What’s the ‘problem’ with workplace accommodation? A disability policy journey over time

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Pathways into the labour market for Norwegians with mobility disabilities

This article explores pathways into working life for Norwegians with mobility disabilities through a life span approach. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from 15 employed individuals with mobility disabilities to gain an insight into their interpretation of events and conditions over the course of their life as either obstacles or facilitators for entrance into employment. We identified three categories of narratives: the ‘straightforward’, the ‘supported’ and the ‘barrier-prone’ path narratives. Higher education appears to be the main facilitator to a smooth transition into employment while certain aspects of welfare service provision are the main impediments. The analysis also demonstrated that barriers to employment do not pertain to isolated events but rather are obstacles that the interviewees experience recurrently over time

Practice-based learning and innovation in nursing homes

Author's accepted version (postprint).This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Emerald in Journal of Workplace Learning on 2 Jan. 2020.Available online: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JWL-09-2019-0112/full/htmlPurpose: This article investigates the conditions under which learning and innovation occur within nursing homes. It addresses the interplay between formal and informal learning situations and discusses how these processes facilitate individual staff and workplaces’ capacity for innovation. Design/methodology/approach: Data was produced via fieldwork, which included participant observations, conversations, and research interviews with staff and managers at a Norwegian nursing home. The article is inspired by situated learning theories and communities of practice, as the social context emerges as the site where learning and innovation are cultivated. Findings: The nursing home sustains a learning environment through managers and staff’s participation in planned learning situations and thereby highlights a focus on learning in their everyday practices. The conditions for the interplay between planned learning situations and everyday learning practices are identified as the effort to create a “joint enterprise” and reflexive practices. Social implications: The Global North is aging. Consequently, there is an increasing need for facilities and adequately trained professionals to support an aging population. Addressing these challenges will require an increased focus on developing supportive learning environments and furthering our knowledge about the interconnections between learning processes and innovation. Value: This article contributes knowledge regarding nursing homes as professionally exciting places to work. Additionally, it points out conditions that allow for learning and innovation to be cultivated and thereby increase the quality of elderly healthcare services provided. Keywords: innovation, learning, workplace, competence, nursing homesacceptedVersio

Practice-based learning and innovation in nursing homes

Purpose: This article investigates the conditions under which learning and innovation occur within nursing homes. It addresses the interplay between formal and informal learning situations and discusses how these processes facilitate individual staff and workplaces’ capacity for innovation. Design/methodology/approach: Data was produced via fieldwork, which included participant observations, conversations, and research interviews with staff and managers at a Norwegian nursing home. The article is inspired by situated learning theories and communities of practice, as the social context emerges as the site where learning and innovation are cultivated. Findings: The nursing home sustains a learning environment through managers and staff’s participation in planned learning situations and thereby highlights a focus on learning in their everyday practices. The conditions for the interplay between planned learning situations and everyday learning practices are identified as the effort to create a “joint enterprise” and reflexive practices. Social implications: The Global North is aging. Consequently, there is an increasing need for facilities and adequately trained professionals to support an aging population. Addressing these challenges will require an increased focus on developing supportive learning environments and furthering our knowledge about the interconnections between learning processes and innovation. Value: This article contributes knowledge regarding nursing homes as professionally exciting places to work. Additionally, it points out conditions that allow for learning and innovation to be cultivated and thereby increase the quality of elderly healthcare services provided. Keywords: innovation, learning, workplace, competence, nursing homesacceptedVersio

Dans i diaspora : identitetsprosesser blant personer i Oslo med tamilsk bakgrunn

Det er omlag 10 000 mennesker med Sri Lanka-tamilsk bakgrunn i Norge, hvorav halvparten bor i Oslo. I løpet av de siste tiårene har sentrale aktører i tamilske miljøer evnet å bygge opp et aktivt og vitalt organisasjonsliv, som driver med alt fra undervisning i tamil til politiskorientert virksomhet. Undervisning i og utøvelse av den klassiske indiske dansen bharata natyam er del av dette bildet. Flere hundre jenter og unge kvinner går ukentlig og lærer danseformen, som opprinnelig kommer fra det sørlige India, men som også er en viktig del av den historien til Sri Lanka-tamilene. Med utgangspunkt i dans, setter jeg fokus på hvordan identitetsprosesser produseres og reproduseres i den tamilske eksilbefolkningen i Oslo. Spørsmålene jeg stiller belyses gjennom tolkninger av danseforestillinger og danseres narrativer om dans. I analysene anvender jeg begrepsapparat hentet fra Don Handelmans Models and mirrors (1998) og boken Identity and agency in cultural worlds (1998) av Dorothy Holland m .fl. Disse antropologene vektlegger at sosiokulturelle fenomener først og fremst uttrykkes gjennom kollektivt skapte aktiviteter. I min fortolkning representerer bharata natyam en "figured world" (Holland m. Fl. 1998), en verden som er et historisk og samtidens fenomen, og som reproduseres og skapes ved dansere og danselæreres utøvelse av dansen. De danseforestillinger som beskrives i oppgaven iscenesettes i det Handelman kaller "public events" (1998). Slike offentlige begivenheter er organisert på ulike måter, for å påvirke eller speile den sosiale orden de er del av, og i oppgaven ser jeg nærmere på hvordan danseforestillinger er komponert og hvilke betydninger de har for den tamilske befolkningen i Oslo. Gjennom dans speiles de transnasjonale og diasporiske relasjoner personer i Oslo med tamilsk bakgrunn har til tamiler i andre land og til Sri Lanka. På den ene side uttrykkes det i dansen en forståelse av tamilsk identitet basert på det Øivind Fuglerud (1999) har betegnet som "den tradisjonelle" modell, der eksiltilværelsen forstås som en form for videreføring av en tamilsk levemåte og kultur. På den andre side kan dans også brukes i formidling av politiskorienterte prosjekter. Slike danseforestillinger presenterer tilhørighet til en tamilsk identitet som uttrykker en "revolusjonær" modell (ibid.), der eksiltilværelsen sees på som del av kampen i hjemlandet for bekjemping av sosial urettferdighet. Samtidig viser jeg at danserne, både som del av bharata natyams "figured world" og som del av politiskorienterte miljøer, evner gjennom sin utøvende kropp å sammenbinde sentrale aspekter ved de to modellene

Funksjonshemming og arbeid - om like muligheter for deltakelse

Statistics show a gap in employment rate for people with and without disabilities despite decades of disability policy promoting equal opportunities for societal participation. This thesis provides insight into what may facilitate or impede employment participation for persons with disabilities, drawing on qualitative interviews with employed Norwegians and Americans with disabilities, born in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. In the interviewees’ stories strong work ethics, higher education, and supportive employers emerge as facilitators for employment while lack of/delayed provision of accommodation and support as well as hesitant employers emerge as obstacles to employment. These findings are discussed in view of Anthony Giddens’ theory of lifestyle choices and Nancy Frasers’ “participatory parity” to offer insight as to why the experiences of transition into employment for persons with disabilities may differ from the objectives of national disability policies. The cross-national approach shows that the interviewees, despite living within different welfare policy contexts, face similar challenges with regards to participation in work life on a par with persons without disabilities

Employer Engagement and Active Labour Market Policies. Evidence from a Norwegian Multi-Method Study

Using Work Training in Norway as a case, this article provides insight into motivation and structural factors that impact employer engagement with active labour market policies (ALMP) targeting young people. Drawing on mixed-methods data, we find a substantial proportion of Norwegian employers engage in Work Training. Both social responsibility and the economic interests of the company influence employers’ motivation for committing to Work Training. The findings reveal that the structural factors of business size and sector are crucial determinants of employer behaviour when it comes to hiring Work Training candidates. Although improved outreach activities by local job centres may be important, the article argues that efforts towards opening up sectors closed by sector-specific regulations on hiring, and increased awareness of structural constraints, are similarly important

Homo sapiens, homo ludens. Festskrift til Lars Grue 75 år

I anledning Lars Grues 75-års dag, gir NOVA ut notatet Homo sapiens, homo ludens. I alt 17 bidragsytere dekker hans faglige virksomhet om forskning om funksjonshemming og hyller Grue som det lekende menneske han er. Med sine brede kompetanse på flere forskningsfelt, har Grue i mange år vært en viktig medarbeider på NOVA. I festskriftet hylles han av tidligere kolleger, samarbeidspartnere, venner og familie

Levekår blant voksne med ADHD

NOVA har gjennomført en litteraturgjennomgang og en nettbasert spørreundersøkelse om levekår og livskvalitet blant voksne med ADHD. Hovedtemaene er helse, utdanning og arbeid. Spørreundersøkelsen ble gjennomført våren 2022 og fikk 3145 svar. Resultatene gir et bilde av at voksne med ADHD er mindre tilfredse med livet og har det vanskeligere enn befolkningen som helhet på en rekke områder som har stor betydning for den enkeltes levekår og livskvalitet