13 Explain The Post 16 Options Essay Example for Free

13 Explain The Post 16 Options Essay The opportunities for pupils aged 16 and over has traditionally been either to leave school and start employment or to stay and continue with their education. Although many pupils do still choose one of these options, there is now more opportunities available as there has been an increased government focus on education for post 16 year olds in particular a focus on reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training. The government is in the process of increasing the age to which all young people in England must continue in education or training. Since 2013  all young people have been required to continue in education or training untill they turn 17 years of age this will increase to 18 years of age by 2015. The goverment are focusing on post 16 options because they want to increase the quality of education available and ensure that all young people have the tools and opportunities they need to fulfil their potential so they are prepared for further education and work regardles of their background or life circumstances. See more:  Perseverance essay By giving young people the options to undertake academic and vocational education including appreniteships and traineeships they are  providing the skills need for life and work helping to create a more responsible, engaged and cohesive society. The post 16 options set out by the government are:  ·College  ·Sixth form  ·Apprenticeships  ·Employment with training One of the reasons for this change has been because of the governments concerns over the number of 16-24 year olds who have been classified as Neets. Neets are young people who are not in employment, education or training and are between the ages of 16-24. There is a number of factors that can contribute to young people becoming Neets they are:  ·Young people who were eligible for free school meals are more likely to become neets than those not eligible.  ·Young people who have been excluded or suspended from school are more likely to become neets than those not.  ·Young people who have their own child are more likely to become neets than those who dont.  ·Young people who have a disability are more likely to become neets than those who are not.  ·Young people who achieved five or more GCSEs A to C grade are less likely to become neets than those who have not. The government hopes that by raising the participation age it will ensure that  young people are equiped with the skills they need to be able to gain qualifications that will lead to sustainable jobs. Education and training is provided by a number of different ways for example:  ·Colleges  ·Universities  ·Charities  ·Armed forces  ·Youth and community organisations  ·Employment training  ·Private training providers The learners can work towards a range both academic and vocational qualifications as well as take GCSEs and functional skills such as English and Maths. They can work towards getting Alevels, access courses, foundation degrees and post graduate qualifications. In addition to the qualifications mentioned there are professional and specialist qualifications available to learners such as first aid, safeguarding training, manual handing ect. All the above together will help to ensure that:  ·More young people go on to study and gain the skills and qualifications that lead to sustainable jobs.  ·They will be fewer young people who are classified as neets (not in education, employment or training.  ·More young people will be involved in social action and feel they can make postivite changes in society and their own lives.

Symbolism in The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck Essay -- Chrysanthem

Symbolism in The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck "A symbol is an act, person, thing, or spectacle that stands for something else, by association a usually broader idea in addition to its own literal meaning" (Cassill & Bausch, 1728). John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" may seem as a story describing a simple day with the Allen couple. It begins with Elisa Allen working in her garden and her husband, Henry Allen, negotiating with two suited business men that want to purchase steers. They seem to engage in conversations and go about their day as they normally would do. By the time the story ends, they are on their way to dinner and a movie. At first glance, this story may seem as nothing special, just a day in the life of fairly happy couple attempting to enjoy their marriage. However, there is much more under the surface of what is written. The story has a relative amount of symbols which gives light on other details of the story. It is not until after looking at deeper meanings of some of the symbols that there can be a m ore comprehensive reading of the tale. If one takes a good look, one can notice that Henry is an uncommunicative husband, and Elisa craves for more from the relationship, and her life. The lack of passion between Elisa and her husband leads her to use her flowers, the chrysanthemums, and other household tasks as an outlet for the attention that she longs for. Elisa, like many other women, is limited by society's view on women's position in the home. A more clear example of how Elisa feels can be better explained by Steinbeck's description of the where Elisa and Henry live. "The high gray-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On e... ...but romantic. That simple gesture is enough to sustain Elisa for the present time. She probably also realizes that the wine is the most she will get out of Henry for a long time. All of this insight and analysis of the meaning behind Elisa's chrysanthemums is what opens up the undisclosed doors of this story. If one did not look further into the story, it would seem as if the author was providing a bunch of unnecessary pieces of information about a specific day in the life of Elisa Allen. The chrysanthemums, being the key to the story, give a more in-depth understanding of this woman's life and her struggles that would otherwise not be acknowledged. Works Cited: Steinbeck, John. ?The Chrysanthemums.? Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 2nd Compact ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003. 359-366

Does the Labor Law Encourage or Discourage Unionization Essay

Yes they do. And the following is in support of that claim: â€Å"Often described as the ‘heart’ of the act, section 7 of the statute reflects the law’s basic purposes. It provides that ‘employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection’ â€Å" (Kohler, 2004). In addition, the labor laws tend to favor employee and union relationships. Labor laws do provide protection for union employees against wage inequality by defining standard minimum wage requirements and they address other workplace safety issues as well. These labor laws are authorized at the government level and thus allow any public employee to not only join a union, but create one (by organizing) should they so desire. And given the fact that the majority of the employees at West University are public employees, already in established unions, the organization process for the Resident Assistants (RAs). To help facilitate that process, the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) was affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. Although the workforce at West College is a majority of union employees, the non-union employees are not required to join any union due to the fact that Arizona is a right-to-work state. But again, the labor laws to prevail and allow a group of employees to legally organization under State and Federal laws. 2 – Do you think teaching assistants should be considered employees? If they are on a payroll as a W2 individual, and work a set amount of hours then I can’t any reason why they would not be considered employees. Similar to the Resident Assistants, I would imagine that the Teaching Assistants are also students who attend the college as well. Based upon the information provided, the Teaching Assistants are also unionized employees. Education aside, the skill level of the Teaching Assistant should not be a factor when it comes to joining a union, there should be some educational requirements for the job of a Teaching Assistant however. Although a Teaching Assistant does not have teaching credentials, hence they’re not on the same pay grade, but there is a fair amount of experience that a Teaching Assistant is expected to have to perform their job effectively. This does not mean that a Teaching Assistant could not handle the job of teaching a class if they had to, they just do not have the official credentials and could present to the University should they be put into a teaching position. For further clarification, there is a difference that should be noted between an assistant and an intern. Per the following example: â€Å"Intern: a person who works as an apprentice or trainee in an occupation or profession to gain practical experience, and sometimes also to satisfy legal or other requirements for being licensed or accepted professionally.† Whereas â€Å"Assistant: serving in an immediately subordinate position; of secondary rank†¦generally not in training for another role.† (Dictionary.com) 3 – Do you think management’s reaction to employee interest in unionization differs if the employer already has a high union density among other employee groups? If a majority of the employees are already organized in some type of a union setup, then unfortunately, the only reaction that Management can have is to agree to other groups wanting to organization. That is unless Management can come up with some reasons why organization should not take place. This type of a balance has its pros and cons. If this is a type of an environment where a majority of union employees makes more sense, then this type of an arrangement can be productive if even more employees wanted to organize. And it might be best if management did agree to that because there is always the fairness issue that can come up of a group of non-union employees receives the same treatment that the union employees receives. In this case, that is the argument of the Resident Assistants. But at the same time, there are situations where it just makes no sense for a particular group of employees to organize. Now it is a great benefit for the employees to belong to a union but on the flip side of that argument, transitioning from a non-union environment to a union environment can be a lengthy and expensive process. The costs of running a unionized business can be quite. And the case of a University, those costs are not going absorbed as a lost by the school, but instead will be passed down to the consumer, in the case, the student. Thus the tuition costs will keep increasing, and the university runs the risk of losing business to the competition. It doesn’t matter if it is a university, is it still a business. 4 – What are the key factors that led some RAs to have interest in union representation? Do you think that RAs have legitimate job-related concerns, or are the RA complaints overstated? The working conditions of the Resident Assistants were starting to become a concern for the employees. The Resident Assistants have been assigned the task of disciplining their fellow students and were subjected to any pushback. Thus there is a potential conflict of interest since the Resident Assistants are overseeing the immediate area where they are also housed in. Although the Resident Assistants are paid a wage for their services, they are in fact full-time students. Per the labor laws, the University is not required to allow a group of full-time students to organize but it is not against the law Resident Assistants to organize. Now, the Resident assistants, do sign an agreement with the University detailing their job description and what is expected of them. This is certainly a valuable service that is being provided to the University, but at the same it does not warrant an organization movement in my opinion. Especially due to the natural turnover rate of the students (students graduating, etc.), a Resident Assistant is certainly not a long-term position and thus does not really justify signing a union / employee contract for any significant length of time. In summary, the Resident Assistants do have generally good talking points for organization. However, their job description does not warrant the added expense that the University will take on when that group is organized. Should the Residents Assistants job descriptions increase, then yes, organization would be a good idea at the University. But key to remember here is that the Resident Assistants are full-time students with less than part-time jobs that they want to unionize. 5 – Do the RAs opposed to unionization have legitimate concerns? How could unionization change the culture of Residence Life? Those concerns are quite legitimate, and in my opinion, more selfless and grounded than the rest of the Resident Assistants. As mentioned above, these are full-time students with a part-time that they are not being forced to do. They chose to apply for the position, and they signed an agreement of the behavior and expectations (minimum GPA, etc.) The Resident Assistant position should be used as an opportunity to gain some good experience such as what an intern would get but also with a financial incentive. By organizing, the Resident Assistants may miss out on the real experience of interaction with the culture of the campus residential environment. In other words, the resident Assistant would be focusing more on being an employee vs. being a student and a Resident Assistant. Thus, the Resident assistant could possibly be viewed as more of a security guard then someone who is on the same level as the other students. I’m sure there was a fair amount of thought that went into designing the position of the Student Assistant, and it appears that they divided in half. One half, being on the same page with the University in wanting to keep the integrity of the position; and the other half wanting to break away from University tradition and form a separate. Again, not a bad idea to organize if the students were going to be in these positions for a long time, but they’re not. It’s a very transient position. 6 – How does the law regarding union recognition for public employees in this state compare with the NLRA rules regarding union recognition for private-sector employees? There are some similarities. However, Section 7 of the law states the following: to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection,† as well as the right to refrain from engaging in any of those activities. (Kohler, 2004) Let’s look at the three key principles of the law as noted by Kohler: â€Å"There are three key principals on which the NLRA rests: 1) the exclusivity principle; 2) the notion of free collective bargaining; and 3) the structural autonomy of the bargaining representative of the employees (in other words, the independence of the employees’ labor union from the employer).† (Kohler, 2004) Breaking this down further, Kohler goes on to explain: Exclusivity Principle. The exclusivity principle is a basic feature of American-style collective bargaining. According to the exclusivity principle, the union representative selected by a majority of employees in a workplace becomes the exclusive (sole) representative of all those employees. (Kohler, 2004) Free Collective Bargaining. Free collective bargaining is the second basic principle of the NLRA. The act leaves the decision whether to organize entirely to employees.(Kohler, 2004) Structural Autonomy. The structural autonomy of the employees’ bargaining representative is the third key principle of the collective bargaining system adopted by the NLRA. This principle anchors the system of free collective bargaining.(Kohler, 2004) In addition, Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) states the following: â€Å"to dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or to contribute financial or other support to it.† (Kohler, 2004) 7 – Why did the LRC determine that RAs and CDAs were employees? Do you agree with the LRC decision? Why? Why not? In summary, I do not agree with the decision handed down by the Labor Relations Commission. Resident Assistants are really only student assistants that earn a small wage through the school year and depending upon the school schedule will not be working in the summertime. The decision to recognized students as employees is reckless and can have consequences down the road. This is a slippery slope. I don’t know the complete reasoning behind the decision of the Labor Relations Commission but if I had to guess I would imagine that there is a bit of a bias since the Labor Relations Commissions tend to lean pro-union. Another concern that the University should be aware of is that now that they Resident Assistants are organized, there is a possibility that these positions can be abused. Prior to organization, the Resident Assistant applicant would sign a Memo of Understanding (MOU) outlining the expectations that they were expected to meet. Being that they are organized now, the Memo of Understanding is most likely going to be tossed out the window and a new set of demands may start coming in over the years. Not to mentioned the future additional labor expenses that the University is going to incur. Works Cited Kohler, Thomas C.. â€Å"National Labor Relations Act (1935).† Major Acts of Congress. 2004. Retrieved October 18, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3407400221.html

Chinas One Child Policy Essay - 567 Words

The Chinese One Child Policy As China is having an enormous economic expansion it is also facing many problems. One of the major problems people have become more and more concerned about is the countrys population. At the dawn of this century there were some 426 million people living in China. Today the population is about 1.2 billion. About two-thirds of this 900 million increase was added within the last 50 years. In another word, the population has tripled since the Peoples Republic of China was grounded. Today the mainland China alone contributes to at least 20% of the worlds population. It is also very well known all over the world that in China couples nowadays are not allowed to have more than one child. This policy was†¦show more content†¦Also, with the shift in the labor force from more strenuous work that was once the majority, to light industry, the need for male children is decreased. Especially in the cities there is almost no such discrimination. So hopefully the problem will not be long-lasting. In order to escape from the taxes and other punishments of having more than one child, many families simply do not report the birth of new babies. This phenomenon is more common in the countryside because the control is looser and it is easier to get a job and house. This makes the statistics from the government more or less doubtful because the figures do not include the so-called black population. Many of them could not have enough and proper education and other social benefits. Thus they have to start to work much earlier. It is for example very common in some poor rural areas that girls in the family have to give up school so the family can afford the boys education. People in rural areas usually are allowed to have two children since the beginning of 1986 while it is strictly forbidden in cities. (However, this exemption was withdrawn in 1995) Researchers have also found that people with lower education tend to have more children in average (of course it is not true in every case). Since families with higher education and better economy usually have fewer children and vice versa, the difference between the spending on each child will somewhat increase. Some experts are thusShow MoreRelatedChina‘S One Child Policy648 Words   |  3 PagesSophy Huang DSOC Essay 5 Revision 9 April 2012 It’s time to change a manufacturing model In the last two decades, China’s economy has grown rapidly, becoming the world’s second largest economy after the U.S. China has gained this achievement by becoming the factory of the world and exporting cheap products to oversea markets. However, recently China has been losing its advantages in the export sector, which its economy is heavily reliant on. New data shows a visible slowdown in manufacturingRead MoreChina’s One Child Policy1305 Words   |  5 PagesChina’s One Child Policy There are more than 1.3 billion people living and building families in China. Until a century ago, many Chinese families included multiple generations living in the same household. Today, though, its no longer the norm. A typical Chinese family today includes a married man and woman with one child, and this is generally known as the core family. The percentage of core families continues to rise above other types of family units. This not due to a social coincidenceRead MoreChinas One Child Policy954 Words   |  4 Pagespopulation containment by way of a ‘ One-Child Police’, to alleviate its social and economic problems (Jiang, 2010). 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With such an alarming number of people and limited resources, even in such a large nation, there had to be an even larger change. China’s one-child policy was a remedy to this problem, and helped Chinese citizens in many ways. Without the policy, China would have many economic problems and serves all of China with its rules. China’s one-child policy was an excellent idea for China and its peopleRead MoreEssay On Chinas One Child Policy1195 Words   |  5 PagesChina’s one-child policy made it illegal for most Chinese couples to have more than one child. It was the culmination of the government’s long struggle to control population growth. The policy was enforced mainly through financial incentives and punishments, but in rural areas brutal enforcement techniques like non-consensual sterilization and abortion were sometimes used. While the policy did reduce the population, it also caused problems such as an unbalanced male-female sex ratio and â€Å"4:2:1 familiesRead MoreChinas One Child Policy Essay1616 Words   |  7 Pagescontribute significantly to the nations poverty levels and restrain its potential for economic growth. (Gu 42) Chinas one-child family policy was first announced in 1979. In a 1979 speech, Deng Xiaoping drew the first outlines of a policy to limit population growth, Use whatever means you must to control Chinas population. Just do it. (Mosher 50) Basically the aim of Chinas one-child family policy was to help slow population growth to 1.2 billion by the year 2000. It was hoped that third and higher