No such thing as a free lunch: widening participation in English higher education for those on free school meals

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-80
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Pickering

Government policy is committed to increasing the representation of students that come from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds at selective universities in England. However, access and participation of this group remain stratified and unequal. Focusing on free school meals as a proxy for socio-economic disadvantage, this article will examine how successful the Government has been in influencing 25 of the most selective universities in England to change their widening participation policies in relation to free school meal students. Drawing on the Stephen J. Ball conceptualisation of policy as text and policy as discourse, a macro-level policies were enacted at a micro-level. Findings indicate that the Government has had some success at influencing some local practices of the sampled institutions. However, universities have also deployed strategies that are based on established and dominant discourses to maintain their elite and selective position in society.

2020 ◽  
pp. 037957212097082
Author(s):  
Abdul-Razak Abizari ◽  
Zakari Ali ◽  
Seidu Alhassan Abdulai ◽  
Fauzia Issah ◽  
Nana Adwoa Frimpomaa

Background: School feeding offers an excellent opportunity for targeted intervention to students not only as means for improving educational outcomes but also enhancing nutritional outcomes. The Government of Ghana introduced the free lunch feeding policy for nonresidential students in senior high schools (SHS) in 2018. Objective: We assessed unintended benefits of the free lunch program to dietary improvement. Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study among 403 (202 beneficiary and 201 non-beneficiary) students in SHS. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s standard procedure for measuring dietary diversity score (DDS) was followed. A 3-day dietary recall was used to assess school day DDS, while a 24-hour recall was used to assess weekend DDS of students. Differences in DDS and food group consumption were determined using student t test and χ2 test, respectively. Results: Nearly all (98.5%) beneficiary students consumed the free school lunch and 7 (70%) in 10 of them consumed it on all school days. While the students did not differ in their weekend meal DDS (6.3 ± 1.4 vs 6.5 ± 1.4, P = .39), beneficiaries of the school lunch had higher lunch DDS (7.5 ± 0.5 vs 6.5 ± 1.4, P < .001) and whole day DDS (11.5 ± 1 vs 9.3 ± 2.0, P < .001) compared to non-beneficiary students on school days. Even though the school lunch increased food group intake, vitamin-A rich vegetables and tubers, fruits, flesh and organ meats, and dairy products were hardly provided as components of school lunch. Conclusion: Provision of free school lunch meal to nonresidential students in SHSs in Ghana could contribute to improved diet quality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 293-317
Author(s):  
Protopriest Alexander Romanchuk

The article studies the system of pre-conditions that caused the onset of the uniat clergy’s movement towards Orthodoxy in the Russian Empire in the beginning of the 19th century. The author comes to the conclusion that the tendency of the uniat clergy going back to Orthodoxy was the result of certain historic conditions, such as: 1) constant changes in the government policy during the reign of Emperor Pavel I and Emperor Alexander I; 2) increasing latinization of the uniat church service after 1797 and Latin proselytism that were the result of the distrust of the uniats on the part of Roman curia and representatives of Polish Catholic Church of Latin church service; 3) ecclesiastical contradictions made at the Brest Church Union conclusion; 4) division of the uniat clergy into discordant groups and the increase of their opposition to each other on the issue of latinization in the first decades of the 19th century. The combination of those conditions was a unique phenomenon that never repeated itself anywhere.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Subiyanto Subiyanto

Palm oil industry in Indonesia has been growing rapidly. But, unfortunately the growth is only effective on upstream industry with low value products, such that potential downstream value added are not explored proportionally. The government is therefore in the process of developing an appropriate policy to strengthen the national palm oil downstream industry. This paper proposes that an approriate policy for developing palm oil downstream industry could be derived from the maps of value chain and existing technology capability of the industry. The result recommends that government policy should emphasize on the supply of raw materials, infrastructure and utilities, as well as developing the missing value chain industry, especially ethoxylation and sulfonation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-96
Author(s):  
Siti Yuliaty Chansa Arfah ◽  
Harianto . ◽  
Suharno .

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji daya saing komoditi kakao di Sulawesi Tengah dan melihat peran pemerintah dalam meningkatkan daya saing komoditi kakao. Data primer berasal dari observasi, wawancara dan kuesioner, sementara data sekunder berasal dari instansi terkait. Metode analisis menggunakan Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) dan analisis sensitivitas. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa nilai PCR Kabupaten Parigi Moutong 0,589 dan Kabupaten Sigi 0,396. Sedangkan nilai DRC Kabupaten Parigi Moutong 0,387 dan Kabupaten Sigi 0,319. Hal tersebut mengindikasikan bahwa usahatani komoditi kakao di Sulawesi Tengah memiliki daya saing, namun tidak menguntungkan secara ekonomi karena Sulawesi Tengah menghasilkan biji kakao yang tidak difermentasi akibatnya petani menerima harga rendah. Berdasarkan hasil analisis, pemerintah belum memberikan proteksi terhadap harga biji kakao dalam negeri melalui harga referensi biji kakao sehingga harga biji kakao didaerah penelitian masih tergolong rendah jika dibandingkan dengan harga di pasar internasional. Sementara terhadap input, pemerintah telah memberikan kebijakan subsidi kepada petani, namun implementasinya masih perlu perbaikan terutama terkait penyaluran dan pengelolaan bantuan agar merata. Kajian ini merekomendasikan masih diperlukan kebijakan pemerintah baik terhadap input maupun output untuk meningkatkan produktivitas, menurunkan biaya produksi dan menaikkan harga jual biji kakao, sehingga dapat meningkatkan daya saing biji kakao. The purpose of this study is to assess the competitiveness of cocoa in Central Sulawesi and to investigate the role of government in improving the competitiveness of cocoa. The primary data were generated through observation, interviews and some questionnaires. The secondary data were obtained from the agency or the institution related to the research. This study uses the Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) and sensitivity analysis. The study found that the PCR value for Parigi Moutong district was 0.589 and Sigi district was 0.396. While, the DRC value for Parigi Moutong district was 0.387 and Sigi district was 0.319. This indicates that cocoa beans farming in Central Sulawesi has competitiveness, but not economically beneficial because Central Sulawesi produces unfermented cocoa beans consequently farmers receive low prices. Based on the results of the government's impact on output analysis, the government did not provide protection for domestic cocoa seed prices through the reference price of cocoa beans, consequently the price of domestic cocoa beans, particularly in the research area, was relatively low compared to the price of cocoa beans at the international market. Seen from the government policy on inputs, the government have provided subsidies to farmers but they need to improve the distribution and management of aid to be evenly distributed. It is necessary to set up good government policy on inputs and outputs in order to increase cocoa seed productivity, decrease production cost and increase the price which simultaneously can improve its competitiveness in the research location.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalowar Hossan

The aim of this study is to investigate the factors influencing the entrepreneurial success of rural women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. Non-probability sampling specifically convenience sampling is used to draw the sample and data is collected using the self-administered survey. Regression analysis and descriptive statistics are used to analyze the data. The study discloses that motivational factors, government policy and financial support have significant influence on the rural women entrepreneurial success in Bangladesh. Due to lack of suitable training and proper development as well as ICT knowledge, the rural women of Bangladesh could not accomplish the achievement. Half of the total populations of Bangladesh are female and most of them live in rural areas. Therefore, the government and the policymakers in Bangladesh should develop the potential of rural women entrepreneurs by providing development facilities, proper training, and ICT knowledge.


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