the effects on employees and on organizations of engaging in basic skills programmes offered in and through the workplace. ‘Tracking’ of employees in selected organizational contexts has highlighted ways in which interplay between formal and informal workplace learning can help to create the environments for employees in lower grade jobs to use and expand their skills. This workplace learning is a precondition, a stimulus and an essential ingredient for participation in employee-driven innovation, as workers engage with others to vary, and eventually to change, work practices. © 2010, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved

Governing the governors : a case study of college governance in English further education

This paper addresses the nature of governors in the governance of further education colleges in an English context (1). It explores the complex relationship between governors (people/agency), government (policy/structure) and governance (practice), in a college environment. While recent research has focused on the governance of schooling and higher education there has been little attention paid to the role of governors in the lifelong learning sector. The objective of the paper is to contribute to the debate about the purpose of college governance at a time when the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) commissioning era ends, and new government bodies responsible for further education and training, including local authorities, arrive. The paper analyses the nature of FE governance through the perspectives and experiences of governors, as colleges respond to calls from government for greater improvement and accountability in the sector (LSIS, 2009a). What constitutes creative governance is complex and controversial in the wider framework of regulation and public policy reform (Stoker, 1997; Seddon, 2008). As with other tricky concepts such as leadership, professionalism and learning, college governance is best defined in the contexts, cultures and situations in which it is located. College governance does not operate in a vacuum. It involves governors, chairs, principals, professionals, senior managers, clerks, community, business and wider agencies, including external audit and inspection regimes. Governance also acts as a prism through which national education and training reforms are mediated, at local level. While governing bodies are traditionally associated with the business of FE - steering, setting the tone and style, dealing with finance, funding, audit and procedural matters – they are increasingly being challenged to be more creative and responsive to the wider society. Drawing on a recent case study of six colleges, involving governors and key policy stakeholders, this paper explores FE governance in a fast changing policy environment

Teachers’ knowledge and experiences of Information Advice and Guidance: some implications for the current policy context in England

Good information and career guidance about what post-compulsory educational routes are available and where these routes lead is important in ensuring that young people make choices that are most appropriate to their needs and aspirations. Yet the Association of School and College Leaders (2011) express fears that future provision will be inadequate. This paper reports the findings from an on-line survey of 300 secondary school teachers, and follow up telephone interviews with 18 in the South East of England which explored teachers’ experiences of delivering post-compulsory educational and career guidance and their knowledge and confidence in doing so. Results suggest that teachers lack confidence in delivering information, advice and guidance outside their own area of specialism and experience. In particular, teachers knew little in relation to alternative local provision of post-16 education and lacked knowledge of more non-traditional, vocational routes. This paper will therefore raises important policy considerations with respect to supporting teachers’ knowledge, ability and confidence in delivering information in relation to future pathways and career guidance

'Body training': Investigating the embodied training choices of/for mothers in West London

Framed by the UK Government's efforts to combat social exclusion by encouraging a shift from welfare to work through (re)training, this paper explores the types of training courses being offered to and taken by women with young children in West London. Drawing upon qualitative research, the paper explores the actual and desired uptake of 'body training' courses among mothers, linked, in part, to the current 'body work' skills gap in the local economy. The encouragement given to women and the interest they have in engaging in 'body training' is, we suggest, linked to the discursive construction and performance of a highly feminised and, often, maternal identity, which emphasises women's caring role and the caring self. By probing the body/training nexus through the motivations and choices of mothers in West London the paper raises questions about gender identity and stereotyping in relation to training-for-work policies and the role of training in (re)inforcing the woman-body coupling within Western dualistic thought

Managing for the Ideal Research Environment

This article addresses two questions relating to research: 1) What is the best environment in which to carry out research? 2) What is the best way to manage employment in order to maintain this environment? It focuses on research management in UK higher education, but attempts to generalise beyond a specifically national context. The article discusses how existing practice has evolved and highlights several problems that have arisen. It draws on the experiences of researchers at the University of Sheffield to explore the consequences of current practice and to make recommendations for research management in general

Social mobility and Fair Access to the accountancy profession in the UK

Purpose. This paper considers how Big Four and mid-tier accountancy firms in the United Kingdom (UK) are responding to political concerns about social mobility and Fair Access to the accountancy profession.Design/methodology/approach. Interviews were undertaken with 18 public accountancy firms, ranked in the Top 30 by fee income, operating in the UK to identify how they are recruiting staff in the light of the Fair Access to the Professions’ agenda. Bourdieusian sociology is used to inform the findings.Findings. The Big Four firms employ a discourse of hiring ‘the brightest and the best’ to satisfy perceived client demand, where symbolic capital is instantiated by reputational capital, reflecting prestige and specialisation, supported by a workforce with elite credentials. For mid-tier firms, reputational capital is interpreted as the need for individuals to service a diverse client portfolio. In general, most interviewees demonstrated relatively limited awareness of the issues surrounding the Fair Access agenda. Research implications/limitations. The interviews with accountancy firms are both exploratory and cross-sectional. Furthermore, the study was undertaken at an embryonic point (2010) in the emerging Fair Access discourse. Future work considering the accountancy profession could usefully examine if, and how, matters have progressed. Social implications. The investigation finds accountancy firms remain relatively socially exclusive, largely due to the requirement for high educational entry standards, and interviewees’ responses indicate generally only limited attempts at engagement with political agendas of promoting Fair Access to the profession.Originality/value. The paper: is the first to empirically evaluate how the accountancy profession is responding to the Fair Access agenda; documents changing patterns of recruitment in accountancy employment, including the hiring of non-graduates to undertake professional work; and augments the literature considering social class and accounting. <br/

The benefits of part-time undergraduate study and UK higher education policy: a literature review

Part-time study in the UK is significant: nearly 40 per cent of higher education students study part-time.This article reports on a literature review that sought to understand the economic and social benefits of part-time study in the UK. It concludes that there are substantial and wide-ranging benefits from studying part-time. The article also aims to place the discussion in the current policy context by drawing attention to the fact that while part-time study is seen as important for increasing the global competitiveness of the UK economy, expansion of higher education has tended to focus on the young, full-time student; furthermore, part-time study is less generously resourced compared to full-time study. New policy pronouncements made in 2009 appear to recognise these policy contradictions, which state that most future growth will be in provision other than the full-time, 3-year undergraduate degree. Indeed, the Government’s independent review of fees has recognized that parity of funding is an issue and its recommendations on part-time study have been endorsed by the government

Investors in people and training in the British SME sector

Successive UK governments have encouraged small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to pursue Investors in People (IiP) recognition in order to increase levels of employer-provided training in the sector. Using data from the 1998 and 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Surveys, this article reports the extent of change in the proportion of workplaces in small, medium and large firms with IiP recognition and assesses the relationship between IiP and training activity. The analysis reveals an increase in the proportion of workplaces in medium-sized firms with recognition but no increase in the proportion of workplaces in small or large firms with recognition. With regard to the relationship between IiP and training activity, a positive association is found in large firms where both managers/ professionals and non-managers are concerned. In medium-sized firms, however, IiP is only associated with higher levels of non-management training, and in small firms, it is only associated with higher levels of management/professional training