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The purpose of this paper is to examine the welfare participation of immigrant groups in the UK, which has experienced a large growth in its immigrant flows and population levels in recent years, especially following EU enlargement in 2004. The analysis particularly focuses on the types of benefits that immigrants tend to claim, as well as examining differences by area of origin. It also examines the factors that determine social assistance benefit claims, including an investigation of the impact of education, ethnicity and years since migration.

A series of probit regression models are estimated using data from the UK Labour Force Survey collected between 2004 and 2009.

Social welfare claims vary considerably by immigrant group as well as by the type of benefit claimed in the UK. There are also differences by immigrant group in the factors determining social assistance claims.

It is very difficult to generalise on the issue of welfare participation by immigrants in the UK. This is important, given policy changes towards migrants from non‐EU countries and in relation to welfare reforms.

The limited previous work in this area for the UK has tended to analyse all benefit claims made by immigrants as a whole, whereas this analysis splits immigrants into different groups and focuses on the types of benefits that are claimed. This has important implications, particularly given the recent increase in immigration to the UK.

This paper focuses on two issues, firstly the extent to which the employment position of the main ethnic minority groups in England and Wales changed between 1991 and 2001 and secondly, a detailed examination of employment rates amongst ethnic groups in 2001. Relative to Whites, the employment position of most ethnic minority groups improved over the period, especially for males. Some of this improvement was due to enhanced levels of observable characteristics. However, the employment gap between Whites and some ethnic minority groups remains extremely large. Educational qualifications, religion and local deprivation are found to be important influences on employment for many minority groups. We conclude by discussing the policy implications of these findings.

The purpose of this paper is to examine two aspects of the self‐employment adjustment of immigrant groups in the UK. First, how the probability of self‐employment for males changes with time since migration relative to the native population and second, how the probability of self‐employment for males differs between immigrants and the UK‐born within ethnic groups.

Limited dependent variable regression models are estimated using data from the UK Labour Force Survey collected between 2001 and 2005. The results are presented graphically to make clear the differences between ethnic groups.

The predicted self‐employment probability of “Asian” immigrants increases faster than that of natives over the lifecycle while that of “Black” groups declines. Furthermore, the observed lower propensity of UK‐born members of certain ethnic groups to be in self‐employment is largely explained by differences in human capital.

High rates of self‐employment amongst some ethnic groups in the UK are unlikely to be a transitory phenomenon.

While previous work on the UK has examined patterns of self‐employment between groups and over time, the paper looks for the first time at how adjustment within groups takes place over the life cycle and across nativity status.

In many countries today, immigrants and other distinct ethnic minorities experience high unemployment, low employment rates, lower education levels, and lesser earnings in comparison to natives. While differences in the labor market attachment and performance of immigrants can be partially explained by human capital, time spent in the host country, nationality or country of origin, and other demographics, there is still a native–immigrant gap that remains to be explained. Studying ethnic identity is not a trivial task. Complex issues of identification and measurement can surface along the way.

Reviews the economic and financial considerations relevant to investment in shopping centre refurbishment. Considers the problems of economic obsolescence through rising maintenance costs and falling rents, and legal obsolescence through changes in legislation and safety regulations, using case study examples. Concludes that refurbishment is usually an attractive proposition, even a defensive necessity: the financial implications of refurbishment can be analysed formally.

The purpose of this paper is to review the findings from a study of teacher professional learning networks in Kenya. Specific areas of focus included network participation, network activities, network leadership, and professional impact on network members and their schools.

The research was grounded in the literature on education networks and teacher learning. The research employed a qualitative design and was implemented from September 2015–March 2017, including three two-week field trips to Kenya. Data included network records, 83 personal interviews, 4 focus group interviews, 19 observations of network meetings, and classroom observation of network and non-network teachers in 12 schools.

Network participation had positive effects on teachers’ sense of professionalism and commitment to teaching and on their attitudes toward ongoing professional learning and improvement in student learning. Teachers also highlighted network benefits for learning to use new teaching strategies and materials, responding to student misbehavior and misunderstanding, and lesson preparation.

Research constraints did not permit longitudinal investigation of network activities and outcomes.

The paper identifies challenges and potential focuses for strengthening the learning potential of network activities, network leadership, and the links between network activity and school improvement.

Prior research has investigated education networks mostly in North American and similar high income settings. This paper highlights the benefits and challenges for networks as a strategy for continuous teacher development in a low income low resource capacity context.

WHEN The Crock of Gold was first published in London in 1912, this extraordinary prose‐fantasy, described by a reviewer in The Times as ‘an inspired medley of topsy‐turvydom’, was hailed as a veritable masterpiece from the hands of a new poet of the same school with Yeats and Synge. That poet was, of course, James Stephens, the poet whom Sean O'Casey would later refer to as ‘the jesting poet with a radiant star in's coxcomb’, and to whom he dedicated, in 1949, his favourite play, Cock‐a‐Doodle Dandy. The reviewer in Punch at the time likened The Crock of Gold to ‘a fairy fantasy, elvish, grotesque, realistic, allegorical, humorous, satirical, idealistic, and poetical by turns … and very beautiful’.

Owing to its colonial past, Britain has a long history of regulating race relations at international and national levels. In this chapter, we focus on race discrimination in the United Kingdom, exploring its historical roots, the politics of discrimination as reflected in public debates on ethnic diversity in the United Kingdom and regulatory frameworks that operate in the country. First, we explicate the historical context of immigration which shapes the meaning and practices of race discrimination at work and in life in the United Kingdom. We then describe the contemporary debates and the key actors in the field of race discrimination at work. The legal context is presented with key turning points which have led to the enactment of laws and the emergence of the particular way race equality and ethnic diversity are managed in the United Kingdom. We also demonstrate the intricate contradictions with regard to legal progress and setbacks with introduction of countervailing measures that undermine equality laws. We present a country case study which illustrates the complexities of race discrimination in a specific sector of work, that is, the technology-enabled private hire car services and change of ethnic composition in the hire care services in the United Kingdom. The chapter summary is presented at the end and it provides also a discussion of possible ways to combat race discrimination at work in the United Kingdom.

Liverpool Conference was amongst the largest, as it was amongst the most successful, of recent years. In all but the weather it excelled, and there were fine intervals even in that. We publish the “Letters on our Affairs” by our well known correspondent, Callimachus, so far as it covers the first three days; the conclusion will follow next month, with what futcher comments seem to be necessary. The Annual Business Meeting was a little less rowdy than that at Scarborough, but one thing emerged from it and that was the determination of the A.A.L. to survive independently. There is more in this than meets the eye, and discussion on it may be postponed until a calmer mood prevails on all sides.