Search results
1 – 10 of 48The purpose of this paper is to set out three dilemmas that challenge historians of education who write for both professional and academic audiences. It focuses on the example of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to set out three dilemmas that challenge historians of education who write for both professional and academic audiences. It focuses on the example of using fiction as a source for understanding the informal education of girls in the twentieth century. It contributes to the debate over the purpose of history of education and the possibilities that intersecting and contested analytical frameworks might contribute to the development of the discipline.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses the rules of engagement and the duties of a historian of education. It reforms current concerns into three dilemmas: audience, method and writing. It gives examples drawn from research into girls’ school stories between 1910 and 1960. It highlights three authors and stories set in Australia, England and an international school in order to explore what fiction offers in getting “inside” the classroom.
Findings
Developed from a conference keynote that explored intersecting and contested histories of education, the paper sets up as many questions as it provides answers but re-frames them to include the use of a genre that has been explored by historians of childhood and literature but less so by historians of education.
Research limitations/implications
The vast quantity of stories set in girls’ schools between 1910 and 1960 necessarily demands a selective reading. Authors may specialise in the genre or be general young people’s fiction authors. Reading such stories must necessarily be set against changing social, cultural and political contexts. This paper uses examples from the genre in order to explore ways forward but cannot include an exhaustive methodology for reasons of space.
Practical implications
This paper suggests fiction as a way of broadening the remit of history of education and acting as a bridge between related sub-disciplines such as history of childhood and youth, history and education. It raises practical implications for historians of education as they seek new approaches and understanding of the process of informal education outside the classroom.
Social implications
This paper suggests that the authors should take more seriously the impact of children’s reading for pleasure. Reception studies offer an insight into recognising the interaction that children have with their chosen reading. While the authors cannot research how children interacted historically with these stories in the mid-twentieth century, the authors can draw implications from the popularity of the genre and the significance of the legacy of the closed school community that has made series such as Harry Potter so successful with the current generation.
Originality/value
The marginal place of history of education within the disciplines of history and education is both challenging and full of possibilities. The paper draws on existing international debates and discusses future directions as well as the potential that girls’ school stories offer for research into gender and education.
Details
Keywords
This article is intended for use as a class handout to aid students who are learning about qualitative research to determine whether qualitative research is a good fit and whether…
Abstract
This article is intended for use as a class handout to aid students who are learning about qualitative research to determine whether qualitative research is a good fit and whether they have the personal characteristics required to become effective qualitative researchers.
Details
Keywords
It has been at least twenty years since I was first alerted to the notion that my interest in a research topic arises from my unconscious. More recently, feminist theorists have…
Abstract
It has been at least twenty years since I was first alerted to the notion that my interest in a research topic arises from my unconscious. More recently, feminist theorists have developed the insight by arguing that integration of experience is helpful in defining research questions, as a source of data, to test findings and, in the words of Jean Bethke Elshtain, in assisting them to be less removed from the ‘wellsprings’ of their own ‘thought and action’. My aim in this article is to reconnect my experience with constructions of teachers in Australian children’s literature and to explore ways in which they are imagined in the literature. In my initial foray into this topic, I used Maurice Saxby’s historical review of Australian children’s literature as a guide for data gathering. This linear, chronological approach, while probably a helpful place to start, is not one I can sustain with any passion. In this article, I am returning to my experience to find a starting point, acknowledging that history is a ‘process of intellectual production as well as discovery’
Details
Keywords
THE following abstract in tabular form has been prepared by some junior members of the Islington Public Libraries staff for the use of candidates in Section V. of the Library…
Abstract
THE following abstract in tabular form has been prepared by some junior members of the Islington Public Libraries staff for the use of candidates in Section V. of the Library Association Examination. It does not pretend to do more than set out the chief provisions of the various Public Libraries Acts in a clear manner, as an aid to the memorization of the principal powers and duties conferred upon library authorities. The whole of the Acts can be purchased through any bookseller for 1s. 4½d., and every student of librarianship is advised to procure them.
T. Alexandra Beauregard, Maria Adamson, Aylin Kunter, Lilian Miles and Ian Roper
This article serves as an introduction to six articles featured in a special issue on diversity in the work–life interface. This collection of papers contains research that…
Abstract
Purpose
This article serves as an introduction to six articles featured in a special issue on diversity in the work–life interface. This collection of papers contains research that contemplates the work–life interface in different geographic and cultural contexts, that explores the work–life experiences of minority, marginalized and/or underresearched groups of workers and that takes into account diverse arrangements made to fulfill both work and nonwork responsibilities.
Design/methodology/approach
This introductory article first summarizes some of the emerging research in this area, introduces the papers in this special issue and links them to these themes and ends with highlighting the importance of using an intersectional lens in future investigations of the work–life interface.
Findings
These six articles provide empirically based insights, as well as new theoretical considerations for studying the interface between paid work and personal life roles. Compelling new research directions are identified.
Originality/value
Introducing the new articles in this special issue and reviewing recent research in this area brings together the work–life interface scholarship and diversity management studies and points to the necessity for future investigations to take an intersectional and contextualized approach to their subject matter.
Details
Keywords
THIS number will appear at the beginning of the Leeds Conference. Although there is no evidence that the attendance will surpass the record attendance registered at the Birmingham…
Abstract
THIS number will appear at the beginning of the Leeds Conference. Although there is no evidence that the attendance will surpass the record attendance registered at the Birmingham Conference, there is every reason to believe that the attendance at Leeds will be very large. The year is one of importance in the history of the city, for it has marked the 300th anniversary of its charter. We hope that some of the festival spirit will survive into the week of the Conference. As a contributor has suggested on another page, we hope that all librarians who attend will do so with the determination to make the Conference one of the friendliest possible character. It has occasionally been pointed out that as the Association grows older it is liable to become more stilted and formal; that institutions and people become standardized and less dynamic. This, if it were true, would be a great pity.
THE earliest catalogue of Cambridge University documents was compiled by Mr. William Rysley, in 1420. Most of the documents enumerated in this list are still extant. An…
Abstract
THE earliest catalogue of Cambridge University documents was compiled by Mr. William Rysley, in 1420. Most of the documents enumerated in this list are still extant. An interesting List of the Documents in the University Registry, from the year 1266 to the year 1544, was communicated to the Cambridge Antiquarian Society by the Rev. H. R. Luard, B.D., then University Registrar, on March 6th, 1876. From this, it appears that “The earliest document which the University possesses is so late as the year 1266. The earliest in the Record office is dated 16th July, 13 Hen. III., i.e. 1229. This is a permission to scholars of the University of Paris to come to England, and remain for purposes of study.”
This study aims to comprehensively examine the integration of organisational- and individual-level performance management systems (PMSs) in the context of public sector…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to comprehensively examine the integration of organisational- and individual-level performance management systems (PMSs) in the context of public sector organisations (PSOs) of developing countries (DCs), by investigating the elements of PMSs in the studied organisation.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study in a large PSO of a developing country was conducted. The design of the study and the data analysis drew on Ferreira and Otley’s PMSs framework. Data were captured from electronic and printed document archives, online written interviews with participants and face-to-face interviews. The data then were triangulated and analysed thematically.
Findings
The study reveals a recursive relationship between culture and PMSs, and identifies conflicting regulatory requirements and a lack of information technology capacity led to the development of dual, loosely coupled PMSs in the studied organisation.
Research limitations/implications
The findings may not be generalisable beyond a large, PSO in a developing country; the study did not consider the linkages between the integration of organisational- and individual-level PMSs and other PMSs; the study looked at only two notions of culture; and the study asked participants to recall past events, so was retrospective in its design.
Practical implications
The findings illustrate the need for public sector managers and key policymakers to use both formal and informal control systems, together with technical and social integration mechanisms, as well as management accounting (MA) and human resources management (HRM) control approaches, when attempting to integrate organisational- and individual-level PMSs in the PSOs of DCs.
Social implications
Future studies may usefully investigate the integration of organisational- and individual-level PMSs in different contexts, consider culture and contextual factors when investigating the integration of organisational- and individual-level PMSs in different contexts, examine whether national culture also substantially impacts PMSs in other countries and attempt to inform the MA literature by drawing on HRM theory and research on individual-level PMSs. Such studies may help to address the gap between PMS theory and practice and better allow MA researchers to contribute to practice.
Originality/value
The study contributes to management control systems (MCSs) and PMSs literature by extending our understandings in the relationship between accounting and non-accounting controls, the contextual factors that affect PMSs and highlighting the importance of considering cultural context when integrating PMSs in the PSOs of DCs.
Details
Keywords
Toyin Ajibade Adisa, Opeoluwa Aiyenitaju and Olatunji David Adekoya
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected women in unique gender-specific ways, particularly their traditional status as home managers. This study aims to draw on the role theory to…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected women in unique gender-specific ways, particularly their traditional status as home managers. This study aims to draw on the role theory to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women's work–family balance during the lockdown.
Design/methodology/approach
The current COVID-19 pandemic, which has altered the ways in which we live and work, requires specific methodological tools to be understood. The authors, therefore, opted for an interpretive–constructivist and constructivist–phenomenologist approach. The dataset, thus, comprises of semi-structured interviews with 26 working women in the UK.
Findings
The findings illustrate how the COVID-19 lockdown has intensified British women's domestic workload and has, thus, caused unbridled role conflict, which has further been exacerbated by structural and interactional roles undertaken by women, especially during the lockdown. Remote working has contributed to women's role congestion and role conflict and poses severe challenges to role differentiation. Furthermore, we found that the lockdown has facilitated the rediscovery of family values and closeness, which is connected to the decline in juvenile delinquency and low crime rate that has resulted from the lockdown.
Originality/value
Through the lens of the role theory, this study concludes that the cohabitation of work and family duties within the domestic space undermines the ability to achieve work–family balance and role differentiation due to the occurrence of inter-role conflicts. This study enriches our understanding of the effect of remote working on female employees' work–family balance during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Details