Mary Turner, Nigel King, Dara Mojtahedi, Viv Burr, Victoria Gall, Graham R. Gibbs, Lara Flynn Hudspith, Chelsea Beatrice Leadley and Tammi Walker
In the past decade, there has been growing awareness of well-being and its importance and an increase in the development of activities or programmes aimed at improving well-being…
Abstract
Purpose
In the past decade, there has been growing awareness of well-being and its importance and an increase in the development of activities or programmes aimed at improving well-being. The purpose of this study is to investigate what well-being programmes were being offered to prisoners in England and Wales and what benefits and other outcomes were experienced.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a mixed-methods exploratory design in two phases. Phase 1 was a questionnaire survey of all adult prisons in England and Wales, completed by prison staff. In Phase 2, a sample of survey respondents took part in in-depth interviews.
Findings
The programmes identified in Phase 1 included physical activities, creative arts, mindfulness, horticulture, reading and animal-assisted activities. Prison staff reported a range of universally positive outcomes shared by all programmes, including enthusiasm from prisoners, enjoyment of the activities and being able to do something different from the usual prison routine. However, in Phase 2, interviewees rarely mentioned direct health and well-being benefits. The impetus for programmes was varied and there was little reference to national policy on health and well-being; this reflected the ad hoc way in which programmes are developed, with a key role being played by the Well-being Officer, where these were funded.
Originality/value
The literature on well-being programmes in prisons is limited and tends to focus on specific types of initiatives, often in a single prison. This study contributes by highlighting the range of activities across prisons and elucidating the perspectives of those involved in running such programmes.
Details
Keywords
It has been at least twenty years since I was first alerted to the notion that my interest in a research topic arises from my unconscious. More recently, feminist theorists have…
Abstract
It has been at least twenty years since I was first alerted to the notion that my interest in a research topic arises from my unconscious. More recently, feminist theorists have developed the insight by arguing that integration of experience is helpful in defining research questions, as a source of data, to test findings and, in the words of Jean Bethke Elshtain, in assisting them to be less removed from the ‘wellsprings’ of their own ‘thought and action’. My aim in this article is to reconnect my experience with constructions of teachers in Australian children’s literature and to explore ways in which they are imagined in the literature. In my initial foray into this topic, I used Maurice Saxby’s historical review of Australian children’s literature as a guide for data gathering. This linear, chronological approach, while probably a helpful place to start, is not one I can sustain with any passion. In this article, I am returning to my experience to find a starting point, acknowledging that history is a ‘process of intellectual production as well as discovery’
Details
Keywords
Purpose – The purpose of this research was to make visible the process of analyzing our narratives of teacher identity.Design/methodology/approach – These narratives of teacher…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this research was to make visible the process of analyzing our narratives of teacher identity.
Design/methodology/approach – These narratives of teacher identity were generated by isolating critical incidents and then drafting them as emblematic narratives. They were then shared with each other and compared against the tool of chronotopic motif developed by Bakhtin.
Findings – We found that our narratives, when filtered through the tool of chronotopic motif, reveal ambivalence about whether we desire to be known or unknown as teacher educators and as people. As we unpack our findings, we move through the tool of chronotopic motif, piece by piece, illuminating our stories by themselves, in relationship with each other, and against the professional literature on teacher educator identity and identity in general.
Practical implications – As teacher educators, we think it is important for others, particularly students, to be known. However, we are ambivalent about whether we want to be known and if so, by whom, and in what pockets of space and temporality.
Social implications – This research has implications for discussions of professional identity, role confusion in teacher education, and professional women in general. It adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that identity is a holistic process that factors heavily into what happens in the context of teacher education courses at a university.
Originality/value – Our chapter demonstrates to colleagues how to conduct a narrative analysis using a tool from literary theory.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Details
Keywords
Researchers of the history of women teachers have included fiction, as well as memoirs and history, as an important part of that testimony. The aim of this article is to examine…
Abstract
Researchers of the history of women teachers have included fiction, as well as memoirs and history, as an important part of that testimony. The aim of this article is to examine the novel, Anne of Avonlea (1925) by Lucy Maude Montgomery as both a source of information about the working life of a woman teacher and, due to the immense popularity of the book, as a shaper of how women understand and enact teaching. Anne is a young teacher in her first posting consisting of a rural Canadian one‐ teacher school. She struggles to resist using corporal punishment in favour of winning her students respect, stimulating their minds and finding a ‘genius’. However, the local community, fellow teachers and her students have different notions of how teachers should behave. Her beliefs are further undermined when in a fit of anger she succumbs to beating one her students. Her reflections on what drove her actions are realistic and contain warnings for contemporary teachers to appreciate the often fragile hold they have on their espoused educational philosophy. Another danger revealed is the unconscious leaking of the shadow side of the psyche in the necessary close but dangerous relationships between students and teacher thereby providing a complex view of what motivates young women to teach and how they approach their work.
Details
Keywords
This chapter addresses the issue of how special collective ritual events operate and influence actors’ emotional states and commitment to a group. It is argued that in such events…
Abstract
This chapter addresses the issue of how special collective ritual events operate and influence actors’ emotional states and commitment to a group. It is argued that in such events (e.g., rallies, holiday celebrations, and religious ceremonies) the greater the emotional intensity experienced by persons, the greater will be their commitment to and solidarity within the group. A model is proposed, which identifies several factors involved in such a process. The model builds on a body of theory and research, “structural ritualization theory (SRT),” which focuses on the role symbolic rituals play in social interaction and the generation and transformation of social structure. Four factors play a crucial role in the model: focus of attention, interactional pace, interdependence, and resources. Several of these factors also involve subcomponents that are identified and discussed. Attention is directed to how the formulation presented here is influenced by, and differs in certain ways from, classic and contemporary analysts including those working in the areas of social psychology and the sociology of emotions. Various examples are provided to illustrate the ability of the model to understand collective ritual events. Directions for further theory development and possible research investigating the arguments of the theory are also discussed.
Over the last two decades, women's issues such as education, employment, pay equity, sexuality, lifestyle, housing, economics, environmental safety, health, child‐rearing…
Abstract
Over the last two decades, women's issues such as education, employment, pay equity, sexuality, lifestyle, housing, economics, environmental safety, health, child‐rearing practices, reproductive rights, military service, and criminal justice have become a major focus of public policy at every level. There has been equal interest about women of various ethnic backgrounds, women in other countries, and women's writing. There have been burgeoning social and political demands for research, scholarship, and activism on women‐related topics. To meet these demands, universities and colleges started interdisciplinary women's studies programs. Sheila Tobias, a leading scholar in the field of women's studies, defines it this way:
With this number the Library Review enters on its ninth year, and we send greetings to readers at home and abroad. Though the magazine was started just about the time when the…
Abstract
With this number the Library Review enters on its ninth year, and we send greetings to readers at home and abroad. Though the magazine was started just about the time when the depression struck the world, its success was immediate, and we are glad to say that its circulation has increased steadily every year. This is an eminently satisfactory claim to be able to make considering the times through which we have passed.
Alan D. Smith and William T. Rupp
The application service provider (ASP) industry is a fairly young entry into the IT and automatic identification and data capture industries. There are various types of ASPs: EASP…
Abstract
The application service provider (ASP) industry is a fairly young entry into the IT and automatic identification and data capture industries. There are various types of ASPs: EASP (Enterprise ASP) provides enterprise‐class software and applications such as CRM (customer relationship management) and e‐procurement and B2B (business‐to‐business) exchanges; FSP (full‐service provider) provides full service systems integration and IT management services in addition to ASP service; and VASP (vertical ASP) which targets a vertical industry such as a financial services industry. Strategy experts predict that those ASP companies that will not only survive, but will thrive, are those companies that become “business solutions partners” with their customers. ASPs become such partners through enhancing a company’s value. Using Porter’s generic value chain and cost analysis concepts in the development of competitive advantage, this paper examines and models the nature of how ASPs add their own value to a company’s overall competitive strategy by reducing costs within the company’s value chain.