Recognising Ecological Contexts of Diverse Ethnic Groups: Experiences of British-Indian Adult Children of Divorce

The process of divorce as a family change process including outcomes and consequences has received considerable research attention in the western context. However, the experience of divorce for children within specific ethnic contexts has been rather limited leading to poor planning and practice provision with diverse families. By drawing upon an empirical qualitative study of British Indian adult children, this paper will make a case for recognising diverse needs within specific historical, socio-cultural and developmental contexts. There is a need to acknowledge these contexts in policy design to establish practice that is flexible, accessible and relevant to the needs of different and diverse communities. Results indicate that areas of impact may be similar to those identified by other studies within the literature review. However, the experiences, expressions, implications and larger consequences of impact are located within specific socio-cultural contexts. In support of this, major findings of the study (outlined below) will be discussed - Context: patriarchy, stigma, immigration; Impact: economic, social, emotional, career/education, physical; Coping: psychological strategies, physical strategies, social strategies, sources of support.

Developing employability within a university engineering curriculum

This article provides case studies for incorporating employability in a higher education setting. A professional studies module for a small class (30 students) of third-year aerospace engineers gave insight into industrial challenges while promoting career development. It was delivered mainly by industrial speakers and involved practical tasks and workshops. A more sustainable employability curriculum now supports students in all four years of the School’s three degree programmes, offering a structured development of skills and sector understanding. A notable increase in students obtaining sandwich year placements has been observed.

Symbolic violence and the neighbourhood: young working class girls' attitudes to education in Belfast

This article focuses on the experiences of 7-8 year old working-class girls in Belfast, Northern Ireland and their attitudes towards education. It shows how their emerging identities tend to emphasize relationships, marriage and motherhood at the expense of a concern with education and future careers. The article suggests that one important factor that can help explain this is the influence of the local neighbourhood. In drawing upon Bourdieu's concepts of symbolic violence and habitus and Elias' notion of figuration, the article shows how the local neighbourhood represents the parameters of the girls' social worlds. It provides the context within which the girls tend to focus on social relations within their community and particularly on family relationships, marriage and children. It also provides the context within which the girls tend to develop strong interdependent relationships with their mothers that also tend to encourage and reinforce the girls' particular gendered identities. The article concludes by arguing that there is a need for more research on working-class girls and education to look beyond the school to incorporate, more fully, an understanding of the influence of the family and local neighbourhood on their attitudes towards education and their future career aspirations.

Masks as self-study. Challenging and sustaining teachers’ personal and professional personae in early–mid career life phases

Drawing on previous research identifying how teachers’ capacities to sustain their effectiveness in different phases of their professional lives are affected positively and/or negatively by their sense of identity, this paper illuminates three early–mid career teachers’ self-study inquiries, centring on mask work. The creative development of individual masks discloses teachers’ complex, occasionally
dislocated narratives of personal/professional identity. Subsequent improvisation with their masks is shown to engage teachers emotionally with tensions and dissonances within and between their various personae and personal, professional and political contexts at each of their respective career life phases. Storylines ultimately become reframed and, in a number of instances, lay claim to reinvigorated commitment, self-determination and initiatives for change.

Gender, gender roles and completion of nursing education:a longitudinal study

The current worldwide nursing shortage and high attrition of nursing students remain a challenge for the nursing profession. The aim of this paper was to investigate how key psychological attributes and constructions differentiate between completers and non-completers of nursing education. A questionnaire including measures of gender role identity and perceived gender appropriateness of careers was administered to 384 students early in the first year of the course. At the end of the programme attrition rates were obtained. The findings indicate that males were more likely to leave the course than females. Furthermore, those who completed the course tended to view nursing as more appropriate for women, in contrast to the non-completers who had less gender typed views. The female-dominated nature of nursing, prevalent stereotypes and gender bias inherent in nursing education seem to make this an uncomfortable place for males and those with less gendered typed views. Whilst it is acknowledged that attrition is undoubtedly a complex issue with many contributing factors, the nursing profession need to take steps to address this bias to ensure their profession is open equally to both female and male recruits.

Supporting career choices in dentistry

The Cork University Dental School & Hospital, University College Cork, introduced an innovative programme in April 2011, which provided prospective dental students with an opportunity to participate in a one-day experiential workshop. The aim of the workshop was to provide students with an overview of the dental undergraduate programmes. Feedback on the workshop was exceptionally positive, and prospective students would recommend the workshop to a fellow student, as it helped to inform their decision about choosing dentistry as a first option.

Gender, religion, and sociopolitical issues in cross-cultural online education

Cross-cultural education is thought to develop critical consciousness of how unequal distributions of power and privilege affect people’s health. Learners in different sociopolitical settings can join together in developing critical consciousness – awareness of power and privilege dynamics in society – by means of communication technology. The aim of this research was to define strengths and limitations of existing cross-cultural discussions in generating critical consciousness. The setting was the FAIMER international fellowship program for mid-career interdisciplinary health faculty, whose goal is to foster global advancement of health professions education. Fellows take part in participant-led, online, written, task-focused discussions on topics like professionalism, community health, and leadership. We reflexively identified text that brought sociopolitical topics into the online environment during the years 2011 and 2012 and used a discourse analysis toolset to make our content analysis relevant to critical consciousness. While references to participants’ cultures and backgrounds were infrequent, narratives of political-, gender-, religion-, and other culture-related topics did emerge. When participants gave accounts of their experiences and exchanged cross-cultural stories, they were more likely to develop ad hoc networks to support one another in facing those issues than explore issues relating to the development of critical consciousness. We suggest that cross-cultural discussions need to be facilitated actively to transform learners’ frames of reference, create critical consciousness, and develop cultural competence. Further research is needed into how to provide a safe environment for such learning and provide faculty development for the skills needed to facilitate these exchanges.