The forgotten ECEC staff working with birth-to-3-year-olds: The imbalances between the workforce policies and ECEC staff employment conditions in Spain

In response to an international focus on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), Spanish scholars have recently started to explore the participation of early years practitioners in their educational organisations and their views on working conditions. However, a comprehensive review of the current challenges experienced by the Under 3 s early years educators and the examination of the imbalances in workforce policy and working conditions on literature, has thus far not been conducted. Three themes are identified related to the professional developmental path within the school settings that the Spanish ECEC educators follow. The first relates to the educators’ initial ECEC education and training, who the staff caring for this age group are, and how prepared they are. The second is linked to the ECEC programs available for children from birth until they reach three years, and how and where the inclusive programs are delivered to this age group, as well as the early years educators’ working conditions and the impact of the professional roles. Whereas the third relates to in-service professional development derived from interaction and collective learning. The article concludes with suggestions on how the practitioners’ professional development could operationalise policy requirements in order to achieve more inclusive and child-centred learning.

Women’s Health in/and Work: Menopause as an Intersectional Experience

This paper employs an intersectional lens to explore menopausal experiences of women working in the higher education and healthcare sectors in Australia. Open-text responses from surveys across three universities and three healthcare settings were subject to a multistage qualitative data analysis. The findings explore three aspects of menopause experience that required women to contend with a constellation of aged, gendered and ableist dynamics and normative parameters of labor market participation. Reflecting on the findings, the paper articulates the challenges of menopause as issues of workplace inequality that are rendered visible through an intersectional lens. The paper holds a range of implications for how to best support women going through menopause at work. It emphasizes the need for approaches to tackle embedded and more complex modes of inequality that impact working women’s menopause, and ensure that workforce policy both protects and supports menopausal women experiencing intersectional disadvantage.

U.S. AI Workforce: Policy Recommendations

This policy brief addresses the need for a clearly defined artificial intelligence education and workforce policy by providing recommendations designed to grow, sustain, and diversify the U.S. AI workforce. The authors employ a comprehensive definition of the AI workforce—technical and nontechnical occupations—and provide data-driven policy goals. Their recommendations are designed to leverage opportunities within the U.S. education and training system while mitigating its challenges, and prioritize equity in access and opportunity to AI education and AI careers.

The Podiatrists in Australia: Investigating Graduate Employment (PAIGE) Study v1

The Podiatrists in Australia: Investigating Graduate Employment (PAIGE) study provides a systematic and rigorous evidence-base for rural podiatric workforce policy development, by developing a database modelled on the highly successful Medicine in Australia, Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) longitudinal panel survey of Australian doctors. Analysis of data from waves 1 and 2 of this database, and concurrently collected qualitative data, address two key research questions about work location choice decisions and retention of podiatrists in location and the profession.

Modeling a flexible staff scheduling problem in the Era of Covid-19

In this paper, we propose optimization models to address flexible staff scheduling problems and some main issues arising from efficient workforce management during the Covid-19 pandemic. The adoption of precautionary measures to prevent the pandemic from spreading has raised the need to rethink quickly and effectively the way in which the workforce is scheduled, to ensure that all the activities are conducted in a safe and responsible manner. The emphasis is on novel optimization models that take into account demand requirements, employees’ personal and family responsibilities, and anti-Covid-19 measures at the same time. It is precisely considering the anti-Covid-19 measures that the models allow to define the working mode to be assigned to the employees: working remotely or on-site. The last optimization model, which can be viewed as the most general and the most flexible formulation, has been developed to capture the specificity of a real case study of an Italian University. In order to improve employees’ satisfaction and ensure the best work/life balance possible, an alternative partition of a workday into shifts to the usual two shifts, morning and afternoon, is proposed. The model has been tested on real data provided by the Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Italy. The computational experiments show good performance and underline the potentiality of the model to handle worker safety requirements and practicalities and to ensure work activities continuity. In addition, the non-cyclic workforce policy, based on the proposed workday organization, is preferred by employees, since it allows them to better meet their needs.

Health workforce planning under conditions of uncertainty: identifying supportive integrated care policies using scenario analysis

PurposeIntegrated care presents health workforce planners with significant uncertainty. This results from: (1) these workforces are likely in the future to be different from the present, (2) integrated care's variable definitions and (3) workforce policy and planning is not familiar with addressing such challenges. One means to deal with uncertainty is scenario analysis. In this study we reveal some integration-supportive workforce governance and planning policies that were derived from the application of scenario analysis.Design/methodology/approachThrough a mixed methods design that applies content analysis, scenario construction and the policy Delphi method, we analysed a set of New Zealand's older persons health sector workforce scenarios. Developed from data gathered from workforce documents and studies, the scenarios were evaluated by a suitably qualified panel, and derived policy statements were assessed for desirability and feasibility.FindingsOne scenario was found to be most favourable, based on its broad focus, inclusion of prevention and references to patient dignity, although funding changes were indicated as necessary for its realisation. The integration-supportive policies are based on promoting network-based care models, patient-centric funding that promotes collaboration and the enhancement of interprofessional education and educator involvement.Originality/valueScenario analysis for policy production is rare in health workforce planning. We show how it is possible to identify policies to address an integrated care workforce's development using this method. The article provides value for planners and decision-makers by identifying the pros and cons of future situations and offers guidance on how to reduce uncertainty through policy rehearsal and reflection.

Measuring and Resolving LGBTQ Disparities in STEM

LGBTQ people have pioneered major scientific advances, but they face challenges in STEM that ultimately waste human talent and hinder scientific progress. Growing evidence suggests that LGBTQ people in STEM are statistically underrepresented, encounter non-supportive environments, and leave STEM at an alarming rate. Potential factors driving LGBTQ disparities in STEM include bias and discrimination, misalignments of occupational interests with STEM stereotypes, and STEM norms of impersonality that isolate LGBTQ people. LGBTQ retention shares common psychological processes with female and racial minority retention such as STEM identification and belonging. The key barrier to better understanding and addressing LGBTQ challenges in STEM is the lack of sexual orientation or gender identity (SO/GI) demographic data on the U.S. STEM workforce. Policy recommendations include (a) adding SO/GI measures to federal STEM-census surveys; (b) broadening agencies’ definition of underrepresented groups to include LGBTQ people; and (c) incorporating LGBTQ identity into accountability systems and diversity programs at STEM institutions.

I Want to Become a Registered Nurse as a Non-Traditional, Returning, Evening, and Adult Student in a Community College: A Study of Career-Changing Nursing Students

The current significant human resource and workforce shortages of registered nurses (RNs) are impacting urban, suburban, and rural hospitals and healthcare facilities all over the globe, regardless of the entities’ economic and financial backgrounds. The purpose of this research study is to understand why non-traditional, returning, evening, and adult (NTREA) students decided to enrol at the Associate Degree in Nursing programme during their mid-adulthood? 40 s-career nursing students who are pursuing their nursing programme were invited to individual interview sessions and focus group activities on sharing and expressing the motivations in the New England region in the United States. Based on the theoretical framework of Social Cognitive Career Theory, the researcher concluded that family consideration and higher social status were two of the major themes. The study provided a blueprint for human resource professionals, health and social caring leaders, government agencies, policymakers, and researchers to reform their current nursing curriculum and health workforce policy to attract potential second-career nursing joining the nursing profession.