Structuring access to higher education: The role of differentiation and privatization

Building on cross-national stratification research that examines how institutional arrangements affect stratification processes, I explore how two characteristics of higher education systems, differentiation and privatization, shape access to postsecondary opportunities. Using hierarchical linear models and relying on variation in educational systems across states in the U.S., I demonstrate that differentiation and privatization structure access to higher education, albeit at times in previously unanticipated ways. Differentiation, which denotes the presence of community colleges, has a democratizing effect: it increases overall enrollment in postsecondary institutions as well as decreases the gap in enrollment between students from different social strata. Moreover, contrary to the diversion hypothesis, differentiation does not disproportionately divert students from less privileged family backgrounds from 4-year institutions. Differentiation does, nevertheless, divert another group of students: those with lower test scores. The results also indicate that privatization has little effect on overall access to higher education, although it influences migration of students, facilitating out-of-state enrollment.     

Infrastructures of immobility: enabling international distance education students in Africa to not move

ABSTRACT

There is now a large literature discussing how mobilities are part of contemporary everyday power geometries and is a resource to which people have unequal access. This body of work has, thus, valorised mobility as a desirable good. Why some people choose immobility and what has to be mobilised to enable this immobility has received much less attention. This paper draws on interviews with international distance education students in Namibia and Zimbabwe studying at the University of South Africa (UNISA) to explore the spatio-temporal underpinnings to why students choose to remain at home while studying abroad and how this is arranged. It outlines the infrastructures of reach that enable student immobility and how their incomplete nature means that students have to rely on extensive systems of mobilities of other people and objects to ensure that their study progresses without their own educational mobility. In doing so we move away from considering immobility as a result of limited access to mobility. Instead, we set out a new research agenda on why and how the infrastructures of immobilities are important in mobility research.     

Breaking through the silence in antenatal care: Fetal movement and stillbirth education

BackgroundFetal movements are a key indicator of fetal health. Research has established significant correlations between altered fetal activity and stillbirth. However, women are generally unaware of this relationship. Providing pregnant women with information about the importance of fetal movements could improve stillbirth rates. However, there are no consistent fetal movements awareness messages globally for pregnant women.AimsThis study aimed to explore the antenatal care experiences of Australian mothers who had recently had a live birth to determine their knowledge of fetal movements, the nature and source of that information.MethodsAn online survey method was used for 428 women who had a live birth and received antenatal care in Australia. Women’s knowledge of fetal movements, stillbirth risk, and the sources of this knowledge was explored.FindingsA large proportion of participants (84.6%; n = 362) stated they had been informed by health care professionals of the importance of fetal movements during pregnancy. Open-ended responses indicate that fetal movements messages are often myth based. Awareness that stillbirth occurs was high (95.2%; n = 398), although, 65% (n = 272) were unable to identify the current incidence of stillbirth in Australia.ConclusionWomen who received antenatal care have high-awareness of fetal movements, but the information they received was inconsistent. Participants knew stillbirth occurred but did not generally indicate they had obtained that knowledge from health care professionals. We recommend a consistent approach to fetal movements messaging throughout pregnancy which focuses on stillbirth prevention.     

Examining the transformation of midwifery education in Australia to inform future directions: An integrative review

BackgroundIntegral to quality midwifery practice is the education of midwives. Like other countries, Australia faces ongoing challenges in delivering midwifery education programs. Reasons include escalating program costs, challenges in securing meaningful clinical experiences, subsumption of midwifery with nursing, and associated loss of identity in some institutions.AimTo critically examine the literature exploring the historical and current drivers, supports and impediments for entry-to-practice midwifery programs to identify strategies to strengthen midwifery education in Australia.MethodsA structured integrative literature review using Whittemore and Knafl’s five-stage framework was undertaken; 1) problem identification, 2) literature search, 3) data evaluation, 4) data analysis, and 5) presentation of results.FindingsThe literature search identified 50 articles for inclusion. The thematic analysis identified four key themes: i. a commitment to educational reform, ii. building a midwifery workforce, iii. quality maternity care through midwifery education, and iv. progressing excellence in midwifery education.DiscussionExtensive literature describes the evolution of midwifery education in Australia over the last 30 years. Through collaboration and amidst opposition, quality midwifery education has been established in Australia. Identification of midwifery as a distinct profession and transformative leadership have been integral to this evolution and must be grown and sustained to prevent a decline in standards or quality.ConclusionThere is a need to address priorities in midwifery education and for the evaluation of midwifery programs and pedagogy. The provision and maintenance of quality education and practice require shared responsibility between education providers and health care services.     

Child care workers' wages: New evidence on returns to education, experience, job tenure and auspice

Child care workers receive low hourly pay, modest returns to education, experience and job tenure, and have high rates of turnover. These stylized facts have caused analysts to characterize child care workers as secondary labour market participants. We use Canadian data to challenge this characterization and to examine the disputed effects of auspice (non-profit vs. for-profit status) on wages. In contrast to Mocan and Viola (1997), improved controls for the differential availability of resources and firm size do not make the positive wage effects experienced by workers in non-profit day care centres disappear. Received: 7 February 2000/Accepted: 1 August 2001     

Midwives and sexual violence: A cross-sectional analysis of personal exposure,education and attitudes in practice

BackgroundAround one in three women experience sexual violence during their lifetime. They may need trauma-sensitive maternity care that takes sexual trauma triggers into account. Midwives are similarly likely to have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. It is unknown whether midwives with a personal sexual violence history have a different professional approach to the topic than their colleagues without such history.AimTo explore whether midwives with a personal sexual violence history are more likely to have received or need education about sexual violence and whether they approach sexual violence differently in practice.MethodsAn exploratory online survey was conducted amongst practicing midwives in high resource countries. Odds ratios were calculated for differences between midwives with and without a personal sexual violence history.FindingsOf the 288 participating midwives, 48.6% disclosed a personal sexual violence history. Midwives with a personal sexual violence history showed higher uptake of post-graduate education (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.23–3.44), more accurate prevalence estimation (OR 3.42, 95% CI 2.10–5.57) and more confidence to identify sexual violence history (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.19–3.15). We found no differences in requiring future education, screening practices, other aspects of confidence or time and discomfort barriers.ConclusionsAs fellow survivors, midwives with a personal sexual violence history have a unique standpoint towards sexual violence in maternity care practice that may make them more sensitive to the issue.     

Access,boundaries and confidence: The ABC of facilitating continuity of care experience in midwifery education

BackgroundTo register as a midwife in Australia, students must complete minimum requirements of clinical experiences throughout their programme. This includes following women through their childbirth journey in order to gain continuity of care experience. Research suggests that women and students find the continuity of care experience (COCE) valuable. Nevertheless, students cite difficulty in achieving these experiences.Aim This project sought to explore the challenges and identify supportive strategies for midwifery students undertaking the COCE.MethodsThis project adopted an action research approach incorporating the four stages of planning, action, observation and reflection. This paper specifically reports the findings from the planning stage in which a focus group with education providers, facilitator and students was conducted and a survey with students (n = 69) was undertaken. Key themes were identified through thematic analysis and a number of actions were proposed.FindingsThree main themes, ‘access’, ‘boundaries’ and ‘confidence’ were identified as challenges for students undertaking the COCE. Students raised concern regarding lack of access to women for COCE. They identified a need to establish clear professional and personal boundaries in managing the COCE. Students also highlighted the significance of confidence on the success of their experience. Throughout the study students identified strategies that could assist in the COCE.ConclusionThere is a need for clarity and support around the COCE for all stakeholders. Placing the COCE within a Service Learning model is one response that ensures that this experience is understood as being symbiotic for women and students and enables supportive actions to be developed and implemented.     

Private violence/private transport: the role of means of transport in women’s mobility to escape from domestic violence in England and Wales

ABSTRACT

This article highlights a gendered and forced mobility which has been under-recognised in the literature on mobility. It explores the hidden relocations of women (often with children) due to intimate partner abuse; presenting findings from mixed methods research on women’s journeys to escape domestic violence, including analysis of over 80 journey segments made by 20 women within England and Wales, and from abroad. Focusing on means of transport, the research found that under a third of journey segments were made by public transport, and these tended to be longer distances; that journeys by disabled women were more likely to be by private transport, and that journeys from rural areas were more likely to be with the assistance of others. Thematic analysis of interviews at different stages of women’s journeys is used to explore their experiences of different means of transport in terms of degrees of control and agency, in terms of losing or retaining personal possessions on the move; and in highlighting the role of others’ assistance in compounding or counteracting the implications of abuse. Women’s domestic violence journeys are thereby contextualised within wider mobilities research, uncovering the inequalities and implications of this hidden internal displacement in the UK.     

Returns on education amongst men in England and Wales: The impact of residential segregation and ethno-religious background

Individuals’ occupational and educational attainment is influenced by their ethnicity, religion and colour in the UK and elsewhere. In this paper, we analyse the impact of ethnicity, religion and colour along with residential segregation¹ and socio-economic deprivation on returns to education for men in England and Wales. We analyse the 2001 UK census data by employing multi-level logistic regression models. It is found that non-White groups including Christian Black-African, UK born Sikh-Indians and South Asian Muslims are found to suffer an ethnic penalty compared to Christian White-British. While there is evidence to suggest that Muslim men may experience a greater penalty compared to some non-Whites other non-Muslim groups too face ethno-religious penalties, sometimes even more severely such as in the case of Christian Black-Africans. Socio-economic difficulties faced by ethnic minorities are also linked to spatial segregation only when associated with high levels of area deprivation. This suggests that what matters may not be segregation per se, but whether or not it is associated with deprivation.     

Changing effects of family background on transitions to secondary education in the Netherlands: Consequences of educational expansion and reform

Recent developments in educational transitions research suggest a decomposition of qualitative dimensions within educational levels that are (nearly) universal. However, research on long-term trends of social stratification in the structurally tracked educational system of the Netherlands has not been published previously. In the Netherlands, the secondary educational level is divided into four hierarchical tracks which each lead to different options for subsequent educational decisions. A rapid increase of participation in the higher tracks over time however, may have changed the background-specific distribution of early track placement. This paper improves upon previous research on educational inequality by incorporating a long-term perspective into tracking research. The secondary level of the Dutch educational system is decomposed into its four tracks, using a time frame that covers cohorts that entered secondary education between 1946 and 1998. The application of multinomial logit regressions reveals that the choice of a secondary track is strongly depending on social background features, measured as education of the parents and occupational status of the father. We found linear downward trends of effects for fathers’ occupation in the intermediate tracks for the cohorts that entered secondary education between WWII and the 90s. The effects of parental education also decrease after WWII, but the trend is curvilinear and not enduring. Unexpectedly, the effects almost reach their previous level in the youngest cohort. Our results furthermore suggest that a controversial reform of the educational system in 1968 neither triggered nor accelerated equalization of secondary education, although it resulted in a growth of participation in senior general education (HAVO).     

Understanding pathways leading to stillbirth: The role of care-seeking and care received during pregnancy and childbirth in Kabul province,Afghanistan

BackgroundThe underlying pathways leading to stillbirth in low- and middle-income countries are not well understood. Context-specific understanding of how and why stillbirths occur is needed to prioritise interventions and identify barriers to their effective implementation and uptake.AimTo explore the contribution of contextual, individual, household-level and health system factors to stillbirth in Afghanistan.MethodsUsing a qualitative approach, we conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with women and men that experienced stillbirth, female elders, community health workers, healthcare providers, and government officials in Kabul province, Afghanistan between October-November 2017. We used thematic analysis to identify contributing factors and developed a conceptual map describing possible pathways to stillbirth.FindingsWe found that low utilisation and access to healthcare was a key contributing factor, as were unmanaged conditions in pregnancy that increased women’s risk of complications and stillbirth. Sociocultural factors related to the treatment of women and perceptions about medical interventions deprived women of interventions that could potentially prevent stillbirth. The quality of care from public and private providers during pregnancy and childbirth was a recurring concern exacerbated by health system constraints that led to unnecessary delays; while environmental factors linked to the ongoing conflict were also perceived to contribute to stillbirth. These pathways were underscored by social, cultural, economic factors and individual perceptions that contributed to the three-delays.DiscussionEfforts are needed at the community-level to facilitate care-seeking and raise awareness of stillbirth risk factors and the facility-level to strengthen antenatal and childbirth care quality, ensure culturally appropriate and respectful care, and reduce treatment delays.