The social context of Welsh-medium bilingual education in anglicised areas

Principal component analysis of indicators from the 1991 Census was used to characterise the social context of school age Welsh speakers in South East Wales. The area had been largely anglicised by the Census of 1971, but the growth of Welsh-medium education was responsible for net gains in numbers of younger Welsh/English bilinguals. Doubts as to whether young people will remain active bilinguals after leaving school have been raised. The inter-relationships between figures for Welsh speaking in the Census and other social indicators were examined. Being categorised as a young Welsh speaker was found to cut across an economic advantage/disadvantage dimension, and so was a matter of life style rather than a by-product of parental choices unrelated to language resurgence. Probing life styles by means of interviews where Welsh-medium and English-medium schools could be matched on the economic advantage/disadvantage dimension showed that deciding for Welsh-medium education was embedded in authentic local life styles. Although networks of people at more local spatial scales were involved in Welsh-medium education, they were linked to wider scale networks establishing domains for Welsh language use in the public sector and local government.     

Results of the Doctoral Faculty Publication Project

Results of this longitudinal study of the 1990s revealed that 12 of 61 doctoral faculties (20%) were responsible for 43% of journal articles published. Publication rates of these faculties appeared to accelerate in the 1990s and correlated positively with measures of program size and longevity. However, when all variables were controlled, the perceived academic quality of MSW programs was the sole correlate of faculty publication. Overwhelmingly, faculties of US News and World Report’s most highly rated MSW programs at the end of the decade were also the most frequently published. Implications of these findings are identified and discussed.     

A case study in venture management

This paper examines the venture concept as a means of stimulating new product development within large companies. The literature reveals a significant difference between the venture idea as originally conceived in North America and as applied in European companies. A case study of a UK venture experiment is then presented which clearly demonstrates the resistance to substantive change which may characterise large organisations.     

Family-centered care: a resource for social work in end-of-life and palliative care

Recent trends in medicine reflect an attempt to be more patient-centered and while this is progress from the disease- or provider- focused model familiar in healthcare, the experiences and contributions of family as caregivers continue to be overlooked in some settings. The family-centered care model, developed most notably in pediatrics, but emerging in HIV, cancer, and aging, is presented as a resource to increase family involvement at the end of life. In this paper, family-centered care is defined, caregiving trends including support needs of formal and informal caregivers are discussed, and barriers to family-centered services are identified. Reintroducing family into the focus of care at the end of life is the primary goal of this paper. The family- centered model of care offers an appropriate framework for understanding the value of family in end-of-life care and fits well with social work perspectives that understand individuals in the context of their family system and greater environment.