Considering ‘teacher resilience’ from critical discourse and labour process theory perspectives

This article considers the construct of ‘teacher resilience’ from critical discourse and labour process perspectives in order to cast new light on what has been traditionally viewed from a psychological perspective. In this respect, the construct of resilience is placed in the broad political landscape of teachers’ work and the labour process of teaching, within a neoliberal globalised economic paradigm. Importantly, this article argues that any conceptualisations of teacher resilience should be critically appraised and not simply ‘taken for granted’. While the concept of developing ‘teacher resilience’ as a means, for example, of addressing alarmingly high rates of early career teacher attrition may sound like a good idea, it is important to consider the way such constructs can be used to shape and potentially control teacher identity and the nature of teachers’ work.     

新农村建设背景下苏州农村劳动力培训现状调查与对策分析

农村劳动力培训是一项惠民工程,是加快新农村建设步伐的重要保证。通过对苏州农村劳动力培训主体、客体、内容、形式的调查分析,发现存在着一些问题,如培训资源分散,培训信息传达不畅,培训层次偏低,培训监管低效等。建议地方政府针对这些问题在如何正确引导农村劳动力培训方向、提升农村劳动力培训层次、彰显农村劳动力特色、提高农村劳动力培训成效等方面做出有益的尝试,使得农村劳动力培训进一步持续健康的发展。     

Labour Market Relevance of European University Education. From Enrolment to Professional Employment in 12 Countries

In accordance with the education policy which puts human capital at its heart, higher education is expected to produce marketable competent professionals in response to the needs of an expansive knowledge-based economy. In one reading, to support competitive knowledge-based economy, higher education students should graduate as young and fast as possible. The article asks whether it is credible that the young & fast principle as an objective for university education would provide a feasible way of enhancing professional labour force to serve knowledge economies. The analysis of study careers of 17,000 European second cycle university graduates shows that transitions from school to higher education to professional employment vary considerably in the 12 countries. The key finding is that countries with rather slow progression in the initial part of the transition tend to do better in the end, and vice versa. Belgium (Flanders) is the most obvious example of young and fast-graduating students that need a relatively long period after graduation to start their professional careers. In Finland, Austria, and Norway, relatively old and experienced graduates are employed rapidly. The time before professional employment after graduation is short for students who have acquired relevant work experience and acquainted themselves with professional fields. The youngest professionals are found in France where they tend to have access to opportunities for professionally relevant training. However, professional employment cannot be fostered by simply trying to recruit student populations as young as possible, but rather by enriching the labour market relevance of their student careers.     

Inequality – ‘wicked problems’, labour market outcomes and the search for silver bullets

In recent years concerns about inequality have been growing in prominence within UK policy debates. The many causes of inequality of earnings and income are complex in their interactions and their tendency to reinforce one another. This makes inequality an intractable or ‘wicked’ policy problem, particularly within a contemporary context in which many of the established policy responses from previous eras are at best discussed in muted terms and more normally deemed to be unavailable. This reflects the eclipse of ‘equality of outcome’ models and the concomitant rise of ‘equality of opportunity’ as the new policy mantra from Thatcher onwards. As traditional policy responses have withered, the role of education and training as a ‘silver bullet’ that can address a host of economic and social challenges has come to the fore. This article outlines policy makers’ beliefs that improving the educational attainment of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds can enable them to compete more effectively for elite jobs, and also that increasing the supply of educated employees can transform the level of demand for skills from employers. These beliefs are then critiqued, with reference to occupational congestion, over-qualification and the evidence that skills supply does not always create its own demand.     

湘南三市农村剩余劳动力转移因素的实证分析

近些年来,湘南地区的衡阳、郴州和永州三市在农村剩余劳动力转移方面取得了一定的成就.但由于基数较大,促进农村剩余劳动力的有序转移是一个长期而艰巨的过程.文章介绍了湘南地区三市农村剩余劳动力转移的现状,分析了影响湘南地区三市农村剩余劳动力转移的相关因素,提出了促进湘南地区三市农村剩余劳动力转移的对策建议.     

‘I'm just there to ease the burden’: the parent support adviser role in English schools and the question of emotional labour

In 2005, the Department for Education and Skills announced a £40 million investment in a new school support worker role, the parent support adviser (PSA), for 20 English local authorities. A pilot project ran from 2006–2008 and resulted in the establishment of 717 PSAs in 1167 schools. The national evaluation of the project forms the evidential basis of this paper, with interviews conducted with 69 PSAs, 85 PSA line managers and 105 parents and a database recording casework with nearly 21,000 parents. This paper focuses on the nature of the PSA role as the first centrally funded parent support role in English schools. The theoretical framework provided by the concept of ‘emotional labour’ and the development of the concept represented by the 4Ps typology provides the conceptual structure. This paper argues that although the characteristics of the PSA role appear to place it within the category of work requiring emotional labour, PSAs and parents regard that aspect of the role in a positive light. For the PSAs there was little evidence that emotional labour necessary for the role of PSA led to dissonance between role and worker or alienation from the product of PSA labour.     

Understanding the effects of training programs for vulnerable adults on social inclusion as part of continuing education

According to the increasing rates of unemployment and poverty a significant share of the European population can be considered at-risk-of-social exclusion. In order to combat social exclusion adult education seemed to be a possible tool, which can increase social inclusion among adult learners. This study explores factors relating to training programs considered as adult and continuing education which enhance social inclusion for vulnerable adults and their life environment. The results indicate that after following the training programs as part of continuing learning, the participants show a significant increase in activation and internalisation as well as participation and connection (as processes of social inclusion). Moreover, non-parametric correlation analysis and logistical regression analysis shows that the training design feature transfer possibilities is significantly related to the increase of almost all social inclusion variables. Besides this direct surroundings and learning contents and activities only significantly relates to the increase of social inclusion variables of activation and internalisation and care to the social inclusion variables of participation and connection.     

Reading and writing between different worlds: Learning,literacy and power in the lives of two migrant domestic workers

Over the last decades, studies exploring women's literacy have highlighted the way in which literacy practices are embedded within social norms and structures of power. This article draws on research with a group of female migrant domestic workers from Nepal who attended literacy support sessions at the Migrant Resource Centre in London. It explores the way in which their engagement with literacy and learning interacts with the gendered relations of power they experience as they move between different transnational spaces and social fields. It suggests that a consideration of the opportunities and constraints that they experience as migrant domestic workers is critical for understanding their engagement with literacy, and for thinking about possibilities for greater gender justice in the lives of migrant domestic workers like them.     

中学生数学学习元认知水平的调查分析

通过调查显示了中学生数学学习元认知水平方面存在的一些问题,并分析了其中的原因。     

解决失业问题的难点与途径

反失业是中国二十一世纪面临的重大课题。劳动力供求矛盾大,劳动力素质低、国企改革的深化和劳动力市场不发达是反失业面临的主要难点和问题,必须通过统筹兼顾,加快经济结构的调整、发展教育培训事业、正确引导农村剩余劳动力的转移以及加强劳动力市场建设,以实现反失业的目标。