Here at conversationsEAST we are humanists, who work in web publishing with tools and techniques, more often than not devised by others, to create workflows that allow us to share a range of knowledge and experiences with others.
Imagine our delight when the economic historians and project writers in our office discovered The Programming Historian.
‘The Programming Historian is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed suite of tutorials that help humanists learn a wide range of digital tools, techniques, and workflows to facilitate their research’.
If you are interested in big data, the humanities, research and have but a passing acquaintance with ‘code’, then this is a great bookmark to preserve.
The Programming Historian contains principles and techniques across a range of disciplines and thematic approaches to digital data manipulation and publishing…
‘Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Data Management, Data Manipulation, Distant Reading, Mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Network Analysis, Digital Exhibit Building, Programming, and Web Scraping. Our tutorials include nearly a dozen lessons on popular DH tools such as MALLET, Omeka, and QGIS’.
The portal is a volunteer project and is supported from the Rosenzweig Centre for New Media at the University of New Mexico.
‘This project is an attempt to demonstrate what open access academic publishing can and should be. Please tell your librarian to include the project in your library catalogue’.
We have added it to the conversationsEAST digital toolkit management list for future use.
This new research report from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a refreshing look at our coastal communities and their economies.
It provides proposals for action, which are leavened through a recognition of history and localised specialist skills. The analysis is elevated beyond the ordinary ‘top down research’ by emphasising the need for socio-political and economic frameworks in coastal communities which re-connect people with nature and the coastal landscape – a series of contours that are geographical, industrial and philosophical.
The report takes us out of the ivory tower and into the sand dunes.
Previous NEF research has already looked at how a low-carbon economy can generate new jobs and economic entities, that can offer secure, decently paid and satisfying work in a more equally distributed economic landscape. See more here…
The essence of the New Blue Deal is to build on existing initiatives and create a mixed framework of five changes and economic thematic deliveries, which are sustainable, inviting and inclusive to the communities of focus.
sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
renewable energy
coastal tourism and related activities
innovative approaches to coastal management
opportunities to re-connect people with nature
‘For the fishing industry, for example, NEF analysis shows that restoring UK fish stocks to healthy levels and promoting lower carbon emissions through
quota allocation across the main UK fishing fleets would mean an extra 457,000 tonnes of fish landed each year, leading to an additional £268 million
GVA (Gross Value Added) and a 24% increase in employment, the equivalent of 4,922 new jobs’.
Source: Carpenter, G., Esteban, A. (2015) Managing EU fisheries in the public interest: Results from the Bio-Economic Model of European Fleets. New Economics Foundation. Results calculated using 2010-2012 performance. New jobs estimate is made up of fishing jobs (11%) andprocessing jobs (89%). Retrieved from: http://www.fisheriesmodel.eu/
The report looks at a variety of UK locations, with fishing being a key focus of course. However, other work is highlighted. Engagement and partnerships that work across responsible tourism, leisure and recreation.
From Anglesey Adventures, a business working in the outdoor leisure arena, to The Venus Company, working in its chain of cafes to ‘…balance customer needs with environmental and social considerations’. We particularly liked the feature on Learn to Sea, a ‘sea school’ project in South Devon. Using the coastal spaces as an educational resource which informs children and young people, but which also carries forward the ideas of sustainability, economic durability and environmental awareness into the next generation.
Here at conversationsEAST we are incredibly fond of the Suffolk coastline, for example. But we look at areas around communities like Great Yarmouth or Lowestoft, with their long tradition of fishing and livelihoods from the sea. Whilst we recognise that ‘Big Oil’ does provide jobs and technical advancement for some sectors of the community, without doubt, creating a recognisable influx of highly specialised employees from external sources.
Whilst this fosters economic activity which is vital, it does not reposition those communities to explore, create and sustain their history with their coastline and enable them to encourage the growth of entry level and intermediate skilled work.
The New Blue Deal does.
You do not need to spend long with the NEF document to see, in your mind, how your favourite stretch of coast can become a thriving community – a nexus of education, social and community enterprise, ocean facing and non-exploitative at every level.
We commend this report to our readers. If you would like to explore and track the New Blue Deal there is a new NEF website available here. http://www.bluenewdeal.org/
To Ipswich on Saturday 27th June, 2015 with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
A Type 1 Discovery Day.
JDRF, as a registered charity No: 295716, delivered a day of great science and support to parents, carers and children whose lives have been touched by Type 1 Diabetes.
The event was held in the Waterfront Building at UCS in Ipswich, with the visitors able to get to understand Type 1 better, but also to meet the enthusiastic, caring and knowledgeable team from JDRF.
The younger children were catered for in a separate area of the University, just down the corridor in an adjacent room. They were entertained, energised and informed by the team from Mad Science. A great way, in a superb learning setting, to free parents and carers to concentrate on the business of the day in the University auditorium. (A great idea we thought – Ed.)
A key part of Dr. Tauschmann’s exposition was that ‘…the closed loop is on its way’. He went on to illustrate the changes in technology and equipment which has, in very short time revolutionised both take up and delivery of insulin to patients in an automatic or semi-automatic fashion.
Five years of intense clinical research has resulted in test equipment which makes decisions for the patient every 12 minutes, adapting and measuring doseage to suit the persons ongoing status.
Research, like that funded across the JDRF spectrum of activity has several aims. They are ‘…to achieve, for the person concerned, reassurance, peace of mind, confidence, safety, better control and the ability to feel much better in the first half of the day’.
Dr. Tauschmann stressed how important funding from JDRF was, given the long lead times from pure research to delivery of a finished product, in terms of new pumps and e-control mechanisms for them. Each study taking some five months to appraise, with another six to twelve months for completion and publication.
(It was at this point we wanted a representative of the Google Foundation, the Android development team or Apple, to burst into the auditorium to announce a new development partnership with Addenbrookes and JDRF. Using smartphone technology and manufacturing expertise to help close the loop very quickly indeed…Ed?).
The sun shone on parents, carers, children and Ipswich…
John Hassler-Hurst and Dr. Gerry Rayman of the Ipswich Diabetes Research Team at Ipswich Hosital gave an informative and well illustrated talk on the depth of research, innovatory approaches and inclusions to practice of a national nature which had all been fostered at Ipswich hospital.
In 1985 the Ipswich team were the first to attempt to discover if a dedicated Centre for Diabetes had utility as a resource. A self evident truth held by all now. The team at Ipswich are part of a research energy which exceeds any other District General Hospital in the UK.
They have broken ground in several key areas of care and research we were told. ‘In technology, education, kidney function and eye disease’.
Jahn Hassler-Hunt, the lead Paediatric Research Nurse for the Ipswich team completed the presentation by giving the audience a very detailed analysis of the most recent and current research areas.
From the effect of Interleukin 2, to the enhanced clinical outcomes which can now be expected, how very young children can be included in research methodologies and how Centres, such as Ipswich, can offer seamless access to research and care provision right through to adulthood. A very important part of process for children and young people on their health journey.
The event was rounded off by a JDRF volunteer, Kevin Black, who is a public speaker of some proficiency and humour. Kevin gave us details of not only his own contribution to the work of JDRF and how this has supported his own family, but also illustrated forthcoming JDRF events which everyone can take part in. (We offer details of some below…) We enjoyed his talk and it left us uplifted.
Forthcoming JDRF events:
London Bridges – One Walk Sunday 27th September, 2015. See more here…
Cambridge Coffee Morning Girton College Friday 2nd October 2015 at 10.30am See more details here…
This was a stimulating and informative event, for those attending and those with an interest in finding out more about how to support the work of JDRF.
If you have someone in your life touched by Type 1 then getting involved with the charity as a volunteer or a donor is a great way to support the work, the research and quality outcomes for children and young people.
In his detailed analysis Benedict informs us that the micro-business excels in sectors where relationships are the key to business and operational success. ‘Microbusinesses (excluding sole traders) are 4 percent more productive than the sector-wide average in human health activities, 20 percent in education and 38 percent in social work’.
In a well argued section of the report Benedict looks back at the proto-industrial period, pre-1750, when the notion of industry was tempered by the small, local producer – often the basis of what we might now call the ‘family firm’.
It is the Twentieth Century and The Age of Oilwhich reconditioned our thinking, the RSA Action and Research Centre argue, to believe that the large corporation is the sole standard bearer for commercial enterprise success. Writing in the 1970’s…
E. F. Schumacher, who, in his book Small is Beautiful,
lamented that his generation suffered from “an almost universal idolatry of gigantism”, and instead called for “production by the masses, rather than mass production”.
The data presented in this RSA Report underscores the importance of the micro-business to the welfare of the UK economy, as well as recognising that the small business is a driver of social welfare in the localities that they operate in. ‘There is also a geographical element to consider. Evidence shows that small firms are more beneficial than large firms for the local economies in which they operate’.
To those of us who work in the social business sector, helping charities and mainstream businesses to actively adopt sustainable business practices linked to social outcome, we clearly recognise the power of this observation.
1. The UK’s micro business population is booming
2. Many see this as a bad economic omen and a sign of a fragmented labour market
3. But our research finds that micro businesses may help to spur productivity
4. … and innovation
5. … and job creation
6. In any case, the value of micro businesses is not well captured by conventional measures
7. Five key factors help to explain why micro businesses have become more economically viable
8. Rather than be preoccupied with micro businesses we should pay more attention to the activities of oligopolies
9. We can shape our economy – the status quo is not predetermined nor inevitable
Each of them, in the report, is well argued and provides comfort to the small business owner, and should give the nascent micro-business entrepreneur confidence for the future. If you have spent years working for yourself, or have just joined the entrepreneurial drive to create socially minded businesses, then a high level of satisfaction to be gained awaits you.
Micro business employees are the most satisfied workers – Microbusiness employees score highest on most indicators of job satisfaction, including influence over their job, involvement in decision-making and good relations with management.
Detailed, thought provoking and telling in its analysis. We commend the latest Dellot opus to our readers.
It has been a couple of years now since OPM published Rob Francis’s report Unlocking Local Capacity. However, with a new government and a fresh round of cuts in train, the content of the report around how and why unlocking potential is of interest to Local Authorities, remains highly topical.
The detail of the report looks at three key areas…
Unlocking individual capacity
Unlocking community capacity
Unlocking Council capacity
When looking at the individual the report examines the issues of trust, how both residents and elected members perceive each other and the veracity and effectiveness of creating new types of conversation in the local arena.
‘These questions are central to discussions about localism, empowerment and what central government calls the Big Society; but they are being asked with such urgency because acute financial pressures demand it’.
It is perhaps a sign of how difficult these issues are, in dealing with relationships with the local state, regardless of political tone, as much of the observations in the report can, to those of us with long memories, sound a long echo back to the heady days of the New Deal for Communities programmes. (This set of Wikipedia links make for an interesting historical narrative about community change…Ed.)
There is an interesting debate established in the report about the subject of ‘incentives’, or rather about the carrot or stick approach to behaviour change. This will always be a thorny issue to wrangle with, not least because with any positive reward programme some will be rewarded for establishing behaviours that others consider the norm.
Another issue is the perception of ‘deviance’, an uncomfortable psychological nomenclature, when used to describe residents who may have been disenfranchised socially and economically by the state for some period of time.
This video of a recent RSA lecture nicely bridges the first two chapters in the OPM report. Alienation, lack of reality and individual empowerment are all part of this reflection by Sir John Elvidge…
The second chapter of the OPM report looks at collective responses through volunteering, in the context of changing landscapes with joint, collaborative action. We found it interesting, in revisiting this report, which makes much mention of the then current Big Society idea, that volunteering was seen as something new.
This despite a long, long history of community collective action through the charitable sector, arguably dating back to the early Victorian era two centuries ago now. Newness and efforts to stratify and comodify volunteering persist in the thinking of central government still, as seen in the refreshed election promises to incentivise the company volunteer.
The third sector of the report looks at how councils have and are changing in this redefined landscape. New sources of funding for community projects, new discussions with residents about core budget allocations as a means of establishing recognised community priorities and how to avoid ‘resource capture’. That is to say, those who shout loudest get the most!
‘This report makes the case that when it comes to local people doing more for themselves, it is not enough for councils to simply get out of the way; that capacity in most cases needs to be unlocked, not unleashed’.
This summation of the report is telling. It urges Councils to ‘…have a different conversation’. To shift the local authority debate away from ‘what do you need’ towards a focus on ‘what can we all do that would make things better?’
We particularly liked the urgency of the demand that Councils should ‘…keep hold of the boring stuff’. Governance and the workings of the committee are not everyone’s dream aspiration.
Where the tree will be planted, where the tea and cakes will be served and what colour should we paint the container…much more engaging questions in socio-political landscape change?
With an ever increasing press for change in social and economic inequality and the drive for more standardisation and accountability by test, the time is absolutely right, we would argue, to spread the work of the Equality in Education Network that emerged that day in April 2014.
The short film linked below, from the event, shows Pasi Sahlberg delivering a critique of GERM, the Global Education Reform Movement. Although presented with a light touch, the argument bites deep. GERM offers no improvement in educational outputs overall, he argues.
‘Competition is seen as the right way, striving for pan-education standardisation and test based accountability is now the norm. Education is seen as an industry, a business opportunity…’ Pasi Sahlberg 2014
Pasi develops his argument by looking at two key themes. Inequality and equity. In the frst case, using Finnish data he argues that the Finnish system of tax distribution and social equality has had a profound performance effect on education in his country. In the affluent West, he argues, those nations that have the highest levels of inequality have the lowest quality educational outcomes.
In the second case, equity, the presenter’s data is used to analyse how international education systems serve all the children of a nation. What is the aggregate benefit to a nation by educational system? Here Pasi illustrates the dramatic journey of Finland again, tracking forty years of improving educational attainment . Often within the context of a turbulent socio-political landscape.
Mr. Sahlberg astonishes his audience by announcing that he has read all five volumes of the most recent PISA Report – find key OECD findings on-line here…, at five hundred pages a volume. He has discovered, despite the policy debate and process changes that recently emerged in the UK, two key PISA recommendations – found in the fourth volume.
School choice and competition are not related to performance.
Greater equity and autonomy over curricula and assessment seem to improve performance.
The speaker closes his argument with five key recommendations about the delivery of a nation’s educational infrastructure. Although not revolutionary, they are seemingly perhaps counter intuitive at first, when assessed against current UK policy and practice, we would argue.
Co-operation is key – collaborative work should be the driving force across teaching, political activity, headships and governance in schooling.
Place less stress on early learning, and much more focus on play.
Be less confrontational, the key players in education should always strive for consensus.
Achieve less accountability, but make, what systems there are, trust based.
Have less school ‘choice‘ and strive always for a more equitable school system.
This is a telling case for Equality in Education.
Call to Action:
At conversationsEAST we would like to support the work of John Bayley and his colleagues in the nascent, London based, Equality in Education Network.
Is there an opportunity for a network group in the East of England?
Make contact with us through our ‘contact us’ slider above and we’ll let the Eastern Region team, and John, know of your interest. We should have an event in the region to revivify the discourse?
Other items of interest on this topic…
You can see and listen to Peter Mortimer’s talk, at the same event, on Inequality in English Education here. Again, delivered in gentle terms, but with a telling cutting edge about current policy.
Finally, if the need to examine global inequality issues has grabbed you, it is well worth revisiting The Spirit Level. You can see Richard Wilkinson speaking at TED below…
(A year has passed since the 2014 World Autism Day. We suspect that the clarity and depth of knowledge about neuro-diversity still has a continuing development need across all our communities.
We publish below a review article of an event at the University of Hertfordshire, held a year ago. Jenny King FRSA ends the piece with a call for action – an opportunity to repeat and expand the work that was started at this well attended and well received regional event.
If the filmic evidence and the narrative below inspire you to engage and help, do make contact with Jenny and offer support for this important project…Ed.)
A review of an evening forum for local professionals in Health and Education held at the University of Hertfordshire April 2 2014, World Autism Day.
Aims in 2014:
To raise awareness of the talents and needs of high functioning neuro-diverse young children.
To clarify:
a) the best pathway to early diagnosis and
b) the most appropriate intervention from families and educators to maximise strengths and minimise challenging behaviour.
Objectives one year on in 2015:
To encourage Fellows to “roll out” similar events across the Country.
This unique Forum hosted by the University of Hertfordshire and the Royal Society of Arts, provided qualified practitioners in Health and Education an opportunity hear first hand information on young, high functioning neuro-diverse children and their traits and behavioural challenges. The aim was to facilitate conversation on the need to recognise the potential in the children’s often exceptional talents, and focus on their needs. The chief of these to try to clarify a pathway to early diagnosis and consequent support.
Two hundred and fifty representatives from health and education were invited: GPs Paediatricians, Health Visitors, Clinical and Educational Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Headteachers, SENcos – Nursery and Early years Managers, Family Support Workers, Counsellors, HomeStart, and support groups working specificially for Neuro-Diverse children, including members of the Hertfordshire County Council and East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust.
Two Fellows of the RSA, Jenny King and Sue Hind Woodward, put together this event after sharing a conversation at an RSA East Herts function dinner at Hatfield House about their concerns for the lack of recognition and support for the majority of young, high functioning neuro-diverse children. Those whose extraordinary gifts and talents could ultimately change the world, but whose extreme behavioural challenges prevented their recognition and progress.
Following the best tradition of the origins of the RSA in the coffeehouses in London in the 1700s, Sue and Jenny progressed their discussions at a Costa Coffee shop at a service station on the A1(!), halfway for both, against the clamour of travellers and fruit machines etc. Not quite the same cerebral atmosphere but nonetheless the idea was developed and they parted bent on growing their conversation to reach the people who could make a difference. Sue coined the phrase “Unleashing Potential – Crucial Beginnings” which encapsulated their aims.
Some research prior to the event showed that primarily there seemed to be a lack of knowledge of the traits of neuro-diversity e.g. Autistic Spectrum, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Bipolar and related difficulties. In particular even when the traits had been identified there was no clear route forwards to diagnosis. Getting help was a frustrating performance for parents trying to demonstrate that their child was challenging for a reason unconnected to their upbringing. Delays were up to two years for a first appointment with an NHS specialist.
Looking into the situation more closely it appeared that some GPs were unfamiliar with the traits of neuro-diversity and did not know where to start with a referral. Health Visitors, possibly with more involvement supporting low-functioning children with behavioural problems, tended to direct parents towards family counselling which implied failure in parental terms. Family Counsellors visited were often equally unsure about further diagnosis for the child. Some schools, already frustrated by the challenging behaviours exhibited by neuro-diverse children, were not always sympathetic and were not well informed about traits, or how to address the difficulties experienced, and the routes to follow for help.
With these discoveries, Sue and Jenny met with Lyn Bhania Senior Tutor in Education who takes a focus on Special Needs at The University of Hertfordshire. Lyn and her colleague Lewis Stockwell were invaluable in offering advice and support for the function and facilitating this at the University. Once the evening’s format was established, Jo Massie at the RSA proved invaluable in helping with administration, managing Eventbrite for ticketing etc.
Contacts were made and eminent Speakers invited on the topic, and a panel of experts to take Q & A. The University helped with their contact lists and specially designed invitations went by snail mail and email across the county. It was decided not to include parents of neuro-diverse children as owing to their frustrations and difficulties this could have brought controversy to a proceeding aimed at bridge building. Thus the event was strictly for professionals. However two of the main Speakers each had an autistic child, so parents were represented. Jenny King FRSA (a retired Headteacher with a specific interest in neuro-diversity) introduced the event with its aims and objectives.
This was followed by the Keynote Speaker, Dr. Simon Williams, PhD, FRSPH a former Research Fellow at Cambridge University, current Research Associate Feinberg School of Medicine, and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Public Health. His focus: Public Mental Health Policy and the Effectiveness of Early Diagnosis.
Dr. Williams travelled from the US to become the Keynote Speaker. He opened his talk by stating his wish to discuss a proposal for the introduction of school-based universal screening, for the early identification of risk of emotional, behavioural and mental health problems in children and adolescents. He would also discuss some evaluation research of a school-based counselling intervention, which could be a model for what post-screening targeted intervention would look like.
Dr. Williams went on to add that “in the long term, the spirit of ‘neuro-diversity’ urges us to reconfigure social and cultural institutions and customs such that neuro-diverse conditions are seen as normal variations in the human condition. To put it simply, the spirit of neuro-diversity urges that it is Society and not the individual that has, or causes, the ‘problem’.
Changing social and cultural perceptions and assumptions takes time. In the short term it is prudent to look at ways of improving current diagnostic and intervention processes. Doing so can reduce diagnostic delays and disparities and ensure that more children with ASD or ADHD for example, can access the support from which they could benefit. “
The content of Dr. Williams’ speech can be found on YouTube. Link given below. He covers:
Pre School Screening for ASD,
Universal emotional and behavioural mental health screening
School based Mental Health Intervention
Criticisms re: labelling and stigma, harmful false positives, opposition from parents, overburdening of health and educational services
An evaluation of school based mental health intervention
In conclusion, Dr. Williams explained that because no matter how effective the intervention is once the children are in the system, the problem is that so long as it relies on referrals it is likely that a substantial proportion of children with emotional and behavioural problems, particularly those with internalizing problems, will fail to be identified in the first place.
The second Speaker was Tom Purser of the National Autistic Society, who is their Policy and Participation Officer and also the parent of an Autistic child.
His subject was “The Expert Parent” in which he spoke of the difficulties that beset the parent and gave an overview of Autism in general.
To hear the content of this interesting and informative speech, demonstrating Tom Purser’s in depth knowledge of this topic, follow the Youtube link:
The third and final Speaker was Melanie Peeke, MA Oxon, who works with ADD-vance as a Specialist Trainer delivering workshops/courses for parents and teachers. Also Founder of “Spectrum Girls” social group for girls with High Functioning Autism. Melanie Peeke is the parent of a high functioning autistic daughter. Her talk was on The Empathetic Teacher.
Many of those listening to this talk, especially from the educational arena, found Melanie Peeke’s insights on appropriate school intervention strategies for young, high functioning neurodiverse children, helpful, positive, and relevant.
Following the Speakers was a half hour break for discussion and refreshment in the main Foyer. Groups assembled under “Muster Points” for their professional connection and questions were formed for the Panel in the second half.
The Panel Discussion was chaired by Sue Hind Woodward, stepping into the breach as John Cooper QC FRSA was delayed travelling to the venue.
The Panellists were:
Dr. Paul Bradley – Consultant Learning Disability Psychiatrist.
Now approximately one year on from Unleashing Potential – Crucial Beginnings, the question is “What has been achieved”. Following the event the RSA launched a Survey Monkey from which many helpful comments were gleaned. On the whole the audience felt that questions pre-formed and directed at the Panel would have been useful. The interval mid-way had not been used by the audience to form these questions so perhaps there is a lesson learned here. Workshopping was suggested in any follow up event and this is a possibility for the future.
However on the positives, members of the audience felt they left better informed and with some determination to progress discussions in their own field towards creating better understanding for neuro-diverse young, high functioning children. There is some evidence that this is happening.
A call to action:
A year on from the function, Sue Hind Woodward and Jenny King feel that a second event in East Herts might be worth exploring.
However the purpose of this article is to ask whether you, as a Fellow, might be interested in continuing the conversation in your area? In East Herts the ball has started rolling, but there is no reason why events such as Unleashing Potential – Crucial Beginnings, cannot be “rolled out” across the country.
If you might be one of those to take up the baton – please don’t hesitate to contact Jenny King – jenniferkate.king@gmail.com who will supply all the details you might need to set up a similar event.
The RSA, in partnership with Google and craft marketplace Etsy, recently held a Self Employment summit. Stimulating debate and reflection about the changing landscape of employment and the rise and condition of those ‘going it alone’.
The short film below offers insights into the various debates on the day and some of the original ideas and thoughts emerging from the discussion…
The debate ranges across some interesting data, movements in the economy and is awash with definitions. Data seems to show that since the year 2000, the self -employed as a recognisable economic cohort, have increased by 30%. With the self-employed now representing some 15% of the total active work force in the UK.
Between 2008 and 2013, we are told, the self-employed made up a staggering 90% of all jobs created. Even more seismic, in terms of paradigm shift, is the suggestion that by 2017/2018, the self employed numerically, may exceed the total number of individuals currently working in the Public Sector.
For those of us who work across the Public Sector/Charitable Sector divide, this is perhaps not so surprising. As Local Authorities continue to divest themselves of employed core professional expertise in a number of community support, education and housing sectors, the expertise is re-hired as consultants or contractors.
What does set this change in context, however, is not the numeric rise in self-employment, whatever the sector, professional or otherwise. It is the dramatic increase in diminution of turnover.
Steven Toft, who is the author of Flip Chart Fairy Tales, speaking at the one day RSA event, opines that between 2008 and 2013 aggregate income by the self-employed has fallen by a staggering 8 billion pounds.
However you define being self-employed, and there are multiple definitions, in the RSA research, by HMRC and in the national Labour Market Survey – it is clear that there is a re-structuring of the nature of employment wholly under way.
What this movement is not, however, is an attempt to create quality of life, sustainability of earnings or the increase in cultural and fiscal capital that this change might, given the right business environment, look to build over time.
Not all self-employed people strive to be the next Richard Branson, but that for the individual, given this data, the drive might be led by a belief, actual or not, in the achievement of a better work/life balance, access to culture and the arts and an exercise of choice regardless of cost, that corporatism or global capital does not offer. We do not know.
Finally, we would have liked the debate to have extended fully across social enterprise/social business as a new model for the self employed and entrepreneurially minded. New financial markets and new business models are emerging in these two sectors. Perhaps that is where the real dynamism in the economy is, for those who go it alone?
Other good reads for context:
See our recent article featuring Every Day Employers, an RSA report from the end of last year – offering insights and suggestions to restructure traditional employer/employee relationships. See more here…
See also Salvation in a Start-up, a RSA/Etsy report, from last summer, on the emergence of new micro-businesses. The why and how. See more here…
During the summer of 2014 the Society sent out a survey to the Fellowship, seeking their responses on a number of issues and asking for their views and comments.
Below is a copy that analysis, garnered from the 29% of Fellows who responded, along with some thoughts from the conversationsEAST team as to how our contribution to the work of the Fellowship might be flexed, in response to the findings.
The summary findings from The House indicated the following…
“Overall responses to the survey were positive. Over two-thirds of Fellows join–at least partially–to support our mission, the quality of almost all of our outputs is seen as very high and by far the majority of Fellows are intending to renew their Fellowship. The Survey also generated a large amount of information that can be used to guide ongoing Fellowship development”.
Key findings included…
There is less satisfaction with local events compared to other areas of our work.
There are a large number of Fellows wanting to self- organise but are frustrated at being unable to do so.
There are a large number of Fellows wanting to self- organise but are frustrated at being unable to do so.
Some Fellows want to be more involved in the work we do.
There is a lack of knowledge about what we do. Across the seven RSA Projects included in the survey, `have not heard of it at all’ accounted for between a quarter and a half of all responses.
Younger people and females are less likely to recommend the Fellowship to suitable people than others
There are strong regional variations in how Fellows perceive the RSA.
(Key findings drawn from the RSA Fellowship summary report – Ed.)
Looking forward into 2015 we have recently published our ‘road-map’ as a journal, where we have been working with Tim, our new Fellowship Councillor in the East, to develop a series of gatherings to explore how Fellows can become more engaged with the Society.
We will, as stated, pivot these, supporting Tim directly in the delivery of a series of Fellowship Councillor Surgeries across the region. This might help inform and engage the interested Fellowship directly. Offering an informal setting, with refreshments, for the survey itself to be discussed and for Tim to explain and heighten awareness of the work and input of the Fellowship Council itself. One of the findings in the survey was that many Fellows were unaware of the function of the Fellowship Council, for example.
Another way forward, we would argue, would be to foster the engagement of female Fellows, either as new Fellows, or to develop some way to engage with the Fellowship on a gender basis. We have written before in this journal and in our regional annual reports about the gender imbalances, including in the Fellowship, in our region.
(We could start an Otrera Group in every region to foster the engagement and promotion of Fellowship skills by gender, for example? -Ed.)
If this imbalance in Fellowship is ‘normalised’ across all regions, we would look to develop a campaign/project to engage by gender across adjacent regions for example. Sharing both the information in the recent survey, but garnering explicit local knowledge on gender bias as part of the project initiation work.
(Having talked so long about the matter, it seems that a short burst of positive discrimination, in terms of engagement and resources, might go a long way? -Ed.)
In our publishing activities we will develop a ‘Fellows have their say!’ web journal page. Where the Fellowship can directly contribute to the regional debate in the East. This might be particularly useful in bolstering the regional events catalogue in terms of feedback or activity recommendation. All this information will be passed directly and securely to the Eastern Region Fellowship team, of course.
We will foster and web publish a set of ‘View from the Fellowship Council’ reports. Getting Tim to write a regular review of Council activity and debate, in a generalised way, which can feed into regional meetings and, more importantly, be immediately available to the wider regional Fellowship. Helping to support and deliver a clearer understanding of its work and role.
We think the new RSA web site, arriving this month, which will enable Fellows to contact each other directly if they wish, offers an important and effective mechanism for pan regional co-operation, as well as improving inter-region project and activity development. We look forward to reviewing it on our web pages.
Also useful, we believe, will be the launch of artSUFFUSION, our sister arts focused web journal. We are refining the publication manifesto this month.
We hope that by combining the arts, crafts and making into one energy stream in the region, whilst connecting new conversationsEAST social enterprise start-up projects, we can also help convert our Society’s brilliant research papers and mission into real world examples of sustainable community business and social outcome funded projects.
We look forward to 2015, hoping that our readers will come along with us?
Just published, this report offers fresh insights into the conditionality of being an employer, factored through the lens of rising self-employment, business fears about employment and how central government could deploy a mind-shift in its approach to entrepreneurship and the creation of new jobs.
Authored by Benedict Dellot, the report looks across the business landscape and considers three key areas of analysis that cause the self-employed to falter at the recruitment doorway – pragmatic issues, the mindset and the cognitive biases.
A new RSA Report
Everyday Employers looks at the practical steps that could be energised in order to overcome barriers to employment.
Pooling risk – where recognition exists that not all risk can be avoided, but could be mitigated by establishing collective approaches to insurance, HR or administrative functions.
From hiring to the concept of accessing a workforce – where employees can be shared across a number of organisations.
Boosting supply, rather than stimulating demand – using existing networks, institutions and and networks to create awareness of new jobs and to generate fresh points of contact with work seekers.
From support expansion to support consolidation – taking a fresh look at a large, hyper-active business support nexus. Assessing fitness for purpose and a leaner operational requirement.
… a divergence in opinion is mirrored in people’s attitudes towards crossing the VAT threshold – one potential consequence of employing staff . While 47 percent of business owners not registered for VAT say it would be difficult to operate their firm if they went past the threshold, this compares to just 13 percent of VAT registered business owners looking back in hindsight…
The question of the VAT threshold for small business is used to illustrate the mindset, perceived assumptions , that can restrain business owners from taking on additional staff. The report underscores this philosophical error by highlighting research into how little the small business actually understands about government policy, a gap in knowledge which is compounded by the complexity of the existing business support mechanisms previously mentioned.
In the final section of Everyday Employers, the issue of cognitive bias is analysed. This falls into four distinct categories, the whole of which is, it can be argued, a neat proxy for the ‘landscape of fear’ that can wrack the entrepreneur.
Inertia – simply put, the gain from expansion is outweighed by the potential loss that might be created by the process of growth itself.
Control – a business builder increasingly feels they need to control their creation, nearly always over-estimating their own ability to be productive, for example. This conditioning leads the potential employer to inherently distrust the potential capabilities of new recruits to their business.
Short- termism – a lack of planning and an over-focus on the near term. That and the inability of some business owners to step back from the intensity of the day to day running of their business to appropriately plan.
Social proof – we mimic the behaviours and model our organisations alongside those we interact with. If there is no context for the individual and his or her peers that looks at and responds to growth and recruitment, then they won’t do it either.
Benedict’s report, Everyday Employers, also contains interesting data on self-employment, growth and recruitment. Changing or tempering the landscape reviewed above could have a seismic effect the report argues…
“The number of self-employed people has increased by 30 percent since 2000.
Only three percent of sole traders hired someone (and kept them) over the 5-year period from 2007–2012.
Doubling this recruitment rate to six percent would result in an extra 100,000 more jobs being created (and sustained) over a 5-year period”.
This is a detailed and convincing report, which comes with practical recommendations for business sector change. It also revisits some previous research and uses the data and analysis to support the operational arguments presented in the report.
For the reflective small business person, the practical politician or the profoundly caring policy analyst, this should be the ‘go to’ manual for the next five years.
