DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND ECONOMIC VIABILITY IN WELFARE-TO-WORK RHETORIC

The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues and implications raised when speaking of ‘self-sufficiency’ and ‘economic viability’ in welfare to work and provide an alternative context for discussing welfare-to-work programs and their success. Drawing on welfare-to-work literature, I clarify the difference between ‘self-sufficiency’ and ‘economic viability’ and discuss two main approaches used by welfare to work policy makers. Although both terms are used interchangeably, research that concludes welfare programs are successful is often misconstrued by (1) ambiguously defining these terms (2) and by inconsistent indicators and outcome measures of achievement. The major issues surrounding the improper use of these terms in welfare to work programs will be addressed followed by a discussion of its implications for adult educators

Institutional Ethnography: A Tool For Merging Research And Practice

Institutional ethnography draws from ethnomethodology focusing on how everyday experience is socially organized. Power is critically important as an analytic focus which crosses boundaries providing researchers a view of social organization that illuminates practices that marginalize

Institutional Ethnography: Utilizing Battered Women’s Standpoint to Examine How Institutional Relations Shape African American Battered Women’s Work Experiences In Christian Churches

The purpose of the collected papers dissertation was to critically examine the individual and institutional conditions that shaped battered women’s work experiences in church organizations. The studies in the collected papers shared the provision of using a methodological and analytic tool, institutional ethnography (IE), that offers a strategic and comprehensive means of investigating issues related to institutions and institutional processes that merge a macro and micro view. The first paper was a conceptual paper that emphasized the socio-political context in which adult vocation education is practiced and shared a practical means of using IE to uncover the interconnected and interdependent social processes that prohibit an individual’s ability to navigate structural and political subsystems that impact learning, teaching, and work. The second paper was an empirical paper that used IE to help us see how battered women’s needs as workers in Christian churches are evaporated behind institutional ideologies and actions that invalidate her concerns while preserving their ideals. The study revealed four ways that African American battered women entered into an institutional death process by direct disclosure or assumed disclosure: (a) invalidation, (b) overspiritualization, (c) inauthenticity, (d) and bifurcation. It was found, that once disclosure took place, women placed a different expectation upon the church to respond to their issue of domestic abuse. In summation, Study #2 highlighted the use of IE in uncovering the institutional relations that shaped women’s experiences as work in Christian churches. Overall, the findings elucidate ways that social workers, churches, adult educators, and HRD researchers and practitioners can engage in research that has implications for how to collaborate for implementable solutions. The findings provide ways for African American women to navigate oppressive regimes; and lends insight to how adult educators, HRD practitioners, and pastors who work with battered women can assist and intervene in the educational, emotional, and natural support areas for African American battered women working in Christian churches

Getting to Yes: How to Generate Consensus for Targeted Universalism

Originally developed by professor and critical race scholar John A. Powell, targeted universalism is an approach to change management that simultaneously aims for a universal goal while also addressing disparities in opportunities among sub-groups.This issue brief describes how FSG used a set of specific methods to clarify the essential elements of targeted universalism with the community stakeholders of a collective impact initiative focused on education outcomes in Staten Island

Institutional Ethnography: A Tool for Interrogating the Institutional and Political Conditions of Individual Experience

Institutional ethnography is described and benefits and implications for adult education are discussed

Critical Race Theory and Adult Education: Critique of the Literature in Adult Education Quarterly

This paper examines the assumptions and paradigms used to discuss diversity and equity in adult education literature using critical race theory as a lens. Five themes emerged from the critique that may initiate an innovative dialogue about the realities and subjectivities singling out racial and ethnic minorities in the USA

WHEN ALL THINGS ARE NOT CONSIDERED: ETHICAL ISSUES IN A WELFARE-TO-WORK PROGRAM

Employing an ethical perspective to viewing problems as well as regard for participants’ socio-cultural context will help providers apply a constructive approach to program planning, curriculum design, and in implementing welfare-to-work programs. This paper explores the impact of a lack of sensitivity to the ethical issues that surfaced in a specific welfare-to-work program on participants’ perceptions, self-esteem, and motivation. Ethical issues in four areas were identified and discussed: 1) professional competence and accountability issues; (2) participant-provider relationships; (3) interagency issues and conflicts of interest; and (4) curriculum design issues. Actual and desired program outcomes were compared to identify gaps between them in terms of provider’s ethical behavior. Findings revealed that providers lacked functional, behavioral, and ethical competence; and this contributed to participants feeling stereotyped, degraded, and unmotivated to complete the program

Reflections on the Writing Process: Guiding the Work of Writing

A heuristic process was used to examine the experience of teaching writing for publication. Faculty and student reflections are presented

Religion and religious education : comparing and contrasting pupils’ and teachers’ views in an English school

This publication builds on and develops the English findings of the qualitative study of European teenagers’ perspectives on religion and religious education (Knauth et al. 2008), part of ‘Religion in Education: A contribution to dialogue or a factor of conflict in transforming societies of European countries?’ (REDCo) project. It uses data gathered from 27 pupils, aged 15-16, from a school in a multicultural Northern town in England and compares those findings with data gathered from ten teachers in the humanities faculty of the same school, collected during research for the Warwick REDCo Community of Practice. Comparisons are drawn between the teachers’ and their pupils’ attitudes and values using the same structure as the European study: personal views and experiences of religion, the social dimension of religion, and religious education in school. The discussion offers an analysis of the similarities and differences in worldviews and beliefs which emerged. These include religious commitment/observance differences between the mainly Muslim-heritage pupils and their mainly non-practising Christian-heritage teachers. The research should inform the ways in which the statutory duties to promote community cohesion and equalities can be implemented in schools. It should also facilitate intercultural and interreligious understanding between teachers and the pupils from different ethnic and religious backgrounds

Follow-up of the re-evaluation of polyglycerol esters of fatty acids (E 475) as a food additive

Polyglycerol esters of fatty acids (PEFA, E 475) was re-evaluated in 2017 by the former EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient sources added to Food (ANS). As a follow-up to this assessment, in this opinion, the Panel on Food Additives and Flavouring (FAF) addresses the data gaps identified to support an amendment of the EU specifications for E 475. The Panel performed a risk assessment of undesirable impurities and constituents potentially present in E 475. The Panel concluded that the maximum limits in the EU specifications for the 4 toxic elements (arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium) should be lowered based on actual levels in the commercial food additive E 475. The Panel also concluded that maximum limits for erucic acid, 3-monochloropropanediol and glycidyl esters should be included in the EU specifications for E 475. Alternatively, the Panel recommends an amendment of the definition of E 475 to include a requirement that the fats and oils used in the manufacturing of E 475 comply with the respective EU legislation regarding suitability for human consumption. Further, the Panel concluded that there is no need for setting a specification limit for the content of trans-fatty acids in E 475 as a limit is established in the Regulation (EU) No 2019/649, i.e. 2 g of trans-fat per 100 g fat in food for the final consumer. Finally, the Panel recommends a modification of the definition of E 475 indicating that polyglycerol used for the manufacturing of E 475 should be produced from glycerol meeting the specifications for E 422 (Commission Regulation (EU) No 231/2012). In this case, respective specification limits for epichlorohydrin, acrolein and butanetriol would not be needed for E 475