January 21, 2008

The Work Experience Placements of Secondary School Students: Widening Horizons or Reproducing Social Inequality?

January 21, 2008

A report by Hatcher, R. and Le Gallais, T., Birmingham City University This report examines whether the distribution of work experience (WEX) placements among secondary school age students is differentiated by class and gender, the processes by which this may occur and whether this therefore impacts on the widening of students’ horizons and future employment […]

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June 21, 2007

Informal Mentoring and Young Adult Employment

June 21, 2007

A report by McDonald, S, Erikson, L.D, Kirkpatrick Johnson, M. and Elder, G.H. Social Science Research 36: 1328-47 This article gives findings from a study of the effect of informal mentoring on the educational attainment of adolescents and relates this to inequalities in socio-economic background and personal, interactional and environmental resources upon which young people […]

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August 22, 2006

Disadvantaged Young People Accessing the New Urban Economies of the Post-Industrial City

August 22, 2006

An article by Carl Raffo, Journal of Education Policy, 21(1), pp.75-94 Raffo seeks to explain the growing polarization between an emerging post-industrial service base and high skill city economy, and the continuing educational and socio-economic underachievement of marginalised urban young people who struggle to access these changing labour markets. Raffo pulls together findings from four research […]

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June 22, 2006

Gendered Identities and Work Placement: Why Don’t Boys Care?

June 22, 2006

An article by Osgood, J., Francis, B. and Archer, L. Journal of Education Policy, 21(3), pp.305-321 This article examines the problem of persistent gender stereotyping of career roles and aspirations among young people, and the choices and educational experiences that shape this. It draws upon data from a study conducted in England for the EOC […]

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June 22, 2005

Gender Equality in Work Experience Placements for Young People

June 22, 2005

A report by the London Metropolitan University (Dr Becky Francis, Ms Jayne Osgood, Dr Jacinta Dalgety, Dr Louise Archer), commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission This report analyses the magnitude of gender differences and socio-economic bias in the uptake of work placements for various occupations, comparing its findings to national data records of gender distribution […]

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June 22, 2001

The Relation of a Work-Based Mentoring Program to the Academic Performance and Behaviour of African American Students

June 22, 2001

An article by Linnehan, F., in the Journal of Vocational Behavior no.59, pp.310-325 This study attempts to fill a perceived gap in academic literature regarding the effects of work-based mentoring on the academic or career-related progression for African American students. It aims to test the hypothesis that participation in a mentoring programme would correlate positively […]

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June 22, 2001

Changes in Social Capital and School-to-Work Transitions

June 22, 2001

An article by Rob Strathdee, Work, Employment and Society, 15(2) pp.311-326 In this article Strathdee focuses on the job seeking methods of a group of eleven poorly qualified male school leavers and their fathers, using semi-structured interviews to shed light on the value of social networks in school-to-work transitions in New Zealand. He takes as […]

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September 22, 2000

Disaffected Young People and the Work-Related Curriculum at KS4 – Issues of Social Capital Development and Learning as a Form Cultural Practice

September 22, 2000

A paper by Raffo, C. and Hall, D., University of Manchester (presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference, Cardiff University, 7-10 September 2000) This paper presents a sociological critique of the M-Power programme, part of the work-related curriculum aiming to re-engage ‘disaffected’ young people in education, and suggests that instead such programmes and their […]

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June 22, 2000

Youth Transitions and Social Exclusion: Developments in Social Capital Theory

June 22, 2000

An article by Carlo Raffo and Michelle Reeves, Journal of Youth Studies, 3(2), pp.147-166 This article matches the theoretical aspects of social capital with lived experiences of socially disadvantaged young people in Manchester. The authors conclude that young people who are able to develop strong, effective and fluid individualized systems of social capital stand the […]

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