Historical perspectives on special education, 1890-1970

In the light of continuing controversy over the role of special schools in England, this paper considers the development of special education through examination of evidence from two different geographical areas. Particular reference is made to uncovering the perspectives of those who were subject to the policies - children and their families - drawing on documentary sources, oral history and biographies. The authors highlight how the relative optimism accompanying the opening of special schools, evident in London in the 1890s, gave way to punishment or neglect in the early 20th century.     

Mental health service users' experiences of returning to paid employment

Research into mental health and employment has focused largely on people who are unemployed. This paper reports the experiences of 20 clients of employment support agencies who had succeeded in returning to work. A number of barriers to getting back to work were identified, but receiving employment support could enable people to overcome them. There was consistency with previous studies of factors associated with high and low levels of job satisfaction. Even those participants who were less satisfied with their jobs identified benefits and none described any negative effects. The quality of the employment support provided was important, including advice and counselling during the job search, enabling informed choice about disclosure and support in work. Job retention targets are required for funding programmes in addition to placement targets. Further research into the timing and processes of disclosure and into occupational health screening processes would be helpful.     

The dual strategy: Motherhood and the work contract in Scandinavia

Mothers' employment in the Scandinavian countries is generally characterised by high employment rates. At the same time the fertility level is higher than in most European countries. Scandinavian women have to a large extent developed a dual strategy towards employment and children: Most women choose to have at least two children and they continue their employment after and between births. In this paper we discuss how this dual strategy can be explained, taking the case of Norway. We argue that the strategy of Norwegian mothers is based on arrangements in working life which enable employed mothers to pursue motherhood within the work contract.     

Former welfare clients in prison: education and self-reported learning problems

The aim of this study is to investigate educational background, educational wishes, actual participation in prison education, and self-reported learning problems among former child welfare clients in prison. A significant concern is that prisoners' educational level is far lower than for the general population. The same concern has also been expressed regarding former child welfare clients. The question is whether prisoners with a background from the child welfare system are especially vulnerable. The survey reported in this paper addressed the entire Norwegian prison population. We distributed a questionnaire containing questions about whether the prisoner or their family had been in contact with the welfare system, educational issues such as educational background, whether they wanted to participate in prison education and actually participated, and to what extent the participants had self-reported learning problems. We also investigated whether such learning problems affected participation in prison education. The results showed that around one-third of the 2065 respondents were former child welfare clients. The mean age of the respondents in the child welfare group was 31 years and 7.9% were women. The results further revealed that those who had been child welfare clients had a lower educational level and more self-reported learning problems than the general prison population, but most of them still wished to start an education while incarcerated.     

Social exclusion or poverty individualisation? An empirical test of two recent and competing poverty theories

In recent years, two new theoretical perspectives on poverty in modern welfare societies have emerged: the perspective of ‘cumulative disadvantage’ and poverty individualisation. Both perspectives challenge traditional class-based poverty definitions. This article notes certain limitations that pertain to the relatively few empirical tests that have been performed to support these theories. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate that the results obtained depend largely on the type of poverty definition applied (income or deprivation), the actual data used (national or comparative) and the extent to which these data represent an observation period that is long enough to provide a reliable basis for testing the theories in question. The article concludes that because only few Danes experience long-term poverty and social exclusion, the combination of class and individual biography is important. In other words, structural conditions and, to a lesser degree, group risks drive individuals to the social margin.     

Latino Students' Transition to Middle School: Role of Bilingual Education and School Ethnic Context

Participants were 204 academically at‐risk Latino students recruited into a study when in first grade and followed for 9 years. Using piecewise latent growth curve analyses, we investigated trajectories of teacher‐rated behavioral engagement and student‐reported school belonging during elementary school and middle school and the association between trajectories and enrollment in bilingual education classes in elementary school and a change in school ethnic congruence across the transition to middle school. Overall, students experienced a drop in school belonging and behavioral engagement across the transition. A moderating effect of ethnic congruence on bilingual enrollment was found. A decline in ethnic congruence was associated with more positive trajectories for students previously enrolled in bilingual classes but more negative trajectories for nonbilingual students.     

Gender Quotas for Agricultural Boards: Changing Constructions of Gender?

This article explores the processes by which gender is given meaning through social interaction in boardrooms. In Norway, alongside mandatory quotas regulating the composition of Public Limited Company boards, voluntary quotas were designed to increase women's membership on the boards of agricultural co‐operatives. This radical step to secure a minimum of 40 per cent women makes these boards an interesting site for investigating the construction of gender in a traditionally male‐dominated organization. In the debate, arguments in favour of a quota accentuated diversity and differences between women's and men's competences, opinions and values. The analysis of interview data from the boards of four agricultural co‐operatives suggests that equal representation is a muted, taken‐for‐granted value. Equality and diversity are not understood as incompatible ideas, and gender is produced dynamically through practice rather than constituted as an inherent, fixed attribute. Gender as difference is less pervasive than expected as women tend to be recognized as belonging to the gender‐neutral category of a board representative despite any recognized differences. The study demonstrates that voluntary quotas may change the context and both challenge old assumptions and promote new understandings of gender in local situations.     

Scandinavian Contrasts and Norwegian Variations in Special Housing for Older People

De-institutionalization is a general trend for Scandinavian long-term care over the last decades. Denmark and Sweden have taken this trend a step further than Norway has, as Denmark suspended institutional care altogether in 1987 and Sweden in 1992. Since then, residential care has been provided to individuals in special housing in various forms. This housing is in principle “independent housing,” where residents are tenants and are provided services according to needs and not sites. This article concentrates on the Norwegian variations to this system, as this is the only country of the 3 that still provides residential care under 2 “regimes,” an institutional care regime and an assisted housing regime. Is assisted housing essentially different from institutional care, or is it better described as old wine in new bottles? The latter may be the case for Sweden, whereas Denmark stands out as having the most housing-oriented care model. Institutional care (i.e., nursing homes) still dominates in Norway, where assisted housing is merely a minor supplement to institutional care in most municipalities. The article explores the reasons for these trends and, in particular, the reasons for the Norwegian resistance to assisted housing as an alternative form of residential care.     

On the Need for Rethinking Current Practice that Highlights Goal Achievement Risk in an Enterprise Context

This article addresses the issue of how performance and risk management can complement each other in order to enhance the management of an enterprise. Often, we see that risk management focuses on goal achievements and not the enterprise risk related to its activities in the value chain. The statement “no goal, no risk” is a common misconception. The main aim of the article is to present a normative model for describing the links between performance and risk, and to use this model to give recommendations on how to best structure and plan the management of an enterprise in situations involving risk and uncertainties. The model, which has several novel features, is based on the interaction between different types of risk management (enterprise risk management, task risk management, and personal risk management) and a structure where the enterprise risk management overrules both the task and personal risk management. To illustrate the model we use the metaphor of a ship, where the ship is loaded with cash‐generating activities and has a direction over time determined by the overall strategic objectives. Compared to the current enterprise risk management practice, the model and related analysis are founded on a new perspective on risk, highlighting knowledge and uncertainties beyond probabilities.