Degree classification and recent graduates’ ability: Is there any signalling effect?

Research across several countries has shown that degree classification (i.e. the final grade awarded to students successfully completing university) is an important determinant of graduates’ first destination outcome. Graduates leaving university with higher degree classifications have better employment opportunities and a higher likelihood of continuing education relative to those with lower degree classifications. This article investigates whether one of the reasons for this result is that employers and higher education institutions use degree classification as a signalling device for the ability that recent graduates may possess. Given the large number of applicants and the amount of time and resources typically required to assess their skills, employers and higher education institutions may decide to rely on this measure when forming beliefs about recent graduates’ abilities. Using data on two cohorts of recent graduates from a UK university, results suggest that an Upper Second degree classification may have a signalling role.

An analysis of beginning mentors’ critical incidents in English post-compulsory education: navigating stormy waters

This qualitative study explores the barriers and dilemmas faced by beginning and novice mentors in post-compulsory education in the southeast of England. It analyses critical incidents (Tripp, 2012) taken from the everyday practice of mentors who were supporting new teachers and lecturers in the southeast of England. It categorises different types of critical incidents that mentors encountered and describes the strategies and rationales mentors used to support mentees and (indirectly) their learners and colleagues. The study explores ways in which mentors' own values, beliefs and life experiences affected their mentoring practice.  Methodology As part of a specialist master’s-level professional development module, 21 mentors wrote about two critical incidents (Tripp, 2012) taken from their own professional experiences, which aimed to demonstrate their support for their mentee’s range of complex needs. These critical incidents were written up as short case studies, which justified the rationale for their interventions and demonstrated the mentors' own professional development in mentoring. Critical incidents were used as units of analysis and categorised thematically by topic, sector and mentoring strategies used. Findings The research demonstrated the complex nature of decision-making and the potential for professional learning within a mentoring dyad. The study of these critical incidents found that mentors most frequently cited the controversial nature of teaching observations, the mentor’s role in mediating professional relationships, the importance of inculcating professional dispositions in education, and the need to support new teachers so that they can use effective behaviour management strategies. This study contributes to our understanding of the central importance of mentoring for professional growth within teacher education. It identifies common dilemmas that novice mentors face in post-compulsory education, justifies the rationale for their interventions and mentoring strategies, and helps to identify ways in which mentors' professional development needs can be met. It demonstrates that mentoring is complex, non-linear and mediated by mentors’ motivation and values.

Improving innovation and performance of Social Enterprises: Knowing what they know

Social Enterprises (SEs) are normally micro and small businesses that trade to tackle social problems, and to improve communities, people’s life chances, and the environment. Thus, their importance to society and economies is increasing. However, there is still a need for more understanding of how these organisations operate, perform, innovate and scale-up. This knowledge is crucial to design and provide accurate strategies to enhance the sector and increase its impact and coverage. Obtaining this understanding is the main driver of this paper, which follows the theoretical lens of the Knowledge-based View (KBV) theory to develop and assess empirically a novel model for knowledge management capabilities (KMCs) development that improves performance of SEs. The empirical assessment consisted of a quantitative study with 432 owners and senior members of SEs in UK, underpinned by 21 interviews. The findings demonstrate how particular organisational characteristics of SEs, the external conditions in which they operate, and informal knowledge management activities, have created overall improvements in their performance of up to 20%, based on a year-to-year comparison, including innovation and creation of social and environmental value. These findings elucidate new perspectives that can contribute not only to SEs and SE supporters, but also to other firms.

Equitable representation in councils: theory and an application to the United Nations Security Council

We analyze democratic equity in council voting games (CVGs). In a CVG, a voting body containing all members delegates decision-making to a (time-varying) subset of its members, as describes, e.g., the relationship between the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). We develop a theoretical framework for analyzing democratic equitability in CVGs at both the country and region levels, and for different assumptions regarding preference correlation. We apply the framework to evaluate the equitability of the UNSC, and the claims of those who seek to reform it. We find that the individual permanent members are overrepresented by between 21.3 times (United Kingdom) and 3.8 times (China) from a country-level perspective, while from a region perspective Eastern Europe is the most heavily overrepresented region with more than twice its equitable representation, and Africa the most heavily underrepresented. Our equity measures do not preclude some UNSC members from exercising veto rights, however.

Complete Public Law Text, Cases and Materials, 3rd edition

Complete Public Law: Text, Cases, and Materials combines extracts from key primary and secondary materials with clear explanatory text to provide a complete resource for students of constitutional and administrative law. Clear, concise explanation of key legal principles is combined with a wide range of extracts, from statutes, case law and academic materials to provide a complete resource for students The authors use straightforward and uncomplicated language to ensure legal concepts and the complexities of the British constitution are easily understood Learning features such as thinking points, diagrams, useful notes, summary points and reflective questions provide valuable support for students and encourage them to engage with the subject A helpful 'case study' chapter on human rights, terrorism and the courts illustrates how the Human Rights Act has been used in practice across the legal system, providing extra insight into the importance of both human rights law and the process of judicial review The 'Judicial review: putting it all together in problem answers' chapter pulls together strands from previous chapters to provide a checklist of issues to be considered in order to diagnose a judicial review problem and advise a client

Legal Writing (4th edition)

Legal Writing guides students comprehensively through this vital legal skill and addresses a range of assessment methods from exam questions to final essays and problem answers. It considers how to deconstruct essay and problem questions and how to conduct and apply legal research to answer set questions. Lisa Webley explains how to reference others' work clearly and correctly, making this book a useful tool for students concerned about issues of plagiarism. It also focuses on how to develop critical thinking and communicate legal arguments, with both good and bad examples of written work considered and discussed in the text. Legal Writing is particularly useful for undergraduate students, especially at the beginning of degree studies, and for GDL and CPE students too. This fully revised fourth edition includes: Guidance on the avoidance of plagiarism including examples of poor practice and best practice. Worked examples throughout the text, including guidance on deciphering essay questions in exams and coursework, along with additional examples from across the legal curriculum on the companion website. An improved companion website with increased guidance for revision to allow students to test their progress and further engage with the topics in the book. Clearly written and easy to use, Legal Writing enables students to fully engage with essay and exam writing as a vital foundation to their undergraduate degree.

Diversity and Inclusion As the Key to Innovating Talent Management in Law Firms?

In this chapter we argue that there is a need to reconceptualise what we mean by talent in the legal profession beyond a view that the most valuable people are those who have the highest fee-earning potential or the best CV packed with excellent grades and exceptional experiences and extra curricula achievements. And further we need a more sophisticated understanding of how organisational decision-making may be structured to provide developmental opportunities to allow talent to be nurtured and to flourish on individual and team levels. In turn, we suggest that planning, management and accountability cycles within legal entities need to be strengthened so as to ensure creativity and success in a context in which it is possible to deliver on the promise of fair access and promotion. Consequently, this chapter explores the diversity problem within the legal profession(s), further it interrogates what is “talent”, and how and why we should seek to manage and develop it. It then evaluates how talent diversity has been managed in the legal professional context, examined through what we have categorised as three waves of diversity strategies. We interrogate why diversity initiatives have not been more successful given the efforts placed on them by professional bodies and firms themselves. We posit that by using diversity as a case study in talent management legal entities may develop a more effective approach to talent management generally within law firms that will be of benefit to all lawyers and support professionals rather than just those who are from traditionally low participation groups.

Law, Rights and Reproduction: Reproductive Autonomy in Ethical Rationalism

As medical technology has advanced, so too have our attitudes towards the level of control we can expect to hold over our procreative capacities. This creates a multi-dimensional problem for the law in terms of access to services which prevent conception, access to services which terminate a pregnancy and recompensing those whose choices to avoid procreating are frustrated. These developments go to the heart of our perception of autonomy. In order to evaluate these three issues in relation to reproductive autonomy, I set out to investigate how the Gewirthian theory of ethical rationalism can be used to understanding the intersection between law, rights, and autonomy. As such, I assert that it is because of agents’ ability to engage in practical reason that the concept of legal enterprise should be grounded in rationality. Therefore, any attempt to understand notions of autonomy must be based on the categorical imperative derived from the Principle of Generic Consistency (PGC). As a result, I claim that (a) a theory of legal rights must be framed around the indirect application of the PGC and (b) a model of autonomy must account for the limitations drawn by the rational exercise of reason. This requires support for institutional policies which genuinely uphold the rights of agents. In so doing, a greater level of respect for and protection of reproductive autonomy is possible. This exhibits the full conceptual metamorphosis of the PGC from a rational moral principle, through an ethical collective principle, a constitutional principle of legal reason, a basis for rights discourse, and to a model of autonomy. Consequently, the law must be reformed to reflect the rights of agents in these situations and develop an approach which demonstrates a meaningful respect of autonomy. I suggest that this requires rights of access to services, rights to reparation and duties on the State to empower productive agency.