Social entrepreneurship and experiential learning

Social entrepreneurship is a growing, but currently ill-defined area of innovation and business development. It is about accountability not just to commercial imperatives but to the wide range of stakeholders in a social enterprise, potentially an area of great tension. Social responsibility is about a commitment to society, entrepreneurship is usually understood to provide a business outlook on the enterprise – it needs to be sustainable commercially.

To educate the modern or millennial learner (born after about 1980 and grappling with burgeoning youth needs for creative employment development) into developing a small to medium enterprise with a social responsibility, modern postgraduate coursework programs have looked closely at experiential learning. This provides a performative learning through transforming theory into applied situations. The workplace based projects used for the postgraduate programs are effective immersive learning. This paper will include a case study of two postgraduate coursework units New Ventures in Creative Enterprise, and Building Creative Teams, part of a Masters in Communication/Creative Enterprise. These provide experiential learning about strategic planning for startup creative businesses, and work-based projects which build on interpersonal skills for ongoing success.

Effective anger intervention for indigenous prisoners : research and development in a South Australian study

Although the need for the development and provision of culturally appropriate rehabilitation programs for offenders is widely acknowledged, there is a lack of empirical data that can be used as the basis for the development of new programs. This paper reports the findings of two studies - first a qualitiative study exploring the meaning of anger for Indigenous men in prison; and second a comparison of Indigenous and non-Indigenous male prisoners on a range of measures relevant to the experience of anger by indigenous prisoners in Australia. The results suggest that Indigenous participants are more likely to experience symptoms of early trauma, have greater difficulties identifying and describing feelings and perceive higher levels of discrimination than non-Indigenous prisoners. The implications of this work for the development of culturally appropriate and effective anger management programs for indigenous male prisoners and those from other imnoirty cultural groups are discussed.

Pedagogy and institutional values : the social capital that underpins socially constructive pedagogy and the common good

The analysis of Syed Hussein Alatas, provides us with a basic framework from which to engage the way creativity and change can be articulated in education without slipping into a neo-colonial mindset. The core binary that Alatas presents us is between the ‘captive’ mind and the ‘creative’ mind. Contemporary Malaysian educational literature recognises that the demands of the knowledge economy and globalization necessitate engaging with socially constructivist pedagogy as a way of addressing the limitations and narrowness of what are referred to as traditional authoritarian ‘top down’ teaching methods. However this retheorization of pedagogical practice needs to be approached in a fashion that recognises and respects local values and culture. The social values and capital that inform pedagogy both in its formal level as officially sanctioned techniques but also in its informal level as the implicit practices that characterise human interaction on campus require a much closer look at the relationship between pedagogy, social structure and social values. The clear yet very deep insight of Syed Hussein Alatas, on the importance of the creative mind as an alternative to captivity provides us with a Malaysian theorization that is both local but also global and relevant to how we understand reform and education in the higher education sector.

The significance of social influences and established housing values

Investment in housing represents the largest single source of wealth for individuals and has an important role in the macro economy. Traditional economic indicators cannot always observe the degree of purchaser and vendor willingness and therefore consideration should also be given to characteristics of buyers and sellers in the marketplace. This study draws the disciplines of housing research and demography closer and looks to social indicators for an insight into residential housing markets.

The research analysed changes in the value of established residential house prices in Brisbane and the influence of variations in social structure on a longitudinal time series basis. Results confirmed the existence of strong linkages between social constructs and established house prices. While it is acknowledged that established house values are significantly influenced by external! economic and political factors, this research confirmed that serious consideration must also be given to social factors and demographic variables.

Household structure and consumption insurance of the elderly

This paper examines the role of household formation in providing consumption insurance to the elderly. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys, raw tabulations of per adult equivalent consumption indicate that the elderly who live alone have higher levels of well-being relative to those who live with others. This is misleading, however, because the decision to live alone is clearly endogenous. The empirical estimation accounts for this endogeneity using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The results provide evidence that household formation plays a significant role in maintaining consumption levels. Without the opportunity to live with others, the welfare gap measured by the difference between per adult equivalent consumption levels of dependent and independent livers would be even larger. These findings suggest that co-residing with others effectively supplements social security, pensions, and private savings and helps the elderly to smooth consumption in old age.

Social identities and law students' writing

This paper argues that social identities, discursively speaking, consist of ‘positions’ that are individuated by distinctive linguistic features. These include distinctive patterns of representation indicated by clause structure and type, a set of priorities for attending to what is important indicated by thematic structure, and an orientation to the represented world and to self as indicated by modality, propositional attitudes and tense. A social identity comprises an array of these often contradictory ‘positions’ associated with a social or professional role. A person’s identity is constituted dynamically by the way they ‘reconcile’ the various positions that make up the social identity, and also, as Archer and Ivanic argue, by the way they reconcile a social with a personal or autobiographical identity. It is argued that this process of reconciliation gives clues about identity formation in the traces it leaves in grammatical texture.

This paper uses a simulated letter of advice to a client written by a group of first year law students to explore the discursive construction of social or professional identity. This letter is poorly written and full of grammatical mistakes and infelicities. It is argued that the mistakes provide a linguistic trace of the students’ struggle to reconcile the conflicting roles and positions they occupy as authors of the letter. In particular the students’ problems result from a struggle to reconcile their multiple positions as: students writing for assessment by a tutor about a legal problem, as a simulated firm of solicitors advising to a client, and as potential litigators anticipating the future course of events in their simulated moot court appearance.

Bringing Bourdieu to policy sociology : codification, misrecognition and exchange value in the UK context

The task of social scientists is to find ways of investigating and understanding the social, political and economic world, in order to offer insights into everyday and public life in the past, present and future. Bourdieu’s tool kit offers a particular way of theorizing the rules, narratives and self-held truths of social phenomena and of educational policy as a specific object of analysis. In this article I develop a series of propositions about the ways in which field theory might be applied to explain the abrupt public policy shift effected by the Thatcher government and the adjustments made to it by the Blair government. I suggest that a Bourdieuian approach shows policy working as a means of codification, as a doxa of misrecognition and as currency exchange within and across fields. I conclude with some thoughts about the difficulties of explicating interactions between fields.

Does microfinance fight social exclusion and poverty? : Bangladesh evidence

This study focuses beyond the traditional role of microfinance in addressing poverty to examine also its effect on social exclusion and human development. It proposes and tests a model of the relationships between these three concepts using data from Bangladesh Association for Social Advancement (ASA)'s participants in Bangladesh compared to a control group.

Social transformation and curriculum reform in Chinese physical education

This thesis examines how Chinese physical education teachers are experiencing curriculum reform within the context of broad social change. Using a qualitative framework the research findings reveal how structural, personal and cultural factors converge to limit the extent to which teachers are able to embrace and implement the new curriculum.

Cultural connections across time and place : Wardell's late 19th century Genazzano FCJ College Kew

The Catholic Church was profoundly affected by the 1872 Victorian Education Act, which made education secular, compulsory and free, and led to the withdrawal of state aid to religious schools. In order for the Church to run its own schools, it had to look overseas for help and invited religious teaching orders, such as the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJs) to set up schools in Victoria, Australia. In many instances purpose built buildings were designed by architects. William Wardell was well established in private practice in Sydney when he designed the new Convent and School, Kew, Victoria, for the FCJ Sisters, in the late 1880s. Building commenced just before the crash of Marvellous Melbourne. Less than half of the total concept of Wardell’s original plan was built. It opened for business in April 1891. Today this building forms the heart of the contemporary Genazzano FCJ College Kew. Many histories intersect in this commission. The vision for Catholic education in Victoria in the late 19th century is critical. The FCJs charism and their experience of teaching in Europe, in France, England, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland, provides a model for their work in Australia. At this time the importance of architecture to society is made manifest in education and its demands on building: if learning is valued then buildings should reflect this, for public buildings can shape morality. Wardell was trained as a Gothic Revival architect and his building participates in a broader medieval and Gothic tradition. Wardell’s original plan for this late Victorian Gothic style asymmetrical three-storeyed building, was designed to integrate a convent, school, chapel, and dormitories. This paper considers architectural history from diverse perspectives, educational, social, religious, economic and political, recognising the complexity of this project and the people who played a part in its conception and realisation.

Australia's venture capital industry : past performance, present structure and future prospects

A brief history of the Australian venture capital (VC) industry to April 2001 precedes critique of the current industry framework. This focuses on two questions: What has history taught us? and How well does the Australian VC industry enable entrepreneurship in the Australian economy? The answers embrace suggestions for better encouragement of entrepreneurship through research-based VC industry enhancement. A positive prognosis is based on a case history. A knowledgeable private citizen significantly influenced the passage of legislation vital to the industry. This success indicates the practical importance that a future program of structured research might have for the development of venture capital and entrepreneurship in Australia.

Building professional capital : New Zealand social workers and continuing education

In a qualitative study of the engagement of New Zealand social workers in continuing professional education the construct "professional capital", a form of symbolic capital, explains complex links between perceived status within institutional settings and the aspirations of practitioners. Strategies for developing greater engagement in scholarship and research are recommended.

The relationship between social capital and depression during the transition to adulthood

Relatively high levels of depression are observed during the transition to adulthood. Hence, it is important to identify the factors that can reduce the incidence of depression at this time. Social capital is theorised to protect against depression by providing greater access to support and psychological resources. Social capital incorporates both interpersonal relationships and broader community-level factors. However, most research has focused on the influence of relationships with parents and peers in the development of depression in young people, with little attention given to the role of broader social capital factors relating to perceptions of and engagement with the wider community. Drawing on longitudinal data from the Australian Temperament Project (ATP), this article examines the effects of close interpersonal relationships (with parents and peers) and broader, community-level aspects of social capital (trust and civic engagement) on depression during the transition to adulthood. Using hierarchical multiple regression, alienation from peers was found to predict higher depression, whereas good communication with peers was associated with a reduction of depressive symptoms. After controlling for the effects of close interpersonal relationships, trust in authorities and organisations made a significant contribution to the prediction of lower depression. Implications for intervention are discussed.

Critical policy sociology : historiography, archaeology and genealogy as methods of policy analysis

In recent times critical approaches to educational policy studies have been subject to increasing interrogation over methodological issues, often by critical policy researchers themselves. In the main, their reflexive posturings have been informed by critique which proceeds that beyond brief descriptions of research logis tics and a general commitment to the methodologies of a critical orientation, critical policy analyses offer few explicit accounts of the connections between the stories they tell about policy and the data used to tell them. As a way of addressing these silences, this paper proposes three methodological approaches within which to explore and explain matters of policy, each generating its own particular view of the (policy) issues worth looking for, where they can be found and how to look for them. Drawing on research into the production of Australian higher education policy during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the paper illustrates the characteristics of these approaches, referring to them as policy historiography, policy genealogy and policy archaeology. Without claiming absolute distinctions between their interests, the paper couples policy historiography with the substantive issues of policy at particular hegemonic moments, policy genealogy with social actors' engagement with policy, and policy archaeology with conditions that regulate policy formations.