School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemMedia awards for responsible reporting of suicide: Experiences from Australia, Belgium and Denmark(BMC, 2011-06-03)BACKGROUND: Media awards to encourage responsible reporting of suicide have been introduced in several countries, including Australia, Belgium and Denmark. AIMS: This study aimed to examine the experiences of Australian, Belgian and Danish award recipients in preparing stories on suicide, and consider the impacts of the awards for these recipients and for media professionals more broadly. METHOD: We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with the majority (14 out of 15) of past recipients of the awards in the three countries of interest. RESULTS: Media awards appear to show promise as a method of reinforcing national and international media guidelines on reporting suicide. The recipients of awards were proud to have had their achievements recognized in this way, and had developed a heightened awareness of the issues inherent in reporting suicide. Although relatively few had prepared subsequent stories on suicide, a number had been given opportunities to provide advice to other media professionals about how best to approach this sensitive topic. Recipients viewed the awards as an important means by which good quality reporting can be rewarded, and a springboard for raising community awareness about suicide. CONCLUSION: The experience from Australia, Belgium and Denmark suggests that media awards which recognize responsible reporting of suicide are extremely worthwhile.
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ItemEvidence-based guidelines to reduce the need for restrictive practices in the disability sector(Australian Psychological Society, 2011)
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ItemQuasi-Markets and Service Delivery Flexibility Following a Decade of Employment Assistance Reform in Australia(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2011-10-01)In 1998, we were witnessing major changes in frontline social service delivery across the OECD and this was theorised as the emergence of a post-Fordist welfare state. Changes in public management thinking, known as New Public Management (NPM), informed this shift, as did public choice theory. A 1998 study of Australia’s then partially privatised employment assistance sector provided an ideal place to test the impact of such changes upon actual service delivery. The study concluded that frontline staff behaviour did not meet all the expectations of a post-Fordist welfare state and NPM, although some signs of specialisation, flexibility and networking were certainly evident (Considine, 1999). Ten years on, in 2008, frontline staff working in Australia’s now fully privatised employment sector participated in a repeat study. These survey data showed convergent behaviour on the part of the different types of employment agencies and evidence that flexibility had decreased. In fact, in the ten years between the two studies there was a marked increase in the level of routinisation and standardisation on the frontline. This suggests that the sector did not achieve the enhanced levels of flexibility so often identified as a desirable outcome of reform. Rather, agencies adopted more conservative practices over time in response to more detailed external regulation and more exacting internal business methods.
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ItemFront-line work in employment services after ten years of New Public Management reform: Governance and activation in Australia, the Netherlands and the UK(Sage Publications, 2010)This study examines the impact of administrative reforms upon the work of front-line staff in the employment services of three reform-oriented countries – Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. These changes have involved greater use of private agents, more detailed performance contracts, clearer expectations about outcomes for job-seekers, and increased competition between agencies seeking government work. The study compares the work characteristics and strategies of front-line staff in agencies in the three systems in 2008 and a decade earlier, using surveys. The results show that there are substantial differences in the level of tailoring and investment in these countries. There are three relatively stable modes of governance in these cases and the most stable of these types across countries and across time is what we term the corporate-market mode – more generally labelled New Public Management (NPM). Despite the expectations of theorists and of reformers, the role of network governance proves neither as stable nor as generalised as expected.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableIs early retirement history?(Peter Lang Publishing, 2011)
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ItemNo Preview AvailablePromoting worker resilience over the lifecourse(Springer, 2011)In Australia, as in most other industrialized economies, there is growing concern about the work capacity of older workers and their retention in the workforce against a background of population aging and efforts to prolong working lives. It is widely recognized that working later will be promoted by equipping industry and workers with instruments that can gauge working potential. Although policy makers in most industrialized nations now consider an extension of working lives as the basis of sustaining welfare systems and offsetting decline in the number of young labor market entrants, globalization and the competition this fosters present as a strong countervailing force for both government and employers. Certain groups, including older workers with few or outdated skills, and those with declining health may be particularly affected by job insecurity and long-term unemployment. Reconciling these seemingly countervailing tensions is a problem now facing a number of industrialized economies. A resilient older worker whose skills and capabilities can easily adjust as the requirements of the market shift would help maintain labor productivity growth even as populations age (Hagemann and Nicoletti 1989).
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ItemNo Preview AvailablePlanning for an ageing workforce(Tampere University Press, 2011)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAge Equality in Education and Training(Elsevier, 2010)The issue of age and work has come to prominence in recent years, particularly among European Union countries, as policymakers have grown concerned with the stability of social welfare systems and labor supply due to population aging. Critical to the prolongation of working lives is the maintenance and development of skills and competences. However, older workers' participation in learning activities is rather lower than among younger ones. While this issue is being addressed by policy reforms in a number of countries, the response overall could be described as fragmented, although much is now known about what works for older learners.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableCross National Trends in Work and Retirement(SAGE, 2010)