scholarly journals Investigating Changing Work and Economic Cultures Through the Lens of Youth Employment: A Case Study from a Psychosocial Perspective in Italy

Young ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-293
Author(s):  
Fiorella Bucci ◽  
Stijn Vanheule
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Youth Employment ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Transient Nature ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Psychosocial Perspective ◽  
The One

Changes in the forms and cultural meanings of work have gone deep during the last decades, with the transient nature of work becoming the norm rather than the exception. This is impacting particularly on youth employment, as Italy’s case epitomizes. Based on interview and focus group data, our study provides a multidimensional model to read and map the multiple tensions young people experience, at an emotional level, on entering today’s corporations. Our findings show, on the one hand, that young professionals’ expectation of work as a place of social learning and exchange clashes with the corporate focus on assimilating young people into target-oriented environments. On the other hand, both in younger and older workers, we found the experience of labour relationships that struggle to direct themselves towards a creative purpose and a developmental prospect, while tending to collapse emotionally inwards, in a fight for security.

The Tomato Pip's Story: Creative Narratives as Bridging Cultural and Science Discourses for Indigenous Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Lorrin Ruihi Shortland ◽  
Terry Locke
Keyword(s):  
Digestive System ◽  
Indigenous Education ◽  
Disciplinary Literacy ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Science Discourse ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Human Digestive System

This article reports on what happened when a Rumaki pūtaiao kaiako (Science) teacher at a New Zealand high school trialled the use of creative narratives with her Year-10 students as a way of developing their understanding of the human digestive system. These students were members of the school's Māori immersion unit, and creative narratives were in part utilised as a bridge between science discourse and the cultural knowledges these students brought to their learning. In this case study, students developed ‘Tomato Pip’ narratives through four versions, which told the story of a tomato pip travelling through the human digestive system. Word-count data based on these versions and from a summative test were analysed and correlations found between test scores and three categories of word-count total (total words, total science words and total discrete science words). A discourse analysis of one student's narratives identified two distinct voices in these texts: the personal narrator and the emerging biologist. Questionnaire and focus-group data indicated that the use of creative narratives was both motivational to these students and effective as a bridge into science discourse mastery. It is argued that the findings have implications for disciplinary literacy theory, Indigenous education and science instruction.

scholarly journals Classroom Re-design to Facilitate Student Learning: A Case Study of Changes to a University Classroom

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Perks ◽  
Doug Orr ◽  
Elham Al-Omari
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Effective Learning ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Teaching Learning

This case study examines the physical aspects of a particular university classroom, and what affect specific changes to the classroom had on the perceptions of students, instructors and observers regarding the room as an effective learning space. We compare survey and focus group data collected from students taking courses in the classroom prior to changes to the physical environment with comparable data from students taking courses in the same classroom after specific changes had been made. Immediately following changes to the classroom, notable increases were observed in reported perceptions of student satisfaction with the physical environment, including perceptions of the classroom as a more effective and engaging learning space. Similar perceptions of improvement as a teaching-learning space were reported by instructors and observers. However, subsequent follow-up data collection and analyses suggested little if any sustained increase in perceptions of efficacy of the room as a learning space; indeed, most reported variables returned to baseline levels. The implications of these findings and their relevance to classroom design nevertheless may provide insight regarding the manner in which physical space might support or even enhance teaching and learning.

scholarly journals Up-scaling sanitation provision using mixed design methodologies and failure risk assessment: a case study of Marikuppam, India

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-43
Author(s):  
M. Gormley ◽  
L. A. Williams ◽  
B. Ongole
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Risk Model ◽  
Mixed Design ◽  
Open Defecation ◽  
Failure Risk ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Single User ◽  
Areas Of Concern

Abstract Simplified sewerage provides an improved alternative to single user on-site options in peri-urban areas in India, and contributes to the aim of reducing the need for human handling of waste (manual scavenging), and the Government's goal of making India open defecation free by 2019. This research develops a mixed methodologies approach to design, optimise and assess failure risk for a proposed installation in a village in India. A steady state simplified sewerage model was used to do the initial design which was further modelled in DRAINET, a numerical model traditionally used for building drainage systems. The input data for DRAINET were obtained from a detailed survey carried out on site, which included usage pattern and focus group data. A total of 106 properties were included in the design and the survey. Test runs were carried out for the whole site over a 12-hour period. All main pipe runs were 100 mm diameter and set to a gradient of 1:100. A risk model was developed and applied to the DRAINET results which confirmed that the design operated effectively; however, there were areas of concern at the extremities of the site, which required additional flow boosting devices or gradient changed.

Education for Citizenship as a Permanent Laboratory

2019 ◽  
pp. 517-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Balconi ◽  
Elisabetta Nigris ◽  
Luisa Zecca
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Teacher Professional

In this chapter, the authors discuss the results of three focus group discussions conducted in the context of the teacher professional development project STEP (school territory environment pedagogy) undertaken by researchers and teachers from three EU Countries—France, Spain, Italy—and one non-EU country, Switzerland. Specifically, they present findings regarding changes in how the teachers in the Milano Bicocca case study represented citizenship education practices. The focus group data was subjected to content analysis, using a set of categories drawn from the national reference documents on curriculum design and the transnational curriculum defined in the STEP project. The changes in the teachers' representations concerned three main aspects: dialogue with the local community and territorial context, the gap between teachers declared intentions and actual educational actions, and the adoption of a complex perspective in the choice of knowledge to be mobilized.

scholarly journals ‘Swagger’: Urban Youth Culture, Consumption and Social Positioning

Sociology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 1117-1133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Mason
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Urban Youth ◽  
Youth Culture ◽  
Social Identification ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Social Positioning ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Culture Consumption ◽  
Sociological Studies

Sociological studies of youth culture have often focused on processes of social identification. Though some of this work has explored the importance of consumption within young people’s identity practices, much has foregrounded the effects of economic marginality and neglected the importance of ‘race’. This article explores the role of clothing and embodied dispositions, popularly referred to as ‘swagger’, within the ways that young people position themselves in relation to each other. Drawing on field notes and focus group data with a predominantly Somali sample of teenage boys, in a northern English city, this article elucidates the centrality of these seemingly mundane cultural signifiers within everyday processes of ‘racial’ and classed positioning. In doing so, the article seeks to extend contemporary studies of youth culture, consumption and identification by evidencing how marginalized young people simultaneously challenge and reaffirm their positioning, through the performance of stylized masculinity and swagger.

scholarly journals A Pathway to Youth Employment: Youth internships programme in Jordan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lamia Raei
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Career Choices ◽  
Full Employment ◽  
Youth Participation ◽  
Youth Employment ◽  
Skills Gap

As part of the Youth Participation and Employment (YPE) programme, Oxfam’s partner INJAZ works to bridge the skills gap between the educational system and the changing needs of the labour market in Jordan. Oxfam supports the INJAZ internship programme, which aims to integrate young people into private-sector companies in order to help inform their future career choices. For many young people who participate in the programme, their internship is a stepping-stone to full employment. This case study presents examples of young people who enrolled in the scheme, enhanced their skills, and found a job. Though the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 has affected the pace of recruitment, Oxfam and INJAZ are still working tirelessly to achieve the programme’s mission.

scholarly journals Identifying and Shifting Disempowering Paradigms for Families of Children With Disability Through a System Informed Positive Psychology Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvana Mahmic ◽  
Margaret L. Kern ◽  
Annick Janson
Keyword(s):  
Early Intervention ◽  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Children With Disability ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Strength Based ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Early Intervention Professionals

Despite the emergence of socio-ecological, strength-based, and capacity-building approaches, care for children with disability remains primarily grounded in a deficit-based perspective. Diagnoses and interventions primarily focus on what children and families cannot do, rather than what might be possible, often undermining the competence, mental health, and functioning of both the children and their families. We first critically examine typical approaches to disability care for families of young children, describe the importance of a systems-informed positive psychology (SIPP) approach to care, and identify the existence of two dominant paradigms, disability is a disadvantage and experts know best. Then, we present a case study investigating families’ experiences with these two paradigms and whether shifts to alternative perspectives could occur through participation in a SIPP-based program co-designed by professionals and families. Of program participants, nine parents and five early intervention professionals participated in two separate focus groups, and ten e-books were randomly selected for review. Thematic analysis of the e-books and focus group data identified two primary themes representing alternative perspectives that arose through the intervention: we will start with our strengths and we’ve got this. Participant comments indicated that they developed a greater sense of hope, empowerment, engagement, and wellbeing, enabled by embedding wellbeing concepts and practices in their routines and communications with their children. We suggest that benefits arose in part from the structure of the program and the development of wellbeing literacy in participants. While care needs to be taken in generalizing the results, the case study provides clear examples of shifts in perspectives that occurred and suggests that the incorporation of SIPP principles within early intervention approaches provides a potential pathway for shifting the problematic paradigms that dominate disability care.

scholarly journals Investigating Coaching Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study Within a Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-133
Author(s):  
Jonathan Glen ◽  
Julie Gordon ◽  
David Lavallee
Keyword(s):  
Research Process ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Online Delivery ◽  
Tennis Players ◽  
Coaching Behaviors ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
Sport And Exercise ◽  
Sports Coaching

The purpose of this case study is to offer reflections for both applied researchers and practitioners on our experiences of investigating coaching behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case is based on the delivery of remote, online tennis coaching sessions to children over a period of 3 weeks. Questionnaire, observation, and focus group data were collected from tennis players, coaches, and parents/guardians. Analyses revealed similarities and differences with previous investigations measuring coaching behaviors, as well as the perceived effectiveness of sports coaching in an online environment. Novel insights and recommendations for applied researchers and practitioners in sport and exercise psychology are highlighted, including the importance of staying connected during the pandemic, keeping players and parents motivated, and creativity. The authors consider the context of conducting a case study into coaching behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic itself, and conclude by providing reflections on our case study within the case study of COVID-19. These include enhanced communication (as it was easier to connect with each other), the nature of the online delivery improving presession preparation, and the research process being relatively more straightforward to implement, all due to barriers being removed as a direct result of COVID-19 quarantine, stay-at-home restrictions.

'Clinton Faces Nation': A Case Study in the Construction of Focus Group Data as Public Opinion

2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 408-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Wilkinson ◽  
Celia Kitzinger
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Newspaper Report ◽  
Group Data ◽  
Focus Group Data ◽  
The Usa

This paper analyses the way in which a particular newspaper report constructs ‘public opinion’ based on data from small-scale qualitative research. Using as a case study a report of a focus group discussion of Clinton's grand jury testimony, we show how these data are ‘worked up’ as representative, generalisable, and valid. By capitalising on the advantages of focus group data, while attending to and countering their disadvantages, the newspaper report is able to suggest that the views of ten people in San Francisco offer an authoritative indication of public opinion about Clinton across the USA. Finally, we sketch out some of the implications of this case study in relation to the construction of facticity more generally.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document