Institutional Life Research Articles

Institutional escapes, breaks, and continuities: Reframing running away from residential child care institutions

Abstract This article offers a novel approach to understand the phenomenon of running away from residential care institutions, challenging prevailing views that pathologize these incidents as individual deviance. Drawing on insights from the sociology of escape and Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of rhizome and lines of escape, we examine spatial, temporal, and relational dimensions of institutions, revealing the porous nature of institutional boundaries and non-linear characteristics of runaways. By reframing runaways as integral to institutional life rather than isolated events, we argue against reducing them to individual traits. Running away serves as pivotal moments that disrupt and shape institutional norms, highlighting inherent limitations in care. Conceptualizing running away as running-around within the institutional assemblage, we challenge binary inside/outside distinctions and argue that they oversimplify institutional complexity. Our analysis underscores how institutions exert totalizing control through surveillance, while being transformed through acts of running away. Examining the employees’ experiences though five focus group interviews, we critique the conventional perception of institutions as places of care, emphasizing their unbounded and multifaceted social configurations. We discuss how institutional powers shape semiotic systems that govern young people’s behaviour, advocating for a nuanced understanding of residential institutions as rhizomatic formations, where individual actions continually reshape institutional practices and perceptions.

Model Pemberdayaan Kesehatan Masyarakat melalui Taman Gizi Hismawati Perguruan Islam Mathali’ul Falah Kajen Margoyoso Pati

The community health empowerment model is an approach that aims to improve community welfare in the health sector. Community empowerment can be carried out by various parties, one of which is through school-based organizations, namely Taman Gizi of HISMAWATI, Mathali'ul Falah Islamic School, Kajen Margoyoso Pati. This organization focuses on community health empowerment through its programs. This research aims to determine the model of community health empowerment carried out by Taman Gizi of HISMAWATI. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative with the type of field research, data collection techniques using interviews and documentation, while data analysis techniques use the theory of Miles and Huberman which consists of data collection, data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions. The research results show that the model of community health empowerment implemented by Taman Gizi of HISMAWATI is school-based participatory empowerment. Based on Jim Ife's empowerment theory used in this research, the concept of community health empowerment carried out by Taman Gizi of HISMAWATI is providing resources, opportunities, knowledge and skills in the form of facilitating the Kajen Village community and PIM female students through its programs. In this model, the objectives of empowerment include four improvements, namely institutional improvement, business improvement, environmental improvement and life improvement. The empowerment strategy used include the empowerment level, namely the micro level and the empowerment approach which including five approaches, namely the enabling, strengthening, protection, support and maintenance. Meanwhile, the empowerment principles used include four principles, namely the principle of equality, the principle of participation, the principle of independence and the principle of sustainability.

Engaging Dwight Radcliff’s Remixing the Center

In this response, the author engages Dwight Radcliff’s contributions in Remixing the Center by demonstrating the pastoral and historiographical possibilities that emerge through use of Hip Hop Culture’s practices of sampling, mixing, and poesis. The author expands on Radcliff’s notion of pericolonial by suggesting some hopeful and pessimistic interpretations of youth dis-engagement, or sideways engagement, from institutional religious life. In conclusion, the author points to the globalization of HHC as indicating the potential of applying Radcliff’s missiological intervention at global scales of analysis and practice.

The Participation of Ethnic Groups and Minorities in Political and Institutional Life in Kosovo

Abstract This paper explores the participation and engagement of ethnic groups and minorities in Kosovo’s political and institutional life during the post-war period (after 1999) and the post-independence phase (after 2008). The involvement of minorities in Kosovo’s institutional framework is grounded in the concept of a multiethnic state, with constitutional and legal provisions ensuring their rights. These provisions enable minorities to participate in all areas of state activity within the Republic of Kosovo. The paper addresses how circumstances and opportunities for participation have evolved, the challenges, threats, and risks faced, and what legislative measures have been enacted to ensure the political and institutional representation of ethnic groups and minorities.

Internal and External Continuity Strategies to Support Senior Employees’ Choice of Extended Working Life in Higher Education Institutions

Purpose: This study explores how HR professionals perceive older employees' intentions to continue working beyond the official retirement age and what strategies organizations would apply concerning their older employees. This study uses the theoretical lens of Atchley's (1989) continuity theory, a social gerontology theory that holds that aging people maintain existing internal and external continuity working structures. Methodology: A qualitative study was adopted. 17 HR professionals were interviewed through a semi-structured in-depth interview guide within the 12 public universities in Sweden (anonymous). Empirical data were thematically analyzed through the theoretical lens of continuity within internal and external continuity strategies. Findings: This study argues for some internal and external continuity strategies that help older employees be active longer than normal aging. These are a) mentoring and knowledge sharing program (internal continuity), b) a competence and experiences appreciation program (internal continuity), c) providing sufficient facilities for flexible working and work satisfaction (external continuity), and d) establishing provision for part-time employment after retirement (external continuity). Practical Implications: This study can contribute to previous studies by bringing the higher education institutions (HEI) sector into the organization studies. Originality/Value: This original study contributes to social sustainability through empirical and theoretical evidence to support and develop the older community of society. Limitations: This study needs to include more variations of interview data. It would be interesting for future researchers to study what age management strategies support older employees in improving their skills and what this study needs to focus on.

Review: British Literature and the Life of Institutions: Speculative States, by Benjamin Kohlmann

Review: <i>British Literature and the Life of Institutions: Speculative States</i>, by Benjamin Kohlmann

Faculty-Student Mentorship Effects on Faith-Learning Integration: A Comparative Study of Residential and Open and Distance Learning Programs in Selected Christian Universities in Kenya

Being the organizing paradigm and the unique hallmark for the life and mission of Christian higher educational institutions, faith-learning integration (FLI) has dominated educational research for several decades, whilst, a limited body of empirical studies that focus on faculty and students’ perspectives on its implementation currently exists. What is more, most researches on FLI are skewed toward students in traditional residential studies programs (RSP). This situation exists against the backdrop of the phenomenal growth of Christian higher educational institutions offering their academic programs via open and distance learning programs (ODLP). Based on these issues, the present study was poised to investigate the extent to which faculty-student mentorship affects FLI in RSP compared to the effects of ODLP in selected Christian universities in Kenya. This comparison was analyzed based on Randall Lehmann Sorenson’s attachment theory with the view to addressing the problem of whether or not the extent of faculty-student mentorship effects on FLI in the two programs were similar. This study employed a cross-sectional survey research design. Three Christian universities in Kenya were purposely selected to participate in the study, namely: Africa Nazarene University, (ANU), Daystar University (DU), and Kenya Methodist University (KeMU). The target population was students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education Secondary Option (BEd SO) program and faculty members teaching in the program. A total of 613 residential and 113 ODL students were randomly sampled, whereas, 12 full-time faculty members were purposely selected to participate in the study. Mailed and self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection. Validation of the instruments was carried out before they were tested using the split-half technique for reliability. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics aided by contingency tables, percentages, and a Chi-square test of independence with the view to responding to two research questions. One null hypothesis was tested using a Chi-square test of independence at 0.05 level of significance with 2 degrees of freedom. The result of this analysis revealed that faculty mentorship effects on students’ learning integration in RSP are significantly different from students’ learning integration in ODLP. Major recommendations included the need for faculty in the selected Christian universities to develop close and dynamic mentoring relationships with students both in RSP and ODLP equally. There was also a need for faculty to creatively adopt effective FLI strategies to have a positive and transformative impact on students’ learning integration in the ODLP.

“The works on the renovation of the building has been underway for exactly a year now”: provision of infrastructure for the state institute of public health in 1919–1920

The article is devoted to the history of the State Institute of Public Health of the People’s Commissariat of Health (“GINZ”) in the early years of its work (1919–1920). The author reconstructs an episode associated with the organization of work environment at the GINZ institutions during the period under study, based on the materials deposited in the Archive of Russian Academy of Sciences and State Archive of the Russian Federation. The article introduces for scientific use the internal reports, written by the GINZ staff members, engineer G. A. Ostapovich and facilities manager N. A. Kharitonov in 1920. These documents were discovered in the fonds of GINZ director L. A. Tarasevich (RAS Archive, f. 1538) and in the fonds of the Institute of Experimental Biology (f. 570) that was a part of GINZ in the 1920s. Both documents illustrate one of the key issues in the organization of work environment and are valuable sources for history of professional everyday life of the GINZ institutions in 1919–1920.

Lekens lange linjer: En historisk analyse av lekbegrepet i læreplandokumenter for norske barnehager og skoler fra 1996 til 2020

This article is based on a content analysis of the concept of play in the national curriculum for Norwegian kindergartens and schools from 1996 until 2020. The results show how play’s place in the curriculum has changed in a period characterized by changing knowledge discourses. The results also illuminate how perspectives on play, either as a goal in itself or a means for other purposes, have been written and have developed within and between the documents in line with these discourses. The study contributes knowledge on how national curricula frame the conditions for play in children’s institutional lives.

Gender and Other Inequalities in Secondary Education in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone: Exploring the Experiences and Outcomes of Girls in Schools

This study extends limited research on understanding gender and education in post-conflict contexts. The study goes beyond the descriptive analysis of equality in terms of numbers but rather focuses on the gendered processes and conditions of learning (i.e., The content of what girls learn and how they learn). It gives an account of how schooling experiences produce and reproduce inequalities in secondary education. This critical analysis utilizes the intersectionality framework to illustrate how the intersection of multiple identities such as gender, social class, sexuality, culture, and location influences girls' learning experiences and outcomes in secondary school in post-conflict Sierra Leone. I particularly draw on girls’ explanations of these issues as they negotiate and are affected by them. Therefore, a detailed qualitative ethnographic study was conducted in a secondary school from the south region of Sierra Leone to explore gendered experiences and their intersecting inequalities in everyday schooling. This is to understand the gendered institutional life of the school and as far as possible do this through the voices and perspectives of those within the school, especially the girls. What this research does is to broaden the in-school research knowledge by focusing on investigating the gendered process of learning, everyday formal and informal in-school interactions, cultures and practices and the intersection of gender with other social identities like sexuality, Socioeconomic status (SES), Location and Traditions. I also tracked how these new directions of knowledge influence girls' performance, retention, and attainment. This study adopted a qualitative research method using an ethnographic approach to examine the pupils’ and teachers' detailed secondary schooling experiences. This was achieved by using in-depth interviews to explore students’ individual personal experiences of secondary schooling. The studied participants were purposively selected based on the established parameters for this study. The findings of this study revealed a highly gendered school environment, and that the intersection of multiple identities, such as gender, social class, sexuality, culture, and location, exacerbates inequalities in secondary education and influences girls' learning experiences. Additionally, the study highlighted the impact of societal factors, such as early marriage and teenage pregnancy, on girls' educational outcomes, especially in a post-conflict context like Sierra Leone.

Relationships between engagement, achievement and well-being: validation of the engagement in higher education scale

ABSTRACT Addressing the factors associated with students’ underperformance, dropout rates, and mental health challenges is a pressing concern for university institutions. Favorable conditions for student engagement emerges as a potential solution to mitigate these issues. Therefore, there is a need for instruments that assess the multiple dimensions of the construct and relate them to significant variables in the lives of students and institutions. This study presents the initial validation of the Higher Education Engagement Scale (EiHES) in a sample of 760 students who responded to an online survey. Results of both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using two random subsamples revealed that the scale comprises six dimensions of engagement: academic learning, online, cognitive, social with teachers, social with peers, and affective. All subscales showed adequate reliability indicators. Measurement invariance across gender was established up to the metric models. Evidence of validity was supported by associations between engagement with academic achievement and subjective well-being. The EiHES provides a comprehensive perspective of student engagement and appears to be a suitable instrument for assessing the construct in Portuguese university students. The discussion included limitations and suggestions for future research.

Dissident Sounds: Electronic music in Venezuela from the notions of radical education

Based on the theories of radical education, this article discusses the education of electronic music in Venezuela. After a historiographical review of the state of music education in the country, which shows that there is little information on the subject, the institutional life that has promoted electroacoustic music in Venezuela is approached from a critical perspective. This documentary research gathers and analyses data provided by a bibliographic review and unstructured interviews with experts in the field. Among the most salient findings is the discontinuity in the teaching of electroacoustic music, as well as a critical review of the notions of radical education in the case of Venezuela, where the educational system shows stagnation in the face of the global context.

The state of physical readiness of the students of higher education institutions to the defense of Ukraine

The article reveals the theoretical issues of patriotic upbringing and physical readiness of students of educational institutions to defend the state. It was revealed that modern realities led to intensify the search for an effective content of the educational process in physical education, the introduction of physical culture, health and applied technologies to increase the level of physical fitness and mastery of military-applied physical skills and abilities by students of higher education institutions. The purpose of the article is to study the state of physical preparedness of students of higher education institutions to protect the national sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine. Physical readiness refers to the student's physical condition which allows him to perform physical exercises and overcome obstacles that may be encountered in accordance with the requirements of the military task. Departments of physical education should ensure the proper physical readiness of students for life and military service in higher education institutions. Currently, the level of physical preparedness of students of higher education institutions does not meet the requirements for conscripts in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Studies have confirmed that only 7.0% of first-year students have a high level of physical preparedness, these are as a rule athletes who have a high qualification or those who systematically do physical exercises, visit gyms or physical culture and health centers. 24.0% of students are classified as average, 37.2% as low and 31.8% as poor respectively. It can be assumed that 69.0% of the first-year students who have just entered the university are not ready to defend the Motherland in terms of physical preparedness. The system of physical education in higher education institutions of Ukraine needs a fundamental restructuring and restoration.

Academic standards and gender equality

This paper provides an analysis of gender equality at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana and examines the main results in the broader context of quality in higher education. The Faculty of Arts participated in a project that aimed to develop a gender equality plan for the institution. Data from different aspects of institutional life were collected and analysed to gain a better insight into institutional equality and its relationship with the existing notion of quality in academia, especially through academic career advancement. The study reveals that more women than men tend to remain at the same academic rank for an extended period, particularly at the assistant professor level, and that they meet more objective and subjective obstacles on their academic path. Although there is an increasing awareness of academic policies and practices that foster equality in higher education, there is still a prevalent and strong perception that equality measures compromise academic standards.

Strengthening the institution of the family by social work methods

The article considers the possibilities of preparing teenagers for family life through the use of active-forming technologies of social work. The crisis of the institution of the family, the loss of their functions by the family has attracted the attention of scientists for more than a decade. The crisis of the family is closely connected with the spread of negative processes in society as a whole. Among them: an increase in the number of teenage pregnancies, the incidence of HIV, a decrease in the birth rate, etc. This confirms the relevance of work in the field of sexual education of schoolchildren, the formation of a positive image of the family in society, and increasing the parental and marital competence of young people. Despite this, classes to prepare schoolchildren for family life in Russian educational institutions are still not held. The authors propose to use active-shaping technologies of social work for these purposes. The interactive nature of the proposed course has many advantages. It allows teenagers to be more open in discussing intimate topics, ask clarifying questions and express their own opinions during class. The article discusses the psychosocial characteristics of adolescents, presents the results of testing an active-forming program for preparing adolescents for family life in work with high school students.

'More than lip service': LGBTQ+ Social Justice Educational Interventions as Institutional Benign Neglect

Abstract: Using Ahmed's (2012) scholarship on diversity work and institutional life as a conceptual framework, we examine how LGBTQ+ social justice educational intervention (SJEI) facilitators described the challenges of their role. We found LGBTQ+ SJEI facilitators descriptions of their role revealed institutional dynamics that undermine purported support of equity-based work. Institutional realities that facilitators faced were neither intentionally malicious nor hostile, and encapsulated by the descriptor of benign neglect. Our findings expose how LGBTQ+ SJEIs operate as non-performatives treated with benign neglect through unenforceable authority, administrative gaslighting, and resource scarcity.

Как помогали студентам сто лет назад

The article is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the organization of state aid to students in Russia. The article presents an analysis of the activities of the Commission for Improving the life of Students in Russian universities (KUBUCH), which can be considered as an attempt of the first systematic approach to the organization of fi nancial assistance to students. The article also examines the prerequisites for the emergence of this organization, determines the role of KUBUCH in the daily life of students, its place in the life of higher educational institutions and the entire system of training specialists for the national economy of the country, when the higher school overcame class prejudices, was built on broad democratic principles.

Evaluation 7thGrade Science Textbook in terms of Learning and Innovation Skills According to Teachers' Opinions

Students, who are the designers of the future, need the forward-looking skills of the 21st-century to adapt to the changes occurring in our age and to be ready for the next educational institution or business life. 21st-century skills need to be integrated into the education system for individuals to gain them most effectively. Textbooks, which are frequently used by teachers and students within the scope of the education and training process, are of great importance in acquiring these skills. The aim of this study is to evaluate the secondary school 7th-grade Science textbook in terms of 21st-century learning and innovation skills in line with teachers' opinions. The study group consists of 30 Science teachers working in secondary schools affiliated with Gaziantep province in the 2021-2022 academic year and using 7th-grade Science textbooks. In the research, phenomenological design and qualitative research methods were adopted, and the data were collected with a semi-structured interview form consisting of 9 questions prepared by the researcher. The data were analyzed using content and descriptive analysis method. The study, in line with the opinions of Science teachers, was concluded that 7th-grade Science textbook does not fully develop 21st-century learning and innovation skills, insufficient, skills are distributed irregularly in the textbook.

The relationship between pedagogical work and students’ social well-being: Analyzing the influence of pedagogical methods on the social aspects of youth life

This study examines the relationship between pedagogical work and students' social well-being, focusing on the influence of pedagogical methods on the social aspects of youth life in educational institutions in Bukhara. The primary objective is to evaluate the impact of psychological and pedagogical support on students' social health and the effectiveness of these programs across different educational settings, including schools, universities, lyceums, and colleges. The research methodology involves data analysis from these institutions and surveys conducted among students. The findings reveal significant variations in social health levels based on the type of educational institution and the efficacy of psychological and pedagogical support programs. The study underscores the necessity for a holistic approach to promoting a healthy lifestyle and systematic support for students to enhance their social well-being.

About the legal status of university teachers of the Russian Empire

Currently, a new reform of higher professional education is planned in Russia. This reform should address a very wide range of issues that characterize different aspects of the life of institutions of higher professional education, both organizational, defining the external forms of this life, and the substantive aspects of the activities of universities, i. e. those that determine the meaning of their very existence. It is quite obvious that any social reform, before starting its implementation, should have answers to three main questions. First of all, it requires the most detailed analysis of the current and current model, identification and statement of negative and, which is not excluded at all, positive aspects in its functioning. Secondly, we need to strive to build as detailed a project as possible of the model that should be created as a result of the reform. Finally, it is very important to develop a mechanism for the transition from the current model to the new one. This mechanism should also be very specific and variable. I would like to hope that the current reformers not only formulated these three questions, but also gave answers to them. When solving all three issues, it is necessary to rely on historical experience. On the one hand, practice gives us numerous examples of various types of education models — both effective and questionable in this regard. On the other hand, there are no less numerous examples of actual education reforms, i. e. technologies of transition from one educational model to another. This experience must be taken into account. And Russia is no exception here.