Category Archives: Education, Health And Welfare
Graduate Retention Strategies: Ageist, Sexist Or Just Shortsighted?
Graduate retention is a serious aspect of any decent policy for regeneration. But the emphasis on new / young graduates alone is strange, when there are always also other highly qualified and more experienced people who might offer at least as much in any developing economy.
A recurring theme in the regeneration of cities and regions is the emphasis on retention of graduates. This is an entirely reasonable focus, given the cost of producing graduates and the potential which they have in terms of economic value. The flight of bright graduates from regional to capital cities is a well-marked issue for most regional economies.
Reducing the loss of graduate talent is generally a task allocated to the regional universities which have educated them. There is a whole sector of most regional knowledge economies which is dedicated simply to training and retaining graduates in the hope that they will enhance the economic performance of that region.
Extending the scope for retention
There are also now schemes which train ‘women returners’, women who have taken time out to raise a family or who have
only later in their working lives decided to develop their formal skills. Generally these schemes give good value for the ‘returners’ and their future employers, at least in terms of providing competent middle-level practitioners and professionals; and certainly they can make a really significant difference to the lives of the women who undertake the training.
Overlooked and under-used
But there is another group of people with high skills who are often simply not geared into their local and regional economy in any meaningful way. These are often older, highly qualified and experienced graduate women who are no longer working (but are usually not registered as unemployed), and who may remain living in an area because they have family or other personal commitments there.
These women generally do not need any further training (except in the same way that other practising professionals might need it) and they often undertake a good deal of voluntary and unpaid work in their communities. Little of this work however is given any formal economic value, and even less of it is focused strategically on the requirements of their economic location.
How could their activities be strategically focused, when these women, often for reasons beyond their individual control, may have almost no continuing professional connection in their communities?
Invisible people
In an economy with a significant proportion of women leaders and decision-makers the ‘invisible’ older female graduate might be identified as a person with serious economic potential,
someone for whom every effort should be made to find or create suitable high-level employment or enterprise opportunities commensurate with her qualifications and experience.
Highly qualified men are likely, we might suppose, to move to a job elsewhere which meets their requirements; the women may have no choice but to relinquish their employment, if their family moves elsewhere or if circumstances mean their job disappears. In many challenged regional and local economies however the scope to realise this female potential remains unperceived by those (mostly men) who decide the strategy for their local economies.
Doing the audit
Has anyone tried to estimate the numbers of ‘non-economically-productive’ highly qualified older women in a given regional or
local economy undergoing regeneration? Does anyone know what these women currently contribute informally to their economies, or what they could contribute formally in the right contexts?
Older women are often seemingly invisible. My guess, from many private encounters, discussions and observations over the past few years, is that here is an almost totally untapped resource.
Nurturing all available resources
Retention of young graduates is of course critical to economic renaissance; but so is the gearing in of the potential of older and more experienced graduates. This is another example of why economic regeneration strategists need to appreciate and nurture more carefully what they already have, as well as what they would like for the future to procure.
This article is also linked from the New Start magazine blog of 14 March 2007.
Students: Customers, Clients Or Collaborators?
Not all academics are happy to see their students referred to as ‘customers’. They have a point. The role of college lecturers is to ensure that their students gain the knowledge and skills required to take them further in their chosen fields. The ‘student as customer’ model is incomplete, if only because teaching staff inevitably know more about the chosen field than do learners. Along with the actual knowledge required, there may be scope to look afresh at the skills base students need – and at the implications of that for the ‘consumer’ status of students.
Edward Snyder, Dean of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, is vexed about the notion of students as ‘customers’. In an article published by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, he writes:
‘Do we really want to tell them [students] that they are customers – and that they are always right – when we [post-graduate tutors] are in the last, best position to influence their overall academic, ethical and professional development?’
An important question
Prof Snyder asks an important question here – and it applies at least as much to pre-university and undergraduate students as it does to his very high fliers.
I recall one particularly demanding group of college students (all
groups, as any teacher will tell you, have their own signature character and dynamic) who informed me very early on in their course that they didn’t want to ‘do’ a given part of the syllabus because it was ‘boring’.
My riposte – that they were on an externally prescribed and examined course, so were going to have to get on with it, and they could tell me their views again when they had completed that part of the syllabus – left some of them genuinely puzzled. It had never occurred to them that choices and judgements are best made on the basis of direct experience, not just hearsay or even less. For optimum results, you can’t just pick’n’mix college education as you might your Saturday grocery shopping.
An extra dimension
The student – tutor interaction can never just be that of customer
– salesperson; though it might sometimes be described as client – professional (for instance, when the learning is by overt mutual consent very focused and directed).
Usually, however, the learner – teacher relationship should be that of collaborator – facilitator, within a context of guidance and the tutor’s expertise in the field being studied. This should ideally include encouragement by that tutor of efforts by the students to collaborate with each other (and, if possible, with more experienced practitioners) to explore the wider meanings and skills which lie behind the subject in question.
Beyond that, there may also, by mutual consent, be a role for tutors as their students’ professional mentor and / or coach.
The challenge
There is a challenge here. It is relatively easy to evaluate
‘customer satisfaction’ and to respond to what one learns as a provider from such evaluation.
It is more difficult to measure the impact and future value of collaboration and skills development. But that is what adult students often require, just as much as younger learners.
The question is, how is this complex interactional ‘contract’ best negotiated between students and teachers, at a time when we are all encouraged from a very early age to see ourselves just as customers, selecting at whim what we will or will not ‘consume’?
Read more articles about Education & Life-Long Learning.
Making The Most Of Daylight Saving: Research On British Summer Time
British Summer Time begins at 2 a.m. on Sunday 25th March this year (2007). Surveys suggest that both safety and energy saving would ensue from BST year-round, and a large majority of people will welcome the lighter evenings. But why have we just had to endure five months of days which end before the afternoon teabreak?
The evidence becomes ever more compelling…. As the Transport Research Laboratory has demonstrated over many years, British Summer Time is indeed best for almost all of us.
There are inevitably risks in any change, but sometimes the biggest risk lies in Doing Nothing. That’s what applies to the odd practice of reducing afternoon daylight (in favour of ‘lighter mornings’) at the very point in the year when there is already least of it.
The 1968 – 71 ‘experiment’
The oft-recycled stories about children ‘hating’ having to wear fluorescent jackets because of the super-dangerous mornings during the ‘experiment’ of 1968 – 71 are selective recall, I’d suggest. I don’t think I ever saw one child so clad.
But the debate goes on. And recently, as the TheyWorkForYou.com website admirably demonstrates, Tim Yeo MP has been proposing Single / Double Summer Time, which has incensed some even more.
The Scottish dimension
We know of course that there are people in Scotland who would prefer to keep the status quo, regardless of the proven greater overall risks of accidents, depression and poor health, but with devolved government, as Tim Yeo and before him Lord Tanlaw acknowledged, these can surely be addressed by those most involved.
But even in Scotland opinion is divided and the evidence for the status quo doesn’t fully stack up (unless Scottish cows have learnt to tell the time and will rumble their herdsman adjusting
the alarm clock to keep their bovine stock’s milking hours stable…).
The evidence
As Tim Yeo and Lord Tanlaw have emphasised, even in Scotland there are plenty of people who would prefer the lighter evenings, whilst YouGov have found (December 2006) that 51% of workers feel less safe travelling home in the dark, with 71% of women saying the dark makes them feel uncertain and worried.
Likewise, when Victor Keegan ran a campaign a few months ago, he easily achieved his objective of 50 people asking their MPs to support Tim Yeo’s bill. On energy saving grounds alone there are compelling reasons to suppose we should abandon British Mean Time. A majority of those voting supported it, but Tim Yeo’s non-party Bill fell on 26 January
2007 because it did not gain more than one hundred votes.
Another way forward?
So what’s holding things up? There are rather feeble claims (see TheyWorkForYou.com, as above) that an experiment in Portugal was not successful, but perhaps political nervousness about Scottish issues is, short-term, at the heart of the matter.
There is, however, a very simple and easy way to resolve things once and for all. Why not actually undertake a serious Government-led enquiry into all the evidence available, on energy, accidents, health, business and other impacts, examining England (and Wales and Northern Ireland) separately from Scotland?
And let’s ask for the report to be produced by Sunday 28 October 2007, before the next grim return to Winter darkness, when
British Summer Time is due to end. This, it seems to me, is a genuinely good example of when policy can indeed be informed by best practice in natural and social scientific research.
It really does need to be done, and soon.
The full debate about BST is in the section of this website entitled BST: British Summer Time & ‘Daylight Saving’ (The Clocks Go Back & Forward)…..
See also:
Save Our Daylight: Victor Keegan’s Pledge Petition
The Clocks Go Forward…And Back… And Forward…
British Summer Time Draws To A Close
Time Is Energy (And ‘Clocks Forward’ Daylight Uses Less)
The Clocks Go Forward … But Why, Back Again?
Read the discussion of this article which follows the book E-store…
The Cost Of Childcare: Women’s Work And Women’s Wages
Pre-school childcare is generally regarded as expensive. Even with government financial support, it stretches many household budgets. But there are now many more childcare places than hitherto. More places and higher costs, properly handled, may together be a longer-term sign of better status for women in the labour market.
The cost of pre-school childcare, we are constantly reminded, is ‘spiralling’ – highest, as ever, in London, and lowest in the north-west of England. The Daycare Trust tells us that the average cost of a full-time nursery place for under-twos is now (as of January 2007) £152 a week in England, and £131 in Wales. With individual average earnings at £447 a week, this is a hefty chunk out of some household budgets.
Early years support
Few would deny, however, that the government is doing its best to provide quality care for pre-school children. Welcoming recent developments, Alison Garnham, joint Chief Executive of the Daycare Trust called on the Government, as well as other political parties, to deliver the Ten Year Childcare Strategy:
‘At long last we have a government that is committed to making
progress in childcare facilities in this country. When New Labour came to power they faced major challenges in delivering high quality and affordable childcare to all families and we welcome wholeheartedly the improvements that have been made under the Ten Year Strategy.‘
Big changes from the past
Long gone is the grim time when finding childcare was an individual (mother)’s nightmare, relying only on a hunch and perhaps a local health visitor – who probably didn’t ‘approve’ of working mums – in the exhausting search for someone reliable to care for one’s children whilst the money to feed them was earned.
In 2007, Sure Start is metamorphosing into Children’s Centres,
and the tax credit system – to the daily tune of more than £2m for almost 400,000 families – helps many parents, as do tax-relief childcare vouchers (now up to age 12); and three- and four-year olds are entitled to 12.5 hours of free nursery education a week. In London, there is also a Childcare Affordability Programme which subsidises the cost of childcare by up to £30 for eligible parents.
Direct costs are up
Nonetheless, parents in the UK pay about 70% of the costs of childcare, compared to an average of about 30% for other European parents. (Where, of course, childcare patterns are sometimes very different.) And costs have risen more quickly than inflation – almost 6% in 2006, against inflation of less than half this.
Alongside this, there are reports that affordable childcare is
difficult to find in many areas.
Not all bad news
I have three takes on this situation:
There is the individual problem for parents who find it hard to fund good childcare; there is the opportunity for business-minded child carers at last to earn a decent living; and there is a shift in the labour market which, longer-term, may well serve everyone well.
Parents’ stretched budgets
First, I have every sympathy with parents who struggle to make ends meet and find the costs of ‘quality’ childcare so difficult. Raising young families is always a challenge and it is crucial that every possible support is given to parents in their efforts to do this responsibly and well.
It’s very important from every perspective that parents – including, but not only, single parents – and their children receive all the help which can be mustered by their communities, employers, and the government.
Childcare entrepreneurs
Second, this situation is by no means bad news for those entrepreneurs – almost all of them women – who see a childcare market opportunity and grasp it.
Childcare providers, at least in Britain, has traditionally been appallingly badly paid. It is about time that this changed. These days many people are concerned about the quality of what they eat. If there is now a public debate also about the quality of care for their children, this can only be to the good.
The market will rise to the opportunity; but, just as with quality food, provision may not always be cheap. (Though expense is not always the issue: sometimes it’s actually organising the right thing which is the problem. Neither home-grown food nor local, small-scale quality childcare need be so very expensive.)
The labour market
Finally, if I were a feminist economist (assuming such persons consciously exist), I would be pleased about the current scenario.
It is likely that most of those who are pushing for higher wages in response to childcare costs will be women. By the logic of the market this demand will have to be addressed and to some extent met.
And a corollary, given only finite amounts of available money,
may well be a market shift towards more equality of income between women and men. If women demand more pay, male employees (or indeed their managers / shareholding employers) will have to give way to a degree at least – especially as women are increasingly vital to the workforce, now often taking the field in terms of qualifications (sometimes gained whilst their little ones are receiving childcare) and skills.
Courage in transition
It’s a long, hard struggle, this childcare – equality scenario. But things overall are already better than they were, and the likelihood is that more pressure, higher expectations and political will together really can make a difference.
The Government’s Every Child Matters programme can of course be improved as experience in ‘how to do it’ is gained in
communities and by decision-makers. Potential for improvements in childcare is however a positive, never a negative. The Government must keep its nerve.
The debates about affordability and quality in early years provision are welcome signs that every child does indeed ‘matter’, and that, slowly, the economy is adjusting to recognise just that.
International Mother Language Day
Today is International Mother Language Day. Celebrated for the first time in the Millennium Year, it is a programme promoted by UNESCO, the 2007 theme being multilingualism.
But why is it important?
The promotion of multilingualism lies at the heart of International Mother Language Day. Introduced in 2000 by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 21 February is the day in the year when we are asked to recognise the uniqueness and significance of the 6,000 languages known to humankind.
In doing this however UNESCO has not set itself against the grain of ‘progress’, for the other emphasis on this date is acknowledgement of the value of shared language, of the ability to communicate in more than simply one’s own mother tongue.
Powerful instruments
UNESCO offers a strong rationale for its promotion of mother languages and multilingualism.
These are, it says, ‘the most powerful instruments of preserving
and developing our tangible and intangible heritage…. [helping us to develop a] fuller awareness of linguistic traditions across the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.’
Linguapax
A corollary of this approach is the on-going (since 1986) UNESCO Lingupax project, which aims to promote a ‘culture of peace’ through the promotion of multilingual education and respect for linguistic diversity.
In that respect it seems sensible that people resident in a country learn to speak its main, official language/s, that they are also encouraged to respect and use the language of their immediate culture, and that schools offer those who wish it the opportunity to learn languages which may be culturally and geographically far
removed from immediate experience.
Idealistic but important
Idealistic and architypically platitudinous these notions may be….. but who could deny the truths behind them?
The need to talk meaningfully and insightfully with one another has surely never been more pressing.
BRCs: The Science Golden Triangle Wins Again
England’s Northern Universities are upset that the Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) of excellence are all in the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Oxford, Cambridge and London. ‘Added value’ economic impact has been sidelined. With intimations of southern advantage and selective assessment perspectives, is this a re-run of the 4GLS synchrotron debate on location in the ‘north’ or ‘south’?
Prof Alan Gilbert, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University, is championing medical science in England’s northern universities, after his institution was not selected as a comprehensive biomedical research centre of excellence (BRC). This accolade, worth 8-figure sums to each institution, has been awarded only to universities in Oxford, Cambridge and London.
Once again, the Golden Triangle has triumphed over everywhere else in England.
And once again the southern economy hots up as northern sensitivities are similarly inflamed.
Who decides?
The decision to support only Golden Triangle universities was made by the Department of Health / NHS National Institute for Health Research
(NIRH) high command, on the basis of assessment by a panel of experts working outside England of the international excellence of medical science in the competing universities.
This panel does not seem to have laid much emphasis on the impact of macro-investment in the knowledge economy on regional economies as such.
History repeats itself
So here we go again.
More science money is being invested where money has already gone. Comparatively less is made available where investment has historically been more difficult to obtain.
When the big debates about synchrotron investment in the North of England were conducted, the medical science people were
hardly to be seen. The Wellcome Trust, a major player in bio-medical research, was widely regarded as unhelpful to those making the northern case, and even some northern university medical scientists did not support it.
Yet investment (usually of government money) in scientific institutions with capacity and established further potential is critical to wider long-term prospects for the UK economy.
Biggest impact, greatest added-value
Prof Gilbert says that universities must not ‘ask favours because we have been disadvantaged historically’. But in fighting his case he could look at the Daresbury (4GLS) – Rutherford Appleton (Diamond) synchrotron debates to see that the issues may be slightly different.
It is not ‘asking favours’ if those of us, the public whose money is
being spent, demand equity in terms of investment opportunities for top-level science.
Wider perspectives
The NHS is a very closed institution which has not, historically, been good at acknowledging it is now an important part of the wider knowledge economy.
Patient care is the aspect of this huge organisation which most members of the public experience, but that should be a fundamental ‘given’. It cannot provide refuge from the fact that, medically or otherwise, international science knows no silos.
Excellence in context
Nor can a rightful emphasis on patient experience permit us to forget, as collectively holders of the public purse, that any public investment needs to work in as many different ways as possible.
As the growing success of the U.K.’s ‘northern’ Darebury Laboratories has shown, internationally excellent science, public benefit across the nation and added-value regional development can evolve hand in hand, if enough decision-makers have the vision and courage to ensure that this will happen.
Children’s Music Workshops In Liverpool: 5 April 2007
Live-A-Music (Liverpool) is planning a series of Children’s Music Workshops at Easter (Thursday 5 April) and over the Summer break. The workshops, run by fully qualified and experienced leaders, are for children aged 7-plus (younger siblings may be accepted) and will be in Mossley Hill Parish Church Hall, Rose Lane, Liverpool 18.
Purpose of the Children’s Music Workshops
The workshops will encourage children to enjoy, explore and create music, bringing together stories, music, ideas and imagination in different ways.
Every child will have something individual and personal to bring to this very positive and engaging musical process.
Venue and date/s
The first Children’s Workshop will be held on Thursday 5 April , in Mossley Hill Parish Church Hall, Rose Lane, Liverpool L18 8DB.
Further Workshops are planned for the Summer holiday period.
Sessions and times
Each Children’s Music Workshop will run for just under two hours, with a dedicated theme for each session. Sessions will be 9 am – 10.45, 11.15 – 1 pm, and 2 pm – 3.45.
Children may attend as few or as many of the sessions as they wish, within the constraints of the maximum number of places available for each workshop.
To register your interest, please click here, or via the link below.
Instruments and themes
The themes of the workshops will be varied and challenging, to engage the participating children fully.
Musical equipment will be provided for the sessions and children who already play musical instruments are encouraged to bring these with them.
Workshop leaders
The workshops will be run by two very experienced professional musicians and animateurs / teachers:
Martin Anthony (Tony) Burrage, LRAM, GRSM, ARAM and
Richard Gordon-Smith, ARCM, GRSM, Cert. Ed.
Additional teaching and professional support will also be available.
Children’s ages; parents & other family members
It is expected that most children will be aged seven or over. Parents, Guardians or other previously agreed responsible adults are welcome also to attend the sessions, and younger children may be accepted for the sessions if accompanied at all times by older siblings or an agreed adult.
Cost
The fee per child per session is £6.50. (Two sessions: £13; three sessions: £19.50.) Any available combination of sessions is
permissible. Accompanying adults and infants may attend at no additional cost.
Each child (except infants with adults) must have a formally booked and paid-for place by the beginning of the session.
Lunchtime supervision responsibilities
Please note that
*** supervision of children can be arranged separately if required between 1 pm and 2 pm ***. (Details on request.)
Refreshment and supervision arrangements for the lunchtime break are the sole responsibility of Parents / Guardians or other previously agreed responsible adults. Children may stay in the venue at lunchtime under direct adult supervision.
Refreshments during sessions
Water and juice will be provided, but children are asked to bring any other suitable refreshment / special preferred drinks for the brief interval which will occur midway in each session. (It will be assumed that children may have the juice provided, or any other refreshments, unless there are clear instructions that this is not the case.)
Parents, Guardians or other agreed responsible adults are, as above, very welcome to accompany children for particular sessions or the entire day, and may also bring their own refreshments. Tea and coffee will be provided.
Registration
To register your interest in the Children’s Music Workshops on Thursday 5 April or in the Summer break please contact us with full details (name and age of child/ren, address, name of
responsible adult contact etc) via this link.
Please click here for a report and pictures of this Live-A-Music (Liverpool) Children’s Music Workshop.
Single-Sex Schools Or Classes? What’s The Longer Term Impact?
Recent figures confirm that girls are doing better at school (and university) than boys. Single-sex classes within co-ed schools are not however generally seen as a way to resolve this inequality. But how much do we know about the longer-term impact on men and women of single-sex or mixed gender teaching?
Increasing concern about the higher academic achievement of girls than of boys in the U.K. has again raised the issue of single-sex classes (or even schools) as the norm.
Reasons for this concern are interesting, given the historical lack of concern* when girls under-performed relative to boys (and given also that even highly women still earn much less than their male counterparts). Nonetheless, current concerns are both legitimate and pressing.
[* With honourable exceptions – e.g. the fourth letter by Edward Brotherton in this 1864 Manchester Guardian correspondence.]
There is an uncomfortable feeling, overall, that the underperformance of boys is likely to lead to a larger disaffected ‘underclass’, than when things were the other way around.
And we can add to that the obvious consequence of
underperformance, in restricting the availability of talent to the economy, whether this be a male or female issue.
‘Solutions’?
For these reasons, as well as for reasons of equality of opportunity as such, much debate has recently occurred on the subject of mixed-sex and single-sex classes and schools. The general (but not unanimous) opinion on the basis of available evidence, it seems, is that there is little impact either way.
Frankly, I have my doubts about whether this analysis is adequate.
The evidence over many decades is that women do significantly less well economically and professionally than men, if you look at mature outcomes. And this happens even for people with the same qualifications. In other words, any initial advantage
diminishes as time goes on, almost regardless of family, parenthood (men become parents, too) and much else.
Early impacts
But there is one element of background which seems to make a difference, for women if not for men – and that is the ‘space’ in the secondary years which single-sex classes offer girls, to learn (some) things independently of boys.
It seems, especially in the more mathematically-related curriculum, that this helps girls; and it probably also helps in terms of self-determination and a conviction that it’s OK as an independent person to go ahead and do things with one’s life.
Certainly, this was a major indicator, in research undertaken quite early on by myself and others looking at how women scientists hold their own.
And perhaps the same applies to boys. If the girls aren’t there to talk about all the soft stuff in class, maybe the boys would have to have the courage to talk about it themselves – which could be an important help when ‘real life’ catches up with them in later adolescence and adulthood.
Balancing different agendas
There is a suspicion that some schools prefer mixed teaching because they see the girls (more mature and less disruptive?) as a stabilising influence on the boys. But this is not an equitable way forward and two wrongs do not make a
right.
I’d go for the so-called ‘diamond’ arrangement – segregated teaching for some core subject in the early years of secondary school – but not, if at all possible, for totally separate schools for girls and boys. There can surely be a middle way.
Even more critically, I’d make sure that analysis of research findings routinely extends beyond formal education to life outcomes, so we begin to understand more fully ‘what happens’ when individuals receive single-sex or co-ed teaching in their formative years.
Things To Do When You’re 22 – 25
As now fully independent adults, people aged 22, 23, 24 and 25 are positioned to begin to make their mark. It’s the time when mature interests are established and occupational qualifications have hopefully been won. With luck you are strong in body and mind and have the freedom to develop as you wish. Be sure to follow your dreams.
This is a pivotal point in your life, as you plan and savour your future.
Maybe you’re still studying, maybe you’re not. Perhaps you have a partner and / or other personal commitments, or perhaps you don’t. Whether or not you’re footloose and fancy free, with luck some of these ideas will work for you; and if they don’t, with luck they’ll spark other better ideas anyway. Whatever, please remember the Be Happy Rules. Now give these suggestions as try…
Do a marathon
Nobody’s so busy they can’t take time to build up strength and stamina, and especially not in their early twenties. You know it’s true: active investment in your health will keep you on top form now and pay huge dividends later.
So run that marathon; or jog it; or swim it. But just do it. Even better, do it with a friend or team and raise some cash for your favourite cause.
Walk everywhere
Whilst we’re on this topic, get a decent pair of shoes and walk whenever you can. You know it’s much more eco- and convenient than the car, and it will help your training for that marathon. It’s OK to cycle, too.
Collect cities
You probably won’t have time to walk this one (or could you?)….. Try collecting capital and exciting cities. Aim on each visit to travel by foot, train, boat / barge and in one more exotic way (horse? tandem?).
Produce some decent photo blogs and post them on the internet to share your experiences and impressions with others. Who knows what you’ll like best when you try these new places?
Help with a voluntary group
Children’s playgroups and clubs are well run and regulated these days, so why not find out how you can help with one? It’s a great way to keep your feet on the ground and it’s rewarding and fun. No need to worry, as you’ll be properly supervised and, if you want to, you could qualify as a team leader yourself.
Or, if keeping kids happily occupied is not your thing, how about volunteering in some other way? We all have something to give, whether on a regular basis or as an occasional volunteer.
Keep a people diary
Even if it’s just a note of significant others’ birthdays and anniversaries, this is worth a bit of effort. Put these events in your e-notebook and actually act on them in good time. You’ll be making people you care about very happy (how often do you see your parents in the course of your new independent life?) and it will remind you to appreciate them, which can’t be bad, either.
Cycle an island
Maybe most of your experience is of towns and cities; and even if your life is mostly rural, perhaps you’re caught up in the usual day-to day realities. So here’s an opportunity to take a fresh look at things – get yourself organised, perhaps with friends or your partner, to cycle all round an island. (You can probably find somewhere via the internet to hire a bike, or, if cycling’s not your thing, walk instead – but make sure you have sensible shoes and clothing for the terrain.)
If you live in the UK, perhaps the Isle of Wight or Anglesey or Mull might be good places to consider as a start, depending on time available, energy levels and budget Get your gear together and test everything out before you start – easy to carry, comfortable, water / sun-proof? – and get some practice in. Make this adventure as strenuous or relaxed as you like, perhaps choosing Youth Hostels or bed and breakfast for your realistically distanced overnight stops. (Local tourist information centres will advise.) And don’t forget your camera.
Value your vote
The excitement of being old enough to vote may have worn off by now, but that doesn’t make doing it any less important. Make it a source of pride always to use this hard-won entitlement; you can vote in person at a polling station, on-line, or by post, for most elections. And do follow – and if you can join in – the debate about which politicians have the best ideas, before you get to polling day. Please play your part in deciding what happens in your community and country; the future, after all, is yours….
Find some Me time
Whilst we’re in reflective mode, why not make some designated Me time for yourself? Use it to develop the habit of composure and contentment (if you are seriously bothered of course, get yourself to your GP or college / workplace health adviser, or contact NHS Direct, available 24/7). And think a little about your personal future: are you doing the right things to get where you’d like to be? Do you need advice, support or encouragement? And if so, where will you go to get these? (Your local college drop-in centre might be a good first stop.)
But, most of all, use this Me time to relax, with a book, a nice warm aromatic bath, music you enjoy, the breeze in your hair as you walk around the park (or down a lane), or chatting with a trusted family member, partner or friend.
Time for the things we know are good for us personally is as important – though perhaps not always more so! – as the things we know we must do whether we like them or not. Use Me time to put some balance into your life.
Think local and global
How do you shop for your everyday needs (food etc)? Who selects your energy supplier? How do you choose your major purchases (transport, white goods and IT, holidays)? These are issues which affect not only your own well-being but also the future of the planet – your future too, as you enter autonomous adulthood.
Can you buy local produce (supporting the local economy as you simultaneously reduce food miles)? Is your home and the equipment in nit energy-efficient? Can you use sustainable forms of transport?
The choices you make really do make a difference in the longer-term.
Have a party
How do you party? Is it a BBQ in the garden (or even, if you’re lucky, on the beach)? Is it at a festival? A college ball? Perhaps at the BBC Proms, in London or at one of their free civic square screen events? In the pub? Or with your family and friends at home?
Why not plan to try another way, too? Make it whatever you like: fancy dress, or afternoon tea (!?), or somewhere adventurous and really exotic. Enjoy!
And now over to you…. Were any of these suggestions interesting for you? Or do you have other, different things to do? Why not share your ideas below?
Have you read….?
Things To Do When You’re 19 – 21
Things To Do When You’re 26 – 30
What To Do At Any Age – Be Happy
* Life is not a rehearsal
* Smile when you can
* Do acts of random kindness
* Try no-TV days
* Be cautious sometimes, cynical never
* Use your pedometer
* Treat yourself daily to a ‘Went Right’ list
And why not share your alternative ideas here, too? You can add your own take on Things To Do When You’re 22 – 25 via the Comments box below…
A Civil Society University For The U.K.?
The place where non-state, non-business public activities challenge the assumptions of wealthy organisations and the ruling classes or prevailing consensus is often referred to as ‘civil society’. A proposal that this place have its own university in the U.K., to scrutinise and develop the core skills and specialist knowledge base of the ‘third sector’ of the economy, is now being taken seriously.
PrimeTimers is a London-based social enterprise promoting cross-sector transfers of people, ideas and methods. In Autumn 2005 they held a conference, Agenda for Change, from which emerged the idea of a ‘Civil Society University’. This idea is also a response to the UK Government’s review of the Future Role of the Third Sector in Social and Economic Regeneration.
A key concept underlying the idea is that third sector values and practices should be submitted to rigorous testing in terms of intellectual integrity, reasoned debate and scientific research. Such an approach has welcome and important implications for how civil society might develop over the next few decades and beyond.
Multiple conceptualisation, multiple benefits
Like many other good ideas, the Civil Society University concept
has also emerged in other places – for instance, at a Council of Europe conference in September 2005 and in a submission dated December 2005 to the Organisation of American States from the Permanent Forum of Civil Society Organisations.
Civil society is the arena where the right of free speech and association is exercised to promote many and diverse causes for what their proponents believe to be the greater good. Often these beliefs challenge the prevailing or most powerful consensus; yet rarely is attention given to the skills and knowledge which could best support such a challenge.
The benefits which might accrue from rigorous scrutiny by the academy, by those who practise their skills in higher education, are what make the idea of a Civil Society University appeal to many involved in widely diverse parts of the third sector.
Education, not ‘just’ training
There is a real need for parts of the third sector to move away from its historic philanthropic roots towards a sharper professional focus. Volunteers (nonetheless, preferably trained) will always be at the heart of at least some third sector activities; but they usually cannot provide the hard headedness which is required in running large-scale or complex modern organisations.
Indeed, thus far it would be difficult even to estimate what added value (or not?) would derive from a more fully functioning and defined third sector key skills ‘toolbox’. And the same applies to issues around third sector career structure and professional development. This is where the Civil Society University fits in.
Challenge and opportunity
For some the proposal to subject the third sector and its operation could pose a perceived threat, but that does not do the idea justice.
Those who share a concern to ‘make things better’ will more likely welcome the chance to support a move to do exactly that, to ‘make good things more effective still’.
What could be better than to subject our ideas and practices to a form of scrutiny – always itself open to scrutiny and challenge – intended to make the very best of the resources, people and commitment available to effect a more equitable and civil society?
Contacts
The Civil Society University is proposed by Professor Martin Albrow, Dr Mary Chadwick and Brent Thomas, all of PrimeTimers.
They can be contacted at info@primetimers.org.uk.
Dreaming Realist 