Mike Grimsley

Minding the Gap: Ethnic, gender and social class differences in attainment at 16, 1988‐95

This article presents analyses of attainment variations for five cohorts of school leavers between 1988 and 1995. Social class, ethnicity and gender variations in educational attainment at 16 are examined using data from over 80,000 young people in England and Wales. This is the only representative data set that allows analyses of educational variations in England and Wales across social class, ethnic and gender groups simultaneously. The preliminary analyses showed an underrepresentation of some ethnic and lower social class groups in the independent education sector. The attainment analyses thereafter are for state school pupils only. Between 1988 and 1995, attainment differences relating to social class, ethnicity and gender are all seen to increase. In terms of the percentages leaving compulsory schooling with five or more high grade passes (grade A*‐C at General Certificate of Secondary Education), the social class gap of 50 percentage points widened to 56 percentage points, the ethnicity gap from 14 to 20 percentage points and the gender gap from 5 to 10 percentage points. The uneven improvement in educational attainment across ethnic, social class and gender groups is a cause for concern. For certain subgroups there appears to be little or no improvement over the 8 years. These findings relate to a period of considerable political intervention within the British compulsory education system. They suggest that policies focused on raising educational standards may be at variance with the aim of reducing educational inequality.

Evaluative design of e‐government projects: A community development perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework supporting the design and evaluation of e‐government projects, especially those involving voluntary and community organisations.Design/methodology/approach – The research adapts a socio‐economic model of community sustainability, reinterpreting it in the context of e‐government. It documents the evolution of a conceptual framework for evaluative design through study of a project in London, UK. An interpretive approach was adopted, within which research was guided by the structured‐case method.Findings – The research provides an evaluative framework for e‐government projects featuring four forms of community capital: infrastructural, environmental, human and social. An ex post evaluation illustrates how the framework identifies design and management issues that are not considered by conventional evaluative frameworks.Research limitations/implications – The main sources of data reflect project management perspectives and information from monitori...

Exploring the impact of group work and mentoring for multiple heritage children's self-esteem, well-being and behaviour.

Findings are reported from a study of an innovative Multiple Heritage Service in Sheffield (UK) which provides, inter alia, individual mentoring for young people and school-based group sessions on cultural heritage, dealing with racism and enhancing well-being. Group work, undertaken between November 2005 and December 2006, was evaluated by a before/after design with 43 children aged from 8 to 15 attending five different groups (response rate 77%), using three well-established and validated measures. There were improvements on the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale from 31.4 to 33.0 (P = 0.005) with more improvement among younger children and boys (P = 0.004 and P = 0.001); and well-being as measured by the GHQ12 improved from 1.5 to 0.8 (P = 0.111) with more improvement among older children (P = 0.026). On the third measure of problem behaviour (the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), there was an improvement from 12.4 to 12.1 (P = 0.716), but there was no improvement at all for girls. Mentoring was evaluated by telephone interviews between June and October 2006 with 14 mothers whose children had just completed, or were nearing completion of, mentoring (response rate 70%). Overall, the mothers evaluations were highly positive: two-thirds commended the service on the positive impact on their childrens well-being and happiness (including all the mothers of daughters); a half reported positive impacts on identity; mothers commended the positive role model effect same-sex mentors had on their childrens behaviour; but only a third said mentoring had boosted their childrens self-esteem.

The clinical autonomy of community pharmacists in England. 2. Key findings

Objective To investigate the perceived autonomy of community pharmacists in clinical settings and any differences between subgroups of pharmacists.

The clinical autonomy of community pharmacists in England. 1. Designing and testing a survey instrument

Objective To design and test an instrument for measuring variations in the extent to which community pharmacists perceive they can exercise autonomy in clinical settings.