Work in Britain’s informal economy: learning from road-side hand car washes

The UK has over 10,000 Hand Car Washes (HCWs). This article examines two research questions; what do HCWs reveal about the informalization of employment? and what is the prospect of regulation of them? Setting HCWs in a theoretical framework shows that they are part of a growing industry It is becoming an increasingly familiar and visible part of the economy, and is able to use informalization in employment where control of labour costs is a key factor. Employers make a strategic choice to engage precarious and vulnerable usually migrant labour securing further competitive advantage at the cost of pronounced labour exploitation and long hours – the tendency towards informalization. Therein a low-cost business model disciplines competition to usurp higher productivity mechanized car washing

Admission testing for interpreting courses

Admission testing is an integral part of interpreter training, yet it is surrounded by much controversy and scepticism. In this paper, we first look into some general principles of designing an admission test (its purpose, link with curriculum, effectiveness and efficiency of testing), emphasising the dissociation between skills to be tested and tests used for tapping them. We then present data from a small-scale study, in which 18 interpreting schools provided information on their admission testing practice and answering questions related to the skills tested and tests employed, and to the overall efficiency of their admission procedure. Based on this analysis, we conclude that there is a reasonable consensus among schools in terms of which tests are best suited to test which skill, but that new approaches to admission testing are needed to improve their efficiency. Specifically, we suggest that schools improve their recording systems, that soft skills are included in formal testing, and that new testing methods are explored.status: publishe

The predictive validity of admission tests for interpreting courses in Europe : a case study

Admission tests are an integral part of conference interpreter training, yet little is known about their effectiveness and efficiency. We discuss general principles of admission testing, focusing specifically on predictive validity and on measuring aptitude, the main component of interpreter training program admission tests. We describe a number of attempts to develop admission tests with high predictive validity of end-of-course exam performance. We then evaluate and report the efficiency of existing aptitude tests by looking at historical records of admission testing results and end-of-course exams results in one interpreting school. Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses indicated that these tests were poor predictors of students’ success rate. Future research should focus on developing tests with better predictive validity assessed on empirical grounds.status: publishe