This paper seeks to present the Apprenticeships Task Force's (ATF's) evaluation of the business case for recruiting and training apprentices. The focus is on whether they provide…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to present the Apprenticeships Task Force's (ATF's) evaluation of the business case for recruiting and training apprentices. The focus is on whether they provide employers in the UK with a positive return on investment in key performance areas.
Design/methodology/approach
The ATF asked nine members, senior executives of large and smaller companies across various sectors in the economy, to provide evidence that their apprentices add value to business performance. Their information was based on company research, including financial and other performance data comparing apprentices with non‐apprentices.
Findings
The case studies provide compelling evidence that apprenticeships deliver strong business benefits such as increased productivity and staff retention, reduced costs and a more diverse workforce. Other benefits include: increased profits – BT estimated they gained a higher annual net profit of over £1,300 per apprentice when compared with non‐apprentices; higher quality of work – at BAE Systems apprentices fulfilled tasks correctly at a rate of 85 per cent right first time after completing their training; external recruits had a rate of 60 per cent; and career progression – over 90 per cent of line managers in British Gas's engineering operations trained as apprentices.
Originality/value
The case studies offer employers without apprentices a real insight into the apprentices’ enhancement of skills within an economy. They also provide a unique contribution to the body of knowledge used to assess the value of apprenticeships to employers.
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DECEMBER sees the close of the presidency of Lionel R. McColvin. Few men in the record of the Library Association have more deserved the eminence the office affords and the…
Abstract
DECEMBER sees the close of the presidency of Lionel R. McColvin. Few men in the record of the Library Association have more deserved the eminence the office affords and the feeling is aroused that it is all too brief a tenure. None has used twelve months to more useful purpose. He presided over the Annual Conference with dignity and conducted the unfortunate Annual Business Meeting with a fairness that was scrupulous. He has given several public addresses, a notable one being that at the Manchester Public Library Centenary which may be read in The Manchester Review (Autumn, 1952); has served on at least one Government committee, has opened libraries, unveiled the L.C.C. tablet to William Ewart; has found time to address various branch and divisional meetings of librarians, to serve on the N.C.L. Executive Committee, to sign the Fellowship certificates of successful candidates and, of course, has presided over every meeting of the L.A. Council and, we understand, with such success that complete harmony ruled in that very miscellaneous body. He passes on his office with honour and with our gratitude.
Jing Li, Cheryl J. Craig, Tenesha Gale, Michele Norton, Gang Zhu, Paige K. Evans, Donna W. Stokes and Rakesh Verma
This chapter narratively examines the value of scholarship grants to seven underrepresented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students who attended the same…
Abstract
This chapter narratively examines the value of scholarship grants to seven underrepresented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students who attended the same research comprehensive university. The scholarships that the students in our convenience sample received were awarded by six National Science Foundation grant programs in the United States. A literature review tracing the effects of scholarships, instrumentalism, and the core purpose of education sets the context for this narrative investigation. The four pillars comprising the theoretical framework are value, experience, story, and identity. The seven stories of impact that emerged from the narrative inquiry reveal multiperspectival insights into the value of scholarships to students' lives, careers, and selves. Moreover, we also explore how scholarship recipients established their sense of value in autonomous and committed ways while promoting their personal welfare and seeking the common good of others. All of these important considerations contribute to the national and international literature relating to diversity, higher education, STEM careers, and the power of scholarship grants to transcend instrumentalism privileging workforce demands.
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PERHAPS the outstanding current event in the library world is the appointment by the President of the Board of Education of a Departmental Committee “To inquire into the adequacy…
Abstract
PERHAPS the outstanding current event in the library world is the appointment by the President of the Board of Education of a Departmental Committee “To inquire into the adequacy of library provision already made under the Public Libraries Acts, and the means of extending and completing such provision throughout England and Wales, regard being had to the relation of the libraries conducted under those Acts to other public libraries and to the general system of national education.” In looking over the names of the gentlemen constituting this committee it is apparent that official educationists dominate the committee and that the library side is inadequately (in point of number) represented. Only two names representing public libraries, out of 14, are to be found. This is manifestly inadequate, notwithstanding the fact that there is still one additional member to appoint which may, or may not, be a public librarian. Is the Library Association alive in the matter, and may we suggest the name of Mr. L. Stanley Jast, whose outstanding work and knowledge of library affairs should be drawn upon in an enquiry of this nature?
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
THE topics of the Library Association Conference and the election of the Council of the Association naturally absorb a great deal of attention this month. To deal with the second…
Abstract
THE topics of the Library Association Conference and the election of the Council of the Association naturally absorb a great deal of attention this month. To deal with the second first: there were few novelties in the nominations, and most of the suggested new Councillors are good people; so that a fairly good Council should result. The unique thing, as we imagine, about the Library Association is the number of vice‐presidents, all of whom have Council privileges. These are not elected by the members but by the Council, and by the retiring Council; they occupy a position analagous to aldermen in town councils, and are not amenable to the choice or desires of the members at large. There are enough of them, too, if they care to be active, to dominate the Council. Fortunately, good men are usually elected, but recently there has been a tendency to elect comparatively young men to what are virtually perpetual seats on the Council, simply, if one may judge from the names, because these men occupy certain library positions. It, therefore; is all the more necessary that the electors see that men who really represent the profession get the seats that remain.
We are growing accustomed to shock tactics of the US Administration in dealing with toxic residues in food or additives which are a hazard to man, as well as the daily press…
Abstract
We are growing accustomed to shock tactics of the US Administration in dealing with toxic residues in food or additives which are a hazard to man, as well as the daily press infusing sensation, even melodrama, into them, but the recent action of the FDA in calling in from the food market several million cans of tuna and other deep sea fish because of the presence of mercury has had the worthwhile effect of drawing world attention to the growing menace of environmental pollution. The level of mercury in the fish is immaterial; it should never have been there at all, but it stresses the importance of the food chain in the danger to man and animal life generally, including fish beneath the sea. Without underestimating risks of pollution in the atmosphere from nuclear fission products, from particulate matter carried in the air by inhalation or even skin absorption, food and drink, which includes aqua naturale would seem to be the greatest danger to life. What these recent events illustrate in a dramatic manner, however, is the extent of pollution.
PARLIAMENT passed the Equal Pay Act in 1970 and it comes into full force at the end of 1975. In the meantime a Government order could increase the pay of women to at least 90 per…
Abstract
PARLIAMENT passed the Equal Pay Act in 1970 and it comes into full force at the end of 1975. In the meantime a Government order could increase the pay of women to at least 90 per cent of men's by December 31st next year. Like other legislative forays into the industrial world in recent years, this Act, despite its deceptively simple title, bristles with problems and will greatly change the country's economic life.
Within the past few years, responsible educators, librarians, parents, counselors, social workers, therapists, and religious groups of all sexual persuasions and lifestyles have…
Abstract
Within the past few years, responsible educators, librarians, parents, counselors, social workers, therapists, and religious groups of all sexual persuasions and lifestyles have recognized the need for readily available reading material for lesbian and gay youth. Unfortunately, this material is often buried, because it is embedded in larger works. To meet this need, I have compiled and annotated 100 of the best works for young homosexuals, bisexuals, and heterosexuals. I have also included a few of the best works currently available on heterosexuality as a much needed source of knowledge for all young adults whether they are gay or straight, whether they remain childless or eventually become parents.
MANY who realise the implications of White's book on The Organisation Man have probably closed it with the self‐satisfied reflection that ‘it can't happen here.’ That is the…
Abstract
MANY who realise the implications of White's book on The Organisation Man have probably closed it with the self‐satisfied reflection that ‘it can't happen here.’ That is the anodyne we generally swallow to protect us from disagreeable fears.