Ways Of Working Research Articles

Career progression for autistic people: A scoping review.

Lots of autistic people are unemployed. Even when they are employed, autistic people might be given fewer opportunities than non-autistic people to progress in their careers. For example, assumptions about autistic people's differences in social communication might mean they are not given as many promotions. Indeed, we know that many autistic people are in jobs lower than their abilities (known as 'underemployment'). We reviewed 33 studies that tell us something about career progression for autistic people. Our review found that lots of autistic people want to progress in their careers, but there are many barriers in their way. For example, when they told their employer about being autistic, some people were given fewer opportunities. Research has also shown that autistic people do not get enough support to progress and that gaps in their employment history can make it difficult to progress. Our review suggested that good employment support (e.g. mentors) might help autistic people to progress in their careers. However, not much research has evaluated employment support for autistic people, which means we do not know how useful it is. Future research should find the best support that allows autistic people to live and work in ways that are meaningful to them.

What does flexible work for men really mean?: a qualitative content analysis of key stakeholder accounts

ABSTRACT This article explores definitions and practice of flexible work and is part of a larger project about men’s flexible work. Flexible work is prevalent in workplace research, but evidence is lacking regarding how flexible work for men is interpreted and applied in practice. Gendered patterns of work and care more often position men in paid employment and less often in care and domestic responsibilities. Men’s use of flexible work could assist in balancing paid employment with unpaid domestic and care tasks. Qualitative content analysis (QCA) was undertaken to summarise participants’ descriptions of two key aspects of flexible work – forms of flexible work, and the reasons for flexible work. QCA was applied to 30 interviews about men’s flexible work with organisational leaders (n = 12, 3 women and 9 men) and men who use flexible work arrangements (n = 18). Participants typically discussed flexible work in their white-collar employment situations, most often in the form of part-time work and for the reason of caring for children. Participants’ descriptions of flexible work differed from how flexible work is commonly defined in policy and legislation, demonstrating that men use flexible work in ways not described in policy or legislation.

“NOT YET THE LAST”

The final paragraph of the original 1971 edition of Stanley Cavell’s book The World Viewed has often been read too hastily; it is, as a result, frequently misunderstood. This article consists of a close reading of this one paragraph, correcting some of these misrepresentations and arguing that the juxtapositions of ideas that it presents express persistent themes in Cavell’s work in ways that are worthy of minute attention. The article attempts to show how examining the paragraph’s form and content can illuminate and clarify our understanding of Cavell’s treatment of privacy, fantasy, modernism, mortality, and ontology – in film as well as much more generally.

‘Back to Basics’: A Practice Approach to Reforming Youth Justice

The delivery of high-quality case work is central to efforts to reform youth justice systems around the world. Youth justice practitioners can be the most effective agents of change when the focus of their casework practice is on listening to justice-involved young people, helping them to feel safe and to avoid re-traumatization, and working in ways that promote positive childhood experiences. It is argued that developing ‘practice-based evidence’ in this way can help to unite the field, to close the policy implementation gap, and simultaneously contribute to the personal wellbeing of young people and the broader agenda of public safety.

From Prevention to Empowerment: A New Model for UK Labour Law

Abstract For at least the last 40 years, law and policy in relation to work in the UK have been rooted in a paradigm of prevention: preventing employers from abusing the power they enjoy over workers in ways that are harmful to the latter’s interests. This article argues that this paradigm is rooted in a partial and structural, understanding of power, that is incapable of grappling with the true scope of the problems associated with power as it relates to work in the context of capitalism. Exposing the issues that exist with this understanding of power, and advancing an alternative structural conceptualisation, the article explores the implications that such an understanding might have for labour law and policy.

Departing from stigma and secrecy and elevating stories of agency: Narrative practice in the voices of sex workers

This paper explores the use of narrative therapy and community work to respond to the complexities surrounding women’s experiences in the sex industry. It offers practices for therapists and community workers seeking to engage with sex workers in ways that are respectful of their hard-won knowledge and seek to elicit double-storied accounts in relation to hardship, thicken stories of preferred identities, and explore absent-but-implicit values, hopes and commitments. These practices include an innovative use of re-membering questions and a collective Tree of Life process adapted to the specific experiences of women in the sex industry. The paper elevates the insider knowledge of sex workers, particularly the lived experience of women engaged in sex work in which they have a high degree of choice and autonomy. It includes a collective document of sex workers’ insider knowledge about confronting stigma and isolation, addressed to people whose work intertwines with sex workers in some way: therapists, support workers, lawyers, police, activists.

Spit for Science and the Limits of Applied Psychiatric Genetics

The research program Spit For Science was launched at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 2011. Since then, more than 10,000 freshmen have been enrolled in the program, filling out extensive questionnaires about their drinking, general substance use, and related behaviors, and also contributing saliva for genotyping. The goals of the program, as initially stated by the investigators, were to find the genes underlying the heritability of alcohol use and related behaviors, and in addition to put genetic knowledge to work in ways that might aid university administrators and mental health professionals in the prevention and treatment of substance abuse. We review every empirical paper involving genetic data that has emerged from the program, and reach a surprising conclusion: the study has never identified a single genetic effect of more than trivial magnitude. Although the quantitative results of the studies were reported transparently, the theoretical ramifications of the negligible results have never been acknowledged. To the contrary, most of the papers ignore the tiny effects, reaching optimistic conclusions about the prospects for future genetic explanations of alcohol use. We explore the implications of these results for the broader prospects of applied psychiatric genetics.

Return-to-Work Coordinators' Perceptions of Their Roles Relative to Workers: A Discourse Analysis.

This paper describes how Canadian Return to Work coordinators (RTWC) framed their job roles relative to workers in ways that went beyond the usual professional norms of helping worker recovery. In-depth interviews were conducted with 47 RTWCs across Canada in 2018-2019. We used critical discourse analysis to analyze the way coordinators viewed workers in the complex, multi-stakeholder system of RTW. We identified four ways that RTWCs positioned themselves relative to workers: as trust builders, experts, detectives and motivators. These roles reflected RTWCs position within the system; however, their discourse also contributed to the construction of a moral hierarchy that valued worker motivation and framed some workers as attempting to exploit the RTW system. RTWCs' positions of power in the coordination process warrant further investigation of how they exercise judgement and discretion, particularly when the process depends on their ability to weigh evidence and manage cases in what might be seen as an objective and fair manner.

SOCIO–POLITICAL ACTIVISM IN CURATORIAL PRACTICE. THE CASE STUDY OF FESTIVAL “SURVIVAL KIT”

This article is focusing on the potential strategies that characterize the practice of socio-politically activism in curatorial practice and its potentiality to transform the visual art institutions. Socio-political activism in curatorial practice addresses the specific socio-political issues in various exhibition formats and includes in its methodology strategic decisions that have lasting impact both on the functioning of the institutions themselves and socio- political change in general. This article also examines what strategies Latvian contemporary art curators use to encourage the presence of socio-politically active discourse in the Latvian visual arts scene. The article concludes that strategically inclusive activities in the context of Latvian art institutions are mostly not part of the exhibition policy. The case study under consideration is Latvian contemporary art festival “Survival kit” that is one of the rare art events in Latvia that have engaged with the possibility of real socio-political change and have found it continually necessary to work in ways that question the social and political life of Latvia.

Persuasive Language Strategies Utilised by the Student Representative Council in Fundraising for Programs

Student Representative Councils (SRC) have an important role to play in fundraising and supporting a variety of student programs and initiatives. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of these efforts can often live or die based on how well communication strategies are implemented. The attention of this study is relied on the persuasive language strategies used by SRC in their fundraising communications. Utilizing Aristotle’s model for rhetoric that includes ethos, pathos, and logos the research seeks to determine how these tactics are integrated and ultimately effect fundraising success. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three student representatives, aged between 18 and 21 years old prior to data collection who all hold positions within high office elected through a campus wide council common themes and patterns were identified through cross-case coding, these data are presented in the study. The results suggest that SRCs favor often combining their communications using a mix of credibility (ethos), emotional appeal (pathos), and logical arguments(logos). Keeping your donors up-to-date, personally connecting with them and being more transparent were identified to help in increasing credibility and trust. Such personal emotional stories and images produced advocacy change where data driven evidence-based arguments did not, we also developed a logic model different logs for each department as well budgets which now explain our work in ways that will compel you to donate. One speaks to the literature by illustrating how strategic communication practices are relevant in educational fundraising. Suggesting tangible modifications for SRCs to enhance their persuasiveness, both influencing more effective fundraising results. The scope of future research might be widened by investigating a larger sample and involving multiple institutions as well, to enhance the generalizability. Within this context, the research evidences of importance that persuasive language plays in propelling donors to provide needed financial support towards student activities-an understanding likely beneficial for more successful fundraisers among other collegiate groups.

Readings on Evolution and the Nature of Science: One Christian’s Perspective

Readings on Evolution and the Nature of Science: One Christian’s Perspective

'It doesn't happen any other way': relationship-building and reflexivity for equity-focused intersectoral practice (EquIP).

Intersectoral processes that bring together public institutions, civil society organizations and affected community members are essential to tackling complex health equity challenges. While conventional wisdom points to the importance of human relationships in fostering collaboration, there is a lack of practical guidance on how to do intersectoral work in ways that support authentic relationship-building and mitigate power differentials among people with diverse experiences and roles. This article presents the results of RentSafe EquIP, a community-based participatory research initiative conducted in Owen Sound, Canada, in the midst of a housing crisis. The research explored the potential utility of equity-focused intersectoral practice (EquIP), a novel approach that invests in human relationships and knowledge co-creation among professionals and affected members of the community. The three-phase EquIP methodology centred the grounded expertise of community members with lived/living experience of housing inadequacy to catalyze reflexive thinking by people in professional roles about the institutional gaps and barriers that prevent effective intersectoral response to housing-related inequities. The research demonstrated that EquIP can support agency professionals and community members to (i) engage in (re)problematization to redefine the problem statement to better include upstream drivers of inequity, (ii) support reflexivity among those in professional roles to identify institutional practices, policies and norms that perpetuate stigma and impede effective intersectoral response and (iii) spark individual and collective agency and commitment towards a more equity-focused intersectoral system. We conclude that the EquIP methodology is a promising approach for communities seeking to address persistent health equity and social justice challenges.

Beyond the agricultural “suffering slot”: Structural agency in U.S. farm work

AbstractEthnographic research on Connecticut farms reveals that workers in the agricultural sector experience a wide range of working and living conditions. While legal precarity, poverty, and oppressive social dynamics confine all farmworkers to positions of structural vulnerability, some acquire a kind of “structural agency” that enables them to exert influence over their conditions of work in ways that are meaningful to their everyday experiences. Several key variables are at play in producing structural vulnerability and structural agency, including agricultural subsector, farm size, type of work, immigration status of workers, workplace interpersonal dynamics, racial and ethnic hierarchies, individual farm cultures, and local and state approaches to im/migration and labor policy enforcement. Ethnography of agricultural labor must take seriously the diversity of farm work experiences and incorporate the perspectives of individuals at multiple levels of farm hierarchies. A new concept linked to structural vulnerability, “structural agency,” can facilitate analyses of how people in broader contexts of marginalization work toward positive outcomes for themselves and others.

Being alongside: the practice of collaborative public history

ABSTRACT This is the editors’ introduction to a group of three articles on collaborative public history: history that is made with and by, as well as for, a range of public and community actors. We focus on collaboration with members of the public and community groups rather than institutions or people who are working in a professional capacity. In this introduction, we use Saima Nasar and Gavin Schaffer’s notion of being ‘alongside’ to describe their positionality as academic ‘co-travellers’ with their collaborators. The models used here all involve academics working alongside their collaborators in physical and embodied ways, but being alongside also encompasses a political, emotional and empathetic standpoint that, as Nasar and Schaffer note, might involve letting go of a sense of academic critical distance. Being alongside involves working in ways that reject or try to push against hierarchies which often dominate such academic interactions. This way of thinking encapsulates an aspiration and a key question for all of us who are engaged in collaborative public history: how can we work alongside our collaborators in a way that approaches ethically the political, practical and emotional challenges of such work?

Cultivating Voice and Solidarity in Times of Crisis: Ethnographic Online Journaling as a Pedagogical Tool.

Ethnographic journaling can provide students with powerful opportunities to recognize and value their individual and collective perspectives as both observers and analysts of the world around them, especially in times of crisis. In this Perspectives essay, we share our experiences of using the Pandemic Journaling Project platform as a teaching resource in the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. We consider various aspects of online ethnographic journaling, including creative teaching strategies, journaling's therapeutic potential, and student perspectives on the opportunity to document their own experiences as a forward-looking form of "archival activism." We also discuss how journaling can create robust ethnographic learning opportunities while at the same time providing a valuable space for connection and social support, especially when classroom dynamics are constrained by crisis conditions. Ethnographic journaling can help students appreciate what it means for ethnographers to bring their whole selves into their qualitative work in ways that can challenge mainstream misconceptions and contribute concrete forms of data and ethnographic insight. Overall, the essay explores how ethnographic journaling can create meaningful and creative opportunities for curricular innovation; generate durable forms of ethnographic insight; and also bring student experiences into the classroom in ways that can help them cultivate their voice, build a sense of solidarity, and potentially ease student distress.

Technical note: A new online tool for δ18O–temperature conversions

Abstract. The stable-oxygen-isotopic composition of marine carbonates (δ18Oc) is one of the oldest and most widely used paleothermometers. However, interpretation of these data is complicated by the necessity of knowing the δ18O of the source seawater (δ18Ow) from which CaCO3 is precipitated. The effect of local hydrography (the “salinity effect”) is particularly difficult to correct for and may lead to errors of >10 ∘C in sea-surface temperatures if neglected. A variety of methods for calculating δ18Ow have been developed in the literature, but not all are readily accessible to workers. Likewise, temperature estimates are sensitive to a range of other calibration choices (such as calibration species and the inclusion or exclusion of carbonate ion effects), which can require significant effort to intercompare. We present an online tool for δ18O–temperature conversions which provides convenient access to a wide range of calibrations and methods from the literature. Our tool provides a convenient way for workers to examine the effects of alternate calibration and correction procedures on their δ18O-based temperature estimates.

“But wisht, that with that shepheard he mote dwelling share”: Spenser with Jacques Rancière

Drawing on The Faerie Queene and Aisthesis, this essay brings Spenser and Rancière together to demonstrate a scenographic style they share. The scenographic style starts with an idea and interweaves that idea with the interpretive network that gives it meaning. Both writers engage concepts at work in ways that cannot be appreciated in advance of the context they appear in. Writing in this descriptive style requires attending to dispositions—how things are arranged in relation to other things. Despite their differences on how to best imagine such dispositions, each author overwhelms and refigures any available criteria for forming normative critical judgments by positioning together objects that typically don’t belong alongside each other. I propose Rancière’s word “reverie” for moments in Spenser’s poetry where the plot relaxes in favor of a daydream-like entertaining of new dispositional arrangements. The unlikely alliance of these two authors is itself a scene of missed understanding (“la mésentente”) opening up new forms of belonging.

The application of a person-centred approach to process improvement in ophthalmology services in the North East of the Republic of Ireland

Background: Ophthalmology in the Republic of Ireland has one of the longest waiting lists in healthcare, with around 44,000 people awaiting a first outpatient appointment. In the north-east region, 12,500 people are waiting. The North-Eastern Region Integrated Eye Care Service (NERIECS) was established in 2021 to improve patient care and access to services. A key driver for the team was to understand ‘how we work together’ to enable a shared vision of change within regional services. Aim: To support hospital and community ophthalmology services, which comprise eight organisations in the region, to prepare for the development of system-level integration of eyecare services. Methods: We integrated a popular process-improvement methodology, Lean Six Sigma, with a person-centred approach to support staff to develop a shared vision of change and to deliver improvements for ophthalmology services. Findings: The integrated approach enabled staff to work in ways that supported the development of good quality, person-centred care that takes account of the outcomes for and experiences of ophthalmology patients and their families, and of staff. Conclusions: Our work builds on a recent study that identified coherence in the underlying philosophy, intention, method and outcomes of Lean Six Sigma and person-centred approaches to healthcare improvement, highlighting the added value of an integrated approach in enabling improvement that positively impacts patient outcomes and healthcare culture. Implications for practice: The application of an integrated approach to process improvement in healthcare is shown to be effective beyond a single study site, having a positive impact across geographic and organisational boundaries, and across levels of care (primary, secondary, tertiary and post-acute) The integrated approach puts the focus on synergies between both methodological approaches and avoids improvement work being reduced to the use of a decontextualised toolkit

Tracking the right path: Safety performance indicators as boundary objects in air ambulance services

Indicators are used by most organizations to track their safety performance. Research attention has been drawn to what makes for a good indicator (specific, proactive, etc.) and the sometimes perverse and unexpected consequences of their introduction. While previous research has demonstrated some of the complexity, uncertainties and debates that surround safety indicators in the scientific community, to date, little attention has been paid to how a safety indicator can act as a boundary object that bridges different social worlds despite being the social groups’ diverse conceptualization. We examine how a safety performance indicator is interpreted and negotiated by different social groups in the context of public procurement of critical services, specifically fixed-wing ambulance services. The different uses that the procurer and service providers have for performance data are investigated, to analyze how a safety performance indicator can act as a boundary object, and with what consequences. Moving beyond the functionality of indicators to explore the meanings ascribed by different actors, allows for greater understanding of how indicators function in and between social groups and organizations, and how safety is more fundamentally conceived and enacted. In some cases, safety has become a proxy for other risks (reputation and financial). Focusing on the symbolic equivocality of outcome indicators and even more tightly defined safety performance indicators ultimately allows a richer understanding of the priorities of each actor within a supply chain and indicates that the imposition of oversimplified indicators may disrupt important work in ways that could be detrimental to safety performance.

Primary Preservice Science Teachers’ Perceptions of Practical Work in Remote Learning Environments

Science practical work is renowned for providing authentic environments for science learning in ways that reduce the abstractness of concepts. Significant resources are used to provide facilities such as laboratories to ensure that practical work is implemented in science learning. Practical work is important for primary preservice science teachers, who in turn will implement the instructional strategy in their future classrooms. The rise in remote learning has prompted researchers and instructors to reimagine ways of facilitating practical work in ways that involve human-machine interactions in significant ways. This study used an interpretive paradigm and an explorative single-case-study design to explore primary preservice science teachers’ perceptions of conducting practical work in remote learning environments. A framework based on the Internet of Things- (IoT) enabled tools was used to mediate the understanding of the study findings. Data were collected from 25 preservice teachers by means of experiment reports and observation of practical work activities. The findings of the study showed that in the absence of proper systems for conducting practical work remotely and limited internet connectivity, the participating preservice teachers used internet searches to inform them of how to conduct experiments using household materials. The experiment reports comprised experiment demonstrations developed through the use of filmmaking applications, cloud computing tools, and social media collaborations. The paper makes recommendations to expand preservice teachers’ technological competencies to include the use of virtual laboratories to conduct practical work in remote learning environments.