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.

Logics, thresholds, strategic power, and the promotion of liberalisation by governments: a case study from British Higher Education

Liberalisation has become an increasingly important policy trend, both in the private and public sectors of advanced industrial economies. This article eschews deterministic accounts of liberalisation by considering why government attempts to institute competition may be successful in some cases and not others. It considers the relative strength of explanations focusing on the institutional context, and on the volume and power of sectoral actors supporting liberalisation. These approaches are applied to two attempts to liberalise, one successful and one unsuccessful, within one sector in one nation – higher education in Britain. Each explanation is seen to have some explanatory power, but none is sufficient to explain why competition was generalised in the one case and not the other. The article counsels the need for scholars of liberalisation to be open to multiple explanations which may require the marshalling of multiple sources and types of evidence.

The dynamics of power and resistance in police interview discourse

This is a study of police interviewing using an integrated approach, drawing on CA, CDA and pragmatics. The study focuses on the balance of power and control, finding that in particular the institutional status of the participants, the discursive roles assigned to them by the context, and their relative knowledge, are significant factors affecting the dynamics of the discourse. Four discursive features are identified as particularly significant, and a detailed analysis of the complex interplay of these features shows that power and control are constantly under negotiation, and are always open to challenge and resistance. Further it is shown that discursive dominance is not necessarily advantageous to participants, due to the specific goals and purposes of the police interview context. A wider consideration of the context illustrates the contribution that linguistics can make to the use of police interview data as evidence in the UK criminal justice system.

Power perceptions and modes of complaining in higher education

This study examines the relationship between student perceptions of different types of educator power and different modes of student complaining behaviour in the case of university education. A large sample of marketing students in the business school responded to the study from a state university in Northeastern United States. Factor analysis and canonical correlation analysis are used to explore the relationships between five bases of power perceptions (referent, expert, reward, legitimate, and punishment) and four modes of complaining behaviour (voice, negative word of mouth, third party, and exit). The results indicate that students engage in different modes of complaining as they perceive different types of educator power. The predominant complaining mode is found to be voice under referent or expert power, third party under legitimate power, and exit under reward or punishment power. Our findings offer important implications for student satisfaction, retention, and completion rates in higher education.

The directions taken by young people on leaving compulsory education:a study in two Birmingham schools

The thesis addresses the relative importance of factors affecting working-class school-leavers' post-compulsory education transitions into post-sixteen education, training, employment and unemployment. It focuses on school-leavers choosing to enter the labour market, whether successfully or not and the influences affecting this choice. Methodologically, the longitudinal approach followed young people from before they left school to a period of months after. Discrepancies between young people's intended and actual destinations emphasised the diverse influences on post-sixteen transitions. These influences were investigated through a dynamic multi-method approach, drawing from quantitative and qualitative methodologies providing depth and insight while locating the research within a structural framework, allowing a comparison with local and national trends. Two crucial factors of school and gender affected young people's intended and actual post-sixteen directions. School policy, including treatment of disaffected pupils and recruitment to a large, on-site sixth form, influenced the number of pupils opting to continue their education. Girls were more likely to continue education after the end of compulsory schooling and gave different reasons to boys for doing so. Family and peer groups were influential, helping young people develop a 'horizon for action' incorporating habitus and subjective preferences that specified acceptable post-sixteen directions. These influences operated within the context of the local labour market. Perception of the latter rather than actual conditions informed post-sixteen decisions; however, labour market reality influenced the success of the school-leavers' endeavours. The research found that the economics-based rational choice model of decision-making did not apply to many working class school-leavers. The cohort made pragmatically rational decisions dependent on their 'horizon for action'. based on partial, occasionally inaccurate information. Policy recommendations consider the careers service and structure or school sixth forms as aiding successful transitions from compulsory education into education, employment or training. The maintenance allowance may be ineffectual in tackling its objective of social inclusion.

The response to and effects of microcomputers in the education sector:the introduction of an innovation in local authority secondary schools

The study addresses the introduction of an innovation of new technology into a bureaucratic profession. The organisational setting is that of local authority secondary schools at a time at which microcomputers were being introduced in both the organisational core (for teaching) and its periphery (school administration). The research studies innovation-adopting organisations within their sectoral context; key actors influencing the innovation are identified at the levels of central government, local government and schools.A review of the literature on new technology and innovation (including educational innovation), and on schools as organisations in a changing environment leads to the development of the conceptual framework of the study using a resource dependency model within a cycle of the acquisition, allocation and utilisation of financial, physical and intangible resources. The research methodology is longitudinal and draws from both positivist and interpretive traditions. lt includes an initial census of the two hundred secondary schools in four local education authorities, a final survey of the same population, and four case studies, using both interview methods and documentation. Two modes of innovation are discerned. In respect of administrative use a rationalising, controlling mode is identified, with local education authorities developing standardised computer-assisted administrative systems for use in schools. In respect of curricular use, in contrast, teachers have been able to maintain an indeterminate occupational knowledge base, derived from an ideology of professionalism in respect of the classroom use of the technology. The mode of innovation in respect of curricular use has been one of learning and enabling. The resourcing policies of central and local government agencies affect the extent of use of the technology for teaching purposes, but the way in which it is used is determined within individual schools, where staff with relevant technical expertise significantly affect the course of the innovation.

Multiculturalism- the ideological response to the education of black pupils in British Schools

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Peer mentoring in higher education:a multidimensional approach to conceptualising the role of peer mentoring programmes in enhancing the first year undergraduate experience

Across the literature researchers agree that the concept of mentoring results in positive outcomes for both mentors and mentees alike (Enrich et al, 2004). From a pedagogical perspective, student focused mentoring activities in Higher Education are generally perceived to comprise dyadic or triadic relationships that encapsulate a diverse range of learning strategies and/or support mechanisms. Whilst there exists a significant amount of literature regarding the wider value of Peer Mentoring in Higher Education, there remains a notable gap in knowledge about the value of such programmes in enhancing the first year undergraduate experience and thus promoting a smooth transition to University. Using the emergent study findings of a large international project, a multidimensional conceptual framework bringing together the theoretical, conceptual and contextual determinants of Peer Mentoring is proposed. This framework makes a distinctive contribution to current pedagogical theory and practice – particularly in relation to the first year experience.

Responsible management education from across the pond:innovations and experiences in UK business schools

The session draws upon experiences highlighted within a series of ongoing CSR/sustainability teaching days organized through the British Academy of Management CSR Special Interest Group, designed to encourage UK schools to develop new innovative curricula and to engage with the UN PRME initiative. The panel will consist of representatives from UK universities all of which are at different stages of developing responsible management curricula and have adopted different approaches towards these challenges.

The importance of power dynamics in the development of asynchronous online learning communities

This research explored how a more student-directed learning design can support the creation of togetherness and belonging in a community of distance learners in formal higher education. Postgraduate students in a New Zealand School of Education experienced two different learning tasks as part of their online distance learning studies. The tasks centered around two online asynchronous discussions each for the same period of time and with the same group of students, but following two different learning design principles. All messages were analyzed using a twostep analysis process, content analysis and social network analysis. Although the findings showed a balance of power between the tutor and the students in the first high e-moderated activity, a better pattern of group interaction and community feeling was found in the low e-moderated activity. The paper will discuss the findings in terms of the implications for learning design and the role of the tutor.

The sociological approach to teaching and learning in higher education with special reference to first year sociology courses at a technological university

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Can accreditation help a leopard change its spots? Social accountability and stakeholder engagement in business schools

Purpose: Neo-institutional theory suggests that organisations change occurs when institutional contradictions, caused by exogenous and endogenous dynamics, increase over time to the point where change can no longer be resisted. Human praxis will result, but only when sufficiently powerful interests are motivated to act. This paper aims to examine the role that the accreditation of business schools can play in increasing institutional contradictions and hence fostering organisational change towards stakeholder engagement and engagement with social responsibility and sustainability issues. Numerous accreditations are promulgated within the higher education and business school contexts and a number of these relate to, or have aspects that relate to, ethics, social responsibility and sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: The paper first analyses the take up of accreditations across UK business schools and then uses a case study to illustrate and explore stakeholder engagement and changes related to ethics, social responsibility and sustainability linked to accreditation processes. Findings: Accreditations are found to be an increasingly common interest for UK business schools. Further, a number of these accreditations have evolved to incorporate issues related to ethics, social responsibility and sustainability that may cause institutional contradictions and may, therefore, have the potential to foster organisational change. Accreditation alone, however, is not sufficient and the authors find that sufficiently powerful interests need to be motivated to act and enable human praxis to affect change. Research limitations/implications: This paper draws on previous research that considers the role of accreditation in fostering change that has also been carried out in healthcare organisations, public and professional bodies. Its findings stem from an individual case study and as such further research is required to explore whether these findings can be extended and apply more generally in business schools and universities in different contexts. Practical implications: This paper concludes by recommending that the newly established UK & Ireland Chapter of PRME encourages and supports signatory schools to further embed ethics, social responsibility and sustainability into all aspects of university life in the UK. This also provides an opportunity to engage with the accrediting bodies in order to further support the inclusion of stakeholder engagement and issues related to this agenda in their processes. Originality/value: This paper contributes by introducing accreditation as an institutional pressure that may lead indirectly to organisational change and supports this with new evidence from an illustrative case study. Further, it draws on the role of institutional contradictions and human praxis that engender organisational change. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Discretion and control in education:the teacher as street-level bureaucrat

This article assesses the impact of education reform and the new public management (NPM) on the discretion of school teachers. The focal point of the study is Michael Lipsky's theory of discretion which casts public service professionals and others involved in service delivery as 'street-level bureaucrats' because their high degree of discretionary rule-making power enabled them to effectively make policy as well as implement it. The article considers the relationship between education reform and the NPM and focuses on the increased emphasis on skills-based teaching and changes in management and leadership in schools. The literature and survey of teachers demonstrate that discretion in the workplace has been eroded to such an extent due to a high degree of central regulation and local accountability as to question the applicability of Lipsky's model. The findings are based on the literature and a small survey undertaken by the author. © 2007 BELMAS.

Power electronic interfaces for low voltage residential networks

A proposal to increase the existing residential LV grid voltage from 230 V to 300 V has been made in order to increase existing network capacity. A power-electronic AC-AC converter is then used to provide 230 V at each property. The equipment can also provide power-quality improvements to the network and load. Several constraints such as temperature rise at the converter location lead to a converter design requiring very high efficiency. In this paper different AC/AC converter topologies are presented which compares the power quality benefits, size and efficiency of each converter. The design and the control technique of the most suitable topology are verified using simulation and preliminary experimentally results of prototype hardware are also included. © 2013 IEEE.