Qudsia Enayat, Kate Yorke, Dolores Mullen, Alireza Talebi, Steve Willner, Jon Dunn, Sum Yee Chan, Joseph Heskin, Katy Sinka, Stephanie J. Migchelsen, Hamish Mohammed and Chantal Edge
People in prison face a disproportionate risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but there is a paucity of evidence on trends in STIs in prisons in England. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
People in prison face a disproportionate risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but there is a paucity of evidence on trends in STIs in prisons in England. This study aims to describe trends in chlamydia test-positivity and syphilis prevalence by using two different methodologies in prison settings.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used routinely collected chlamydia surveillance data reported by all primary diagnostic laboratories in England from 2018 to 2022 to identify tests undertaken in prisons. Separately, this study used data from a pilot syphilis serology pilot study of four prisons in England. A descriptive analysis was undertaken to describe chlamydia test-positivity and syphilis seroprevalence by demographic characteristics.
Findings
Between 2018 and 2022, the number of chlamydia tests carried out in prisons increased by 2.0% (17,177–17,514) whilst the number of positive diagnoses decreased by 12.0% (957–840). The overall test-positivity in 2022 was 4.8% (840/17,514) which was marginally lower than that of the community; test-positivity was highest in 15–19 year-olds. Overall, syphilis prevalence was 3.9% (43/1064). Prevalence was highest in the women’s prison site at 6.4% 27/398). The range in male prison sites was between 0.5% and 3.5%.
Originality/value
Use of two methods enabled us to better understand the burden of STIs in a vulnerable population. Chlamydia test positivity was marginally lower than community levels but still indicated a high burden of infection, in particular for the 15–24 age group. Syphilis prevalence was high across all age groups in prisons, highlighting the need for more systematic assessment of STIs in prisons to allow for earlier identification and treatment of infections.
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This paper introduces a new approach to embedding employability by extracting from higher education curriculum the knowledge, attributes, skills and experience that employers…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper introduces a new approach to embedding employability by extracting from higher education curriculum the knowledge, attributes, skills and experience that employers value. The Extracted Employability concept enables academics to surface the innate employability value of what they already teach across all curriculums, disciplines and programmes, enabling students to prepare better for work and make more effective career decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
Manual textual analysis of all UK Quality Assurance Agency Subject Benchmark Statements surfaced a database of common descriptors for defining and articulating the innate employability value of higher education curriculum, enriching language in attributes and transferable skills.
Findings
Extracted Employability enables academics to articulate the employability value of their existing curriculum without sacrificing rigour or integrity, which is particularly of concern in research-led universities. Piloting the concept, a database of attributes and transferable skills enabled academics to surface significantly greater value for students from curriculum in the language employers recognise, addressing the perceived “skills gap”.
Practical implications
Students, particularly studying subjects not professionally-aligned, will find it easier to connect the extracted employability value of their curriculum with what employers are looking for. Academics can use richer language of skills for creating learning outcomes that also have employability value.
Social implications
Surfacing employability through curriculum makes it structurally unavoidable for all students to engage with, supporting social mobility and enabling students to realise more effectively the value of their higher education in work.
Originality/value
Research and practice on employability has derived from a position outside academic curriculum established by Knight and Yorke (2003), but this approach redefines employability from within academic curriculum.
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This paper introduces a new approach to extracting the employability value of school/further education (FE) curriculums, using textual analysis to surface the transferable skills…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper introduces a new approach to extracting the employability value of school/further education (FE) curriculums, using textual analysis to surface the transferable skills from UK curriculum documentation. The higher education extracted employability concept already established by the author is applied to help learners articulate the skills value of their knowledge-focused qualifications, closing the gap between the academic learning and the workplace. Proposals for additions to existing curriculum documentation would enable delivery of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD's) aspiration to embed skill development in school education.
Design/methodology/approach
Manual textual analysis of United Kingdom A Level, General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and Scottish academic qualifications surfaced a database of transferable skills, which are categorised, and their interrelationships were analysed.
Findings
Relatively few skills are explicitly articulated in curriculum documentation, revealing issues for learners recognising and articulating transferable skills. Extracted employability surfaces significant value from curriculum by identifying over 200 transferable skills, framed in the language employers recognise, thus closing the perceived “skills gap”. Comparisons reveal significantly greater diversity of skills innate to subjects perceived as “less academic”.
Practical implications
Learners will find it easier to recognise a comprehensive language of transferable skills, aligned with what employers need, and fundamental to career decision-making through understanding the relationships between academic qualifications and work.
Social implications
Learners who understand the wider value of their qualifications beyond knowledge focus, particularly in relation to transferable skills, are better able to be join, navigate and be agile in a challenging employment market.
Originality/value
Higher education (HE) concepts of employability are not well-established or understood in schools. This new approach articulates it through transferable skills within existing academic curriculum.
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The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains…
Abstract
The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.
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The Teaching Excellence Framework was explicitly introduced as a mechanism to ‘enhance teaching’ in universities. This chapter suggests, however, that the highly complex ‘black…
Abstract
The Teaching Excellence Framework was explicitly introduced as a mechanism to ‘enhance teaching’ in universities. This chapter suggests, however, that the highly complex ‘black box’ methodology used to calculate TEF outcomes effectively blunts its purpose as a policy lever. As a result, TEF appears to function primarily as performative policy act, merely gesturing towards a concern with social mobility. Informed by the data and metrics driven Deliverology approach to public management, I suggest the opacity of the TEF's assessment approach enables policymakers to distance themselves from and sidestep the wicked problems raised by the complicated contexts of contemporary higher education learning and teaching. At the same time, however, I argue that the very indeterminacy through which the framework achieves this sleight of hand creates a space in which engaged teaching practitioners can push through a more progressive approach to inclusive success.
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Joan M. Phillips, Thomas J. Reynolds and Kate Reynolds
The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how the segmentation of voters based on decision‐making processes, using means‐end laddering research innovations and real‐time…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how the segmentation of voters based on decision‐making processes, using means‐end laddering research innovations and real‐time interactive online interviewing, can aid in the formation of political communications strategy, including theme and message development.
Design/methodology/approach
To demonstrate the application of these innovations in a political context, the paper uses data from a sample of 114 voters who were interviewed during the 2004 US presidential election campaign. The paper draws on three recent innovations to the means‐end laddering methodology: elicitation questioning techniques that allow for a decision equity analysis between targeted groups; decision segmentation analysis; and real‐time interactive online interviewing; and applies them to an electoral context. It provides an interpretation of the identified decision segments and an exposition of how these common networks of meaning can serve as the basis for targeted theme and message development.
Findings
These three innovations, in concert, were found to provide an efficient set of methods to serve as the foundation for the campaign message development process.
Originality/value
This paper provides deterministic research techniques for campaign strategists who want to understand voter decision making and demonstrates a combination of methodological and technological innovations that addresses the time, cost, and geographic limitations often associated with conducting voter decision making research.
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Jiwei Jenny Shi, Yudong Chen, Elena Kate Gifford and Hui Jin
The purpose of this paper is to obtain a shared understanding of entrepreneurship education and to evaluate the effectiveness of employability and enterprise division in current…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to obtain a shared understanding of entrepreneurship education and to evaluate the effectiveness of employability and enterprise division in current fashion courses and amongst the students between a British and a Chinese university (UClan and SCAU).
Design/methodology/approach
It is a three‐stage action‐oriented PMI2 project (Second Prime Minister's Initiative for International Education) in fashion entrepreneurship, which was funded by the British Council. This paper presents the findings of the first stage of the research project. A combination of literature reviews, participant observation, semi‐structured interviews and focus groups were employed to deliver the results at this stage.
Findings
The findings represent similarities and differences between UClan and SCAU related to enterprise entrepreneurship education: identify rationale of evaluating fashion entrepreneurship education; and clarify a shared understanding of entrepreneurship education and the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications
Due to geographical restrictions and limited resources, smaller‐scale samples were selected to gain a deeper insight into different approaches to fashion enterprise and entrepreneurship education between UClan and SCAU.
Practical implications
This research will be valuable to academics who wish to develop or enhance fashion entrepreneurship education, in particular with regards to forging links between universities in the UK and China.
Social implications
This paper will increase awareness of fashion entrepreneurship amongst students, graduates and academics.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the current knowledge and best practice of fashion entrepreneurship education.
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Mr. Cutter commences his classic “Rules” with a statement of the objects some or all of which a catalogue is intended to compass. I have put these objects in the form of “wants,”…
Abstract
Mr. Cutter commences his classic “Rules” with a statement of the objects some or all of which a catalogue is intended to compass. I have put these objects in the form of “wants,” confining them, it will be observed, to the catalogue considered merely as a finding list I may go to the catalogue, then, with any of the following half‐dozen wants:—
THE MOST problematic aspect of compiling this bibliography was defining the areas of librarianship covered by the term outreach. This leads one to ask whether it should be…
Abstract
THE MOST problematic aspect of compiling this bibliography was defining the areas of librarianship covered by the term outreach. This leads one to ask whether it should be necessary to draw a line between traditional library service and outreach activities. The answer to this is already becoming apparent. Activities which were previously defined by the terms of “outreach” or “extension” are now accepted as an essential element of the library service. If the public library service is to fulfil the function which its name implies this is a trend which must continue.