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AbstractProfessionals who operate from a clinical rather than a political ethic must be prepared to reclaim and accept leadership roles and responsibilities, which have shifted to the political arena.

This study examines the phenomenon of professionalization in adult education in Ireland and the impact of professionalization on the field of adult education. It aims to investigate the effect of policy and regulatory changes that have taken place during the period 2000 to 2016. The study questions how these changes are altering the field, the identities and practices of practitioners and ultimately the experiences of adult learners. Adult and Continuing Education have been part of the education discourse in Ireland for many years, however, recent policy, structural and regulatory change have raised questions about the field, its purpose, its underpinning philosophy. The Government White Paper "Learning for Life" (DES, 2000) was the first significant policy paper setting out national structures, funding streams and regulation for adult education. While there has been significant development in adult education between 2000 and 2016, including increased funding and a widening of access for adults to education, the development of adult education as a recognised profession has been slow to materialize. The sector continues to be defined by part-time and casual work with little security of tenure, limited opportunities for career development and a lack of structured career paths. Recent policy developments, a new National Strategy for Further Education and Training (SOLAS, 2014), a new strategy for Professional Development for Further Education and Training (SOLAS, 2016), new regulations introduced by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and the Teaching Council of Ireland (Teaching Council, Regulation 5, 2011) coupled with significant structural change in the sector, have reignited the debate on professionalization. The research methodology in the study is a single case study, conducted within the constructivist paradigm, that is informed by a conceptual framework that draws on a socio-cultural perspective on learning and meaning making.

Evolution is considered controversial by a substantial minority of Americans. Religious opposition explains this, but this opposition is comprised of a broad continuum of religious views. It runs from "young earth creationism" through "old earth creationism" (including "day-age," "gap," and "progressive creationism") to "theistic evolutionism." Historically, antievolutionists have attempted to ban evolution and to present it on an equal footing with "creation science." Scholars largely ignored antievolutionism until efforts to pass "equal time for creation and evolution" laws stimulated both political and scholarly activism. Lately, there are efforts to discourage the teaching of evolution by requiring teachers to read disclaimers before teaching it, to teach it as "theory, not fact," or to present fancied "evidence against evolution." Recently, "intelligent design theory," a restatement of William Paley's Argument from Design, has surfaced. Although rejected by scientists, intelligent design arguments and publications are appearing at the college level (in nonscience courses) as accurate representations of scientific scholarship.

PurposeAlthough much has been written about international students in higher education in Australia, there is a paucity of research and discussion about international academics especially non-whites and their lived experience in the workplace. This paper represents the voices of two academics working in metropolitan universities in Melbourne. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of how in spite of all the goodwill and highbrow research, the "corridors of academia" need to be examined in considering the politics of inclusion and internationalisation as the authors still need to address issues of colour as they exist in the academy.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use narrative inquiry and reflection to tell the story as both phenomenon and method where the phenomenon is the story and inquiry is the narrative.FindingsThe findings suggest student and staff perceptions of difference are mostly theorised but not practiced within the academy.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper includes two voices, a limitation in itself, thus generalisations cannot be made to other academics or institutions. The authors recommend more professional development for staff and students alike to embrace issues of colour, culture and difference.Practical implicationsThe authors draw attention to the need for academics to reflect on their behaviour within their own academic communities and be more aware of minority groups in academia.Social implicationsBy including and listening to issues facing minority groups (academics and students) can only improve the social cohesion of university worksites.Originality/valueThis is an original work carried out by both authors. It raises concerns that may also be experienced international staff and or students.

Many universities are experimenting with interprofessional programs to better prepare professionals to tackle the complex problems faced by children and families. Universities face three major challenges: overcoming the compartmentalization of professional schools, which is then reflected in fragmentation of service delivery; learning to function as effective partners with communities; and reconceptualizing the nature of professional expertise to include collaborative scholarship and practice. The authors found that collaborative work can offer scholars substantial intellectual challengers, learning opportunities, and a new kind of access to the community, which can receive increased professional assistance. Interprofessional education is likely to promote alternative conceptions of teaching, scholarship, program design, and community service. However, it is personally and intellectually demanding, costly in time and other resources, and institutionally fragile. The open question is how many university faculty and administrators will take on the challenges of responding is new needs and demands for training human service professionals.

The purpose of the article is to problematize the relationship between the Nordic democratic public higher education tradition and transnational market driven knowledge economy policies. The article illustrates this development with two cases -- quality assurance and internationalisation policies -- where external demands, based mostly on market ideologies, have been introduced with apparently transnational incentives but having national implementations. These transnational pressures are related to a kind of soft governance of higher education policy, characterized by networked decision making and use of expert consultants, which possibly promotes flexible decision-making and efficiency, but may simultaneously produce adverse outcomes to transparent and democratic decision-making. ; peerReviewed

The construction labour market has undergone a period of considerable turbulence resulting from economic cyclicality over the last decade. While some facets of the labour market have recovered in line with economic growth, there remain challenges in attracting new apprentices. The issue is particularly pronounced for certain "wet trades"; namely bricklaying, floor and wall tiling, painting and decorating and plastering. A mixed method research strategy was employed for the purpose of determining labour market trends for these trades, comprising of employer and apprentice surveys in addition to semi-structured interviews. Findings from the research uncover not only a shift in organisational business models with dependence on sub-contract labour, but also a range of remaining challenges to direct employment and apprentice engagement. Unique insight is presented into the motivation for current apprentices in selecting their career in addition to their opinion on the apprenticeship programme on which they are registered. A number of recommendations arising from the research have been presented to government, and are either currently under consideration or have been actioned, however there remains much to be done to address construction labour market challenges.

Most research and theory on the democratic state posits that state structures and policies are primarily shaped by powerful civil groups. A different approach is presented in this dissertation. The state is often able to form its own organizations and policies independent of civil groups. The state also can and does shape class formations and group interactions. ; This case study of Venezuela from the turn of the century to 1991, focuses on the predominant role of the state in society. An analysis of the relationship between state intervention in civil society and the economy, and state autonomy is emphasized. Findings suggest that incorporation of civil groups, such as labor and economic elites, into state controlled organizations at first allows the state to control their activities. State intervention in the economy, such as increasing state ownership of resources, also initially enables the state to subsidize incorporated groups to gain their loyalty. But when these groups become better organized, and when the state acquires more resources, the expectations of civil groups increase. Eventually, the state becomes rife with the competing demands of incorporated groups, and must constantly react to their claims or risk loosing legitimacy. ; Preliminary research also indicates that the consequences of state alliances with organized labor and economic elites, may exacerbate the problems of the marginalized population. Although incorporated groups tend to profit from their relations with the state, the majority of the population faces growing unemployment, decreasing real incomes, and poor medical attention, despite increased state revenues and intervention in society. These problems, however, are made worse when economic crisis erodes state resources. ; Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 1101. ; Director: James Lang. ; Thesis (Ph.D.)--Vanderbilt University, 1991.

Despite the well-established benefits of antenatal education (ANE) and breastfeeding for mothers, there is a paucity of evidence about the uptake of ANE and breastfeeding amongst women from refugee backgrounds or its associations with sociodemographic factors. The current study is a cross-sectional survey at two time points examining the prevalence of ANE attendance, breastfeeding, and intimate partner violence (IPV) amongst 583 women refugees resettled in Australia and a control group of 528 Australian-born women. Multi-logistic regression was used to explore bivariate associations between ANE attendance, breastfeeding, IPV, and sociodemographic characteristics (parity, maternal employment, and education). Refugee-background women compared to Australian-born women have lower ANE utilization (20.4% vs. 24.1%), higher rates of breastfeeding on hospital discharge (89.3% vs. 81.7%), and more IPV reports (43.4% vs. 25.9%). Factors such as nulliparity, higher level of education, and employment predict higher rates of ANE and breastfeeding adoption. In contrast, IPV is a risk factor for ANE underutilization. Further, of the women from refugee backgrounds who accessed ANE services, 70% attended clinics designed for women from non-English-speaking backgrounds. These findings support the need to ensure effective screening and interventions for IPV during antenatal care and to better understand the role of culture as a protective or risk factor for breastfeeding initiation.

The scale of emigration of the Lithuanian population is among the highest in the EU, the number of residents in the country, including children and youth under 15 years of age departing with adults, shows a decreasing trend, but the emigration of students of higher education institutions is especially alarming. The growing emigration flows to the countries with developed economies are associated with the disbalance of labour force between the supply and demand of labour in the countries of different economic development. Unemployment, difference in wages and the standard of living are among the most significant economic factors determining emigration and involving the increasing number of young people, in particular the students of higher education institutions, into this process. Even though Lithuania attempts to solve the problem of departure of the students of higher education institutions from the country in the political context, it remains a significant and relevant topic in the context of social development of the country due to its complex and dynamic type. Furthermore, the research of emigration of the students in the domain of Lithuanian research is not sufficient with regard to the reasons and motives behind the behaviour of the youth, the attitudes or plans in terms of emigration. Therefore, the authors of the article attempt to answer the following problematic questions: What is the purpose of emigration from Lithuania among the students of higher education institutions? What factors determine the departure of the students of higher education institutions to the selected destination countries?

The scale of emigration of the Lithuanian population is among the highest in the EU, the number of residents in the country, including children and youth under 15 years of age departing with adults, shows a decreasing trend, but the emigration of students of higher education institutions is especially alarming. The growing emigration flows to the countries with developed economies are associated with the disbalance of labour force between the supply and demand of labour in the countries of different economic development. Unemployment, difference in wages and the standard of living are among the most significant economic factors determining emigration and involving the increasing number of young people, in particular the students of higher education institutions, into this process. Even though Lithuania attempts to solve the problem of departure of the students of higher education institutions from the country in the political context, it remains a significant and relevant topic in the context of social development of the country due to its complex and dynamic type. Furthermore, the research of emigration of the students in the domain of Lithuanian research is not sufficient with regard to the reasons and motives behind the behaviour of the youth, the attitudes or plans in terms of emigration. Therefore, the authors of the article attempt to answer the following problematic questions: What is the purpose of emigration from Lithuania among the students of higher education institutions? What factors determine the departure of the students of higher education institutions to the selected destination countries?

The scale of emigration of the Lithuanian population is among the highest in the EU, the number of residents in the country, including children and youth under 15 years of age departing with adults, shows a decreasing trend, but the emigration of students of higher education institutions is especially alarming. The growing emigration flows to the countries with developed economies are associated with the disbalance of labour force between the supply and demand of labour in the countries of different economic development. Unemployment, difference in wages and the standard of living are among the most significant economic factors determining emigration and involving the increasing number of young people, in particular the students of higher education institutions, into this process. Even though Lithuania attempts to solve the problem of departure of the students of higher education institutions from the country in the political context, it remains a significant and relevant topic in the context of social development of the country due to its complex and dynamic type. Furthermore, the research of emigration of the students in the domain of Lithuanian research is not sufficient with regard to the reasons and motives behind the behaviour of the youth, the attitudes or plans in terms of emigration. Therefore, the authors of the article attempt to answer the following problematic questions: What is the purpose of emigration from Lithuania among the students of higher education institutions? What factors determine the departure of the students of higher education institutions to the selected destination countries?