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The International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) specialises in careers education and guidance. Across different national jurisdictions, government engagement with, and support for, career guidance has varied considerably. iCeGS has a track record of engagement and influence on the development of policy in the UK and overseas. Major areas of influence can be summarised as follows:
1) development and systemisation of the evidence base around career guidance;
2) re-orientation of career guidance paradigms around learning and career management skills models;
3) development of innovative new models of delivery involving new technologies;
4) analysis and development of career guidance policy frameworks.
Commissioned research into career management and development led to changes in Human Resource (HR) practice and policy within a public sector organisation (West Mercia Constabulary) which have had clear benefits for the organisation. Subsequently, one of the products of this research, a psychometric tool called the Career Competencies Indicator, was successfully developed for commercial purposes in conjunction with a private sector consulting company. A version of the Career Competencies Indicator aimed specifically at 18-24 year olds was launched in April 2013 bringing immediate commercial benefits to the company involved but also potential benefits for an age group that is currently suffering particularly high levels of unemployment.
Over a decade of innovative comparative research has made a significant contribution to international debates on the future of education, employment and the labour market in the global `knowledge' economy. Prior to this research it was commonly assumed that the demand for high skilled workers would increase in the developed economies as emerging economies including China and India, entered the global economy. Research led by Cardiff University is the first to (a) show how this underestimated the way emerging economies were rapidly entering the competition for high skilled work and (b) outline its far-reaching implication for education, skills and economic policies in the West. The impact of this research is demonstrated in the way policy-makers in transnational organisations including the International Labour Office (ILO) and national governments are rethinking their policy agendas in this crucial area of public policy
A corpus of research developed over twenty years brings together experience and expertise of staff, students and researchers at Birmingham City University in the Early Years (EY) cluster. This has had effects on practice in contexts in which national and international EY policy, leadership and pedagogy are developed and produced, enacted and contested. It has affected specific areas of learning and development, e.g. mathematics, including thinking skills, creativity, information and communications technology.
Research that was policy, programme and issue-focused has stimulated discussion and action, locally, nationally and internationally, for instance in Europe, Central and South-east Asia and Australia.
University of Glasgow research has resulted in a significant change to environmental and development policy at the highest levels of government in Egypt, with tangible grounded benefits for local populations in the regions affected. Briggs and Sharp, in close collaboration with Egyptian colleagues, have substantially shifted the priorities of Egyptian environmental management to include the knowledge, needs and priorities of local people, and especially to increase participation and recognition of women.
Trevor Marchand's anthropological research into how craft skills are learnt, developed by his own acquisition of building and woodworking skills in different societies, has translated theory into practice and the practical. He has contributed to the resistance against the UK's downgrading of craft skills and he has directly impacted upon the way in which crafts have represented themselves and their importance. His impact has been felt in the crafts movement, among architects, and in the FE sector. His work on acquired practical knowledge and its theoretical insights continue to inform debates in the UK and the US in particular.
This case study focuses upon research surrounding knowledge management (KM) practice and implementation (organisational change). The case study utilises research and impact from the Systems Thinking and Organisational Change Research Group (SYTOC), which existed in Derby Business School between 2007 and 2012.
Impact included enhanced business process and practice for many organisations through the significant dissemination of the research. The core group of SYTOC includes Longbottom, Dexter, Marshall and Seddon, visiting professor and a leading authority on change in the public sector.
Practitioner research into Work Based Learning (WBL)* undertaken at Chester since 1993 has seen the University established as a national leader in this field of study and the impact has affected both the private and public sectors. During 2008-2013 practitioner research at Chester has underpinned consultancy and developmental work. This has resulted in significant impact on workforce development including transforming policy and efficiency within a large Government department, a NHS Hospital Trust and with businesses in the private sector.
*(WBL defined in this context as fully accredited, negotiated, modules or programmes of planned learning through work delivered by HE providers)
The underpinning research led to the production of good practice guidance for psychiatric reports for sentencing to be used by courts and forensic psychiatrists, when commissioning and producing such reports. It is the first and only official guidance on psychiatric reports for sentencing in England and Wales endorsed by HMCS. In 2010 it was implemented by HMCS in magistrates' courts and in the Crown Court in England and Wales. In the same year it received the endorsement of the Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The guidance has improved the language, structure and content of psychiatric reports for sentencing and it has enhanced the training of forensic psychiatrists. It has also influenced the production of psychiatric reports for the admission of mentally disordered offenders to high secure hospitals.
Departmental research identifying skills, knowledge and competency frameworks is used by a range of Governments and professional associations internationally to inform and improve contemporary information service provision and professional practice.
The development of robust frameworks and methodologies has resulted in a maturing knowledge and skills base for the information profession. Research on competencies contributed directly to the future education and training framework for the Australian library and information profession. The design and evaluation of Continuing Professional Development frameworks ensures that information and library professionals acquire and maintain the knowledge and skills required to deliver quality information to industry, the public and society as a whole.