Social Policy Development In Education

Social Policy Development In Education Introduction This essay discusses influences of social policy development in education over the last 30 years. It also discusses the impact of these policies in relation to social exclusion, inequality and poverty. Throughout the post-war period, there have been many attempts to reform the UK education system, often with an explicit intention to raise standards and make it more productive. Notable reforms have included a nationally prescribed curriculum, vigorous attempts to raise participation in post-compulsory schooling and the introduction of tuition fees for higher education. In addition to concerns about widening access and educational inequality, in the 1980s there emerged widespread fears about poor and falling standards in UK education system (Machin and Vignoles, 2006). Specifically, there were concerns that too many individuals were leaving school too early and with little in the way of basic skills. Examination underachievement had also been recognised by education policy-makers as a particular problem (ibid). In the light of these concerns, successive Conservative governments in the 1980s and 1990s increased the pace of reform and introduced so called market mechanisms into the UK education system, in an attempt to force schools to raise standards. The move towards a quasi-market in education, was kick started by a significant piece of legislation the 1988 Education Reform Act which not only introduced the market reforms discussed here, but also the National Curriculum. At the last election, Labour swept to power on the catchphrase education, education, education however, according to (Wood, Jaffrey Troman in Fielding, 2001) there has been widespread disappointment in New Labours education policies, which on the whole have not steered too far wide of those put in place by Margaret Thatcher. David (2003) also agrees with this notion but argues that New Labour continues to develop educational policies on excellence, introducing notions of social exclusion and inclusion and identifying policies specifically to tackle issues of poverty through education. It may therefore be argued that raising education standards for all is important not only to the success of a modern economy but also to the creation of a socially just society. Since the 1990s, New Labours political values have shared many neo-liberalism characteristics especially in moving what has been called a post-welfare society. In implementing many of their education policies, they have continued with an emphasis on moral values, individuality and personal responsibility (Jones, 1996, pp.17-18). However, David (2003, p.356) argues that New Labour redefines such notions on an individual basis rather than on the basis of social groups, such as social class or those economically disadvantaged on the basis of family circumstances. This raises a question about fairness of opportunity in education for some social groups, for example Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups face additional barriers to inclusion relating to their ethnicity and are disproportionately likely to perform poorly and suffer exclusion, including; employment, educational out comes, truancy and school exclusions (SEU, 2004). It may be argued that few of the policy developments in education have had issues of equality of opportunity uppermost or explicitly on the agenda. The driving force behind policy making may therefore have been more to do with value for money and quality assurance but largely due to political influence. In addition, the public sector is more exposed to political direction and scrutiny than the private sector; public policies in education stipulate the conditions under which schools must operate. However, according to Kemmis (1990) many of the changes in educational policies over the past thirty years or so, have been due to the political work of organised social movements exerting considerable pressure for change, with calls for action on poverty, women inequalities, minorities and people with disabilities leading the government to formulate policies and programmes in education which sought to provide equality of educational opportunity. He further notes that these movements were dis satisfied with the role that education plays in the maintenance of the existing social order. Showing that, people are no longer prepared to leave policy making to politicians and bureaucrats. They wish to be involved in the steering of policy processes. For example the feminist movement will not permit issues of gender inequality in education to drop off the policy agenda. Similarly, BME groups want a direct say in the policy making process. Thus the language of educational policy, according to Kemmis (1990), is linked to political compromises between competing but unequal interests. Secondly, Changes in social attitudes towards authority, particularly among young people, have also created new pressures for education. As (Willis 1990 cited in Taylor, Fazal and Rizvi, 1997. P.4) has argued, students brought up on the cultural values of the globalised mass media are unlikely to be comfortable with the requirements of bureaucratically defined regimes of discipline. Such cultural and attitudinal changes have demanded policy shifts in education. Alcock (2008, p.198) states that social policy development is also closely dependent upon the economic structure of the society and upon the economic growth within it. While, Blakemore and Griggs (2007, p.147) state that due to economic pressures, the government abolished free tuition and instead passed the Teaching and Higher Education Act that requires students to pay tuition fees. As a consequence, there has been an increase in the number of English students choosing to attend Scottish and Welsh universities to avoid tuition fees. On the other hand, the youth labour market has led to calls for educational policies designed to ensure greater retention in senior secondary schools and curricula that are more vocationally responsive; leading to the Education Maintenance Allowances (EMA) subsidy for 16 to 19 year olds. Evaluation of EMA suggests substantial impact from the subsidy that overall, educational participation post 16 was 4.5 percentage points higher than before (Dearden et a l., 2005). Political, economic and social influences have not however been the only factors responsible for changing policy in education. Technological changes may also have demanded revision to educational policy, and in particular to curriculum priorities and teaching styles. With ever emerging new technologies changing partners of everyday life, then education cannot remain oblivious to these changes. Governments have been quick to invest large amounts of money in the teaching of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in schools and lifelong learning programmes. The introduction of new educational policies should primarily be to address personal and academic development and ultimately provide a more equitable education system for all. However, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2006) stated that the impact of educational services not always able to meet individual needs has over the years disproportionately affected particularly groups of BME young people, which is recognised in the Every Child Matters (ECM) consultation paper, as it asserts that: teenagers from some BME groups face greater challenges than others in growing up (Youth Matters: Green Paper. 2005:13). The impact of poor service delivery to BME young people is compounded by the fact that minority ethnic population is over represented in almost all measures of social exclusion (ODPM, 2003) and their poor socio-economic position is closely associated with low educational attainment. This in turn impacts on their prospects to gain employment which in turn often results in being drawn into a life of crime. African Caribbean young men in particular are over represented at every stage of the criminal justice system (Graham in Sallah and Howson, 2007, p 176). One could argue that in fact the education system has systematically ensured that Black young people do not succeed (Richardson, 2006). This is not surprising as it has also been acknowledged that the British education system has also failed or lowered the aspirations of the poor and or White working class people (Sewell, 1997). This is particularly important in that, poor achievers are most obvious amongst the poor and disadvantaged. For example, high socio-economic groups appear to have better information on, and understanding of school performance, via league tables (West and Pennell, 1999). Whether parents act on this information, choosing for their children to attend the best schools, then there is a clear tension between strategies to raise standards and policies to reduce inequality. Soci o-economic background also relates to school quality and pupil performance via peer groups. For example, attending a school with very few children from lower socio-economic groups is highly beneficial academically speaking (Feinstein, 2003). If parental choice leads to greater socio-economic segregation across schools, such peer group effects may further reinforce social exclusion. The motivation behind the introduction of the market reforms was to raise standards and achievement, rather than issues related to inequality. The evidence on the impact of these reforms on childrens achievement is minimal, however, empirical evidence from the USA (Chubb and Moe, 1990) is supportive of the view that decentralised schooling systems can produce better results, measured in terms of educational outcomes (Hoxby, 2000). Evidence for the UK by Bradley et al (2001) found that schools with the best examination performance grew most quickly and that, increased competition between schools led to improved exam performance. Gibbons, Machin and Silva (2005) report little evidence of a link between choice and achievement, but find a small positive association between competition and school performance. However, they attribute this to school location or pupil sorting. Evaluating the impact of nationally introduced education policies and the impact of continual vocational systems is not easy according to Machin and Vignoles (2006). Perhaps the best way to evaluate new qualifications is to consider their labour market value, since this reflects the demand by employers for this type of qualification and the skills embodied in it. The evidence is that NVQs and indeed GNVQs, have minimal economic value in the labour market (Dearden et al., 2002). In particular, NVQ2 qualifications may actually have a negative impact on individuals wages, in many sectors of work. Higher Education (HE) in the UK is viewed as a success story, with continually rising participation in HE since the late 1960s. However, there have been concerns about who is accessing HE. Evidence by Machin and Vignoles (2006) showed that during the last fifteen years, participation in HE had largely been the preserve of the higher socio-economic groups in the UK. Furthermore, there is evidence that the gap in HE participation between richer and poorer students actually widened, at least in the mid and late 1990s (Blanden and Machin, 2004). Contrary to what many believed before the expansion of higher education, the expansion appears to have actually acted to increase educational inequalities, so that a greater share of HE participants is from well off backgrounds (ibid). It may be argued that although poorer students are more likely to go on to higher education than they were in the past, the likelihood of them doing so relative to their richer peers is actually lower than was the case in earlier decades. Furthermore, tuition fees introduced by labour in 1999 leave poorer students with huge debts to pay on graduation. Conclusion This essay concludes that, educational policies do not emerge in a vacuum but reflect compromises between competing interests expressed by the dominant interests of capitalism in the one hand, and the oppositional interests of various social movements on the other. While it is true that some policies are responses to particular social changes, it is also the case that these changes may themselves be represented in a variety of different ways and accorded contrasting significance. Educational policy initiatives may thus be viewed as responses to the struggle over particular constructions of social political, economic and cultural changes. However, the evidence of positive impact of the reforms on the poor, minorities and the socially excluded is minimal. In this way, it can be concluded that the state is not neutral and politically driven with respect to the changes occurring in education, as its own interest in sponsoring some changes and preventing others is reflected in policy deve lopment.

Introduction to Geography-Montessori

Introduction to Geography The world is getting smaller, we now live in a global village due to our enlarged technical skills. It is today as easy to fly from eg. Dublin to Rome as it was to travel from Dublin to Cork 150 years ago, Not to mention flights to the moon & back. Geography has turned out to be the study of man in space. Between mass media and frequent travel the child is bombarded with impressions about the planet he lives on. In today’s world the child hears random words, names of countries with upheavels and wars & they get scared. They really need to know where they are, even on a larger scale. It is better to understand that a lot of things happen far away and not in my neighbourhood. This will give them some sense of security. Geography is a science of earth annd its life- it includes a description of land, water and air. The roots of word geography are greek and it means description of the earth. When we talk about geography with 3-6 years it means planting some seeds of interest and it is not meant that we should teach so why do we have it? A child has his human tendencies for orientation; exploration and order. We also give child names, which responds to the child’s human tendencies for communication and sensitive period for language. However, the other sensitive periods also play a part and to top it all off the child also has an absorbent mind. Geography is presented as an extension of the language programme in our rooms, because it contains aural written 7 read parts. Maria Montessori called her small geography set-up â€Å"an introduction to the world’. It has an holistic approach, starting with the whole and ending in details (start with the globe, then continents†¦eventually to the place where they live). The purpose with geography is 2 fold. First you must provide the child with activities, which help him to order impressions and information. Secondly in elementary you must introduce the child to his place in the cosmos(Universe). This will ultimately end in the study of ecology. As in all fields within extended language section the world could be roughly divided into three parts. 1. One dealing with practical life, i. e pouring with land and water forms 2. The sensorial keys- the sandpaper globe and colour globe, continent map, map of Europe, map of Asia, America, Africa Ireland. 3. Language in its various stages i. e names of land and water forms, names of continents and oceans, geography folders-showing pictures from countries and people therein- oral, written and read language. As a practical life exercise the different land and water forms are presented as a pouring exercise. The models are made out of clay and put on small baking trays. The child will get a sensorial impression of what these water/land forms really are. Later the child will have picture cards/classified cards, which will show them the same thing, a lake/an island etc. there are six pairs)and even later they will return as language extensions- first with the pictures only in he pre-reading stage and then with the naming and reading in the classified reading stage and even later in reading practice with the definition stages. The materials are: 1. The globes the child of ? years experiences a peak in his visual sensitivity to form. Globes help him to form his impressions of the world and he can see it. We start out with a small globe with rough and smooth areas. This offers the child and opportunity to a. Grasp roughly what shape his planet is and . Sensorially explore by touching the land and water distribution on the surface of the planet The land is rough and water is smooth. Phrases like â€Å"as the world turns† will take on a new meaning for the child. This globe is followed by the coloured globe. It is similar in size and shape to the first globe but here the different continents are coloured in various colours- here we give the language of continent & ocean. 2. Puzzle maps The child will get to know their world. The eastern and western hemisphere allows the child to see the whole world at once, but flattened. The puzzle activity enhances the sensory perception of the continents-initially purely sensorial but when the child himself begins to ask for names they are given by a 3-period lesson. Maps of each continent is then given-they show the political partitions of the continents into countries. We always begin with the child’s own continent and then proceed by following the child, usually doing one hemisphere at a time. To be mentioned is that the knobs of the puzzle maps are placed where one finds the capital of each country- this is an indirect preparation for later work. The knobs also serve as an indirect preparation for writing, as with the geometrical forms earlier. 3. Naming At the sensorial level names are given after the forms of the puzzles are learned. However it’s not uncommon for the child in Montessori schools to know the names of all the countries and counties of the child’s own country/continent. At a later stage the child can also do a matching activity with flags ,and later (at reading stage) maps are provided with the names of the countries and capitals (pin maps). There should always be a stand with flags from the countries of the children’s own continent. They are there to give the children an idea of nations that stand for units. There are many countries in the world with many different people, but we’re all made from the same material. This is strongly brought forth in the picture folders we’ve made, which should be part of every Montessori environment. They should be colour coded, following the colours of the colour globe- with three in total for every globe. The first set shows general pictures of the continents The second set shows people, products, places and plants The third set is more culturally inclined-with architecture, foods, art, and transportation etc. The prepared environment should provide all these things mentioned and also books and stories about people of the world-to help and give the children keys to the world of geography. All the materials should be kept in a special segment of the room, on special shelves-be aware of not overloading. It is important too that the directress should make a good rapport between the child and the material. This can partly be achieved through practical life activities, which put children into practical contact with children, e. g. how to pour land and water forms, how to dry, dusting globes, dusting maps, how to carry the globes, how to take out the puzzle maps, how to put it back and how to carry them. Later the child will learn how to put pins into the pin maps and you will show the child how to hold the flag in one’s hand and carefully put it in the country where it should be and later introduce the names and main cities. You should also, in the environment, have a little box with drawers for the child at reading stage. From this they can take out names of continents and countries etc. and label them on the puzzle maps. There should also be a good atlas and if possible a large ordinary globe too. Artwork in geography could consist of making flags-using the rectangular inset of metal insets as a base for the flag( at this stage the child will be 4 – 4 ? years). The children can also draw outlines of the continents on the paper for the metal insets and colour them in, making a booklet of the continents.

The History Of The Oil Industry - 1265 Words

The history of the Oil Industry Oil makes up over â…“ of humanities primary energy supply. The production of oil, especially the refining of it is has a huge impact of on the modern day world. Oil has been collected and used since Old Testament Bible times. Oil or petroleum is naturally found in various countries including in and around the United States of America. There are many men who can be linked to the beginning of the American oil industry, but out of all of them the most famous, if not the most influential is John Davison Rockefeller. The history of the United States petroleum industry was influenced by John Rockefeller, and helped define his legacy. Oil has been used since perhaps, the beginning of time. Ancient records have†¦show more content†¦Early Colonists observed the Seneca and Cornplanter Indians collecting it by spreading blankets on the rainbow colored surface of oil rich streams, they then wrung the oil out the blankets into earthen bowls. They used it for liniment, medicine and to mix with their war paint for shiny, waterproof make-up. 17th century British and French explorers in western Pennsylvania and New York sent back reports about oil pools that looked like water and burned like brandy. Settlers in western Pennsylvania kept a supply of â€Å"Seneca oil,† that they collected whenever they found it, and used it to stimulate their joints and those of their horses. It was used by farmers in hot weather to repel blowflies, which couldn t tolerate the smell of the greasy substance (Dolson 1). Over time some inquisitive men began searching for ways to make money off this natural occurring petroleum. Oil, because of its many uses became a profitable product. Ebenezer Brewer a lumber mill owner skimmed up five gallons from the seepage on his land bordering Oil Creek, and sent it to his son Francis, a young doctor in northern Vermont. The greasy stuff was exactly the kind of unpleasant medicine Vermonters were crazy about. Dr. Brewer took a flask of the crude oil to his old professor at Dartmouth, Dr. Dixi Crosby, who examined it and agreed it might be a pretty good thing. George Bissell listened to Crosby talk about the interesting contents of the flask, along with James Townsend,

8 opciones visa trabajo o green card para profesionales

Una pregunta comà ºn que se hacen los profesionales extranjeros es cà ³mo emigrar legalmente a los Estados Unidos. La respuesta es que depende de varios factores, como las caracterà ­sticas del profesionales y de quà © papeles puede obtener. En la mayorà ­a de los casos es necesario el patrocinio por parte de una empresa estadounidense. Ademà ¡s, es la empresa quien decide si patrocina una tarjeta de residencia, tambià ©n conocida como green card, o si por el contrario solicita los papeles de una visa de trabajo temporal. En este artà ­culo se explican 4 caminos hacia la green card por razà ³n de trabajo y 4 otros para una visa de trabajo. Ademà ¡s, se finaliza con recomendaciones que deben tenerse en cuenta si se desea iniciar una nueva vida en los Estados Unidos. 8 caminos para emigrar legalmente a los Estados Unidos   1. La categorà ­a EB-1, que permite obtener la tarjeta de residencia. Està ¡ pensada para 3 subcategorà ­as. En primer lugar, los profesionales con habilidades extraordinarias en las Ciencias, las Artes, la Educacià ³n, los Negocios o Deportes. En segundo lugar, profesores universitarios o investigadores excepcionales y, en tercer lugar, para algunos tipos de gerentes y managers de compaà ±Ãƒ ­as extranjeras que està ¡n trabajando en los Estados Unidos. En el caso de profesionales con habilidades extraordinarias no necesitan patrocinio de ninguna empresa. Son difà ­ciles de obtener los papeles por esta circunstancia y las peticiones se niegan en mà ¡s de 1 de cada 3 casos. Por el contrario, en las otras 2 subcategorà ­as deberà ¡n tener, en la mayorà ­a de los casos, un patrocinador. En la subcategorà ­a de profesores e investigadores mà ¡s del 90 por ciento de las peticiones son aprobadas. 2. La categorà ­a EB-2. Està ¡ pensada, por un lado, para personas con una habilidad excepcional en las Ciencias, las Artes o los Negocios o, por otro, para extranjeros con un tà ­tulo de maestrà ­a o superior o su equivalente, es decir, licenciatura mà ¡s 5 aà ±os de experiencia. Cada aà ±o se pueden aprobar un mà ¡ximo de 144,951 visas de inmigrante en esta categorà ­a. 3. La categorà ­a EB-3 que contempla 3 posibilidades, que siempre exigen patrocinio por parte de una empresa de Estados Unidos. En primer lugar, trabajadores con habilidades, es decir, con al menos 2 aà ±os de experiencia laboral. En segundo lugar, profesionales con al menos licenciatura y, en tercer lugar, otros trabajadores que deben tener al menos entrenamiento o experiencia en el trabajo por 2 aà ±os. Bajo la EB-3 pueden emigrar los trabajadores que no tienen cabida en las categorà ­as EB-1 y EB-2.   Cada aà ±o fiscal se pueden aprobar un mà ¡ximo de 144,951 visas para esta categorà ­a, no permitià ©ndose que mà ¡s de 10,000 se adjudiquen a la subcategorà ­a de otros trabajadores. 4. La categorà ­a EB-4 para obtener la green card. Aplica a  un conglomerado de situaciones distintas que van desde trabajadores religiosos a mà ©dicos, funcionarios de organizaciones internacionales, trabajadores del Canal de Panamà ¡ o de la OTAN o traductores afganos o iraquà ­es que han ayudado a las tropas de Estados Unidos. 5. La visa de trabajo temporal H-1B. Es de doble intencià ³n, esto es, permite buscar activamente el cambio a una tarjeta de residencia. Està ¡ pensada para profesionales y es muy utilizada por empleados de empresas tecnolà ³gicas, pero no està ¡ restringida a ellos. Estas son las 100 empresas que mà ¡s visas H-1B patrocinaron en el à ºltimo aà ±o fiscal. 6. La visa de trabajo temporal L-1 y L-2 para gerentes y ejecutivos de multinacionales que son transferidos a los Estados Unidos. Al igual que sucede con la visa H-1B, este visado es de doble intencià ³n. 7. Visa O para extranjeros con habilidades extraordinarias. 8. Visa TN para profesionales mexicanos y canadienses en virtud de la aplicacià ³n del Tratado de Libre Comercio o NAFTA, por su siglas en inglà ©s. Cmo se cambia una visa de trabajo temporal por una tarjeta de residencia? La respuesta es siguiendo uno de los caminos previstos por la ley para obtener la green card. En la prà ¡ctica en la mayorà ­a de los casos tiene lugar mediante el patrocinio por parte de una empresa o bien por peticià ³n de un familiar. Por ejemplo, el cà ³nyuge si es que el trabajador extranjero se casa con un ciudadano estadounidense o con un residente permanente legal. Otras opciones posibles para sacar la green card o visas que permiten trabajar Cuando las posibilidades anteriores no està ¡n al alcance de la mano, el sistema migratorio de los Estados Unidos contempla mà ¡s categorà ­as de visas de trabajo, pero las arriba mencionadas son las pensadas para profesionales.   Ademà ¡s, hay visas que no son de trabajo pero que permiten trabajar, como por ejemplo, las de intercambio o las de inversià ³n. Incluso en algunas circunstancias, la visa de estudiante. En todo caso està ¡ terminantemente prohibido trabajar con visa de turista o cuando se entra sin visado por pertenecer a un paà ­s en el Programa de Exencià ³n de Visas. Es una violacià ³n migratoria que puede dar lugar a una deportacià ³n o a la cancelacià ³n de la visa. Es tambià ©n muy importante destacar que cada visa tiene sus propias peculiaridades, desde requisitos, a tiempo de tramitacià ³n o costos y que no conviene confundirlas. Por otro lado, hay mà ¡s de 2 docenas de caminos que permiten obtener la green card, aunque lo cierto es que la mayorà ­a de las tarjetas de residencia que se aprueban cada aà ±o tienen su origen en una peticià ³n por parte de un familiar. Pero es interesante familiarizarse con todas las posibilidades, que incluso contemplan un sorteo gratuito de 50,000 green cards, conocido como visa de la diversidad, a la que pueden aplicar cada mes de octubre los ciudadanos de Espaà ±a y tambià ©n de muchos paà ­ses latinoamericanos, aunque no todos. A tener en cuenta antes de hacer las maletas yemigrar Estados Unidos es un paà ­s enorme y extraordinariamente diverso. La experiencia de vivir en Alaska o en Florida son, obviamente muy distintas. Antes de asentarse o al considerar una oferta de trabajo es muy recomendable informarse sobre aspectos como cuà ¡nto se paga de impuestos en el estado que se està ¡ considerando, cuà ¡les son las coberturas mà ©dicas que brinda la empresa para la que se va a trabajar o cuà ¡n cara es la ciudad a la que se piensa emigrar. Tambià ©n es importante tener una idea muy clara de cà ³mo obtener los papeles porque una vez que se està ¡ como indocumentado en los Estados Unidos puede ser muy difà ­cil regularizar la situacià ³n, lo que da lugar a una vida llena de miedos. Finalmente, si las cosas no se dan para Estados Unidos, considerar otros paà ­ses que tienen la migracià ³n abierta, en particular en el caso de profesionales es buena idea informarse sobre Canadà ¡, ya que tiene un sistema federal y de provincias interesante. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.