Rebecca Andrews, Fay Hadley, Manjula Waniganayake, Iain Hay, Catherine Jones and Xinyun Meg Liang
Retention of early childhood teachers in Australia is a critical issue, particularly for new teachers. The demanding nature of new teachers’ everyday work and high rates of stress…
Abstract
Purpose
Retention of early childhood teachers in Australia is a critical issue, particularly for new teachers. The demanding nature of new teachers’ everyday work and high rates of stress and burnout have resulted in teachers leaving the sector. By designing a formal mentoring project, our aim was to support teachers to stay and flourish as respected professionals. This paper presents findings from the perspective of the mentees – new teachers in their first five years of employment in the sector.
Design/methodology/approach
We designed and offered a two-phase multi-layered mentoring project to 145 new teachers (mentees) matched with 51 experienced teachers (mentors). It began with a mentor training course implemented by three experienced early childhood education academics and utilised a community of practice approach (Lave and Wenger, 1991). Data collected throughout the project included a pre- and post-survey and a needs satisfaction and frustration scale.
Findings
Analysis of survey data shows that mentee new teachers gained a better understanding of their role and built connections with peers and leaders. Survey data also demonstrates that effective mentoring can successfully contribute to addressing workforce challenges faced by early childhood teachers.
Originality/value
The project makes an original contribution through the design, implementation and evaluation of an innovative online mentoring project for teachers employed across the state of New South Wales, Australia.
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Michelle Mielly, Catherine Jones, Mark Smith and Vikram Basistha
This paper aims to explore the experience of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) moving from the global South to the global North. It considers the relationship between country of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the experience of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) moving from the global South to the global North. It considers the relationship between country of origin and host country, the role of non-traditional destinations and the choices made by SIEs.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews were conducted with Indian SIEs and key experts to explore the motives, identities and life narratives of skilled expatriate Indians in France.
Findings
The results shed light on how individuals’ careers are fashioned through the intersection of identities; highlighting the interplay between country of origin and the host country as a catalyst in SIEs’ choice of destination. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate a strategic form of agency exercised through these SIEs’ choice of an unconventional destination.
Research limitations/implications
The intricate nature of SIE trajectories holds implications for migration theory, diaspora studies and career theory. SIEs from the Global South adopt varying strategies linked to specific host-country career offerings, often in sharp contrast with home-country opportunities.
Practical implications
The results inform managerial and policy-maker understandings of career motivations for mobile skilled workers moving for career and lifestyle. For countries seeking to attract talent, the findings demonstrate the roles of host-country immigration policy, country reputation and perceived career opportunities.
Originality/value
This study helps address research gaps in relation self-initiated expatriation from the Global South to the North. At the same time, it identifies the potential for transitional spaces and the relationship between countries, identity-formation factors and career agency. These findings on France as a transitional space – one of intermediacy and in-betweenness, where self-identity and future career projections can be re-imagined and reshaped – shed new light on how SIEs and their movements can be conceptualized.
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Kate Mackenzie Davey and Catherine Jones
The purpose of this paper is to examine how refugees from a professional career domain restore a coherent narrative when confronting barriers to recognition of their former career…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how refugees from a professional career domain restore a coherent narrative when confronting barriers to recognition of their former career status. It focuses in particular on the identity work in which they engage in order to reconcile tensions between their current status as refugees and their professional identity.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 15 refugees to the UK who were professionally qualified in medicine or teaching in their country of origin took part in interviews or focus groups exploring career barriers, plans and future aspirations. Initial inductive thematic analysis identified recognition of professional identities as a primary concern. Further analytic iterations between theory and empirical material sharpened the focus on identifying the tensions in their professional identity work.
Findings
Participants struggled both to restore their former professional identity and to develop alternative identities. Professional identity work limited, but also sustained them in the face of barriers they encountered as refugees.
Practical implications
More support for refugee career development would facilitate adaptation to local job markets, thereby addressing gaps in education and health services in the UK.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the tensions in refugee professional identity work and particularly the challenges and rewards of professional identification in the face of employment barriers.
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Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
The article offers some interesting insights into a comparatively new approach to teaching, without coming to any definitive conclusions. It will probably come as a relief to many readers to see that limits to the value of e‐teaching have been observed.
Practical implications
Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.
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Automating for the first time, Isle College chose IME's TINlib library management system on the evidence of its ease of use for end‐users. After almost six months of live use a…
Abstract
Automating for the first time, Isle College chose IME's TINlib library management system on the evidence of its ease of use for end‐users. After almost six months of live use a questionnaire was distributed to student and staff users of the OPAC in order to assess the effectiveness of the system and its user friendliness; a series of face‐to‐face interviews supplemented the questionnaire data. The results showed a substantial increase in borrowing since automation and gave some pointers as to how the effectiveness of the system could be improved still further.
Morag McGrath, Gordon Grant, Paul Ramcharan, Kerry Caldock, Beth Parry‐Jones and Catherine Robinson
Based on a postal survey in 1995 of all front‐line staff in Wales with an assessment and/or care management role, findings are reported about how tasks and roles were…
Abstract
Based on a postal survey in 1995 of all front‐line staff in Wales with an assessment and/or care management role, findings are reported about how tasks and roles were operationalised following the full introduction of the new community care in April 1993. Further information was obtained by interviews with managers in health and social services. Only a fifth of social services posts were designated or titled as care management posts. The majority of these workers were located in services for elderly and physically disabled people. Although few had a specific budget, the majority considered that they had greater control over financial resources than before April 1993. The analysis of tasks undertaken by front‐line staff shows that there remains a broad overlap between the roles of care managers and social workers. The results highlight the nature of increasing demands on staff and raise issues about the impact of increased workloads and administration on service quality. They also highlight tensions between care management and traditional professional roles. Some pointers for continuing debate are provided.
1. The Committee was informed that the manufacture of shredded suet from imported premier jus is subject to control by licence and that it is a condition of the licences that the…
Abstract
1. The Committee was informed that the manufacture of shredded suet from imported premier jus is subject to control by licence and that it is a condition of the licences that the product shall contain not less than 83 per cent. of fat. This figure was adopted in 1931 by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists pending the establishment of a legal standard. 2. In the manufacture of shredded suet premier jus the fat is forced into shreds or granules and a cereal or amylaceous filler is added so as to form a coating over the particles of fat, thus preventing them from adhering together and at the same time retarding the development of rancidity. 3. The amount of filler taken up by the shredded fat depends primarily on its stickiness, which in turn depends on the temperature at which the manufacturing process is conducted. Manufacturers must give special attention to the problem of securing uniformity of distribution, otherwise part of a batch will take up more than its share of the amount of filler allowed by the manufacturing formula. In spite of all practicable care, complete uniformity cannot be ensured and some tolerance is therefore necessary to allow for unavoidable variations. 4. The proportion of filler used in the past by different manufacturers has varied considerably. A purchaser of shredded suet is primarily purchasing fat and it is desirable that the fat content shall be the maximum that can be included whilst still retaining good keeping properties. The Committee is of the opinion that shredded suet, to be of satisfactory quality, should not contain substantially less than 85 percent. of fat, and that a product approximating to this standard will have the necessary keeping properties. The Committee is satisfied that the allowance of 2 per cent. for uneven distribution on and among the shreds, which was adopted by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts in 1931, is reasonable, and understands that it is considered adequate by the manufacturers of shredded suet. 5. A small amount of suet (i.e., natural unrendered fat), received by butchers as part of their meat allocation, is chopped or minced, and in the latter case mixed with cereal filler and sold under the description “shredded suet.” By whichever method it is prepared it differs from the shredded suet made from premier jus by reason of the presence of membrane and moisture. If made by chopping it will contain more fat than the product made from premier jus, but if made by mincing and admixture with a filler it is likely to contain less owing to the membrane and moisture in the raw material and the impracticability of analytical control. 6. It was suggested to the Committee that the use of the description shredded suet for the products made by butchers was misleading and that the name should be restricted to the product made from premier jus. The Committee is, however, of the opinion that the general public would be equally satisfied whether the product supplied in response to a demand for shredded suet had been prepared with premier jus or suet. Further, it is considered that a purchaser of shredded suet is not prejudiced if he receives a product containing membrane and moisture provided he also receives the appropriate amount of fat. It therefore does not appear to the Committee that there is any necessity, from the viewpoint of protecting the public in regard to quality, for recommending the imposition of this restriction. 7. The Committee noted that the statement issued by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts included an expression of opinion that “the nature of any admixture to suet should be declared.” This recommendation is, however, outside the terms of reference of the Committee and no comment is therefore made thereon. 8. The Committee accordingly recommends that shredded suet should be required to contain not less than 83 per cent. of fat.
Norah Jones, Esyin Chew, Catherine Jones and Alice Lau
Using the analogy of e‐learning as “the perfect storm”, the aim of this paper is to explore the disruptive nature of e‐learning in higher education.
Abstract
Purpose
Using the analogy of e‐learning as “the perfect storm”, the aim of this paper is to explore the disruptive nature of e‐learning in higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking a case study of a university, the paper explores the movement from an e‐intensive approach to e‐learning into an on‐campus blended learning approach. What are the lessons for higher education and how responsive are we to the new challenges. Is blended learning creating a new stability after change, or is it placing the university in the eye of the storm, a still small moment within an ongoing change process?
Findings
The paper presents findings from the E‐College Wales (ECW) project, looking at the disruptive effect on such a learning organisation from student, staff and management perspectives. It concludes by moving the focus from the e‐intensive ECW project to focus on the developments during the first year of a blended learning project and the disruption endemic in such a development
Originality/value
The paper will be of special interest to the blended learning policy maker, practitioners and educators. It includes a journey of a case study concerning blended learning.
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Ken Jones and Catherine Fallona
This chapter examines the University of Southern Maine's experience seeking national accreditation through the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). We share positive…
Abstract
This chapter examines the University of Southern Maine's experience seeking national accreditation through the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). We share positive benefits from the process as well as the opportunity costs that come with the large commitment of time, energy, and resources to a national accreditation process. In conclusion, we discuss what there is to learn from our case that can shed light on the issue of how the accreditation process contributes to or detracts from developing a professionalized teacher corps through colleges of education.