an article by Gerard Lum published in Journal of Education and Work Volume 28 Number 2 (March 2015)
Abstract
While acknowledging that a system of vocational qualifications might be perceived as having any number of possible purposes, this paper identifies three primary functions that any vocational qualification must fulfil by dint of being a vocational qualification.
It is argued that current arrangements are unable to fulfil these essential functions due to certain intrinsic and irremediable conceptual difficulties with the National and Scottish Vocational Qualification (N/SVQ) system. The practical implications of this are illustrated through an account of little documented events in the 1990s when many of the UK’s major companies found it necessary to abandon the UK’s system of N/SVQs in favour of an alternative system precisely because of concerns that the N/SVQ did not fulfil the functions required of a vocational qualification.
Of particular significance is an apparent inconsistency between the N/SVQ system and health and safety law: the so-called ‘competence’ assessment procedures of the N/SVQ being seen to be methodological at odds with the legal requirements for competence.
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
Does union membership benefit immigrant workers in ‘hard times’?
an article by Thomas Turner and Christine Cross (University of Limerick, Ireland) published in Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 56 Number 5 (November 2014)
Abstract
Immigrants experience many obstacles in obtaining jobs with comparable pay and conditions to native workers. Arguably, unionisation could offer migrant workers the mechanism to obtain better pay and conditions.
This paper examines whether migrant workers have benefited from unionisation in terms of pay, pensions and health insurance in Ireland.
Based on a large-scale national survey, we find that union membership delivers a modest wage premium of a relatively similar magnitude to both nationals and immigrant workers. Unionised immigrants are twice as likely as non-unionised immigrants to earn above the median hourly earnings and have greater pension coverage.
In particular, immigrants from the new accession states in the European Union, with the lowest mean hourly earnings of any immigrant group, gain the most from union membership.
Nonetheless, Irish nationals enjoy greater benefits from membership than immigrant workers. Addressing this discrepancy will require a greater focus by unions on organising immigrant workers.
Abstract
Immigrants experience many obstacles in obtaining jobs with comparable pay and conditions to native workers. Arguably, unionisation could offer migrant workers the mechanism to obtain better pay and conditions.
This paper examines whether migrant workers have benefited from unionisation in terms of pay, pensions and health insurance in Ireland.
Based on a large-scale national survey, we find that union membership delivers a modest wage premium of a relatively similar magnitude to both nationals and immigrant workers. Unionised immigrants are twice as likely as non-unionised immigrants to earn above the median hourly earnings and have greater pension coverage.
In particular, immigrants from the new accession states in the European Union, with the lowest mean hourly earnings of any immigrant group, gain the most from union membership.
Nonetheless, Irish nationals enjoy greater benefits from membership than immigrant workers. Addressing this discrepancy will require a greater focus by unions on organising immigrant workers.
Tuesday, 2 June 2015
Hunting for Remote Working Jobs
Marieke Guy posted, back in February, a useful list of websites that offer listings of job offers from home (or, as she says “the remote outback”).
Link to her blog to read what she found when job hunting herself
Link to her blog to read what she found when job hunting herself
Local labour markets delineation: an approach based on evolutionary algorithms and classification methods
an article by M. Pilar Alonso (Universitat de Lleida, Spain) and Asunción Beamonte, Pilar Gargallo and Manuel Salvador (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain) published in Journal of Applied Statistics Volume 42 Issue 5 (2015)
Abstract
In this paper a methodology for the delineation of local labour markets (LLMs) using evolutionary algorithms is proposed.
This procedure, based on that in Flórez-Revuelta et al. [13,14], introduces three modifications.
First, initial groups of municipalities with a minimum size requirement are built using the travel time between them.
Second, a not fully random initiation algorithm is proposed.
And third, as a final stage of the procedure, a contiguity step is implemented.
These modifications significantly decrease the computational times of the algorithm (up to a 99%) without any deterioration of the quality of the solutions. The optimization algorithm may give a set of potential solutions with very similar values with respect to the objective function what would lead to different partitions, both in terms of number of markets and their composition.
In order to capture their common aspects an algorithm based on a cluster partitioning of k-means type is presented. This stage of the procedure also provides a ranking of LLMs foci useful for planners and administrations in decision-making processes on issues related to labour activities.
Finally, to evaluate the performance of the algorithm a toy example with artificial data is analysed.
The full methodology is illustrated through a real commuting data set of the region of Aragón (Spain).
Abstract
In this paper a methodology for the delineation of local labour markets (LLMs) using evolutionary algorithms is proposed.
This procedure, based on that in Flórez-Revuelta et al. [13,14], introduces three modifications.
First, initial groups of municipalities with a minimum size requirement are built using the travel time between them.
Second, a not fully random initiation algorithm is proposed.
And third, as a final stage of the procedure, a contiguity step is implemented.
These modifications significantly decrease the computational times of the algorithm (up to a 99%) without any deterioration of the quality of the solutions. The optimization algorithm may give a set of potential solutions with very similar values with respect to the objective function what would lead to different partitions, both in terms of number of markets and their composition.
In order to capture their common aspects an algorithm based on a cluster partitioning of k-means type is presented. This stage of the procedure also provides a ranking of LLMs foci useful for planners and administrations in decision-making processes on issues related to labour activities.
Finally, to evaluate the performance of the algorithm a toy example with artificial data is analysed.
The full methodology is illustrated through a real commuting data set of the region of Aragón (Spain).
Monday, 1 June 2015
Trivia (should have been 14th February)
Flour Power: 1911
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
The Buffalo River, city ship canal and flour mill elevators circa 1911
“A busy section of the canal – Buffalo, N.Y.”
8x10 inch glass negative
View original post
==========================================
John Muir: mystic of the American wilderness
via 3 Quarks Daily: Stefany Anne Golberg at The Smart Set
For five days John Muir tried to seduce Emerson into the wild – the mountains are calling, let us run away! Muir sang to him, let us go to the show! But Emerson’s companions would have none of it. Emerson is too old for nature, they told Muir; he could catch his death of cold. It is only in houses that people catch colds! Muir protested – there is not a single sneeze in the Sierra! The tottering Emerson, tempted, was inclined to agree with his friends.
Continue reading
==========================================
via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Music, nationalism, Christianity
To understand the decline of classical music, you need to understand what once made it great: nationalism and Christianity… more
Breaking the mould and including this fascinating picture with something that is "via Arts and Letters Daily"
==========================================
The beauty and wisdom of mathematics
via Boing Boing by Clifford Pickover
Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (1850–1891), the first major Russian female mathematician and the first woman appointed to a full professorship in Northern Europe, once wrote, “It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in soul.” I stumbled across this quote as a student, and, at the time, I wondered what poetry and mathematics could have in common. This seed grew into my current interest in mathematics, mathematical art, and inspirational quotes by diverse people intrigued by mathematics.
Continue reading
==========================================
Arctic Monkeying: Contrasting Visions of Canada’s Northeast
via Big Think by Frank Jacobs
Paris in the 18th century was the hotbed of scientific cartography. But the shape of the Earth’ continents was only as definite as the next explorer’s tall tales. Clans of cartographers bitterly quarreled over how to map the sweep of newly discovered lands, and how to fill in the blanks. This quartet of four contrasting maps on a single sheet is a fossilized reminder of that disputatious era – and a curious, early example of comparative cartography.
Continue reading
==========================================
via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Blame the dog
Roughly 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals dwindled and then vanished from Eurasia. What caused this die-off? Modern humans and their dogs… more
I spent rather more time than was necessary on this story, i.e. I actually read it rather than skimming to decide whether to include it.
==========================================
Electric eel are like living TASERs
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Vanderbilt University biologists studied how electric eels can zap their prey with 600 volts from even a few meters away. Turns out, the fish are like living TASERs. Professor Kenneth Catania and his colleagues published their work in the journal Science.
Continue reading
==========================================
Atheism: Above all a moral issue
via OUP Blog by Michael Ruse
The New Atheists – Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Dan Dennett, and the late Christopher Hitchens – are not particularly comfortable people. The fallacies in their arguments beg to be used in classes on informal reasoning. The narrowness of their perspectives are remarkable even by the standards of modern academia. The prejudices against those of other cultures would be breathtaking even in the era when Britannia ruled the waves. But there is a moral fervor unknown outside the pages of the Old Testament. And for this, we can forgive much.
Continue reading
==========================================
via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Against self-criticism
Self-criticism is integral to our sense of self. What does this unrelenting, unforgiving, internal nag want? Adam Philips hazards an answer… more
==========================================
The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte
via 3 Quarks Daily by Caroline Weber in The New York Times
This year [2014] marks the bicentennial of the death of Josephine Bonaparte, but Napoleon’s empress has been having a moment for some time now. In the past two decades, she has starred in at least 20 new biographies, six museum exhibitions and six novels. Three editions of her correspondence have also appeared during this time, as have many more studies (of Napoleon and other Bonapartes) in which she features.
Continue reading
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
The Buffalo River, city ship canal and flour mill elevators circa 1911
“A busy section of the canal – Buffalo, N.Y.”
8x10 inch glass negative
View original post
==========================================
John Muir: mystic of the American wilderness
via 3 Quarks Daily: Stefany Anne Golberg at The Smart Set
For five days John Muir tried to seduce Emerson into the wild – the mountains are calling, let us run away! Muir sang to him, let us go to the show! But Emerson’s companions would have none of it. Emerson is too old for nature, they told Muir; he could catch his death of cold. It is only in houses that people catch colds! Muir protested – there is not a single sneeze in the Sierra! The tottering Emerson, tempted, was inclined to agree with his friends.
Continue reading
==========================================
via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Music, nationalism, Christianity
To understand the decline of classical music, you need to understand what once made it great: nationalism and Christianity… more
Breaking the mould and including this fascinating picture with something that is "via Arts and Letters Daily"
==========================================
The beauty and wisdom of mathematics
via Boing Boing by Clifford Pickover
Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (1850–1891), the first major Russian female mathematician and the first woman appointed to a full professorship in Northern Europe, once wrote, “It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in soul.” I stumbled across this quote as a student, and, at the time, I wondered what poetry and mathematics could have in common. This seed grew into my current interest in mathematics, mathematical art, and inspirational quotes by diverse people intrigued by mathematics.
Continue reading
==========================================
Arctic Monkeying: Contrasting Visions of Canada’s Northeast
via Big Think by Frank Jacobs
Paris in the 18th century was the hotbed of scientific cartography. But the shape of the Earth’ continents was only as definite as the next explorer’s tall tales. Clans of cartographers bitterly quarreled over how to map the sweep of newly discovered lands, and how to fill in the blanks. This quartet of four contrasting maps on a single sheet is a fossilized reminder of that disputatious era – and a curious, early example of comparative cartography.
Continue reading
==========================================
via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Blame the dog
Roughly 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals dwindled and then vanished from Eurasia. What caused this die-off? Modern humans and their dogs… more
I spent rather more time than was necessary on this story, i.e. I actually read it rather than skimming to decide whether to include it.
==========================================
Electric eel are like living TASERs
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Vanderbilt University biologists studied how electric eels can zap their prey with 600 volts from even a few meters away. Turns out, the fish are like living TASERs. Professor Kenneth Catania and his colleagues published their work in the journal Science.
Continue reading
==========================================
Atheism: Above all a moral issue
via OUP Blog by Michael Ruse
The New Atheists – Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Dan Dennett, and the late Christopher Hitchens – are not particularly comfortable people. The fallacies in their arguments beg to be used in classes on informal reasoning. The narrowness of their perspectives are remarkable even by the standards of modern academia. The prejudices against those of other cultures would be breathtaking even in the era when Britannia ruled the waves. But there is a moral fervor unknown outside the pages of the Old Testament. And for this, we can forgive much.
Continue reading
==========================================
via Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Against self-criticism
Self-criticism is integral to our sense of self. What does this unrelenting, unforgiving, internal nag want? Adam Philips hazards an answer… more
==========================================
The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte
via 3 Quarks Daily by Caroline Weber in The New York Times
This year [2014] marks the bicentennial of the death of Josephine Bonaparte, but Napoleon’s empress has been having a moment for some time now. In the past two decades, she has starred in at least 20 new biographies, six museum exhibitions and six novels. Three editions of her correspondence have also appeared during this time, as have many more studies (of Napoleon and other Bonapartes) in which she features.
Continue reading
Mental health and education decisions
an article by Francesca Cornaglia (Queen Mary, University of London and Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics), Elena Crivellaro (Directorate for employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD, France) and Sandra McNally (Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and School of Economics, University of Surrey) published in Labour Economics Volume 33 (April 2015)
Abstract
Mental health problems have been rising internationally. The link between poor mental health and low educational outcomes is particularly interesting in the case of the UK which has a low international ranking both on measures of child well-being and the probability of early drop-out from the labour market and education.
We study this issue using a large longitudinal study of a recent cohort of teenagers in England.
We use the General Health Questionnaire to derive measures of poor mental health.
We find a large negative association between being at risk of poor mental health and educational outcomes – where we consider examination results before leaving compulsory education and the probability of being ‘not in education, employment or training’ at a young age.
Results are stronger for girls and also vary according to the different components of the mental health measure.
It is important for practitioners and policy makers to pay attention to symptoms of poor mental health.
Hazel’s comment:
Is poor mental health rising or is the reporting of poor mental health rising?
Abstract
Mental health problems have been rising internationally. The link between poor mental health and low educational outcomes is particularly interesting in the case of the UK which has a low international ranking both on measures of child well-being and the probability of early drop-out from the labour market and education.
We study this issue using a large longitudinal study of a recent cohort of teenagers in England.
We use the General Health Questionnaire to derive measures of poor mental health.
We find a large negative association between being at risk of poor mental health and educational outcomes – where we consider examination results before leaving compulsory education and the probability of being ‘not in education, employment or training’ at a young age.
Results are stronger for girls and also vary according to the different components of the mental health measure.
It is important for practitioners and policy makers to pay attention to symptoms of poor mental health.
Hazel’s comment:
Is poor mental health rising or is the reporting of poor mental health rising?
Differential outcomes of adult education on adult learners’ increase in social inclusion
an article by Maurice de Greef (Artéduc, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands), Dominique Verté (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Mien Segers (Maastricht University, The Netherlands) published in Studies in Continuing Education Volume 37 Issue 1 (2015)
Abstract
To date a significant share of the European population can be considered at risk of social exclusion.
It has been argued that adult education programmes are a powerful tool to support vulnerable adults increasing their social inclusion. This study aims to answer the question if and which subgroups of vulnerable adults experience an increase in social inclusion after joining adult education programmes.
The results of our study show that 46.3% of the participants experience an increase of social inclusion in terms of ‘activation and internalization’ and 41.0% experience an increase in ‘participation and connection’. Results show that foreigners and people who live together experience a higher increase on variables of ‘activation and internalization’ and ‘participation and connection’.
Furthermore, results show that learners who received school education at a primary level and have no professional qualification experience a higher increase of social inclusion on a few variables of social inclusion.
Abstract
To date a significant share of the European population can be considered at risk of social exclusion.
It has been argued that adult education programmes are a powerful tool to support vulnerable adults increasing their social inclusion. This study aims to answer the question if and which subgroups of vulnerable adults experience an increase in social inclusion after joining adult education programmes.
The results of our study show that 46.3% of the participants experience an increase of social inclusion in terms of ‘activation and internalization’ and 41.0% experience an increase in ‘participation and connection’. Results show that foreigners and people who live together experience a higher increase on variables of ‘activation and internalization’ and ‘participation and connection’.
Furthermore, results show that learners who received school education at a primary level and have no professional qualification experience a higher increase of social inclusion on a few variables of social inclusion.
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