Turning points in the lives of two pioneer Arab women principals in Israel

This study investigates the managerial career development of two Arab women, pioneer principals within the Arab education system in Israel. Using in-depth interviews relating to the characteristics of the different stages leading up to and within their careers as school principals (childhood and academic studies; the struggle to achieve the position; and the period in their position as principal), the study reveals the characteristics and evolution of their managerial style. The research findings indicate that these are two highly motivated women who dared to swim against the tide from an early age and achieved their positions, albeit with the support of their families, but not without serious battles. As the first women principals in their communities they continue to develop, while coping with the norms of Arab patriarchal society, where they need to prove that, despite their gender and the associated expectations, they are effective leaders. This necessitated their initial adoption of an authoritarian administrative style, which they eventually adapt into a more empathetic style. The study contributes to the study of female management styles by showing the evolution of the two women's management styles within the context of their traditional society, thereby questioning previous studies that see women's management styles as a static phenomenon.     

No particular way to go

This article aims to deepen understanding of the trajectories through school and into adulthood of people who did not attain valued qualifications from upper secondary school (‘non-completers’), and explore the fruitfulness of careership theory for such analysis. It is based on interviews with 100 young Swedes: 81 non-completers and 19 who had attended special upper secondary schools catering for young people with mild cognitive disability. Their narratives portray sparse socio-economic resources and difficult family situations, learning problems and marginalisation processes in school. They commonly learned to perceive themselves as failures and ‘different’. Framed by narrow horizons of action, these young people’s careers were mostly characterised by enforced rather than self-initiated turning points. Often leading to unemployment and economic problems, leaving secondary school was less of a turning point than a continuation of failure, even if completing adult education and getting a job were regarded as self-initiated, positive shifts. We conclude that careership theory was useful for analysing and understanding the careers of the young people concerned. However, distinguishing between ‘routines’ and ‘turning points’ became especially difficult when studying lives of these young people hemmed in by sparser resources, fewer choices and less stable career trajectories than their peers.     

NEET,unemployed, inactive or unknown – why does it matter?

Background: The UK, like most countries across Europe and other advanced economies, has experienced an alarming rise in the levels of young people (aged between 16 and 24 years) who are detached from both the labour market and the education and training system. In the UK, there are nearly a million 16–24-year-olds who are recorded as being not in education, employment or training (NEET). For governments throughout Europe, the need to address high levels of youth unemployment and social disengagement has become an urgent priority. As a result, policy-makers are faced with the challenge of developing effective interventions to prevent these levels being sustained over the longer term, with potential scarring effects on successive generations, and concomitant economic and social impacts.

Purpose: This paper will inform the development of policy and practice targeted at NEET prevention and reintegration of those young people who have become NEET, with suggestions for areas to be addressed and methods and mechanisms which might be incorporated into programme implementation. The paper highlights gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the size, characteristics and geographical distribution of young people in the NEET group in England, and questions the continued relevance of the term ‘NEET’ to capture youth disengagement.

Sources of evidence: After drawing on Europe-wide data to present a picture of the scale of youth unemployment throughout the continent, official UK data are used to drill down to specific issues which are the focus of the piece, in particular, the regional disparities in the size of the group whose destination is ‘unknown’. This is discussed in the context of a range of literature relating to the emergence of the term ‘NEET’ and the characteristics of the NEET group. A review of current policy intervention in England to tackle the NEET ‘problem’ is also presented.

Main argument: This paper will suggest that the implementation of effective policy interventions to address the ‘NEET’ issue is highly problematic, due to three overriding concerns. These are: (a) a lack of clarity in the definition of this group in England; (b) inadequacies in determining with any precision how many under-18s there are in this group, or where they are located, leading to large numbers whose post-education destination is ‘unknown’; and (c) misguided stereotyping of NEET young people’s behaviour, attitudes and aspirations. These problems have partly been exacerbated by budget cuts and changes to guidance and support services, as well as inadequacies in mapping and tracking systems.

Conclusions: The paper concludes with recommendations that policy development must, in the first instance, be underpinned by robust and reliable data about the size and composition of the group, derived from impartial, independent mapping and tracking services. Furthermore, policies designed to reduce the NEET population should include measures which tackle NEET prevention, re-engagement strategies for the hardest to reach groups and active labour market policies for the young unemployed.     

‘Ready for big school’: making the transition to primary school – a Jamaican perspective

The aim of this small-scale, qualitative study is to understand the perspective of varying stakeholders responsible for student transitions from pre-primary to primary school in the Jamaican context. The questions that guided the research are: What factors affect student transitions to primary school? What skills do children need in order to successfully transition? and Who/what is responsible for preparing students to transition from pre-primary to primary school? To answer these questions a representative from the Early Childhood Commission, 13 parents and 16 Grade 1 teachers from 12 schools across the island of Jamaica were interviewed. Findings reveal that student transitions from pre-primary to primary school need systematic attention particularly in light of how this impacts on student success, not only in primary school, but in their secondary years as well. The data also reveal that a major issue affecting student transitions is the quality of pre-primary education and parenting practices in the early years. Also highlighted are the differing perspectives of teachers and parents on the skills needed for success in primary school. Parenting programmes and professional development for both parents and teachers, respectively, are critical if strides are to be made.     

“Should I stay or should I go?” Exploring high school apprentices’ pathways

Completion rates are one measure of the success of apprenticeship training. But little is known about outcomes for youth who begin an apprenticeship in high school. This paper draws primarily on interviews with youth who did not continue training or work in their high school apprenticeship trade in two Canadian provinces. Our analysis focuses on why these youth decided to enrol in high school apprenticeship, why they did not continue and what they did afterwards. Findings suggest that a narrow focus on apprenticeship training completion diverts attention from the complex learning and work transitions experienced by most youth. Instead of assuming a linear pathway from school-to-trades work, we argue that partners involved in high school apprenticeship and policy-makers could do more to raise student awareness of multiple trajectories and skills transfer, make apprenticeship training more expansive, and increase the flexibility of pathways by providing greater articulation between different post-secondary education pathways and opportunities to change direction.     

Governing transitions in the sustainability of everyday life

The literature on sociotechnical transitions and their governance tends to concentrate on the introduction of new technologies and systems of supply. In this paper we seek to extend the scope of debate, introducing aspects of practice theory as a means of also conceptualising the dynamics of demand. Rather than treating ‘human need’ or ‘societal functions’ as given, we consider how variously sustainable practices come into existence, how they disappear and how interventions of different forms may be implicated in these dynamics. We use the two cases of daily showering and the congestion charging scheme in London to consider the distinctive challenges of understanding transitions in practice and of governing these so as to engender more sustainable ways of life.     

Inter-generational transitions in socio-technical systems: The case of mobile communications

Many technology studies have conceptualized transitions between technological generations as a series of S-curve performance improvements over time. Surprisingly, the interregnum between successive generations has received little attention. To understand what happens in the interregnum, we study the transition from 2G to 3G in mobile communications. Our study identifies the presence of forces for both change and continuity across heterogeneous social and technical elements shaping an uneven transition between 2G and 3G mobile communications technology platforms. Unanticipated misalignments and asynchronies that emerged during the journey shifted the incentives of the various actors involved to participate. Based on these observations, we offer several conjectures as to the dynamics that can give rise to temporal discords during inter-generational technological transitions.     

Routes through higher education: BME students and the development of a ‘specialisation of consciousness’

With changing demographics and the advent of mass higher education, there has been a significant impact on graduate transitions which has led to greater inequalities in access to social support during the transitionary period between undergraduate study and entrance into the labour market. This article explores the experiences of students in their final year of undergraduate study by drawing on 43 interviews with Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students. Using Bourdieu, we argue that BME students preparing to enter the labour market display a ‘specialisation of consciousness’: a set of practices framed by their prior background and experience, choice of university and the support derived from attending university. ‘Specialisation of consciousness’ is an ongoing process in which BME students identify and understand racial inequalities in higher education and accept the limiting consequences these have on transitions into the labour market or further study.     

Accuracy of Actigraph inclinometer to classify free-living postures and motion in adults with overweight and obesity

Sedentary behaviour (SB) is an independent health risk-factor and interrupting SB seems to be beneficial. SB is both defined by posture and intensity, thus objective measurement of postures remains a priority. The ActivPAL inclinometer (AP) has been used as a reference for postural estimation, but information on the validity of the Actigraph inclinometer (AG_incl) is scarce. We compared postural estimation from waist-worn AG_incl against thigh-worn AP, under free-living. Data from 10 participants (50.4 ± 11.4 years) were used and each 15s-block from 60-valid days was matched for the devices’ comparison. At group level, no differences were found for SB and standing-time between inclinometers (p ≥ 0.05). AG_incl underestimated stepping-time by 26.3 min and overestimated SB-to-upright transitions by 200.7 occasions (p < 0.05). Inter-individual variability was higher for SB and standing-time, and AG_incl was in better agreement with AP for the stepping-time (area under the ROC curve = 0.98, with 100% sensitivity and 94% specificity; CCC = 0.44). These results highlight potential error in estimating individual postures using AG_incl in overweight/obese adults and provide insights on the differences of using specific criteria on data-analysis. Our findings suggest that at the group level, AG_incl provides similar estimates compared to AP for SB and standing-time, but not for SB-to-upright transitions or stepping-time. (ClinicalTrials.govID:NCT02007681)     

School-to-work transition services: marginalising ‘disposable’ youth in a state of exception?

Disadvantaged young people often inhabit a dangerous space: excluded from education, training and employment markets; constructed as disposable; and cast out as ‘human waste’ (Bauman, 2004). There are many macro-level analyses of this catastrophic trend, but this article provides insights into some of the everyday educational micro-practices which contribute to such marginalisation. It presents findings from a study of a national school-to-work transition service in England, in a context not only of neo-liberal policies but also of severe austerity measures. The data reveal processes of triage, surveillance and control – driven by governmental and institutional targets – which denied many young people access to the service, including some of the most vulnerable. Beneath a rhetoric of social inclusion, the service in fact acted as a conduit into a dangerous space of exclusion. Drawing on the work of Butler and of Agamben, the article argues innovatively that such practices may represent an encroaching state of exception, in which more or less subtle forms of governmentality are gradually being supplanted by the more overt exercise of sovereign power.