Lietuvos valstybės politika įgyvendinant socialinės atskirties prevenciją akcentuoja būtinybę garantuoti socialinės atskirties grupėms priklausantiems asmenims ne tik visas reikalingas materialines gėrybes ar socialines paslaugas, bet ir galimybes įgyti tinkamą išsilavinimą. Neformalusis ugdymas, organizuotas atsižvelgiant į vaiko interesus, gali prisidėti prie bendro ugdymo tikslo - savarankiškos ir kūribingos, maksimaliai jau mokykloje savo gebėjimus išskleidžiančios asmenybės ugdymo. Tyrimo objektas - išanalizuoti neformaliojo ugdymo formos ir teikiamos galimybės socialiniame darbe. Darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti neformaliojo ugdymosi galimybes ir įvertinti šio ugdymo įtaką mažinant ugdytinių socialinę atskirtį. Darbe keliama hipotezė, jog optimali neformaliojo ugdymo formų dermė bendruomenėje gali prisidėti prie vaikų socialinės atskirties mažinimo. Tyrimas buvo atliekamas Kazlų Rūdos miestelio bendruomenėje naudojant šiuos metodus: 1)socialinių institucijų veiklos bendruomenėje organizuojant neformalųjį ugdymą analizė;2)kokybinis tyrimo metodas apklausiant socialinę atskirtį patiriančius vaikus ir socialinius darbuotojus, kurie tiesiogiai dalyvauja sprendžiant socialinės atskirties mažinimo problemas. Apklausta dešimt socialinę atskirtį patiriančių vaikų ir keturi socialiniai darbuotojai. Nustatyta, kad Kazlų Rūdos bendruomenėje yra platus socialinių institucijų, potencialiai pajėgių dalyvauti neformalaus ugdymo organizavime, tinklas, tačiau bendradarbiavimo ryšiai šiuo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Realizing prevention of social disjuncture, the policy of the state of Lihuania emphasizes the necessity to ensure all necessary worldly goods or social service as well as possibility to get proper education for the people who belong to the groups of social disjuncture. Informal education that is organized in consideration of child interests can also contribute to the general purpose of education which consists of forming an independent and creative personality able to reveal his capabilities already at school. The object of the research is forms of informal education and possibilities that are offered by social work. The objective of the work is to analyse possibilities of informal education and evaluate the impact of this education on reduction of pupils’ social disjuncture. The hypothesis of the work is that optimal tune of informal education forms in community can contribute reducing social disjuncture of children. The research was carried out in Kazlu Ruda community using these methods: 1) analysing activities of social institutions that organize informal education; 2) qualitative analysis method questioning children who experience social disjuncture and social workers who participate directly solving problems related with reducing social disjuncture. It was questioned ten children experiencing social disjuncture and four social workers. It is defined that Kazlu Ruda community has a wide network of social institutions that are potentially able to participate in... [to full text]

The number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) has increased significantly in Sweden since the summer of 2006. Due to Sweden’s high rate of asylum application approvals, it has become a main destination country. Concurrently, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have decreased in other more traditional European destination countries, such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway. The majority of the UASC come from Afghanistan and Somalia. There is insufficient knowledge regarding these children’s reasons and patterns for the migration to Sweden. This is a case study based on semi-structured interviews with key informants that have been strategically chosen for this study. The Migration System theory, which is based on key mechanisms of the globalization theory, is used in this study. Restricted asylum regulations in Western countries have created a “migratory industry” with human smugglers, which facilitate and expand the irregular migration. The migratory industry greatly influences the children’s choice of destination. Without the assistance of human smugglers, a migration would be impossible for these children. The conclusion of this study demonstrates the importance of informal social networks that are the reason behind the increase of UASC in Sweden.

Globally, the nature of competition is changing. Growing international prosperity, combined with the forces of globalisation, are creating a demand for greater product variety and quality. For producers this has meant the need to focus production on niche markets and to move from Fordist mass production to post-Fordist- flexible production systems that emphasise small batches of high quality customised products. Accompanying this shift is an increasing awareness within industry of the need to respond flexibly and rapidly to changing customer demands. In this increasingly cornpetitrve environment marketing and retailing arrangements are becoming critical to firm success. Close contact with customers has become increasingly important, promoting new forms of retailing arrangements, and a growing understanding of the role retail arrangements play' in satisfying consumer demand. At the same time, the growth in batch production for niche markets has created room for small enterprises to effectively compete with larger firms in producing for increasingly fragmented markets. Internationally, small firms have found that their competitive position can be strengthened through geographic clustering into what are sometimes called Industrial Districts. Clustered firms co-operate around a range of issues such as input purchasing, marketing and exporting. Finally , a shift to flexible production has been reflected in informalisation, the systematic shifting of production into the informal sector. These trends - the shifting basis of competition, the growth in flexible production, widening opportunities for small enterprises and growing informalisation - are particularly obvious in the clothing sector. They are especially relevant in South Africa where competition from low cost producers in Asia is forcing local clothing enterprises to concentrate production on high quality , high fashion garments for upper market segments in order to retain a share of the domestic market. This study attempts to determine to what extent the behaviour of a particular group of clothing enterprises - the small, mostly informal clothing enterprises operating at the Essenwood Craft Market - reflects these global trends. The activities of the Essenwood clothing enterprises were found to reflect the shift in the nature of competition, and particularly the growing importance of retailing and marketing arrangements for competitiveness. The enterprises were targeting niche markets , and emphasising product quality and design innovation. Retailing through the Craft Market allowed these small enterprises to benefit from an environment conducive to consumption, while facilitating close contact with customers. The firms were not, however, taking advantage of the clustering of retail arrangements to co-operate with one another on matters of mutual interest. The informal nature of these enterprises seemed to reflect a desire for economic independence, rather than the negative effects of economic restructuring, or a strategic shift of production from the formal to the informal sector. The study suggests that informal enterprises can be dynamic and growth-orientated, and questions whether the White Paper on Small Business recognises this. Useful support for dynamic, growth-orientated informal enterprises could include domestic and export marketing support, and the facilitation of co-operation between enterprises to encourage improved purchasing and lobbying power. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban,1998.

The majority of the people living with HIV in the North West Province are part of households living in an unfavourable economic situation (Kotze, Roux & Wessels 2001 :83). The AlDS pandemic has intensified their poverty situation even more, which is emphasized by Nattrass (2004:150) in the following statement: 'The AlDS pandemic is both a cause and effect of poverty.' Adding to this, the majority of the poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the Potchefstroom district do not feel supported after having been diagnosed HIV positive (Pienaar, 200455-58). Once there is a clearer understanding of how South Africans experience living with HIV. counsellors, nurses and other health care workers will be better equipped to meet the needs of these people (Coetzee & Spangenberg 2003:216). Therefore, guidelines that can serve as useful tools for professional nurses and other health care workers, including volunteers, who are working with poverty-stricken people living with HIV, were developed in this study in order to address the gap in the support during the HIV infection. The objective of this research was to explore the experience and to identify the support needs of poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the informal settlements in the Potchefstroom district and to formulate guidelines for effective support for poverty-stricken people living with HIV. A qualitative, phenomenological design was used which enabled the researcher to understand the way in which poverty-stricken people experience living with HIV and to identify their support needs. In-depth interviews, consisting of 24 one-to-one interviews and one focus group were conducted to obtain the data. The population studied in this research consisted of the poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the informal settlements in the Potchefstroom district in the North West Province, South Africa. Purposive sampling was used to select participants with the assistance of mediators who are working for the Non Governmental Organisations dealing with HIV and AlDS in the Potchefstroom district. The sample size was determined by data saturation, which was reached after 25 interviews. Data analysis was carried out simultaneously with data collection. In consensus discussions, the researcher and the co-coder reached consensus on the main and sub themes. From the research findings, six main themes were identified. The first two main themes are the facilitative and impeding experiences of poverty-stricken people living with HIV. The remaining four main themes include the needs of poverty-stricken people living with HIV, namely; basic needs, psycho-social needs, cultural-spiritual needs and self-actualisation needs. It could be concluded that the experience of poverty-stricken people living with HIV in the Potchefstroom district is closely related to their support needs. In order to address these needs holistically and to enhance the quality of life of poverty-stricken people living with HIV, the needs should firstly be addressed individually and according to culture. Following that, the collective needs can be addressed by a support system addressing basic, psychosocial, cultural-spiritual and selfactualisation needs for which an experiences and needs framework and guidelines were formulated. / Thesis (M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

In Canada and internationally, increases in Home Care (HC) services for the elderly have been a policy priority in recent decades. HC services include Home Health Care (HHC) and Homemaking/Personal Support (HM). The primary objectives of this study were to explore the interrelationship among publicly funded, privately funded, and informal HC services in terms of potential for substitution, and between publicly funded HHC and HM services; and the determinants of the receipt of each type of HC services. Stabile, Laporte, and Coyte’s family home care decision model (2006) was extended, to develop an understanding of the demand for HHC and HM services separately and to include different household arrangements. The consequential hypotheses were tested in two empirical studies. Individual panel data for those aged 65 and over were derived from 8 biannual waves of the Canadian National Population Health Survey (1994-95 to 2008-09). A Panel Two-Stage Residual Inclusion method was used to estimate the likelihood of the receipt of HC services, adjusting for socio-demographic, health status, disability, dependence on help with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), and regional characteristics. The results showed that receipt of publicly funded HM is complementary with receipt of publicly funded HHC services after adjusting for functional and health status. Receipt of publicly funded and privately funded HM services did not show an effect on each other. Receipt of publicly funded HM did not affect the receipt of informal HM services. The availability of informal care from a partner or other adult sharing the household reduced the likelihood of publicly funded HM receipt. Age, dependence on help with ADLs, health status and income are determinants of the propensity to receive publicly funded HHC and HM services as well as privately funded and informal HM. Findings in this study suggest that changes in the availability of publicly funded HC services may not greatly affect the provision of informal care in Canada. The complementary effect between publicly funded HHC and HM services and the income effect in the receipt of publicly and privately funded HC services may raise concerns about equitable access to HC services in Canadian jurisdictions.

Adult educators talk frequently about learning which occurs during daily living; however, relatively few explore the breadth and depth of such learning. I contend that shopping, as it is commonly understood and practiced in Western societies, is a site of everyday learning. Among people concerned about globalisation, this learning connects shopping to the politics of consumption, identity and resistance. Central to this inquiry are Antonio Gramsci's (1971) concepts of hegemony, ideology, common sense and dialectic. These are useful in understanding the irresolvable tensions between the political, economic and cultural arenas of social life. Informed by critical, feminist and critical race scholarship, I proceed to conceptualize adult learning as “incidental” (Foley, 1999, 2001) and holistic. I then conceptualize “consumer-citizenship.” Social relations of gender, race and class are central in the construction of identity which influences experiences and understandings of consumption and citizenship in the context of Canadian society and global development. My over-arching methodology, which I call “case study bricolage,” incorporates qualitative case study methods of interviews, focus groups and participant observation with 32 self-identified “radical shoppers” in Vancouver, British Columbia. As well, I employ cultural studies' intertextuality, and include an analysis of popular fiction to further expose discourses of shopping, consumption and consumerism. Drawing on Laurel Richardson's (2000) “crystallization,” I use various analytical “facets” to respond to three questions about shopping-as-learning: What do participants learn to do? Who do participants learn to be? How do participants learn to make change? Critical media literacy theory illuminates the function of popular culture in constructing a discursive web which shoppers navigate. Through shopping, participants learn how to learn and to conduct research, and how to develop a shopping-related values system, literacy and geography. Benedict Anderson's (1991) concept of “imagined community” helps explicate how participants' affiliations with shopping-related movements provide a sense of purpose and belonging. Finally, Jo Littler's (2005) notions of “narcissistic” and “relational” reflexivity clarify that different processes of reflexivity lead to different perspectives on societal change. This inquiry has implications for research and theorizing in adult learning, and the practice of critical adult education.

This study investigates the relationship between gender, social capital and resilience in four of British Columbia’s rural, island communities. Each community’s unique circumstances provide a distinctive context in which to study the interaction between these concepts. This study utilizes quantitative data from several sources, including Statistics Canada, BC Stats, and a mail out survey conducted by the Resilient Communities Project (RCP). This study also utilizes qualitative data from several sources, including two sets of RCP interviews, interviews carried out in the Haida First Nation community of Old Massett, and participant observation. The results of these case studies confirm the necessity of taking context into consideration in any study of the operation of social capital. Within this specific context, social networks operate very differently than in an urban setting. The small size of these rural communities means that the entire community functions as one social network, within which residents have ties of differing strengths. The strength of their ties determines their access to resources within the network, as access to these resources is only given to those who are accountable and trustworthy. Through visible and repeated social interaction, residents built strong ties to one another. These ties allow for processes of generalized reciprocity to take place, wherein residents give to others with no immediate expectation of receiving back, knowing that should they need help, it will be available. This process relies entirely on the trust built up through repeated interactions and the sanctions imposed on those who break it, and contributes greatly to community resilience. Women play a particular role within these communities. Unlike studies that find that women are disadvantaged by their social networks, the results of this study find that women have parlayed their higher levels of involvement in the social life of the community and the informal economy into beneficial social networks based on trust and reciprocity. In addition, their higher levels of education put them at the forefront of the new service economy with lower levels of unemployment and equal likelihood of self-employment, all of which contributes not only to individual resilience, but community resilience as well.

Workplace learning and training is often explicitly or implicitly planned to serve the economic interests of the organization. Furthermore, training planning and processes are generally determined by managers, instead of those who will be engaging in the learning. What happens to learning in the workplace when workers themselves determine its content and methods? As seen in the Community Training Plan (CTP), implemented at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation in 2003, control over workplace training by frontline staff has resulted in profound changes in many facets of working and community life. Using testimonials from a recent participatory evaluation of the CTP as well as a series of promotional videos, all of which were created by participants in the CTP, I demonstrate that the CTP has created new forms of engagement and participation; new learning foci; new spaces in the workplace; and finally a sense of staff ownership over learning.

Sparčiai besivystant mokslui, didėjant gamtamokslinių specialybių poreikiui ir jų svarbai šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje, atsiranda spraga ieškant specialistų užpildant šios srities darbo rinką. Pastarąjį dešimtmetį pradėtas skirti nemažas dėmesys neformaliam bei ikiprofesiniam ugdymui mokyklose, kuris padeda moksleiviams sėkmingai pasirinkti tolimesnes studijas bei įsitvirtinti darbo rinkoje pasirenkant jiems tinkamas specialybes. Šiame darbe norėjome nustatyti gamtamokslinio neformalaus ugdymo ir mokinių ikprofesinio pasirinkimo sąsajas. Šiam tikslui pasiekti išsikėlėme tris uždavinius: 1) Atskleisti mokinių ikiprofesinį konsultavimą. 2) Išsiaiškinti mokinių, pasirinkusių gamtamokslinius būrelius, lankymo motyvus. 3) Išsiaiškinti mokinių ikiprofesinį konsultavimą ir lankomų gamtamokslinių būrelių sąsajas. Kadangi ikiprofesinis konsultavimas nors ir ne visose mokyklose, bet vyksta, norėdami žinoti vienos ar kitos srities įtaką profesijų pasirinkimui reikėtų atlikti tyrimus panašius kaip šis.Tuo metu turėtume pilną vaizdą apie Lietuvos ikiprofesinio ugdymo daromą įtaką, ir žinotume kokio tipo ikiprofesinam ugdymui reikėtų daugiau skirti dėmesį atsižvelgiant į jo teikiamą naudą. Šiam tikslui pasiekti ir išsikeltiems uždaviniams įgyvendinti pasirinkome anketavimo metodą kurio metu buvo apklausta 60 mokinių. Atlikus tyrimą galime pasakyti, jog vis tik toki socialiniai veiksniai kaip: draugų rekomendacijos mokytojų pasiūlymai turi nemažą įtaką būrelių lankymo pasirinkimui. Mažiausią... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / While science is going straight forward nature science specialties needs more and more specialists. But among such kind of studies are still not so popular. That’s why there is some difficulties to full fill that kind working places. In recent ten years schools started to pay more attention to informal and to vocational guidance in schools. These kind of teaching helps for school children to select further studies and profession success. In this work we wanted to test the connection ways of informal nature science education and vocational guidance in school. For this propos we hypothesize three hypotheses: 1) reveal schoolchildren vocational guidance. 2) To find out attendance motivation schoolchildren who selected nature science clusters. 3) Find out schoolchildren vocational guidance and attended nature science correlations. Vocational guidance is not at all schools. If we wanted to find out influence of some ranges to profession selection we should do some researches like that. Than we have had a full view about influence of Lithuanian vocational guidance at schools. Than we could see what type of vocational guidance needs more attention according to his offered benefit. For this purpose and huphothesis we have choose method of questionnaire. We have asked 60 persons. After research we can say that such social factors as: friend’s recommendations, offers of teachers have quite big influence for selection of nature science circles. Smallest influence for selections of such... [to full text]

Gerai organizuotas vaikų ir jaunimo neformalus ugdymas ir laisvalaikio užimtumas yra būtina jaunosios kartos socializavimo(si) sąlyga, o taip pat ir veiksmingiausia nusikaltimo prevencija. Todėl būtina nuolat galvoti apie tai, kaip užtikrinti moksleivių saviraiškos galimybes. Tyrimo problema – pedagogai mokyklose mažai dėmesio skiria neformalaus ugdymo metodinių principų išpildymo kokybei, neformalaus ugdymo organizavimui reikalingų kompetencijų tobulinimui. Tyrimo objektas – neformalaus ugdymo metodinių principų raiška gimnazijos neformalaus ugdymo užsiėmimuose. Tyrimo tikslas – išryškinus neformalaus ugdymo pedagogų požiūrį į neformalų ugdymą bei kvalifikacijos kėlimą šioje srityje, įvertinti neformalaus ugdymo metodinių principų raišką bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje. Siekiant šio tikslo, numatyti uždaviniai: 1) apibrėžti neformalaus ugdymo paskirtį bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje; 2) atskleisti neformalaus ugdymo metodinių principų sampratą bei šių principų taikymo reikšmę organizuojant neformaliojo ugdymo užsiėmimus; 3) išryškinti neformalaus ugdymo pedagogų kompetencijas bei kvalifikacijos tobulinimo galimybes Lietuvoje; 4) atskleisti neformalaus ugdymo metodinių principų raišką neformalaus ugdymo užsiėmimuose moksleivių požiūriu; 5) išryškinti neformalaus ugdymo metodinių principų taikymo aktualumą pedagogų požiūriu. Metodologinį darbo pagrindą sudaro pragmatizmo nuostatos, kurios teigia, kad ugdymo tikslas yra mokyti vaikus gyventi. Tyrimo metodai: mokslinės literatūros... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Well-organised informal education and occupation of leisure time of children and young people is an indispensable condition of the socialisation of the young generation as well as the most effective means of crime prevention. Therefore, it is necessary to think about ensuring possibilities for self-expression of school students. The problem of the study: pedagogues in schools pay little attention to the quality of the implementation of informal education methodical principles and to the improvement of competences necessary for the organisation of informal education. The object of the study: the expression of informal education methodical principles in informal education classes of a grammar school. The objective of the study: after identifying the attitude of informal education pedagogues towards informal education and qualification improvement in this area, to evaluate the expression of informal education methodical principles in comprehensive schools. In order to accomplish this objective, the following tasks were established: (1) to define the purpose of informal education in comprehensive schools; (2) to educe the concept of informal education methodical principles and the significance of the application of those principle in the organisation of informal education classes; (3) to identify competences of informal education pedagogues and qualifications improvement opportunities in Lithuania; (4) to educe the expression of informal education methodical principles in... [to full text]