Author Archives: Mark Almond

Latest Insights: Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transition project

Michaela Brockmann

Latest Insights into the Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transition project by Michaela Brockmann.

 

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Funded through SIRDF (Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Development Fund), our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions. The project runs from February to December 2013.

In the context of rapid technological innovation, it is understood that digital skills are of increasing significance in education and employment and, in turn, for national economic performance (e.g. BIS 2009).

 

Digital TechnologiesDespite this, there is a debate about how to educate a digitally literate workforce. The British government has announced a thorough overhaul of the secondary school curriculum for IT, whilst there is concern across Europe (and beyond) that school leavers do not have the appropriate skills either for paid work or higher education. Many countries report shortages of highly skilled IT professionals.

Attention to this area has been divided between those who focus on how digital technologies are (or are not) used to deliver education and those concerned with the content of secondary school education for digital skills. There is a gap between our understanding of how students learn with digital technologies and what they learn about these technologies. This project aims to begin a dialogue to overcome this separation.

 

The project has an international perspective, focussing initially on Germany and the UK. These countries provide an excellent point of comparison, as they face seemingly similar issues but are different in context and structure, particularly regarding vocational education.

Questions include:

  • How does digital technology (inside and outside school) shape young people’s learning, their learner dispositions and identities?
  • How does the students’ informal learning of technology feed into the formal school context (is it encouraged or impeded)?
  • How does digital technology translate into post-compulsory education career choices?

The Association for Information Technology in Teacher EducationAs part of the project, we are hosting a series of seminars, each on a particular theme, with invited scholars and practitioners in order to explore relevant issues and concepts in this area of research. Details on the seminar series can be found here http://blog.soton.ac.uk/wfrc/

 

The working group is composed of academics from a range of disciplines, including members of the Education School (Dr Michaela Brockmann, Professor Alison Fuller), the School of Social Sciences (Professors Susan Halford and Pauline Leonard), and the School of Health Sciences (Professor Catherine Pope). The members are all part of the Work Futures Research Centre (WFRC), which draws itself on a range of disciplines including Sociology, Psychology and Physical and Applied Sciences and already has a large portfolio of research on the digital economy.

The research focus requires an interdisciplinary approach, concerned as it is with identity formation and learning careers, and the role of class, gender and ethnicity (sociology/sociology of education); with the structure and content of education and further education settings and the teaching and learning within these (education); and, in particular, the role of digital technology in learning.

Inaugural Lecture of Professor Catherine Pope: Why Medical Sociology Matters

Inaugural Lecture Catherine Pope, Professor of Medical Sociology

21 June 2013 | 17:30 – 20:00

Lecture programme:  5.30pm Tea & coffee; 6.00pm Inaugural Lecture; 7.00pm Drinks reception

All welcome! RSVP at: http://catherinepopelecture.eventbrite.co.uk

For further details, please contact Tim Lees (t.lees@southampton.ac.uk)

 

Inaugural Abstract

Medical Sociology is one of the most successful branches of Sociology, applying as it does the study of society and social experience to the vital matters of what happens when we are ill or injured. Understanding ‘medicine’ by exploring the experience of health and sickness, and explaining the activity of healthcare organisations and professionals, is important not just because these things matter deeply to us and our loved ones when we are ill or injured, but also because this understanding gives us the power to intervene.

This lecture explores why Medical Sociology matters. It will draw on research and theory which has inspired me, and describe some of my own research about health care work (such as studies of secretaries managing waiting lists, and surgeons doing surgery) and organisational change in the NHS (ranging from the introduction of walk-in centres to computerised ambulance triage systems). I will argue that Medical Sociology is necessary and essential to understand and challenge health services and inform health care practice.

Catherine Pope: Bio

Catherine Pope is Professor of Medical Sociology in the Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Southampton. Her research has included ethnographic studies of waiting lists, operating theatres and ambulance journeys, and evaluations of NHS walk-in centres and NHS Treatment Centres, and Advanced Access to primary care. Most recently she has been studying a computerised decision support system in urgent and emergency care and the new health service commissioning arrangements. Thanks to a stint as deputy director of the RCUK Web Science Doctoral Training Centre, Catherine is also firmly enmeshed in research and teaching about the World Wide Web, including thinking about how the Web might be shaping health and health care. She was co-editor, with Professor Graham Crow, of Sociology and, with Professor Nicholas Mays, of the popular introductory text Qualitative Research in Health Care which has been translated into Japanese and Portuguese. She has also written (with Nicholas Mays and Professor Jennie Popay) a core text on Synthesizing Qualitative and Quantitative Health Evidence for the Open University Press.

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers – Digital technologies and school-to-work transition

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers

Digital technologies and school-to-work transition

Thursday, 11th July, 4 to 6pm| Building 32, Room 2097

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions.

This 3rd seminar in our series will explore the   ‘perspectives of employers in the field of IT’.

When?Thursday, 11th July, 4 to 6pm.

Where? Building 32, Room 2097, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton.

Presentations:

Confirmed speakers:

Julie Feest, Customer Director, e-skills UK

Bob Paton, Managing Director, Accenture

Oliver Pope & Hayley James, Apprentices, IBM

 

Tea & coffee will be served. There will be wine and nibbles after the seminar.

Background:

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions. We are hosting a series of seminars, each on a particular theme, with invited scholars and practitioners in order to explore relevant issues and concepts in this area of research.

Questions that are of particular interest include:

  • How is digital technology used to deliver education?
  • How are digital skills taught in schools?
  • How does digital technology shape young people’s learning?
  • How does students’ informal learning of technology feed into the formal school context?
  • How does digital technology translate into post-compulsory education career choices?

Please note that spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. If you are interested in participating, please register with Torhild Hearn via email T.Hearn@soton.ac.uk and let her know of any special dietary or other requirements.

If you would like more information about the seminar series, do not hesitate to contact me at M.Brockmann@soton.ac.uk

We hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to a stimulating discussion.

Further details about the project can be found on the WFRC Blog Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions.

 

Useful DOWNLOADS:

Seminar 1: Introductory Session

Seminar 2: Practitioner Perspectives

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers in the Field of IT

Project details available here.

Seminar 2:‘Practitioner Perspectives’ – Digital technologies and school-to-work transition

Seminar 2 ‘Practitioner Perspectives’ | Digital technologies and school-to-work transition | Tuesday, 28th May, 4 to 6pm | Building 32, Room 2097

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions.

We are hosting a series of seminars, each on a particular theme, with invited scholars and practitioners in order to explore relevant issues and concepts in this area of research.

 

 

This second seminar ‘Practitioner Perspectives’ will focus on IT practice in schools, the new ICT curriculum, and young people’s informal learning of IT.

When? Tuesday, 28th May, 4 to 6pm.

Where? Building 32, Room 2097, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton.


Presentations:

Cythia Selby- Subject Leader, ICT and Computing, Bay House School Sixth Form College: ‘Digital Technologies: A Post- 16 Perspective’

Phil Bagge- Hampshire County Council Lead Computing/ICT teacher, CAS Primary Facilitator: ‘How does students’ informal learning of technology feed into the formal school context?’

Tea & coffee will be served. There will be wine and nibbles after the seminar.

Questions that are of particular interest include:

  • How is digital technology used to deliver education?
  • How are digital skills taught in schools?
  • How does digital technology shape young people’s learning?
  • How does students’ informal learning of technology feed into the formal school context?
  • How does digital technology translate into post-compulsory education career choices?

Please note that spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. If you are interested in participating, please register with Torhild Hearn via email T.Hearn@soton.ac.uk and let her know of any special dietary or other requirements.

If you would like more information about the seminar series, do not hesitate to contact me at M.Brockmann@soton.ac.uk

We hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to a stimulating discussion.

 

Further details about the project can be found on the WFRC Blog Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions.

Useful DOWNLOADS:

Seminar 1: Introductory Session

Seminar 2: Practitioner Perspectives

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers in the Field of IT

Project details available here.

 

 

Seminar 1:‘Introductory Session’ – Digital technologies and school-to-work transition

Seminar 1 ‘Introductory Session’ | Digital technologies and school-to-work transition | Monday, 25th March, 3 to 5pm | Building 32, Room 2097

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions.

We are hosting a series of seminars, each on a particular theme, with invited scholars and practitioners in order to explore relevant issues and concepts in this area of research.

 

 

This first seminar ‘Introductory Session’ will provide an overview of the project and introduce the wide context of introducing ICT into our curriculum.

If you would like more information about the seminar series, do not hesitate to contact me at M.Brockmann@soton.ac.uk

We hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to a stimulating discussion.

Further details about the project can be found on the WFRC Blog Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions.

 

Useful DOWNLOADS:

Seminar 1: Introductory Session

Seminar 2: Practitioner Perspectives

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers in the Field of IT

Project details available here.

 

 

Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions

A new interdisciplinary project aims to help young people with the transition from school to work.

The project entitled Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions in England and Germany, will run from February to October 2013.

An interdisciplinary working group will explore the role of the digital technology in the formation of learner identities, learning cultures and in school-to-work transitions and a series of seminars with national and international speakers are planned. The ultimate aim remains to develop a research proposal to the Economic and Social Research Council.

Southampton Education School’s Dr Michaela Brockmann and Professor Alison Fuller, alongside Professor Susan Halford and Professor Pauline Leonard in Social Sciences, have received an award from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences’ Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Development Fund.

Dr Michaela Brockmann is also the English partner in the large EU Leonardo-da-Vinci Project, ‘Retail Sector Competencies’ (ReSeCo): Developing self and social competencies in vocational training for the retail sector, co-ordinated by Professor Matthias Pilz at the University of Cologne and involving partners in Germany, England, Poland and Italy.

This project aims to develop the personal and social competencies of young people and to help facilitate transition from school to work. One of the key outcomes will be a module handbook for use in colleges across Europe.

 

Contact Details:

Further details can be found on the WFRC website: www.southampton.ac.uk/wfrc/

Please contact Dr Michaela Brockmann M.Brockmann@soton.ac.uk for full details of all events.

 

Useful DOWNLOADS:

Seminar 1: Introductory Session

Seminar 2: Practitioner Perspectives

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers in the Field of IT

Project details available here.

 

Social Justice and Gender Equality – WFRC gets to grips with big political issues

Members of the Work Futures Research Centre joined forces with the Sustainability Science at Southampton multidisciplinary research group at the University of Southampton to mark the UN World Day of Social Justice on 20th February.

 

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s message for the day was “let us intensify our efforts to achieve a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable development path built on dialogue, transparency and social justice” and we took this to heart in our public seminar with Duncan C Campbell, Director for Policy Planning in Employment at the International Labour Office and a Fellow of the Institute for the Study of Labour, IZA.

Duncan’s seminar presentation examined the old and new features of labour markets in developing countries. A passionate speaker on the topic of inequality, Duncan reviewed the all too depressing statistics about vulnerable labour and global poverty. The stark message to a room full of academic staff and students in Southampton was that some 85% of the world’s population – estimated in 2010 as between 1.48 and 1.59 billion people – have no formal work arrangements – and suffer irregular employment, no contracts, inadequate pay and dangerous work conditions. As an economist by training Duncan’s talk necessarily explored the macro economics of these labour patterns, but he was also keen to explore the social impacts too – looking at the damage of injustice across developed and developing world contexts.

Having been fired up to think about globalisation and injustice in the context of work, WFRC now turns our attention and passions to matters ‘at home’ as we plan our symposium to debate Gender Equality at Work on Thursday 7 March 2013 | 2.00pm–4.00pm | Thatcher Room, Portcullis House, Westminster.

WFRC Directors Professor Susan Halford and Professor Pauline Leonard of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Southampton will facilitate a Panel Discussion with Alan Whitehead (Labour MP for Southampton Test), Baroness Margaret Prosser (Deputy Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission), Samantha Mangwana (Principal Lawyer for Slater & Gordon Lawyers), Evangelia Bourmpoula (Economist for the International Labour Organisation), Helen Sachdev (Director of UK Strategy, Retail and Business Banking at Barclays Bank) and Lynne Berry OBE (Deputy Chair of the Canal and River Trust and Director of Public Benefit). We hope that these talks will provide inspiration and encouragement ahead of International Women’s Day on 8th March.

Further information:

Duncan Campbell Power Point Slides can be found at:

http://www.slideshare.net/multisoton/university-of-southampton-duncan-campbell-labour-markets-in-developing-countries-un-world-day-of-social

To register to Gender Equality at Work symposium at: http://publicpolicy.southampton.ac.uk/genderequality/

Follow the debate on Twitter @workfutures

Gender Equality at Work: How far have we come and how far have we still got to go?

You are invited to a symposium to debate the current state of play for Gender Equality at Work

Thursday 7 March 2013 | 2.00pm–4.00pm | Thatcher Room, Portcullis House, Westminster.

This event in celebration of International Women’s Day will bring together an important and inspiring range of speakers: policy makers, practitioners and academics, to debate the current state of play for Gender Equality at Work, and to consider where and how policy interventions might make a difference.

An Introduction by Professor Susan Halford and Professor Pauline Leonard of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Southampton will be followed by a Panel Discussion with Alan Whitehead (Labour MP for Southampton Test), Baroness Margaret Prosser (Deputy Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission), Samantha Mangwana (Principal Lawyer for Slater & Gordon Lawyers), Evangelia Bourmpoula (Economist for the International Labour Organisation), Helen Sachdev (Director of UK Strategy, Retail and Business Banking at Barclays Bank) and Lynne Berry OBE (Deputy Chair of the Canal and River Trust and Director of Public Benefit). The floor will be opened up to questions from the audience afterwards and there will be a summary of the debate.

RSVP at http://publicpolicy.southampton.ac.uk/genderequality by 28 February 2013

This event is kindly supported by Public Policy@Southampton, C2G2, Work Futures Research Centre and Multidisciplinary Research at Southampton.

Follow us on twitter: @workfutures @publicpolicyUoS @c2g2soton

#WFRC #GenderEqualityUoS  #IWD

 

Enhancing Research Impact: Public Policy

By Lisa Then, Public Policy@Southampton Co-ordinator

 

The Public Policy@Southampton Team was formed in October 2012 to increase the reach and impact of University of Southampton research.   With a remit to engage world-leading research with key policy makers, I organised the inaugural Public Policy event ‘The Policy Implications of Austerity on Active Citizenship’ which took place in December at the House of Commons.  This sparked political interest due to the current climate and was notably attended by the European Commission, MPs and MEPs.

The recent Policy Commissions Competition has provided £30,000 for three significant research projects: ‘Gender Equality at Work’, ‘Future Availability of Flood Insurance in the UK’ and ‘Fuel and Food Poverty among Older People in the UK’.  Additional support for this research from C2G2, Social Sciences SRDF, ESRC CPC, Ageing USRG and Population Health USRG has established cross-faculty multidisciplinary collaboration and I look forward to arranging successful impact and public engagement opportunities with them throughout the year.  In addition we are delighted to be the proud sponsors of the first University of Southampton TED X Conference  which will be live-streamed nationally as part of the University’s Multidisciplinary Research Week.

We are eager to make further links with USRG members to support innovative research across disciplines to address global challenges in accordance with the University Strategy.  A ‘Pathways to Impact Strategy’ can be viewed on our website and we invite researchers to view this and discover ways which we can assist with their research impact.  The profound work of the Work Futures Research Centre is of key interest and we invite researchers to share their work on our external facing blog.

Please visit publicpolicy.southampton.ac.uk for further information and follow us on Twitter @publicpolicyUoS.

 

Labour markets in developing countries: what’s new, what’s old? UN World Day of Social Justice Seminar

The University of Southampton will be celebrating the UN World Day of Social Justice with a special afternoon seminar on ‘Labour markets in developing countries: what’s new, what’s old?’ by Duncan C. Campbell, Director for Policy Planning in Employment at the International Labour Office (ILO).

The United Nations’ (UN) World Day of Social Justice is held on the 20 February and aims to support efforts of the international community in poverty eradication, the promotion of full employment and decent work, gender equity and access to social well-being and justice for all.

In developing countries, labour markets play a central role in determining economic and social progress since employment status is one of the key determinants of exiting poverty and promoting inclusion.

The seminar is jointly organised by the Work Futures Research Centre and Sustainability Science at Southampton USRGs and forms part of the Multidisciplinary Seminar Series.

All are welcome to attend this free afternoon seminar. Refreshments will be provided. Please register at: www.unsocialday.eventbrite.com

The event will be live streamed at: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/wfrc

For the latest news, follow us on twitter @WorkFutures or @SustainScience