Professor Alison Taylor
Department of Educational Policy Studies
University of Alberta

Migrant worker policy and social cohesion in Canada

 A migrant worker program was initiated in Canada in 1973, but its scope has grown significantly in recent decades. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Canada (commonly called the “stock”) climbed from 89,000 to 283,000, while new entries jumped from 116,000 to 182,000 per year. And while the initial focus of the program was on skilled workers, in 2009, over one-third of TFWs were ‘unskilled’. Further, the trend in Canadian immigration policy has been away from permanent residency to temporary migration. This presentation considers the implications of migrant worker policy for discussions about social cohesion through an examination of three literatures: the first looks at the current state of social cohesion in Canada, the second, the history of immigration policy in Canada and development of the migrant worker program, and the third, the history and effects of migrant/guest worker programs in other countries. This analysis will be complemented by Alison’s empirical research on the TFW program for nurses and trades workers in the province of Alberta.

Professor Andy Green, Director of LLAKES was recently asked to speak at the UNESCO conference The Quest for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Asia and the Pacific Region, at Zhejiang University China and at the National Institute of Education, Singapore.

His lectures on The Entrepreneurial University in Europe and  Education Equality and Social cohesion  are now available for download:

The Entrepreneurial University in Europe

Education equality and social cohesion

Professor Karen Evans was one of three keynote presenters at the triennial conference of the European Society for Research in the Education Adults (ESREA) held in Sweden in late September 2010.

The conference was attended by participants from 22 countries, her presentation is now available to download from:

www.liu.se/esrea2010/keynotes

Professor Andy Green delivered a lecture on Learning, Equality and Social Cohesion for the Belgian EU Presidency Conference on Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage. The event was held in Gent on the 28 of September 2010 and the presentation is now available to download.

Andy Green Gent Presentation

Dr Bryony Hoskins was an invited speaker at the Networking European Citizenship Education conference in Vilnius  3 – 5 December 2009 and presented a paper titled ‘The Impact of Cultural and Civic Education on Social Cohesion.  The role of research on the impact of cultural and civic education on social cohesion is to provide a better understanding of what social cohesion is, this presentation explains the pressure points that currently exist and evaluates the learning strategies for making improvements.

The full paper and presentation given by Dr Bryony Hoskins is now available for download.

Download: The impact of civic education on social cohesion Bryony Hoskins for nece conference
Download: social cohesion final- version for audience

Professor Karen Evans made a keynote presentation on ‘Putting Knowledge to Work’ ( at the Asia –Europe Meeting (ASEM) Conference on Lifelong Learning in Bangkok, Thailand in July 2009. The meeting, introduced by the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, was attended by  Ministry representatives, institutional leaders, policy makers and senior researchers from the ASEM countries.

To watch the video visit here

To see the slideshow only click here

Professor Andy Green presented a paper on The Recession, Youth and Education at  Campaign for State Education (CASE)  Conference held at University of London Union, on Saturday 21 November 2009.  The presentation is now available for download.

Download: CASE talk 1

LLAKES Director Andy Green and Germ Janmaat, Strand One leader presented at the conference Education as a Means for Fostering Social Cohesion at the Centre for Lebanese Studies in Beirut on 15 October 2009.

Their presentation Education Systems and Social Cohesion is now available for download.

Download: Lebanon powerpoint

LLAKES Director Professor Andy Green and Geoff Mason of NIESR were invited to present to a seminar organised by the ESRC and HM Treasury on the theme of ‘Labour market, recession and social impacts’ (29 September 2009)

Both presentations are now available for download.

Treasury presentation 3
Treasury Briefing 3
Slides for ESRC-HMT seminar GMason 24Sep09