Complex pathways for young mothers outside employment,education and training

This article explores young mothers’ experiences of turbulent pathways in and out of education and work in Northern England. Data are drawn from an ethnography conducted between 2010 and 2013 that incorporated participant observation, life-story maps, photographs and interviews carried out in young mothers’ homes, parenting classes and employment-based education and training programmes. These particular young women were sometimes directed into inappropriate education and training courses based on their ‘young unemployed mother’ status rather than encouraged to embark upon an individualised pathway relevant to their particular needs and career aspirations. Pathways are explored using Bourdieu's concept of capital to expose how these women expressed agency and navigated their own way through the different and sometimes competing fields of education, family and work.     

Individualisation and social exclusion: the case of young people not in education,employment or training

The characteristics, experiences and long-term prospects of young people outside the labour market and education have attracted widespread international attention in recent decades, and the specific category of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) has been a policy concern for the UK Government since 1997. This paper examines the analytical and empirical basis of our knowledge of NEET young people, in the light of more general conceptualisations of social exclusion and the individualisation of social risk. It relates the NEET category to a conception of social exclusion in which the central policy focus is on moving young people across a boundary between participation and non-participation, and inequalities within education and employment receive less attention. This focus, allied with discourses of individualisation, obscures the structural basis of inequality in education and training. However, the paper argues that the research evidence shows that individualised approaches based on personal and cultural characteristics of NEET young people are inadequate to understand this group and frame policy. The paper proposes that stronger versions of social exclusion need to be used in constructing solutions which acknowledge the basis of NEET issues in wider social inequalities.     

Higher education scale and employment relationship in China

This paper reviews Chinese management research since its beginning more than thirty years ago. It then discusses the possible interplay between higher education scale and employment relationship, and suggests that it is time to take the road less traveled rather than to over-travel the more popular road. We conclude that the practice will prove the final judge on higher education reform and employment relationship, and the insights from this paper will help sharpen the understanding of the higher education challenges of China.     

Social capital and the educational achievement of young people in Sweden

Based on Bourdieu’s conceptualization of social capital (the social stratification perspective), this study examines the impact of social capital on the educational outcomes of young people in Sweden, with a focus on the extra-familial aspect of social capital – that is, social capital generated by parental networks and active membership in various social organizations and friendship networks. The results indicate that the class background of respondents is the main predictor of access to all three forms of extra-familial social capital. However, after controlling for class background, the children of racialized immigrant groups are more likely to have access to more types of social capital than others. All three aspects of extra-familial social capital positively influence the educational performance of pupils.     

Enabling labour market entry for adults through non-formal education and training for employment in South Africa

Adult non-formal education and training (NFET) in South Africa was adopted in 1990 to address the problem of unemployment of non-educated and unskilled adults. Public and private NFET centres aim to meet the training needs of adults who were deprived of formal education that would foster access to opportunities for employment. The paper reports on a study conducted to investigate what constitutes NFET enabling environments for employment. The paper focuses on the approach of training delivery fostering labour market entry of graduates. The findings show that individual trainees who participated in private centres had a higher probability of being employed because of the creation of internal enabling environments for skills acquisition and focus on income-generating activities. The authors conclude that an integration of technical skills with business skills and ‘learning by earning’ is a potential training delivery approach enabling graduates to participate in economic activities.     

困惑、自轻与自强--中国企业青年职工就业心态调查*

如果中国加入世界贸易组织,中国的企业将会受到巨大的冲击并由此带来进一步改革的必要性,而这将会使下岗和再就业成为每一个企业职工都要面临的问题.对此,中国企业的青年职工们表现出不同的心态.他们中许多人对形势的估计并不乐观,对自己的就业条件评价也不高;有一部分人安于现状,再就业准备明显不足;同时,大量的青年职工为迎接知识经济的挑战正在努力学习,以适应社会发展的需要.     

Vocational education and training and transitions into the labour market of persons with intellectual disabilities

The aim of the study is to deepen the understanding of teacher’s perspective on how to promote all children’s learning in reading and writing in grade 1 of primary school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in a Swedish context with 18 primary school teachers, representing a large collective experience from working as teachers in grade 1. The result shows there is a lack of sharing information and experiences, between preschool class and grade 1, concerning reading and writing activities and instructions. The teachers’ perspectives on reading and writing instruction can be described as pluralistic, in the sense that each teacher refers to several strategies and approaches to promote learning and development related to reading and writing. The variation of children appears to give meaning to the work of the teachers in the study, though it also is associated with challenges e.g. the experience of being alone and not sufficient to support children’s different abilities, experiences and needs. According to teachers in the study, the additional support in schools is more remedial than preventive since the resources are mainly invested in older students.     

Equity in higher education and graduate labour market outcomes in Australia

The rate of higher education participation in Australia has increased over the past decade for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. This study contributes to the knowledge on the outcomes of disadvantaged individuals who complete higher education by looking at the labour market outcomes of university graduates from equity groups. The number of Indigenous graduates and graduates with disabilities was found to be very low, suggesting that more needs to be done to improve higher education completion for these two groups. The labour market outcomes for other equity groups are mixed, with those from low socio-economic status backgrounds and regional and remote Australia performing well in the labour market, while graduates from non-English-speaking backgrounds and female graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields experience substantial disadvantage in the labour market. The findings suggest that selection processes prior to the graduates’ entry into the labour market are important.     

积极开拓高校就业市场 促进毕业生充分就业

随着高等教育跨越式的发展,高等教育大众化进程的加快,高校毕业生数量也迅速增加,据悉2012届全国毕业生将达到700多万,大学生的就业状况越来越受到社会的关注,就业工作压力不断增大,就业机构工作成效的重要性日益突出,并受到高校的高度重视。在这种情况下,各高校必须积极开拓就业市场,寻求就业机会,提高就业工作成效,促进毕业生充分就业。     

The role of part-time employment among young people with a non-university education in Spain

For some people, a part-time job is merely an intermediate state that serves as a stepping stone to further employment and makes labour market integration easier. Yet, part-time work also appears in highly unstable careers. The present research aims to determine the role of part-time employment for young people with non-university studies. Using the Survey on Transition from Education/Training and Labour Market Integration (ETEFIL-2005), we build the monthly sequence of labour states for young people from when they finish their non-university studies until the time of the survey. The analysis allows us to conclude that part-time work is fairly atypical in the early stages of a career but that those who have part-time jobs spend quite a long time in them. In addition, we identify several patterns in the use of part-time work, the ‘integrative’ pattern proving to be the most prevalent. Factors such as education and early preferences are seen to have a major impact on career paths.     

就业重压下高校德育的困境与对策

随着高等教育从"精英教育"逐渐走向"大众教育",大学生就业问题日益突出,残酷的就业形势导致有些毕业生心态失衡,校园中出现恶性竞争、道德滑坡现象.严峻的形势暴露了高校德育工作在学生就业教育方面的困境:理想与实际的矛盾、传统与现实的冲突、说教与实践的脱节等等.因此,高校德育应从丰富德育内容,强化就业教育主题;改进德育方法,重视职业心理教育;提高教师素质,增强就业教育责任感等方面入手,走出困境,发挥强有力的功效.     

高教育成本与低就业起薪矛盾之对策

结合实证分析了近年来出现的高教育成本与低就业起薪的矛盾、成因及社会影响，探讨如何通过政府、高校、用人单位和大学生各自的努力应对高教育成本与低就业起薪矛盾引发的社会问题，最终实现各方共赢。     

Massification of higher education,graduate employment and social mobility in the Greater China region

Globalisation and the evolution of the knowledge-based economy have caused dramatic worldwide changes in the character and functions of education, particularly higher education. In the search for global competitiveness, many emerging economies have begun to expand their higher education systems, which has significantly affected the relationship between higher education and graduate employment. Recently, international comparative studies have suggested that increasing enrolment in higher education does not always promote upward social mobility, and can intensify inequality in education. This article critically examines the impact of the expansion of higher education in East Asia on graduate employment and social mobility in the context of an increasingly globalising economy and changing labour market needs. The article discusses emerging trends in the Greater China region, with a particular focus on Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taipei, and argues that the massification of higher education has not necessarily led to more occupational opportunities for youth or opportunities for upward social movement, particularly since the significant changes in the global labour market after the 2008 global financial crisis. On the contrary, the intensification of ‘positional competition’ among college graduates seems to reflect growing social inequality.     

以毕业生思政教育为主抓手科学促进良性就业新思路

高校毕业生就业指导工作是高校加强和改进大学生思想政治教育的重要途径。本文着眼于高校思政教育与就业工作的密切性,剖析当前高校毕业生的就业心态和存在的思想问题,提出以毕业生思想政治教育为主抓手,全面促进良性就业。     

Transition partnerships: the views of education professionals and staff in support services for young people with learning disabilities

Transition to post-statutory education and employment for young people with learning disabilities has become a hotly debated issue among professionals in education and support services in the UK. Partnerships between educational institutions and voluntary sector providers are supposed to be ideal vehicles for delivering transition services and securing outcomes for young people with learning disabilities. In this article, Axel Kaehne and Stephen Bayer of the Welsh Centre for Learning Difficulties report the findings of a survey of the views of special educational needs co-ordinators and professionals who are involved at operational and strategic levels in the work of transition partnerships. The data show that undue emphasis is often placed, by all stakeholders, on the soft, rather than the concrete, outcomes of transition; that smooth transitions are still hampered by insufficient flow of information between collaborating agencies; and that there are still significant gaps in provision, in particular in the supported employment field, due to funding or referral restrictions. To deliver first-class transitions, argue Axel Kaehne and Stephen Bayer, partnerships that support young people with learning disabilities need to address these difficulties with some urgency.     

Disadvantaged neighbourhoods and young people not in education,employment or training at the ages of 18 to 19 in England

There is a growing interest among researchers in the impact of locality on young people who are inactive and not engaged in education, employment or training (NEETs). Previous research on this, however, is rather limited and does not account for a number of characteristics that mediate the effects of disadvantaged neighbourhoods on transition outcomes. This study investigates the effects of neighbourhood context on young people who experience NEET status at the ages 18 to 19 in one cohort born in 1989/90 in the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE). The analyses control for a wide range of factors which may affect NEET status. Drawing on previous sociological theories, we develop a theoretical framework that specifies four levels of influence on young people’s development: individual, family, school and peer group characteristics. Potential pathways between neighbourhood context and individual outcomes are explored using a logistic regression model. We demonstrate that there is a higher probability for young people who live in high-crime areas to become NEETs in comparison to those who live in less-deprived areas.     

河北省就业促进政策与人才培养的衔接性研究

由于劳动力供大于求的总量性矛盾以及就业的结构性矛盾的存在,仅仅依靠国家出台的一系列促进大学生就业的措施并不能有效解决大学生就业难的问题。只有加快高等教育体制改革、优化专业设置、培养毕业生的创业素质、做好毕业生到基层工作的准备、提高就业指导工作质量、规范就业培训组织,使之与国家出台的各项措施相衔接,才能有效缓解当前的就业压力,促进大学生的良性就业。     

Drug prevention for young people with social,emotional and behavioural difficulties attending special education provision

The levels of drug use amongst school‐aged young people have risen over the past decade. Prevention initiatives have been developed using empirical evidence obtained from school‐based surveys. The empirical evidence base of drug use amongst young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) attending special education provision is very limited. The implications of this knowledge gap for addressing drug use amongst these young people are explored in this paper. Proposals for the way forward are suggested, for developing a framework for targeted evidence‐based interventions for young people attending emotional and behavioural difficulty units.     

The impact of education in shaping lives: reflections of young people with disabilities in Ghana

There is increasing recognition of the importance of focusing on people with disabilities (PWDs) in international efforts aimed at poverty alleviation. While universal education has been central to these efforts, the specific and additional needs of children with disabilities are often overlooked in policies and programmes. In order to gain a nuanced appreciation of the lives of young PWDs in a Ghanaian context, this paper draws on research conducted with young PWDs and their significant others in order to understand their educational journeys, employment prospects and perceptions towards disability of those around them. In addition to collecting primary data, the latest policy documents related to disability, education and employment are reviewed and statistical analysis is undertaken based on the Housing and Population Census 2010. Our research highlights the barriers facing those with disability in accessing quality education. While education was recognised as paramount to leading a better life and participants noted benefits beyond employment such as gaining self-sufficiency and social benefits, unequal educational opportunities underpin some of the reasons for the widening of gaps between those with disabilities and their non-disabled counterparts. Furthermore, while education was perceived as important for gaining employment, this was not the case in reality, as young people faced difficulties due to both physical and attitudinal barriers limiting their opportunities for economic and social participation. The paper concludes by noting that systematic changes in the policy arena are needed to enable youth with disabilities to take their rightful place in mainstream society.     

Massification of higher education and youth transition: skills mismatch,informal sector jobs and implications for China

This study adopts a nationwide survey data set between 2005 and 2013 (Chinese General Social Survey) to explore the influence of the massification of higher education on the transition of Chinese youth into the labour market. Data analysis reveals two major findings. First, the economic returns to college education of recent cohorts of university graduates (those who have graduated from universities not more than 3 years ago) are lower than the cohorts who graduated in 2005 and 2006. Second, recent cohorts of college graduates are likely to work in the urban informal sector, unlike their senior counterparts. These findings could partially be explained by skills mismatch in the labour market but a comprehensive understanding of graduate unemployment in China could be obtained by bringing the broader political economy perspective into the analysis.