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Continuing professional development (CPD) has become a defining issue in 21st century social work. There is widespread consensus in favour of CPD. But what is it? Are there discernible international trends? What are the barriers to participating in CPD? What do social workers think about and want from CPD? This book seeks to answer these questions. Based on a survey and interviews with social work practitioners, it offers a unique insight into the possibilities and challenges of CPD and the issues it presents for newly qualified and experienced social workers in practice.

Using original data, Managers in the Making presents a thorough analysis of the processes by which managers are made in Britain and Japan. It provides a detailed comparative study of the careers, training, developmental experience and job demands of managers in eight named companies, matching British firms with Japanese counterparts. Using qualitative and quantitative data the authors offer an understanding of these processes within organizational, sectoral and national contexts. Managers′ perceptions, reactions and concerns are recorded and analysed throughout.

Here, the authors explore practical ways of implementing APL for the benefit of individuals, employers and the community as a whole, showing how it can make a real contribution to equality of opportunity. Chapters look at the particular needs of various sectors of the community, and how APL can be used to meet those needs. For ethnic communities, those whose first language is not English, and those who arrive in Britain with qualifications from overseas, the APL process can be a vital stage in the search for education, employment and equality of experience. People with disabilities find that APL can help break through barriers and offer new breadth of opportunity, whilst for women it can lead to greater recognition and improved career progression. Through the use of case studies and practical examples the authors offer detailed guidance on methods of implementation, staff development and continuing support to help tutors, managers and senior staff make effective use of APL.

This ground-breaking book uncovers a hidden history of the professional development of serving teachers. Drawing on hitherto unpublished archive material, Wendy Robinson reveals an optimistic and liberal age of high class conferences in the 1920s and 1930s, in London hotels and Oxford colleges, free from government control, where teachers from across the country and abroad, gathered for professional, intellectual and cultural 'refreshment'. The status attached to these occasions was signified by the celebrities who graced them, including royalty, public intellectuals, educational practitioners and politicians. Professor Robinson then shows how post-war training became more instrumental, taken over by the Ministry of Education with its centrally-prescribed advanced courses, and, from 1970, by Local Education Authorities' invention of apparently democratic Teachers' Centres. This analysis is complemented by face-to-face interviews with teachers and other practitioners once active in professional development. Fascinating, detailed interviews brilliantly capture teachers' lived experience of professional development and its influence on their teaching, career development and professional identity. Fresh and original, lucidly written by one of the leading historians of education in Britain, A Learning Profession? is essential and engaging reading for those interested in the development of a teaching profession.

The article reflects on the case of staff employed on academic and professional contracts in UK universities who work in areas of activity that are not aligned precisely to either domain, sometimes referred to as “third space.” Examples are given of academic staff on teaching‐only contracts and people employed on professional contracts in educational and research development roles. Although such individuals are likely to be highly qualified, with a master’s or doctoral qualification, teach and, in some cases, undertake research, they occupy territory in the university that often lacks formal recognition. This is particularly so in relation to the legitimacy of their roles and parity with academic colleagues who undertake mainstream teaching and research and contribute to the UK Research Excellence Framework. Despite increasing commentary on the existence of these roles by practitioners themselves, institutions have been slow to accord them legitimacy in terms of, for example, dedicated space in institutional structures, appropriate professional development opportunities, career paths, or promotion and assessment criteria. Such individuals are therefore liable to feel excluded from the mainstream, even though they may be making a significant contribution to academic endeavours. Examples are offered of the extent to which individuals are able to achieve recognition at both a personal and collective level, and suggestions are made as to practical ways in which universities might accord this group of staff greater visibility, and thereby reduce the cultural, and implicitly hierarchical, divide between them and academic colleagues with an extended teaching and research profile.

The book turns a spotlight on the importance of research in determining the reputation and success of universities and the academics who work within them. It provides an overview of the changing policies of funding and evaluating university research during the last twenty years and analyses how this has impacted on the status and hierarchical positioning of universities in the United Kingdom. Comparisons of research policies in other national systems of higher education are also made, with examples from Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Australia. Empirical data is drawn from qualitative case studies of two UK universities and focuses on the way in which the management and organisation of research within these institutions has responded to the demands of economic and accountability pressures and successive rounds of the Research Assessment Exercise. More particularly, the book reflects the human stories and accounts from the individuals who serve to maintain the important research and teaching work of these institutions. (HoF/text adopted).

This article addresses the question of whether the first job functions as a 'stepping stone' or as a 'trap'. It does so by using individual longitudinal data to estimate the consequences on future occupational attainment of entry into the labour market via (a) 'under-qualified' jobs or (b) via temporary contracts. A cross-national comparison of West Germany, Great Britain and Italy allows assessment of the impact of different labour market structures on this allocation process. With regard to 'under-qualified' positions, the findings are not consistent with the stepping-stone hypothesis but provide some support for the entrapment hypothesis. Despite the greater mobility chances of over-qualified workers, the initial disadvantage associated with status-inadequate jobs is not fully overcome during their future careers. The article shows, however, that the negative effects are not due to the mismatch as such but rather to the relatively lower level positions. These effects are mediated by the national labour market structure, with the British flexible model providing the best chances of making up for initial disadvantages, and the more tightly regulated and segmented markets in Germany and Italy leading to stronger entrapment in lower status positions. No negative effects of the type of contract are found for later occupational positions in any of the countries.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This paper traces the development of teacher education policy during the first two terms of the New Labour government. It argues that there is substantial evidence to support the claim that during their two terms of office, New Labour forged a policy on teacher education that was distinctively different from the Conservative administrations that preceded them. Like the Conservatives, they have seen the maintenance of a competitive market as essential for the governance of the system. But beyond that, they have significantly moved away from a concern with individual professional formation; individual professional formation has been seen as far less critical than it was, especially at the level of initial training. In the lives of young teachers, the state now provides far greater direct guidance than ever before in the definition of effective teaching, learning and assessment in both primary and secondary schools. And at more senior levels, opportunities for extended professional development are increasingly focused on and achieved through the school as an institution. Teacher education itself is no longer seen as a key site for the 're-formation' of professionalism. As a result, teacher education is no longer accorded the key political significance that it had under the Conservatives. In this sense, New Labour policies mark 'the end of an era'. (DIPF/Orig.).

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to establish empirically whether there is any foundation in the premise that female officers' lesser tenure and/or lower levels of commitment than men explain their lack of career progress. Although the number of women in UK police forces has grown rapidly, it appears that they continue to be under-represented in senior ranks. Design/methodology/approach - Using whole population surveys of two county police forces in the UK the paper compares the promotion of men and women police officers controlling for tenure. The paper then compares the organisational commitment of male and female officers and analyses whether female officers experience managerial and organisational influences that undermine their organisational commitment compared to men. Findings - The findings refute some of the widespread beliefs about reasons for female officers' lack of progress in their policing careers since the analysis indicates that gender differences in length of tenure and organisational commitment can be discounted as possible explanations for lack of advancement in these two police forces. Overall, the results clearly show that female officers are just as committed as male officers and thus cannot be justified as a reason for lack of career progression. Research limitations/implications - It is accepted that survey methods such as ours do not capture the entirety of employee feelings and responses since they tend to homogenise male and female working experiences. However, survey methods do have the advantage that it is possible to generalise from the results and thus these two studies allow us to suggest that our findings can be viewed as providing insights to other UK police forces. Practical implications - The relatively low levels of organisational commitment found should be a cause for concern for senior managers in the Police. The key importance that management has in influencing organisational commitment has been shown by our findings and this indicates the importance of the current Police Leadership Development Board's agenda to improve workforce management skills to encourage transformational leadership styles. Originality/value - The paper make an original contribution by refuting widely held assumptions about the reasons for under-representation of female officers in senior ranks. It also contributes to the sparse literature that examines organisational commitment in the police and its antecedents.