The care crunch: changing work, families and welfare in Australia

Structural shifts in labour markets and in households are impacting on the capacity of households and families to deal with risk. In Australia the post-Federation and post-war social settlement, based on the gendered assumptions underpinning the male breadwinner/female carer model, is no longer viable in an era of increasingly precarious employment, diverse family forms and deepening inequalities. Labour market and industrial relations changes, when combined with major demographic shifts such as divorce and population ageing, and increasing expectations for community care are contributing to a 'care crunch'. The article canvasses the challenge of developing a social risk protection framework that balances caring, work and quality of life.

Media/ting change: the print media's role in mediating education policy in a period of radical reform in Victoria, Australia

This paper draws upon critical discourse analysis, cultural studies and communication theory, studies on media and educational reform, and the work of Bernstein, Bourdieu and Luhmann in particular, to explore how the print and media 'mediated' a period of educational change marked by moves to self-management in schools in Victoria, Australia. It considers how the media was mobilized by various education stakeholders, and in turn informed relations between schools and government, through policy discourses and texts. It considers why and how particular themes became media 'issues', how schools and teachers responded to these issues, and how the media was used by various stakeholders in education to shape policy debates. It is based on a year-long qualitative study that explored critical incidents and representations about education in the print media over a year in the daily press. It illustrates the ways in which a neo-liberal Victorian government mobilized the media to gain strategic advantage to promote radical education reform policies, considers the media effects of this media/tion process on schools and teachers, and conceptualizes how school and system performance is fed from and into media representations, public perceptions and community understandings of schools and teachers' work.

Dusting off the epidemiological triad: could it work with obesity

The search for effective ways of dealing with obesity has centred on biological research and clinical management. However, obesity needs to be conceptualized more broadly if the modern pandemic is to be arrested. The epidemiological triad (hosts, agent/vectors and environments) has served us well in dealing with epidemics in the past, and may be worth re-evaluating to this end. Education, behaviour change and clinical practices deal predominantly with the host, although multidisciplinary practices such as shared-care might also be expected to impact on other corners of the triad. Technology deals best with the agent of obesity (energy imbalance) and it's vectors (excessive energy intake and/or inadequate energy expenditure), and policy and social change are needed to cope with the environment. The value of a broad model like this, rather than specific isolated approaches, is that the key players such as legislators, health professionals, governments and industry can see their roles in attenuating and eventually reversing the epidemic. It also highlights the need to intervene at all levels in obesity control and reduces the relevance of arguments about nature vs. nurture.


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Introduction: perspectives on work-life balance

Work-life balance has emerged as a major concern for researchers trying to map the dimensions and causes of the issue, for policy makers searching for uncontroversial solutions to the problem and for individuals trying to construct satisfying and productive lives. There is some agreement over the main contributors to the work-life balance 'problem': the increase in female participation in the workforce since the 1960s; changes to work from the mid-1970s, in particular greater work intensification, an increase in alternative work schedules away from the standard working week and the growth of casual jobs (particularly in Australia); and a de-differentiation of roles, which has contributed to greater spill-over between work and other roles.

These factors are embedded in economic, social and cultural changes that characterise the post-World War II development of late capitalism in the more developed economies. Each is itself the result of a set of complex processes of change. We do not attempt here to detail these changes in all their complexity but draw out those elements that are most important in attempting to understand the work-life issue in terms of causal forces, mediating support systems and the effects of work-life balance or 'imbalance' on individuals, households, communities and societies.

This issue of Labour and Industry brings together three papers that focus on different work-life balance issues as a result of differing causal forces, different configurations of work/life activities, varying outcomes and variations in terms of support available. In particular, the problem of work-life balance is examined through an analysis of change in attitudes to mothers working in Australia, a study of agency or labour hire, and a study of young professionals. These papers were first presented at the WorkTimes/LifeTimes Colloquium held in Geelong, Victoria in December 2004. The aim of this colloquium was to explore issues around working time and the impact that this has on other aspects of people's lives. Specialists in the area of working time, time use, employee relations, and work-family came together to share the results of their respective research areas and to debate the theoretical and policy implications of their findings.

What can we learn about social work assessment from the textbooks?

Summary: Although often criticized for inadequacies, textbooks are both highly influential and a readily available source of information about contemporary thinking in social work theory and practice. As part of a series of studies about facilitating learning and teaching about assessment in social work, the authors have been conducting a review of how this professional task is presented in textbooks which are currently known to be used in programmes of social work education in the UK. Relevant chapters of each of the selected textbooks were subjected to an in-depth analysis in order to determine how assessment was understood, assessment processes, relevance to the UK practice context and evidence bases.

Findings: What are considered the key issues in, and skills required for, social work assessment are contested, with considerable variety between textbooks as to the extent of detail and topics covered in relation to assessment. Some issues which are prominent in the policy context, such as the need to ensure the involvement of service user and carer perspectives, and multidisciplinary assessment, were hardly mentioned. Changes in emphasis over time and differences in emphasis between textbooks published in the UK and North America were found.

Applications: Given the many differences in emphasis and depth of content between textbooks ostensibly outlining the same aspects of practice, it is essential that educators have a clear rationale for recommending particular textbooks.

Lessons for 2003 from 1993 : primary teacher standpoint on policy backlash against the gender inclusive curriculum

In this paper, I provide evidence of policy 'backlash' against feminism from the standpoint of the practitioner. When asked, in a case study of Victorian primary schools how the gender inclusive curriculum was conceptualised and enacted, practitioners critique the conservative policy shift that they observed. I premise this paper on the notion that critical reflection on the specificities of policy discourse from the previous decade represents transformative work for the contemporary policy context. I conclude with a discussion of how research agendas in the current era of uncertainty can be re-assessed in the light of this study.

The challenge of reconciling working time demands and life transitions : a policy proposal

Labour markets, like all market institutions, exhibit structural and dynamic characteristics. Both the structural and dynamic characteristics of labour markets inevitably change and evolve over time in response to a host of exogenous and endogenous factors. In the case of the Australian labour market, structural changes are reflected in significant shifts in the industry and occupational composition of employment, the decline of full-time work and the concomitant rise in part-time and atypical forms of employment, demographic changes in the labour force, as well as changes in social and individual preferences. Dynamic shifts can be found in cyclical pattern of employment and wages growth, the growth in labour mobility, and transitions between various labour market states.
The starting point for this paper is that these structural and dynamic changes have given rise to an increase in the likelihood that individuals will experience a transition between various labour market states, and a greater diversity in the range of transitions they may experience over their working life. This acceleration in the rate of transition generates ‘transition costs’ for both employers and employees, as well the likelihood of mismatch between employer and employee working time preferences. As a consequence, existing labour market policy regimes, based on the traditional model of labour market participation over the life course may not provide adequate protection for most workers today.
Gunther Schmid (1998) and others have proposed institutional reforms which promote ‘transitional labour markets’. Transitional labour market institutions are those that allow individuals (and firms) to successfully adjust to critical events. While transitional labour market institutions may consist of traditional ‘active labour market policy’ mechanisms, Schmid and others have proposed a range of innovative policy responses which allow individuals (and firms) to adjust the intensity of their abour market participation over the life cycle. In this paper we use the general approach of advocated by the transitional labour market concept to do three things. First, we investigate the processes by which the nature of labour market transitions has changed over time. Second, we review the range of policy options available to government to smooth labour market dysfunctions associated with labour market transitions, with the objective of ensuring labour markets operate more efficiently and more equitably. Third, we focus on one possible way in which an existing labour market institution, Long Service Leave (LSL), could be reformed to make way for a more comprehensive transitional labour market institution in the form of a ‘working time bank’.

Policy hysteria in action: teenage parents at secondary school in Australia

In this chapter we present an account of the policy paradox of establishing a Young Parents' Access Project (YPAP) for students at a senior secondary college in the state of Victoria, Australia. l Within a policy climate of endless reform and new policy initiatives, 90 per cent of all secondary school students in Victoria are expected to complete 13 years of formal education or training, and to be supported to make successful transitions from school to work or further education. Yet young people who are pregnant or parenting and who wish to complete their secondary schooling are invisible within the policies that construct the work of schools. In response to enquiries from teenage parents interested in returning to school and confronting the challenge of juggling home life, childcare and school work, Corio Bay Senior College (CBSC) decided to establish a multi-dimensional project that was underpinned by the provision of fully licensed on-site childcare.

The Australian Association of Social Workers and social policy debates: a strategy for the future?

It has been argued that the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) not only has a mandate, but also an important role to play in influencing social debates for the benefit of the users of social services and, further, that as a professional association, it is ideally positioned to do so. However, the AASW has been criticised for failing to meet this mandate and have any lasting impact on the formulation of social policy. In the present article, the author considers the process by which the AASW engages in social policy debates and speculates on the historical, cultural, and structural factors that may impede its ability to do so. From this analysis, strategies are suggested for the AASW to increase its impact on the formulation of social policy.

"As long as it doesn't spill over into class": harms arising from students` alcohol use, and the role of policy in reducing them

While there is considerable evidence about the prevalence of student alcohol use, little empirical work has examined the range and level of exposure to alcohol-related risks facing student populations, and the views of key stakeholders about these. This study was conducted at a large multi-campus university in order to gauge the scale and severity of students’ alcohol-related problems, and ways in which these may be mitigated. Student perspectives on campus based policy making with respect to alcohol were also canvassed. This study utilised a range of evaluative instruments, including standardised questionnaire protocols, structured interviews and focus groups. Data gained from students showed a large level of exposure to alcohol-related harm, and staff informants reported student harms such as drink-driving, interpersonal aggression, social nuisance, inadequate security, sexually risky behaviour, and physical malaise. As a group, students seem receptive to campus-based policies that have a harm reduction focus, but are less supportive of institutionalised measures aimed at the student body. Given the divergence of views about the harms arising from student drinking, and a general repudiation of institutional policy measures which may lessen these, the development of harm-reducing policy on alcohol remains challenging.

Wages, career progression, training and work family policies : an integrated approach to explaining gender discrimination

While the Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) literature suggests that considerable progress has been made towards addressing gender-based discrimination (primarily through legal instruments), direct and indirece forms of discrimination persist and tend to be perpetuated through organisational practices (Tomaskovic-Devey 2001). Women are still receive less remuneration than men and are disadvantaged with respect to fundamental entitlements such as promotion and training and education. Furthermore, as more women enter employment the issue of work and family balance has become an organisational priority. There is a large body of research literature in the disciplines of economics, sociology, industrial relations, human resource management, organisational studies and public administration that examines the sources, nature and extent of gender-based discrimination in labour markets. This paper seeks to integrate this literature by taking a multi-disciplinary approach to the problem of women, EEO and discrimination. It is argued that our understanding of discrimination is greatly enhanced by theories and models that incorporate both economic and organisational explanations. Furthermore, it is argued that discrimination in terms of promotion, pay and training are endogenous. That is, the interrelationship between these variables needs to be taken into account simultaneously to accurately estimate the degree of direct and indirect discrimination that women face. The paper provides a review of the literature on the key themes of pay equity, career progression, education and training and work-family policy, and seeks to provide a synthesis of key themes. Emerging from this literature are a number of testable hypotheses. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.

Work choices : evolution or revolution

Never has a form of legislation created such contentious and wide-reaching emotional debate in Australia. It has divided the community and has resulted in extensive media activity. To the forefront are Australian academics who have often been the resource of expert comment and their reports have been prolific. In this book, academics have taken to opportunity to write their own perception of the impact of Work Choices in the workplace.

Rhizo-textual analyses of educational policy documents

In this paper, I describe methodological applications of Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) understanding of rhizomatic knowledge systems. I draw on rhizo-textual analyses of two different policy documents used in Australia to direct teachers in their teaching of English in primary (elementary) schools.

A rhizo-textual analysis is not concerned with following traditional, scientifically rigorous channels through a study; from data collection, through analysis, to findings that report some objectively discovered truth. Rather, a rhizo-textual analysis is a mapping of connections, of the fleshy tubers that are the rhizome. The mapping draws on various, and often contradictory work, ideas and concepts. What would seem to be "disparate phenomena" enables me to "connect diverse fragments of data in ways that produce new linkages and reveal discontinuities" (Alvermann, 2000, p. 118).

As Deleuze and Guattari point out, "A rhizome ceaselessly establishes connections between semiotic chains, organizations of power, and circumstances relative to the arts, social sciences, and social struggles" (1987, p. 7). This ceaselessness of the connections between rhizomes shifts attention away from the construction of a particular reading of any text towards a new careful attendance to the multiplicity of linkages that can be mapped between any text and other texts, other readings, other assemblages of meaning. Elizabeth Grosz describes rhizomatic texts as "a process of scattering thoughts, scrambling terms, concepts and practices, forging linkages, becoming a form of action" (1995, p. 126)

Within the policy texts I have analysed, this scrambling and scattered process establishes connections between disparate discursive systems, about literacy, about texts, about students and how students learn, and about teaching so that the version of literacy teaching that is produced seems to be normative, to be unquestionably rational, and therefore to be beyond critique.