Predicting general well-being from emotional intelligence and three broad personality traits

This paper examined the joint predictive effects of trait emotional intelligence (trait-EI), Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism on 2 facets of general well-being and job satisfaction. An employed community sample of 123 individuals from the Indian subcontinent participated in the study, and completed measures of the five-factor model of personality, trait-EI, job satisfaction, and general well-being facets worn-out and up-tight. Trait-EI was related but distinct from the 3 personality variables. Trait-EI demonstrated the strongest correlation with job satisfaction, but predicted general well-being no better than Neuroticism. In regression analyses, trait-EI predicted between 6% and 9% additional variance in the well-being criteria, beyond the 3 personality traits. It was concluded that trait-EI may be useful in examining dispositional influences on psychological well-being.

The MISLEM Project : developing meta-level quality indicators for establishing a systematic linkage between educational institutions and the labour market:education, employment and graduate employability: project manual

The MISLEM Project comprised representatives from Higher and Vocational Education in four partner countries, Austria, Romania, Slovenia and the UK. In addition to this, representatives from a major UK graduate employment agency and the Austria Quality Assurance Agency were also involved. At the inaugural meeting of the Project, partner teams discussed and agreed upon appropriate methodological processes with which to carry the Project forward.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer psychology:an introduction

This exciting and engaging textbook introduces students to the psychology of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer lives and experiences. It covers a broad range of topics including diversity, prejudice, health, relationships, parenting and lifespan experiences from youth to old age. The book includes ‘key researcher’ boxes, which outline the contributions of significant individuals and their motivations for conducting their research in their own words. Key issues and debates are discussed throughout the book, and questions for discussion and classroom exercises help students reflect critically and apply their learning. There are extensive links to further resources and information, as well as ‘gaps and absences’ sections, indicating major limitations of research in a particular area. This is the essential textbook for anyone studying LGBTQ Psychology, Psychology of Sexuality or related courses. It is also a useful supplement to courses on Gender and Developmental Psychology.

Investigating the supply and demand relationship in a profession: the English and Welsh schools of librarianship and information Studies and the Higher Education Library and Information Services employment sector in England and Wales.

Concern has been expressed in the professional literature - borne out by professional experience and observation - that the supply and demand relationship existing between the 13 English and Welsh Library and Information Studies (LIS) Schools (as providers of `First Professional' staff) and the Higher Education Library and Information Services (HE LIS) sector of England and Wales (as one group of employers of such staff) is unsatisfactory and needs attention. An appropriate methodology to investigate this problem was devised. A basic content analysis of Schools' curricular and recruitment material intended for public consumption was undertaken to establish an overview of the LIS initial professional education system in England and Wales, and to identify and analyse any covert messages imparted to readers. This was followed by a mix of Main Questionnaires and Semi-Structured Interviews with appropriate populations. The investigation revealed some serious areas of dissatisfaction by the HE LIS Chiefs with the role and function of the Schools. Considerable divergence of views emerged on the state of the working relationships between the two sectors and on the Schools' successes in meeting the needs of the HE LIS sector and on CPD provision. There were, however, areas of substantial and consistent agreement between the two sectors. The main implications of the findings were that those areas encompassing divergence of views were worrying and needed addressing by both sides. Possible ways forward included recommendations on improving the image of the profession purveyed by the Schools; the forming of closer and more effective inter-sectoral relationships; recognising fully the importance of `practicum' and increasing and sustaining the network of `practicum' providers.

The experiences of South Asian university students in the British education system and in their search for work

This research aimed to provide a comparative analysis of South Asian and White British students in their academic attainment at school and university and in their search for employment. Data were gathered by using a variety of methodological techniques. Completed postal questionnaires were received from 301 South Asian and White British undergraduates from 12 British universities, who were in their final year of study in 1985. In depth interviews were also conducted with 49 graduates who were a self selected group from the original sample. Additional information was also collected by using diary report forms and by administering a second postal questionnaire to selected South Asian and White British participants. It was found that while the pre-university qualifications of the White British and South Asian undergraduates did not differ considerably, many members in the latter group had travelled a more arduous path to academic success. For some South Asians, school experiences included the confrontation of racist attitudes and behaviour, both from teachers and peers. The South Asian respondents in this study were more likely than their White British counterparts, to have attempted some C.S.E. examinations, obtained some of their `O' levels in the Sixth Form and retaken their `A' levels. As a result the South Asians were on average older than their White British peers when entering university. A small sample of South Asians also found that the effects of racism were perpetuated in higher education where they faced difficulty both academically and socially. Overall, however, since going to university most South Asians felt further drawn towards their `cultural background', this often being their own unique view of `Asianess'. Regarding their plans after graduation, it was found that South Asians were more likely to opt for further study, believing that they needed to be better qualified than their White British counterparts. For those South Asians who were searching for work, it was noted that they were better qualified, willing to accept a lower minimum salary, had made more job applications and had started searching for work earlier than the comparable White British participants. Also, although generally they were not having difficulty in obtaining interviews, South Asian applicants were less likely to receive an offer of employment. In the final analysis examining their future plans, it was found that a large proportion of South Asian graduates were aspiring towards self employment.

Compendium of effective practice in higher education retention and success

A collection of peer reviewed papers focusing on effective practice in higher education

The Library of Birmingham project:lifelong learning for the digital age

The Library of Birmingham (LoB) is a £193million project designed to provide a new space for lifelong learning and knowledge growth, a physical and virtual portal for Birmingham's citizens to the wider world. In cooperation with a range of private, public, and third-sector bodies, as well as individual citizens, the library, due to open in June 2013, will articulate a continuing process of organic growth and emergence. Key delivery themes focus on: arts and creativity, citizenship and community, enterprise and innovation, learning and skills and the new media ecology. A landmark design in the heart of the cultural district of the city, the LoB aims to stimulate sustainable economic growth, urban regeneration and social inclusion by offering a wide range of new digital learning services, real and virtual community spaces, and new opportunities for interpreting and exploiting internationally significant collections of documentary archives, photography, moving image, and rare printed books. Additionally, the LoB will offer physical space for creative, cultural, enterprise, and knowledge development. This paper outlines the cultural and educational thinking that informs the project and the challenges experienced in developing innovative service redesign.

Experiencing an 'inclusive' education:parents and their children with 'special educational needs'

This paper focuses on the experiences of British parents who have children identified with ‘special education needs’ within mainstream education. Expectations of mainstream education can have a negative affect on parents when a child is unable to maintain his or her education within a mainstream school. In England and Wales, ‘inclusion’ within mainstream schools is implemented by the current government and promoted as anti-exclusionary. However, current research indicates that actual ‘inclusion’ (the child experiencing inclusion as well as being placed in a mainstream environment) is not necessarily occurring in practice. As it stands, the conflict is between desires to embrace difference based on a philosophy of ‘equal rights’ (‘inclusive’ education) and prioritising educational performance, structuring it in such a way that it leaves little room for difference and creativity due to the highly structured testing and examination culture. Qualitative analysis of parents who have children identified with special educational needs indicate that they have hopes and expectations for their children. These hopes and expectations are challenged recurrently.

Who is really in charge of contemporary education? People and technologies in, against and beyond the neoliberal university

This article reflects on the position of people in, against and beyond information and communication technologies. Firstly, using Jandrić and Kuzmanić’s work on digital postcolonialism, Raymond Williams's work on residual and emergent cultures, and Deleuze and Guattari's insights into the dynamics between territorialization, de-territorialization and re-territorialization, it develops a theoretical framework for inquiry into the hybrid identity of the contemporary university. Then, through critical discourse analysis (CDA), the article moves on to analyse the ways in which technology discourse resides in the dominating ideology of technological determinism and co-opts with neoliberal agendas by omitting humans from explicit mention in UK policy documents. It shows that true counter-hegemonic practice against dominating social practices is possible only through reinvigorating the central position of human beings in regards to information and communication technologies. Within the developed theoretical framework, it seeks openings to intervene subversively into current relationships between technologies, people, and (higher) education, and to identify opportunities for building a non-determinist identity of the contemporary university that reaches beyond the single-minded logic of techno-scientific development. In the process, it situates Paulo Freire's insights into critical pedagogy in the context of the network society, and places the relationships between human beings, language and information and communication technologies amongst central questions of today's (higher) education and society at large.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender psychology:an international conversation among researchers

This article reports on a conversation between 12 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) psychologists at the first international LGBT Psychology Summer Institute at the University of Michigan in August 2009. Participants discuss how their work in LGBT psychology is affected by national policy, funding and academic contexts and the transnational influence of the US-based stigma model of LGBT psychology. The challenges and possibilities posed by internationalism are discussed with reference to the dominance of the United States, the cultural limits of terms such as 'lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender', intergenerational communication between researchers and the role of events such as the Summer Institute in creating an international community of LGBT psychologists. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

Joint colloquium on plurilingualism and language education:opportunities and challenges, (AAAL/TESOL)

This colloquium was organised by Ryuko Kubota (University of British Columbia, Canada) and Sue Garton (Aston University, UK) as part of the collaboration between the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) and TESOL International Association.

Sustainability in higher education:stories and strategies for transformation

Book review of Peggy F. Bartlett and Geoffrey W. Chase (eds.), Sustainability in Higher Education: Stories and Strategies for Transformation