An Agenda for Housing Plus

This Agenda for Housing Plus pulls together evidence that Housing Plus is fundamental to the way social landlords do business. Housing Plus refers to the wider activities and impact of social landlords on the communities where their stock is. The Agenda draws on eight Think Tanks and four Policy Briefings that LSE Housing and Communities ran between 2013 and 2015. Additional information and ideas came from nine Think Tanks in 2016. We invite you to feed back on this Agenda; and to offer concrete examples of Housing Plus. We can add these to our Case Study document. The core argument for Housing Plus is that social landlords working in low-income communities improve their social business by investing in the social needs of communities beyond merely bricks and mortar. Landlords have a duty of care towards their tenants and their property. Social landlords offer a landlord model that makes rented housing work for low-income communities

Supporting development through improving English language teaching and learning in Bangladesh

English language teaching has a prominent role in the education policy of Bangladesh, as it is framed in policy discourse as a means of supporting the economic development of individuals and the nation. In 1991, English was made an obligatory subject from Grade 1. However, since that time, it has been the most commonly failed exam subject (Hamid and Baldauf, 2008). Less than 10 per cent of primary teachers have a level of English as high as the primary textbooks (Rahman and Janan, 2011). Previous training has failed to provide teachers with the necessary skills for effective classroom practice (Kraft et al, 2009), and student participation in lessons is usually passive (EIA 2009). In this context, as partners with the Government of Bangladesh, the English in Action programme (EIA) has been working to identify ways of improving teaching practices and student learning outcomes in English, in both primary and secondary schools. This paper reports on an intervention that has so far shown impact on changing teacher and student perceptions of learning, classroom practices and learning outcomes. These pedagogic successes are also being linked to economic gain for individuals. This intervention attributes its success so far to its school-based approach to teacher development which harnesses technology. New ideas and practices are introduced through offline audio-visual materials provided on low-cost mobile phones. As well as facilitating the formation of peer networks and the mentoring of teachers, technology allows the intervention to reach rural communities and marginalized groups

Synthesis Report: Evidence of the Relationship between English and Economic Gain in Bangladesh

This report presents an overview of research evidence that has been collected through various channels in the EIA programme regarding the relationship between English language skills and economic gain in Bangladesh. It provides an overview of three research projects: 1) The EIA Employer Survey, a telephone survey of formal employers, across a range of sectors, focused upon employers’ perceptions of the need for English competence in their workplace, and the extent to which current employees or job applicants meet that need. 2) The Euromonitor study of job advertisements, and interviews with employment agencies, focused upon the proportion of advertised positions stating English competence as a requirement, and the salary premium for such vacancies. 3) BBC Media Action research, focused upon the relationship between tested and self-assessed English competence and economic status

Community responses to the cost-of-living crisis

The cost-of-living crisis is affecting households across the UK, many of whom are increasingly struggling to meet day-to-day costs, including energy, food, transport, and other essentials. With limited state support to address the crisis, households are turning to community groups and other anchor organisations for basic provisions, such as food and clothes. LSE Housing and Communities set out to understand how these groups were working, how demand for services has changed, and what community groups need to continue providing this vital support. We interviewed and carried out site visits to twenty grassroots community groups, and six anchor organisations working to help people through the crisis. The work we uncovered was extremely inspiring. The groups have an acute awareness of growing local needs, are mainly volunteer-led, and are increasingly being relied upon by statutory services. The groups show the power of community action in addressing local problems, whilst recognising that community action alone is not enough to address the root causes of the crisis. We need an overhaul of wages, benefits, and the economy to tackle the wider problems of poverty, low incomes, and rising costs

Estate regeneration and social value

Home Group is committed to assessing the social value to low income communities of regeneration and upgrading. This research was commissioned by Home Group and closely links to their recently developed “Customer Promise”. That approach is aimed at further empowering their customers who drive the process. The research was commissioned to explore how Home Group could apply the approach to their Regeneration programme

Student Reactions to a Faculty Strike

Following a three week faculty strike at Dalhousie University in 1988, questionnaires were obtained from 187 students concerning how the strike affected their academic work, emotions and opinions of the university. Results were analyzed separately for first year undergraduates, other undergraduates, and graduate or professional school students. There was much individual variability in reactions, but on average the strike had slightly negative academic and emotional effects but substantial negative effects on opinions about the university. Undergraduate students indicated the most academic disruption, and upper year undergraduates indicated the most negative opinions. There was no correlation, however, between degree of personally experienced academic disruption and degree of negative opinion. Another survey two years after the strike indicated the reestablishment of positive opinions. Implications for ameliorating the effects of a faculty strike are discussed.Une enquête a été menée auprès de 187 étudiants et étudiantes de l'Université Dalhousie visant à évaluer l'effet de la grève de trois semaines du corps professoral de l'Université Dalhousie en 1988 sur le travail académique, les émotions, et l'opinion qu'avaient les étudiants de l'Université. Les résultats furent désagrégés selon trois groupes d'étudiants soit ceux inscrits à la première année du premier cycle, les autres étudiants du premier cycle et les étudiants des cycles supérieurs et des programmes professionnels. Bien qu'on remarque une grande variabilité chez les répondants individuellement, on observe que généralement, la grève n'a eu que de faibles effets négatifs au plans académique et émotif, mais qu'elle a généré de vives réactions négatives quant aux opinions que les étudiants avaient de l'Université. Par rapport à la différenciation par groupes, les étudiants de la première année du premier cycle ont été davantage affecté au plan académique alors que ceux inscrits aux études supérieures ont manifesté le degré le plus élevé d'opinions négatives envers l'Université. Il n'y a toutefois pas de corrélation entre le niveau de perturbation académique personnellement rapporté par les étudiants et les opinions négatives détenues. Une seconde enquête effectuée deux ans plus tard démontre que les opinions des étudiants envers l'Université sont redevenues positives. L'article conclut sur une analyse des implication d'une grève du corps professoral

Retrofit to the Rescue: environmental upgrading of multi-storey estates

'Retrofit to the Rescue' looks at the ambitious refurbishment of Wilmcote House in Portsmouth for a new study on the social impact of retrofit works. In 2010 LSE Housing and Communities were asked to conduct interviews with 50 tenants on the Edward Woods Estate, to assess the community and social impact of retrofitting three high rise towers (23 storeys) in Hammersmith and Fulham. The resulting report - High Rise Hope - found that residents liked their community and area, expressed support for it to be saved and were happy to stay put during the works. In spite of many delays and hiccups, the final outcomes were generally extremely positive

Social support and community functioning of clients with schizophrenia : a nursing investigation

The purpose of this study was to increase knowledge regarding the concept of social support and its role in contributing to a better understanding of clients with schizophrenia and their ability to function in the community. The conceptual framework based on Norbeck's model of social support (Norbeck, 1981) suggested that individual and situational properties combine to impact on the need for social support and its actual and perceived availability from the social network surrounding the individual. Adequate, appropriate social support is expected to be more likely to result in satisfactory levels of functioning in the community. -- A convenience sample of 30 subjects between the ages of 18 and 61 participated in the study. They each had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, attended an Ambulatory Care service and had been discharged from a psychiatric hospital within the past year. The study instruments utilized were the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale and a Client Profile, designed by the investigator. The study was designed to obtain information related to subjects' perceptions of their social networks, their perceptions of social support available from those networks, and their levels of community functioning. Relationships between community functioning and social support were analyzed. -- Social support was conceptualized on the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire as two variables: functional social support, composed of affect, affirmation and aid; and network properties, composed of network size, duration of relationships with network members and frequency of contact with network members. Community functioning was measured by the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale. -- The results of the study demonstrated that this sample of clients with schizophrenia had social networks which were small and family-dominated. Relationships outside the family were not long-standing and contact with network members was limited. Recent loss of network members was relatively common. Subjects perceived that they received less social support than other groups. Eight subjects indicated serious problems with their level of functioning in the community while 22 subjects had mild or moderate difficulties. -- A significant positive relationship was found between social support as measured by the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire and community functioning as measured by the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale. Because the relationship between social support and community functioning may operate bidirectionally, it was suggested that enhancing social support may improve community functioning and alternatively that improving community functioning may improve social support. -- Based on the information provided by this study, guidelines for incorporating the concept of social support in clinical practice were addressed as well as implications for nursing theory and research

The institution and the network

This research explores how National Research Centres in Higher Education systems can offer dynamic views of ways network-like organisations emerge and self-organise in institutional environments. My thesis considers the interplay between institutional and more network-like forms of organising by exploring the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Centres of Excellence (CoE) Programme as a complex system of science. I provide a foundational review of the changing relationship between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Research Centres to highlight the perception that today’s science endeavours form part of a larger global research ecosystem. The thesis applies these perspectives to propose that CoEs can be conceptually viewed as a ‘Janus object’ in this complex space - that is, that CoEs occupy and can take views across both institutional and network-like environments. The research integrates three studies to provide this more detailed ‘view from the CoE.’ The first study mobilises two bodies of literature to provide a foundation for the research approach. The first, from neo-institutional theory, considers how the CoE, as an informal organisation, might relate to the HEI through a form of ‘collective rationality.’ The second, from the field of network science, explores how network-like organisations can emerge with different properties of robustness and information exchange. I also respond to calls from empirical studies of research systems to consider how the ‘self-organisation’ of science might offer wider value to inform an understanding of complex systems of organising. The second study explored how research professionals engaged in Research Centres interact within the HEI environment. This informed the third study which details a qualitative, exploratory study of the Australian CoE Programme. Contributions from 22 Research and Professional Leads, which covered three cohorts of the Programme funded in 2011, 2014 and 2017 also represented an overview of ‘life spans’ of the CoE. CoE participants identified characteristics of emergence consistent with organisation in complex systems. Firstly, shared narratives from a high proportion of participants note a paradoxical environment of ‘odd encounters’, rather than formal interactions, with the HEI. Narratives also revealed highly effective forms of co-leadership roles between Research and Professional Leads which align closely with descriptions of ‘authority’ in network science. This suggests effective CoE leadership is via people acting as shared information exchange hubs. The contributions also allow a view of the CoEs through their lifespan in relation to the HEI. From these I develop a set of ‘network narratives’ which demonstrate the pluriform nature of CoEs as an example of emergence. The narratives also reveal CoEs have potential to become highly autonomous, but return value as an important intermediary between the ‘highly localised’ institutional research environment and the global research system. A strong volunteered narrative on gender and diversity policy also demonstrates an unexpected case of network-like ‘percolation.’ This paradoxical finding suggests policy formed within the CoE may be adopted by the institution which may in turn allow the institution to co-evolve. This suggests a potential for true, if less tangible, ecosystem effects as a result of the CoE Programme. In integrating findings across the three studies I contribute to theory by proposing a new open architecture for institutional theory in response to long standing work by Scott (2004; 2008). This aims to realign network considerations inherent within neo-institutional theory with more recent phenomenological findings in network science. In illustrating examples through network narratives, I also extend the work by Watts (2004) to close the gap in the vocabulary between network science and institutional theory in ways that can support studies which explore institutional perspectives of network-like forms in complex systems