You are invited to a  joint event between LLAKES and the Economic Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers which is titled: “Geographies of Inequality After the Recession”. 

It will be held in London at the Institute of Education on Friday 18 November, 11am -5pm, Room 802.

The following speakers are confirmed:

John Bryson, University of Birmingham: ‘British Manufacturing beyond Deindustrialisation: Responding to Crisis and Recession through Innovation, Adaptation and Services’
Diane Perrons, London School of Economics: ‘Regional Performance and Inequality: linking economic and social development through a capabilities approach’
Lorna Unwin, Institute of Education: ‘Apprenticeship as a vehicle for social and economic regeneration’
Andy Green, Institute of Education: ‘Education, opportunity and social cohesion’

Mia Gray, University of Cambridge: ‘Inclusive Regional Development?: Social Networks in an Age of Austerity’

If you would like to attend, please contact Laura James (l.james@ioe.ac.uk). Presentations and reports on the meetings will follow on the EGRG website in due course. The Registration fee this year (including a sandwich lunch and refreshments) is £30 academic staff, free to unwaged / postgraduate students.

 We particularly welcome research students in the broad area of economic geography.

Lorna Unwin and Alison Fuller have written a chapter entitled: “The Content of Apprenticeships”, in Rethinking Apprenticeships, a publication produced by the Institute for Public Policy and Research (IPPR). This volume brings together key international experts, industry professionals and policymakers in an attempt to set out a policy agenda that explores how to strengthen the role of apprenticeships in society and the economy, how to create more and better apprenticeships, and what an institutional framework for flourishing apprenticeships would look like.

Rethinking Apprenticeshipscan be downloaded from: http://www.ippr.org/publications/55/8028/rethinking-apprenticeships

Professor Andy Dickerson, University of Sheffield

What do we mean by skill in the UK? Developing a multi-dimensional approach

Wednesday 16 November 2011, 3.00 pm to 4.30 pm, Room 728, Institute of Education

This seminar will discuss  the development of a new and comprehensive set of detailed, multi-dimensional occupational skills profiles for the UK by combining the US-based Occupational Information Network (O*NET) system with the UK Standard Occupational Classification (SOC2010). This enables the multi-dimensional O*NET system to be used to generate comprehensive occupational skills profiles for the UK, providing a much more detailed depiction of skills utilisation, and changes in utilisation, than is currently available for the UK. This is crucial if we are to really develop an understanding of skill utilisation and changing skill needs in the UK.

Press Release

ESRC 2011 Festival of Social Science: Public Debate

Learning, Inequality, and Social Cohesion in Recession

 Friday 4 November 2011, 10.00 am – 3.15 pm, Stirling Management Centre

Stirling will host a public debate on Learning, Inequality, and Social Cohesion in Recession on Friday 4 November as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Science.

As unemployment and inequality rise and the prospects for economic growth look fragile, the seminar will look at whether social cohesion is under threat in the UK and what role lifelong learning can play in supporting economic and social improvements.

These questions will be addressed at a ‘Question Time’ public debate hosted by the LLAKES Research Centre and the School of Education at the University of Stirling. To stimulate the debate, there will be presentations on the latest research, including perspectives from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Professor John Field of the University of Stirling is delighted that the School of Education is hosting the seminar: “The Scottish Government is planning to legislate on further education and skills so this is a good time to bring the latest research on learning and social inequality into the equation.

“Young people are particularly vulnerable to long term scarring from unemployment, and we also know that it can cause lasting harm to adults. Scotland must find solutions to this recession, learning from the best evidence available”.

Panel members for the seminar include Professor Andy Green, LLAKES Director; Professor Lorna Unwin, LLAKES Deputy Director; Professor John Field, Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning at Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Stirling; Wendy Burton, Scottish Trades Union Congress; Victor Dukelow, Northern Ireland Department for Employment and Learning; and Geoff Mason, National Institute for Economic and Social Research.

The event will be chaired by the journalist and academic, Walter Humes. The aim is to present a diverse range of views in order to stimulate fresh ideas for policymaking and research.

Learning, Inequality, and Social Cohesion in Recession will be held on Friday 4 November from 10.00 am to 3.15pm at Stirling Management Centre on the University campus. Entry to the seminar is free and lunch and refreshments are provided, but places are limited so prior registration is essential. For reservations or further questions contact esrcfestival@stir.ac.uk or telephone 01786 466 140.

Learning, Inequality and Social Cohesion in a Recession: a debate on the role of education and training

Stirling Management Centre, University of Stirling, Scotland,  4 November 2011.

This event will build on the success of the LLAKES events in 2009 and 2010 which used the BBC’s ‘Question Time’ format to stage a debate on the role of education and training in a time of recession and in the context of growing inequalities across the UK.  Central to the debate will be the extent to which social cohesion is threatened as a result of inequality. Working in collaboration with Professor John Field of the Institute of Education at the University of Stirling and Patrick Watt of Skills Development Scotland (SDS), this event enables LLAKES to present its research findings to policymakers (national and local), education and training practitioners, and business leaders in Scotland, and to representatives of these groups from Northern Ireland.  Following presentations by LLAKES’ Director, Professor Andy Green and other LLAKES researchers, there will be inputs and a response from Scottish and Northern Ireland colleagues. This will then be followed by a ‘Question Time’ debate involving the audience.  The event will be held at the Stirling Management Centre, University of Stirling. An audience of up to 100 people is envisaged. Delegates will be sent a short briefing paper prior to the event and asked to send in suggested questions to act as an initial stimulus for discussion. The panel for the debate will comprise the LLAKES Director, Professor Andy Green, the Deputy Director, Lorna Unwin, Professor John Field and 3 representatives from the policy community in Scotland and Northern Ireland.  The topic is high on the agenda in both Scotland and Northern Ireland where youth unemployment and inequalities in relation to educational outcomes across the lifecourse are of growing concern.

To view the invitation click here

For reservations or further questions, please contact esrcfestival@stir.ac.uk.

Follow the Festival on Twitter at #esrcfestival

Professor Karen Evans has given a keynote presentation as part of the series ‘Continuous Learning for Tomorrow’s World’ organised by the Institute of Adult Learning (IAL), Singapore. Karen Evans has also participated in the International Expert Round Table convened by IAL between 17 and 21 October 2011, to support the development of a  new research agenda for workplace learning in Singapore.

LLAKES Deputy Director Lorna Unwin was invited by the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET) to give a keynote presentation at the Annual Conference of the Swiss Leading Houses on Quality and Vocational Education and Training Research, held in Solothurn, Switzerland, from 20 to 21 October 2011. Lorna’s presentation was entitled: “Excavating Complexity: the importance of qualitative research for vocational education and training”.

There are currently four leading Houses which have been established to enhance the profile and quality of research in Vocational Education and Training:

a) Quality of Vocational Education, led by the University of Fribourg;

b) Learning Strategies – led by the University of Basle, working with the Universities of Geneva and St Gallen;

c) Economics of Education – led by the Universities of Zurich and Berne;

d) New Technologies – led by the Universities of Geneva and Fribourg.

The second LLAKES conference will be held on 18 and 19 October 2012, at Senate House, University of London. Further details will be announced as soon as possible.

Two LLAKES researchers at the Institute of Education have received promotions. Dr David Guile has been promoted to the rank of Professor, and Dr Germ Janmaat to that of Reader.

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.