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Information and communication technologies have transformed higher education providing e‐mechanisms to support the delivery of content, communication and interaction. One example is the widespread adoption of virtual learning environments (VLEs) by higher education institutions to provide a key interface among learners, the content and tutors. The aim of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of the design of educational systems for work based learning (WBL) from the learner's perspective. The study includes consideration of the use of technology to support the work based learning process for the learner.

Case studies from four postgraduate programmes and one undergraduate programme within the School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences (CEIS) at Northumbria University are presented. Key results from a survey of students on these programmes are discussed.

The results demonstrate that there are different motivations for this type of provision when compared with more conventional higher education programmes. In this digital age, technology should be a key enabling factor and students expect its adoption to support the learning process. However, academic institutions and staff are still not fully exploiting the possibilities of new media technologies through adapting their approaches to learning.

Traditionally the WBL concept has focused on two of the stakeholder contexts, namely the learner and the academic environment. Consideration of the other two important stakeholder contexts: the workplace and the external environment could significantly enrich the student experience and overall effectiveness of WBL delivery. The current study aims to address this deficit by considering all four stakeholders contexts in one model in order to evaluate the effectiveness of design of educational systems for WBL. This paper presents the first of these stakeholder contexts, the learner experience.

This paper examines the functioning of performance ratings of the human resources (HR) function of National Health Service (NHS). In particular, it looks at the star ratings system and the response of workplace HR managers to this system.

The paper uses a qualitative, cross‐sectional methodology. Human resource managers in 17 different NHS trusts, as well as senior civil servants, were interviewed.

The paper finds that poor data quality and inconsistent incentives make the ratings of limited relevance in either evaluating or driving the performance of the hospital HR function.

The research highlights the value of assessing government policies from the perspective of those affected by them.

The evidence shows that the application of performance indicators does not meet the stated government objectives. Also, the unanimity across managers in differently rated trusts shows that criticisms are not limited to those who received poor ratings.

In examining the perceptions and practice of performance indicators, from their formulation to execution, the paper shows that problems with these ratings may occur at a number of points in the process.

This study aims to investigate the views of commissioners, providers and criminal justice staff on how effective current health-care provision is at meeting the health needs of people on probation. Understanding perceptions of what constitutes effective provision, where barriers are encountered and where improvements could be made is an important step towards improving access to care for this hard-to-reach group.

The research was part of a wider study. This paper focusses on findings from case studies conducted via semi-structured telephone interviews with 24 stakeholders in a purposive sample from six geographical areas of England. Interviews were conducted by researchers from a variety of backgrounds and an individual with lived experience of the criminal justice system. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Participants provided examples of effective health-care provision, which largely involved multi-agency partnership working. It was apparent that there are many barriers to providing appropriate health-care provision to people on probation, which are underpinned by the complexity of this population’s health-care needs, the complexity of the health-care landscape and problematic commissioning processes.

Improvements are needed to provide appropriate and accessible health care that meets the needs of people on probation, thereby reducing health inequalities. These include shared targets, improved funding, clearer pathways into care and giving probation a voice in commissioning.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of commissioner, provider and criminal justice staffs’ views on the effectiveness of current health-care provision at meeting the health needs of people on probation.

As our correspondent on another page suggests, the economic crisis may have reactions upon libraries. The most obvious one he mentions is the increased difficulty we shall experience in obtaining American books. Not all libraries, public or private, make any special collection of books published in the United States, although there has been an increasing tendency to buy more as the relations of the two countries have grown closer through their common struggle; in fact, we know libraries which have spent many hundreds of pounds in the course of the past year or two on the select lists of books which have been made for us by American librarians. It is most unfortunate that the manipulation of dollar currency should have brought about a situation in which even the exchange of ideas between the countries becomes more difficult. One suggestion might be made and that is that our American colleagues should continue to sift the literature of this time of famine for us, so that further select lists may be available in better days.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential to develop a shared understanding of systemic discrimination and the complexity of equality and an appreciation for the range of interventions designed to redress inequality within the context of business school curricula.

Qualitative material was gathered over a four-year period through written reflections of student interpretations of equality. Participants were enroled in a human resource management (HRM) course critically examining systemic gender discrimination, women’s organisational experiences, gendered employment outcomes and the range of interventions designed to redress gendered employment outcomes. Threshold concepts framed the analysis of participant reflections.

The paper shows that while the participants developed a shared understanding of systemic gender discrimination, their interpretations of equality and appreciation for the range of interventions available to redress inequality differed. These differences were shaped by the extent to which participants integrated their understanding of systemic discrimination with their interpretations of equality, and the extent to which the interventions to inequality transformed, upheld or challenged participant agendic self-identity and world view.

The study provides support for continued use of equality as a construct in both research and teaching settings. The study highlights that unequal outcomes are an enduring phenomena, and that introducing the notion of equality to the classroom helps develop student’s ability to understand dynamics of discrimination in the workplace. The limitations of the study relate to the sample size, and dependence on a single specialist HRM course, in addition to the specific New Zealand context.

The differences in interpretations have implications for the way educators introduce discussions of equality within the business school classroom.

The paper demonstrates that developing a shared understanding of systemic discrimination does not always lead to developing a shared understanding of the complexity of equality or appreciation for the many forms of interventions available.

A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that contract. When such a repudiation has been accepted by the innocent party then a termination of employment takes place. Such termination does not constitute dismissal (see London v. James Laidlaw & Sons Ltd (1974) IRLR 136 and Gannon v. J. C. Firth (1976) IRLR 415 EAT).

Health is becoming an increasingly important issue in the UK as well as the rest of Europe. Emphasis on the importance of healthy eating is ongoing for many reasons, including the growing concern about childhood obesity resulting in the ban of advertising of unhealthy foods to children in the UK in April 2007. However, although legislation has been placed upon the advertising of unhealthy food products, no such restrictions have been placed on the packaging of children's foods despite the influence of packaging on consumer buyer decisions. This paper aims to investigate the effect of packaging on children's product preferences and its ability to influence parents' buyer decision in‐store.

The study was approached from the parents' rather than the children's perspective. A quantitative approach was adopted in data collection, using a 28 item Likert scaled questionnaire administered to 150 parents, with over 95 percent response rate.

The study shows that packaging does affect the product preferences of children. Also, children are particularly interested in influencing the purchase of unhealthy foods. However, parents within the study claimed that they did not succumb to their children's requests for the purchase of unhealthy food, which contradicts evidence from previous findings.

The claim by parents that they did not succumb to their children's requests for unhealthy food contradicts findings from previous research. This therefore leads to a recommendation for further studies as social desirability bias may have influenced the outcomes of the findings.

Findings from this study can be applied within the retail and service marketing sector to provide the practitioner with information relevant to decision making on children's influence on parents buyer behavior in‐store. Outcomes of the study are also important when considering the future of children's food marketing and tackling the issue of childhood obesity.

The paper demonstrates that there is a relationship between packaging and children product preferences and children's influence on parents' buyer decision in‐store.

Many universities are in the process of changing their learning management systems to Moodle yet there is limited empirical research available on the impact of this change. The purpose of this paper is to explore the results of an initial pilot, which was conducted as the first stage of implementing Moodle at an Australian university.

The pilot study involved an online survey and a focus group with unit convenors teaching Open University Australia (OUA) units in Moodle.

The aim was to essentially test Moodle and eliminate any technological issues prior to the university-wide roll-out the following year. It was envisaged that this pilot would contribute to building capability and knowledge amongst staff members; however, it was unanticipated that this would be jeopardised by a wider and ongoing issue in higher education; namely, the casualisation of the academic workforce. The paper maps the accumulated knowledge of these unit convenors and how this knowledge is “walking out the door”.

The paper argues that an environment of insecure employment is a barrier to change management.

The major contribution of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework to coachee success and to identify the most relevant resources for coachee success.

This article attempts to determine the constructs of coaching success through a systematic literature review. The review identified 1,048,880 papers. From these, the authors selected 39 articles for the research. From these articles, the main elements of coaching success were identified.

The main elements of coaching success are coach quality, coachee engagement, coaching process, coaching reflection, behaviors resulting from coaching and coachee success. Coach quality, coaching process and coachee are often considered as key variables to success. Coachee's behavior is linked to performance but approaches to effectful coaching vary.

Coachee success is connected with the coach's emotional skills and the formality process. Success requires communication, interpersonal relationship, planning, goal setting and progress monitoring. An interplay between the coach and the coachee's emotional skills and the formality process enables success. In business, where employees usually work in their chosen profession, coaching is a tool for education and improvement that brings positive results to the organization.

On a personal level, it can lead to greater self-knowledge and to improvement in the quality of life. Coaching as a facilitator of the coachee's success must be more than a process in itself. It is a way of allowing the coachee to make a critical contribution in a broader context to an organizational culture that values human capital.

It contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms that lead to success in coaching. This systematic review adds to the few articles found on coachee success from over a million papers analyzed. It offers a proposed theoretical framework to coachee success, through a holistic approach.