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This paper contributes to research on urban multiculture and debates as to how people routinely live and experience ethnic diversity in their everyday lives. This research takes an ‘unpanicked’ approach to multiculture that sits differently to, although not unaffected by, multiculturalism as policy objective and those debates around multiculturalism that variously celebrate cultural difference or construct it through crisis talk. Critical to this paper are the routine phenomenologies of multiculture and the everyday practices, competencies and skills of young people attending college. Because of their diverse intakes and the openness of young people to difference, colleges are key sites within which urban multiculture is experienced and through which it is defined. Based on participant observation, repeat in-depth discussion groups and interviews, the focus of this paper is young adults attending post-16 colleges and schools in three ethnically diverse urban locations. Colleges and schools are urban spaces that mediate sociality and student experience but are also woven into the wider urban setting in which they are placed. The paper explores the skills and competencies that young adults develop to negotiate college and we particularly focus on their use of jokes and the exercise of restraint to get along with others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As subjects of the parental right to choose (DES, 1988), parents are called upon to fulfil certain duties and responsibilities when choosing a secondary school for their child, with the expectation that they might navigate the school system ‘successfully’ and become ‘better informed consumers’ (DCSF, 2008). To comply with these rules of citizenship parents are encouraged to make use of a variety of information on schools as part of a realistic and informed choice, one that is consummate with their role as consumer-citizens. Such ‘cognitive mapping’ is evident in school brochures and websites where choice is assembled on the basis of visual iconography and narrative terrains. This leads to a consideration of how choice is visually mediated and communicated through the circulation of symbols and the structure of narratives. To explain these phenomena, I analyse and compare the ways in which two all-girls faith secondary schools attempt to (further) define themselves, culturally, historically and pedagogically, in a crowded field of choice. I conclude the paper with a discussion of the benefits and insights generated through a visually orientated approach to the study of school choice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper focuses primarily on New Labour's public services 'modernization' agenda, raising questions about recent shifts in governance, local government finance and the relationship between the commercial sector and the provision of welfare. It argues that this agenda is being embraced by the Scottish Executive through its commitment to Public- Private Partnerships (PPPs) and an increased role for market-based solutions to the problem of poorly performing public services. It examines PPPs in an education context by focusing principally on the experience in Glasgow and argues that PPPs in education and elsewhere in the public sector are part of a broader New Labour agenda to present itself as the 'party of business', in Scotland as well as in England, and in spite of the potential for policy divergence opened up by the devolution process. This paper locates PPPs in the context of other privatization-type reforms and explores New Labour's ideological commitment to opening up public services across Britain to market forces in the context of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on an evaluative, ethnographic case study of an English language and cultural immersion programme for Hong Kong university students. Prior to a five-week sojourn in England, the 15 English majors completed a survey and interview to determine their expectations and concerns. While in Oxford, they took courses in an English Language Centre, investigated a cultural scene of their choice, visited cultural/literary sites, took part in informal activities with international students, and lived with a British family. They reflected on their experiences across cultures, including stressful or confusing encounters, in a diary. During the sojourn, the researcher (their ethnography teacher) observed, photographed, and recorded their behavior in field notes and gathered additional information by way of informal discussions. Post-sojourn, the students filled in a questionnaire and offered their perceptions about their experiences in interviews and a series of debriefing sessions. The analysis of the triangulated data helped to understand the sojourn better from the students' perspectives and suggested specific issues that should be addressed in future pre-departure intercultural communications seminars. The paper aims to illustrate the valuable role that ethnographic research can play in programme evaluation and enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role re-location has played in shaping the status of elite and middle-class schools in and around London. A Bourdieusian lens is applied to understand the institutional trajectories of 51 schools which moved from central London out to the suburbs and beyond between the 1860s and 1970s. It is argued that this strategy served to maintain, reinforce and create institutional prestige within the ‘field’ of schools serving the upper and middle classes. These re-locations have had a lasting effect on London’s school system, pushing key institutions of elite social reproduction outwards and away from the city centre. In discussing the motivations for re-location, Bourdieu’s (1996) theory of field and elite formation is used with specific reference to urban change, thus developing a Bourdieusian-historical approach to understanding the geography of social reproduction (Thiem, 2009). The focus on London also sets these re-locations in the context of broader socio-spatial shifts within the British upper and middle classes, in which new social formations were emerging, with an aristocratic-financial elite concentrated in the south-east of England (Anderson, 1964; Rubinstein, 1977). Re-location formed part of a broader process of urban and socio-economic transformation which created a powerful educational infrastructure for the upper and middle classes in and around London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Britain has seen a significant increase in the size of its ethnic minority population over the past 20 years. Because of the relatively youthful age structure of the ethnic minority population, the percentage of ethnic minorities in the school age-groups is much higher than its share of the overall population. Given the very uneven geographical distribution of ethnic minorities, this has raised concerns over the extent of school ethnic segregation. This paper examines the changing distribution of ethnic minority secondary school pupils in England over the period 1999–2009. It shows that, while there have been big increases in the percentage of ethnic minorities in those local authorities with existing concentrations, with ethnic minorities comprising over 50 per cent of pupils in 24 urban authorities in 2009, the dominant trend has been one of an increase in the percentage of ethnic minority pupils across the board combined with the increasing diffusion of ethnic minorities across all local authorities, rather than increasing concentration in a small number of authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The future health-care workforce and the changing skill-mix within occupational teams is a current topic of discussion. This paper contributes to the skill-mix debate by focusing on UK primary care dentistry, revealing unintended as well as intended consequences of a modularized, technocratic view of dentistry.In part one, relevant literature about dental therapists and skill-mix in dentistry is organized into a framework used to review factors operating at macro, meso and micro levels. Part two considers the role that education and training may play in realizing skill-mix change. Part three synthesizes conditions required for modifying skill-mix in UK primary dental care and sets out the dimensions of seven factors: funding focus, the profession's response, workforce, the practice, dentist's knowledge, dental therapist'smotivations and patient attitude. A review of these factors could be used to inform the policy decisions ofmanagers operating at the macro level, as well as more local staffing decisions. Without consideration ofthe complex interplay of these factors, skill-mix in dentistry will be slow to develop and could bring unwelcome consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foremost amongst social policy interventions, state education has a singular and foundational role in the promotion of equality and human rights. This paper explores the way that such matters are addressed in the policy and law making programmes of the UK’s devolved administrations. It is argued that this is an appropriate locus of enquiry for the constitutional law establishing the devolved legislatures contains clauses empowering government to promote equality of opportunity; in the case of Wales and Northern Ireland, these are positive legal duties. Against the background of governments’ espousal of ‘mainstreaming’ equalities, analysis reveals that the respective administrations have made some advances in embedding the promotion of equality and human rights in the policy framework covering the schools curriculum, teacher training and inspections. Notwithstanding this, a number of issues and shortcomings are identified. Overall, the analysis reveals evidence of an ongoing ‘disconnect’ between the mainstreaming rhetoric and policy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: When the mental health systems of the UK and the USA are compared, one of the most striking differences is that social workers are the largest professional group in the USA and community nurses the largest in the UK. Aim and Method: This paper examines the history of the development of both professional groups in both countries, and their education and training. Results: Demand, supply and economic factors are important influences and reasons for these differences. Conclusions: Both professions have critical future workforce roles, but further consideration needs to be given to the extent to which their skills and values overlap in order to inform future workforce planning, and to reduce the extent to which the workforce pattern in both countries risks being over-determined by supply issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the construction of young people's experiences in city schools through a new curriculum subject, Citizenship Education, in secondary schools in England. It demonstrates how citizen identities are constructed through discursive practices in the classroom and are shaped by geographies of education. The placebased identities formed within urban schools both reflect and refute the inequalities inherent in the selective education system which pertains in many UK cities today. A discussion of the urban context in which the research was undertaken is followed by an analysis of empirical research in two schools in and around Bristol, south-west England. This explores the ways in which particular place-based subjectivities are actively and knowingly enacted by teachers and pupils in the classroom through their talk about what constitutes the ideal citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children in care have consistently lower educational attainment than peers who live with their birth families. However, metrics often define 'education' narrowly, focusing on traditional in-school achievements with which this population typically struggles. In this study, interviews with current and former children in care (n = 7, ages: 11–59) revealed that they perceive education in a much broader way, occurring across their life experiences and encompassing both life and social skills. Regardless of their performance in school, participants storied themselves as achievers in the context of this broader concept of 'education' and described positive outcomes such as independence, agency, development of authentic identities and capacity to strive for and achieve goals. These reflections have implications for the provision of social support services and the evaluation of outcomes for children who are taken into the care of the state. For example, it may be valuable to redefine 'education' to include a wider range of activities and to therefore encompass a variety of potential interventions to support development and success. Additionally, there seems to be scope for working more closely with children in care when making decisions, centring their lived experiences and drawing on their insights so as to achieve a better balance of support for both formal and informal educational opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the role of schools, and more specifically school leadership, in the transition to a sustainable future for humankind? What different forms of leadership are needed to enable this role? The challenges are huge and complex and for those of us engaged in promoting sustainability learning, it is clear that the issue has never been more pressing. Action at government and corporate level is required, as well as an immense shift in patterns of consumption, especially in richer countries. This paper aims to explore the nature, challenges and opportunities of sustainability leadership within the context of formal education in the UK. A critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Gatto, 1992) lens is used to explore ways in which the formal education system is constructed on mental models that are inherently unsustainable, and that reinforce the principles of hierarchy, power and control, separation, competition and colonialism that are at the root of sustainability challenges. Drawing on interviews with school leaders, some possibilities will be explored, such as alternative pedagogies that create space for relaxed, collaborative, co-constructive learning, that encourage critical thinking, and reignite children’s sense of connection with each other and with the environment (Woodlin, 2014). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Surgical site infections (SSI) account for 16% of healthcare associated infections, and are associated with considerable morbidity, mortality and increased costs of care. Ensuring evidence-based practice to prevent SSI is incorporated across the patient�s surgical journey is complex. OneTogether is a quality improvement collaborative of infection prevention and operating department specialists, formed to support the spread and adoption of best practice to prevent SSI. This paper describes the findings of an expert workshop on infection prevention in operating departments. Methods: A total of 84 delegates from 75 hospitals attended the workshop, comprising 46 (55%) theatre nurses operating department practitioners; 16 (19%) infection control practitioners and 22 (26%) other healthcare practitioners.Discussion focused on evidence, policy implementation and barriers to best practice. Responses were synthesised into a narrative review. Results: Delegates reported significant problems in translating evidence-based guidance into everyday practice, lack of local polices and poor compliance. Major barriers were lack of leadership, poorly defined responsibilities, and lack of knowledge/training. Conclusions: This workshop has provided important insights into major challenges in assuring compliance with best practice in relation to the prevention of SSI. The OneTogether partnership aims to support healthcare practitioners to improve the outcomes of patients undergoing surgery by reducing the risk of SSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National monitoring data and research suggest that British adopted children achieve poorer educational outcomes and experience higher levels of emotional, social and learning difficulties in school, compared to the general population. However, few studies have elicited the perspectives of adopted children and adoptive parents in relation to school experiences. The current study used a qualitative design to explore the lived educational experiences of adopted children through semi-structured interviews with 11 secondary-aged adoptees and a focus group with six adopters. Thematic analysis identified five themes within the narratives of the adoptees and adopters: inner turmoil; social disconnection; unsupportive school contexts; relational repair; and misperceptions and prejudice. These findings were presented to 20 Designated Teachers (DTs) within a workshop to explore how the experiences of the adoptees and adopters can be used to inform their role. Three themes were found, which illustrate broad implications for DTs' practice with adopted children and adoptive parents in schools: raising awareness; developing relationships; and supporting emotional needs. Key implications for schools, post-adoption support services and policymakers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social mix and social mixing are topics of increasing significance to both the policy and academic communities in the UK, and have particular salience in urban multi-ethnic and socially diverse contexts. Enshrined in the comprehensive school ideal, and implicated in the now legal duty to promote 'community cohesion,' (urban) schools play a pivotal role in agendas for social mixing but little is empirically known about how this is lived and experienced by the young people in those schools. This paper begins to develop a theoretical understanding of social mixing drawing on qualitative data on the patterns, discourses, and experiences of associations and friendships collected in a London comprehensive school. We find that while the social mix of the school is celebrated, in official discourse as congenial and 'convivial', by staff and students alike, the extent of actual mixing - of associations and friendships forming between those of different social and ethnic backgrounds - is both constrained and complex. We point to the social and cultural factors which produce this sense of conviviality, and the opportunities for cultural learning it supports. At the same time, we argue that there are limitations. Schools are sites of differentiation, and friendships as exemplars of social mixing, both (re)produce and are (re)produced by existing social hierarchies and inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic GPs have made significant contributions to the care of many millions of patients through research in primary care populations. They have also been instrumental in the development of community-based undergraduate medical education. Here, we explore what academic GP training involves and why all associates in training should have an interest in research and teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers taught medical engineering MSc degrees, based on mechanical engineering, which are provided in the UK. Currently there are 19 institutions which provide such postgraduate degree programmes. These are the University of Aberdeen, University of Bath, University of Bradford, Brunel University, University of Dundee, University of Hull, Imperial College London, Keele University, King's College London, University of Leeds, University of Liverpool, University of Nottingham, University of Oxford, Queen Mary University of London, University of Southampton, University of Strathclyde, University of Surrey, University of Ulster, and University of Warwick. While most courses are delivered on a 1 year full-time basis, other delivery modes are also available. Relatively few modules are offered as distance learning or short courses. A wide range of modules are offered by the various universities for the different taught MSc degrees. Common modules include biomaterials and biomechanics. The medical-engineering-related modules offered by a number of universities are also made available to students on allied MSc programmes and undergraduate degrees in medical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews mechanical-engineering-based medical engineering degrees which are currently provided at undergraduate level in the UK. At present there are 14 undergraduate degree programmes in medical engineering, offered by the University of Bath, University of Birmingham, University of Bradford, Cardiff University, University of Hull, Imperial College London, University of Leeds, University of Nottingham, University of Oxford, Queen Mary University of London, University of Sheffield, University of Southampton, University of Surrey, and Swansea University. All these undergraduate courses are delivered on a full-time basis, both 3 year BEng and 4 year MEng degrees. Half of the 14 degree courses share a core first 2 years with a mechanical engineering stream. The other seven programmes include medical engineering modules earlier in their degrees. Within the courses, a very wide range of medical-engineering-related modules are offered, although more common modules include biomaterials, biomechanics, and anatomy and physiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a fully integrated biomedical engineering programme (life sciences included from the start) is described. Details are provided about background, implementation, and didactic concept: design centred learning combined with courses. The curriculum has developed into a bachelor-master's programme with two different master's degrees: Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering and Master's Degree in Medical Engineering. Recently, the programme has adopted semester programming, has included a major and minor in the bachelor's degree phase, and a true bachelor's degree final project. Details about the programme and data about where graduates find jobs are provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article challenges the narrow versions of literacy in current versions of early childhood education in the UK. The theoretical underpinning for the paper is drawn from sociocultural perspectives and what Kress (1997) defines as the `broad and messy area... of communication and representation'. It is argued that we need to broaden our understanding of literacy to include young children's representations in graphic and narrative versions, influenced by the media and `everyday' exchanges with siblings and significant adults, that characterize their journeys towards literacy in home settings. When they enter pre-school and start school the versions of representations they are encouraged to do are driven by a narrow emphasis on school versions of literacy and numeracy. The kind of personal and social drawings done at home are discarded. The argument is illustrated by examples of young children drawing in home and school settings taken from a three-year longitudinal study of seven young children's meaning making as they moved from home to pre-school and the beginning of schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether the supply side characteristics of the low paid are associated with the labour market wage setting institutions of five countries; Britain, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain and the USA, using the harmonised PAnel Comparability (PACO) data based on household panel studies and the Spanish European Household Panel survey. The age, education, marital status, children, lone parent status, household type, employment status of spouse, and housing tenure of the low paid are examined. The links between these characteristics, the low paid and labour market institutions are examined through multi- variate analyses. Labour market wage setting institutions clearly influence the characteristics of the low paid and explain the variations in supply side, as well as demand side characteristics across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STS teaching is at present underdeveloped at the level of secondary education in Britain. This paper suggests that while integrated curricula undeniably present the best opportunity for future STS curriculum design, other possibilities exist which remain substantially unexploited. These possibilities can be ascertained from an analysis of models of secondary school science. Three models -- 'product', 'inquiry' and 'relevance' -- are considered, and suggestions are made about how STS teaching can be developed in each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is sometimes argued that ethnic minorities have a cultural predisposition towards self-employment. However, this is generally not the preferred option for minority groups. We argue that ethnic minorities face a double risk in deciding between employment and self-employment. While their chances in employment leave them exposed to greater risk than the majority group, self-employment, which is inherently risky for all workers, adds to their general risk environment. We demonstrate a negative underpinning to their self-employed activity, showing that minority groups in the UK earn less in self-employment relative to the white British majority, work longer hours, and have lower job satisfaction. They also leave self-employment sooner to take up a job as an employee and use resources such as higher education to stand a better chance in employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much is hypothesised but little is known about the effects of early adversity on school experience, academic attainment and career aspiration for children and young people adopted from care. Drawing on data from Wave 1 of the Youth (10‒15 years old) Questionnaire (n = 4899) from the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS), also known as Understanding Society, this study explored differences between young people adopted (n = 22) and a matched comparison group (n = 110) on measures of educational and occupational aspirations and psychological well-being. Adopted young people reported higher externalising and total difficulties scores (based on the SDQ, Goodman, 1997) than the general population comparison group, but equivalent internalising symptoms. Adopted children were more likely to show an intention to seek full-time work at the end of compulsory schooling. These findings align with previous research regarding the psychological well-being of adopted children, contribute new knowledge about the aspirations of young people adopted from care and highlight methodological issues when utilising large-scale panel survey data for narrowly defined sub-groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years, the education of looked after children in the UK was accorded low priority in care plans. Finally, in the 1980s, this complacency was interrupted when new research revealed shocking details about children’s poor educational attainments. Several initiatives sought to improve this situation and children’s education is now well established on the planning agenda and professional responsibilities have been strengthened. One such innovation is the creation of a virtual school head (VSH) in every local authority to oversee and direct each child’s education in the same way that ordinary heads do for the pupils in their schools. This article discusses the reasons for creating this role and charts the evolution of the relevant legislation and guidance. The author then provides a personal account of her experience as a VSH in an English local authority – fashioning the new role, the opportunities and challenges it affords and the successes and disappointments so far. The article ends with a young person’s account of her educational experiences while in care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analyses of the contesting moment social work faces in the United Kingdom bring to discussion many claims that appear familiar to the context and performance of social work in Chile. This note compares the UK assessment of social work education and professional practice with Chilean social work, concluding that rising demand, high vacancy rates and reliance on agency staff, quality of recruits and training, and low status of the profession are issues shared by both countries, raising the question of how to improve international standards of the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The education of children as future elites after the Restoration was a persistent concern for French émigrés after the Revolution of 1789. Focusing on discourse on émigré education and émigréschools in Britain and the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, this article examines how, in the 1790s, the émigrés' rejection of the Republic and their quest for monarchical restoration resonated in pedagogical activities. Under difficult living conditions and unclear prospects of political exile, education became a consolidating strategy of combating the Revolution with pedagogical means. The social composition, educational programmes, and public representations of émigréschools reveal their pivotal role in émigré community life, involving priests, women, writers, politicians, local supporters -- and children. Comparison between Britain and the Holy Roman Empire allows for differentiating strategies of integration into the host societies and of immunization against revolutionary influences. Education contributed to strengthening the émigrés' identity and mobilizing their hosts for the ideological, military, and humanitarian struggle against the Revolution. The students' later careers call for reconsidering experiences of exile education among the elites of Napoleonic and Restoration France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the discourse of care at The Retreat, York by examining its birth within moral treatment, Quakerism and the birth of asylums. I develop this further by linking these discourses into subsequent movements, namely group analysis and the therapeutic community movement. Through problematizing this history, I offer a new register for considering care in communities and groups by suggesting the use of the pedagogical concept of ‘figured worlds’. By doing so I aim to offer a contemporary view of moral treatment and suggest this is more important than ever given the nature of austerity in our current socio-economic paradigm at the possible end of British neoliberalist politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article examines the working lives of British couple families across the first decade of the millennium using EU Labour Force Survey data (2001–13) taking a multiple equilibria approach. Some growth in dual full-time earners, increased working hours of mothers in part-time employment and a growing proportion of households with ‘non-standard’ working patterns are all identified, suggesting both a convergence and greater diversity in economic provisioning within parent couple households. Household employment patterns remain strongly associated with maternal education and family size but are becoming less sensitive to the age of the youngest child. The dual full-time earner model is growing in significance for British parents of young children but a new gender egalitarian equilibrium has not yet been reached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a rationale for delivering training in play skills to groups of foster carers and adopters, and others who work with children and young people in the care system. The aim is to emphasise the relevance of play for facilitating emotional growth and regulation, and to demonstrate how ‘playing in relationship’ can support children who have experienced abuse or trauma in their primary relationships. The article includes a number of suggestions for activities that can be incorporated into training and discussion of how a playful approach to adult learning can enhance the experience. Evaluation comments by participants are also included and possibilities for future carer training programmes are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper, whose purpose is both substantive and methodological, focuses on changes over a nine year period, drawing on data from two British birth cohorts (individuals born in 1958 and 1970), and, substantively, employs set theoretic methods to explore the extent to which an upward shift in qualifications achieved led to any reduction in the roles class and gender played in the achievement of professional, managerial and technical (PMT) social class destinations in early adulthood. Our methodological purpose is to illustrate how a counterfactual modelling approach can be used together with Ragin's set theoretic methods to provide an alternative way of analysing relationships in this area. We draw on earlier work exploring the extent to which educational achievement was 'meritocratic' with respect to ability for these cohorts (Cooper 2005, 2006). Our configurational account of the causal pathways to various class destinations is set against the background of a simple model of 'meritocracy' (allocation to available class positions by qualifications alone taking account of the empirical marginal distributions). This model allows us to specify, counterfactually, what qualifications would have represented necessary and sufficient conditions in our modelled meritocracy for reaching the PMT class. By comparison of these conditions with the empirically derived necessary and sufficient conditions for achieving these outcomes (using Ragin et al's fs/QCA software) we show that while allocation processes were far from meritocratic in both cohorts, there were some changes in the way both class and gender combined with qualifications as conditions for destinations. We also show that Ragin's configurational methods, focussing on holistically-conceived cases and conjunctural causation rather than on the net effects of independent variables, provide a useful analytic technique for capturing relationships in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the role played by cultural and political experts in producing creativity discourse in Great Britain. It states that the critics deconstruct the creative economy which had little influence on the focus of policy making. According to the author, research in this issue is increasingly becoming institutionalized in education.

Utilizing the Samples of Anonymized Records from the UK 2001 Census, this article presents an analysis of the differential experiences of Muslims in the British labour market as both minority- and majority-group ethnicities in Britain. Using multinomial modelling, this article examines the class distribution (using the NS-SEC scheme) given levels of education and gender. The analysis of ethnicity, age, gender, marital status and number of children in relation to employment suggests that there are no universal characterizations that can be founded on any of these independent variables. Although Pakistanis dominate the demographic profile they are not likely to suffer the greatest. Muslim Black Africans experience harsher conditions and it could be argued that there is an ethnic colour penalty that is greater than the ethnic religion penalty for Muslims. The forces of colour racism remain omnipotent, even when testing for the impact of religion on patterns of employment inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of adults in England describe themselves as affiliated to a religious faith. However, little is known about the influence religion has on family life, particularly in relation to ways in which religion influences the parenting of adolescents. The authors seek to add to the limited body of knowledge by reporting the findings of a qualitative study of young people and parents who held a range of religious beliefs and engaged in varied religious practices. The findings indicate that religious beliefs influence both what parents want for their adolescents, and young people’s lifestyles. Moreover, the perceived views of grandparents and peer and societal pressures on young people inform both parents’ and young people’s attitudes. However, the views of faith leaders do not appear to have an influence. The authors conclude by drawing on the findings of this study to explore ways in which the young people and the parents in the study appeared to negotiate adolescent lifestyle choices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Where working-time options are favourable to part-time ‘mummies’, part-time employment (PT) is likely to expand among other workers. The article adopts a case-oriented comparative approach in the UK and the Netherlands. Efforts to promote PT in the UK are hindered by segmentation and the long-hours culture, but job sharing is promoting an increase in the number of good PT jobs. In the Netherlands, PT is also gendered and segmented; however, access to PT is easier in a context of regulatory support where organizations, already facing short full-time employment and a high rate of PT, are learning to decouple business hours from employees’ shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The education of children in foster care has long been considered problematic. One contributing factor may be the lack of educational support from key adults in these children's lives. High turnover of school and home placements may preclude the presence of a consistent adult who is actively involved in a foster child's education. Moreover, research suggests that education is sometimes viewed as a low priority by carers in comparison with other aspects of a foster child's life. The aim of the study reported here by Cara Osborne, Julia Alfano and Tanya Winn was to address this issue by directly involving carers in supporting their child's literacy skills through the use of a 'paired reading' literacy intervention. Thirty-five carers and children took part in the project over a 16-week period. The results revealed an average improvement in reading age of 12 months during this time, suggesting that the programme offers a constructive way of enhancing foster children's literacy skills. Feedback from carers supported this view and suggested that the impact of the project may extend beyond the realm of literacy per se, resulting in improvements in confidence and motivation as well as reading ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social comparisons influence self-evaluation and social and psychological adjustment to illness but are under-explored in relation to self-skills training group situations. Methods: A longitudinal qualitative study embedded within an RCT of a national programme of lay led self-care support in England (Department of Health, 2001). In-depth interviews were undertaken with a purposeful maximum variation sample of recruits. Data were analysed thematically. Three key themes emerged highlighting (1) the experience of group participation and interaction, (2) the process and (3) function of social comparison. Results: Data highlight the salience of social comparison as an underlying feature of the group dynamics of self-care skills training. The nature, dimensions and scope of social comparisons extend beyond the cognitive states and dimensions traditionally forming the focus of social--psychological approaches to social comparison to include wider dimensions including entitlement to resources. The results confirm the tendency to make positive comparisons that result in beneficial self-evaluations. However, positive comparisons allow respondents to present themselves as socially and morally worthy, which may act to mask the identification of appropriate need and inequalities. Conclusion: Social comparisons function both as an accurate representation of internal cognitive states but also constitutes identity work involving competing values and moral requirements. We show that even those who report significant needs will sometimes portray themselves in a way that suggests positive social comparisons, which fit with a rationed and morally prescriptive and acceptable view of entitlement to NHS services. Such insights suggest that social comparisons in initiatives such as the EPP may be beneficial for some but exacerbate rather than alleviate health inequalities in long-term condition management for others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the status in 2009 of servicing of blacks and minorities by public libraries in Great Britain. It discusses such services in the context of a 1969 research document authored by library professional Claire M. Lambert on the needs of citizens of or immigrants from India and Pakistan. Other major societal issues also are taken into account. It highlights certain observations of current conditions and it documents next steps in the process of ensuring adequate library services to minorities.

Dolores Davey and Andrew Pithouse outline the findings from a longitudinal case study which ran from 2002 to 2006 and explored the educational achievement of all the young people looked after (in foster and residential care) in one local authority in South Wales. Among this group were 14 young people at a point one year before taking their Standard Attainment Tests (SATS), which are applied universally in UK schools. They were then followed up to the age at which they could complete any General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams. Hence, the young people's school history was tracked from the beginning of school Year 9 (sample age 13 years), at the end of which they took their SATS, through to the end of school Year 11 (sample age 15 years), at which point GCSEs are normally taken. This article focuses mainly on the outcome of the SATS and the looked after arrangements of the 14 young people in the year leading to these important tests. The authors' concluding comments refer briefly to their Year 11 outcomes in order to indicate continuities and changes in attainment. The SATs results are presented in a context of school attendance, the type and stability of care placements and education moves. Associations between schooling and separation are explored using an analysis of trajectories and outcomes that reveal how and why some young people clearly achieve while others do not. In doing so, the article seeks to add to studies and policy pronouncements in this field that too often represent looked after children by their collective statistical failure rather than by notable differences in educational outcomes and related circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on research conducted concerning the management of independent secondary school libraries within England and Wales and provides commentary evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. Details of the methodology used are given, citing surveys and interviews along with planned follow-up procedures. Topics documented include project management, policy document production, and administrator opinions on library issues. The challenge of lacking centralized guidelines for independent schooling is mentioned and the primary importance of communication skills among library managers is stressed.

Social pedagogy, still an unfamiliar concept in Britain, is concerned with education in its widest sense, encompassing but going much beyond formal school-based learning. Pat Petrie reports on studies of social pedagogy in four countries conducted at the Thomas Coram Research Unit and discusses potential benefits of the social pedagogic approach for fostering in England. She argues that this would fit well with developing English policy towards children and children in care and can bridge the tensions inherent in foster care, combining a personal, relational approach with an insistence on reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the community work in Britain, 1974. The author has reviewed the work of social work agencies whose workers are busy with one of another aspect of community development, community organization, or community action at a local level. Most professionals who regard themselves as community workers, or who have been officially appointed as such, are generally either social workers with a professional training in social work, or people employed in vocational training, adult education or youth work. In the present rather chaotic situation of community work in Great Britain and Ireland, it is worth remembering two questions that are very often forgotten. The grand decisions about regional economic development, the questions concerning the exploitation of natural resources (too often for short-term profit), those concerning the granting of investment funds these are the decisions which exercise the biggest influence on the future of citizens. Such decisions must be constantly reviewed and supervised in a democratic and vigilant way.

Ethnic minority under-representation in British politics is apparent at both local and national level. This article focuses on the candidate selection procedures of the main parties to assess explanations of under-representation and account for the development of a critique, by the Labour Party, of the 'liberal' paradigm that underpins candidate selection. Labour have developed a positive action strategy to promote women's candidacy. This article contends that the development of such a critique has clear implications for other under-represented groups, such as ethnic minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news updates relating to medicine in Great Britain. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) made First5 programme that supports new general practitioners from training completion to revalidation. Medical proof is no longer required for pupils who miss medical school exams. The Medications and Healthcare Products Regulation Agency (MHRA) drug update notified possible interactions of orlistat, an anti-obesity drug, with levothyroxine.