Corporate environmental assessment by a bank lender : a social constructionist perspective

Over the last decade evidence has emerged which suggests that lenders are considering environmental impact of corporate borrowers as part of their lending decisions. Environmental consideration by lenders may considerably influence the level of financial support available for economic growth and environmemntal management. The primary aim of this research project is to examine the development and use of corporate environmental assessment techniques by members of a commercial lending bank. The research will build upon previous findings that highlight the influences of culture upon bank members perception of environmental credit risks. Specific emphasis will be placed on evaluating the role of mechanisms for the communiaction of bank policy. These will be analysed to find out how and why corporate environmental performance considerations shape the lending process. Research will be undertaken in the form of a case study facilitated by Lloyds TSB Group plc. Analysis will centre on an evaluation of the rationalities for environmental assessment displayed by bank members and their justification for the application of specific environemnatal assessment techniques. The findings are expected to be of direct practical benefit to bank lending officers and others interested in lending processes and/or corporate environmental assessment techniques

New teachers as learners : a model of early professional development

This project was designed to improve the learning of new teachers by developing a research-based, practical model of early professional learning. In addition to detailing the main part of the learning process that statutory standards neglect, the research implies that existing standards should be differentially weighted to reflect the multidimensional development process we have identified. In so doing, we have shown that it is possible to 'connect the conflicting' experience and standard through a more sophisticated recognition of early professional learning

Telling stories and making it count: blending narrative and numbers in the important relationships of new teachers

Qualitative research on beginning teachers has consistently identified the importance of a relational dimension, often more prevalent in narratives than the more cognitive basis of development. One of the aims of our research in the Early Professional Learning Project was, therefore, to develop an instrument that offered a more quantitative indication of this, something other than the softer story-based data that has been seen as a rather weak evidence base in some quarters of policy development. This presentation will, following a brief introductory overview, outline the development of that indicator (interact) within the naturalistic paradigm of the project and also present the main findings, including range of support persons, their order of importance, categories of support. Extracts from the extensive narrative data base will also be used to illuminate the lived reality behind the numbers. Concluding discussion will cover grounded connections to grander theory and the potential of our statistics to provide a fuller appreciation of what it means to become a teacher

Estimated earnings in an employment status model with banded data

Introduction: In this paper we consider the estimation of earnings equations for individuals who are either self employed or are in paid employment, and who are assumed to have freely chosen their employment status. The key aspect of the available data is that we do not observe an individual's earnings. Instead we only know in which of several bands an individual's earnings are located. This has implications for the choice of econometric technique and implies that the ordered probit, or the ordered probit with selectivity, are the statistical models that appear most appropriate. Commonly used estimation techniques such as the two-step estimator due to Heckman (1979) are inappropriate. However, there is an important difference between the ordered probit model as defined in this paper and as defined in, for example, Greene (1997). The Greene definition of the ordered probit assumes that the band separations are unknowns to be estimated, whereas they are known in our data set. This situation is not uncharacteristic of survey data where individuals, or firms, are reluctant to disclose their precise income. Knowledge of the band separations implies that the parameters in the earnings equation are identified and can therefore be estimated1. Parameter estimation is discussed in detail in section 2. The data and the economic framework are discussed in section 3. The estimation results are presented and discussed in section 4. Our conclusions are presented in section 5

Graduate Migration Flows in Scotland

One of our objectives is to quantify the nature of graduate labour market flows between the countries and regions of the United Kingdo