"Excellence" has been a prevalent term in New Labour rhetoric on education, most notably in the stated goal of "excellence for all" in education. Despite that, the meaning of the term has remained imprecise, and the implications of universal excellence unclear. In this paper, three distinct definitions of excellence are…

This paper presents the findings from a research study of one large public sector organisation's strategy to promote gender equality and family friendliness. An examination was made of the organisation's policy documentation in this area and a questionnaire survey containing both closed and open-ended questions was undertaken across all staff in…

Analyzed two programs in a public agency: Investors in Management (a British government initiative) and employee-led development. Found that both programs exposed tensions between individual growth and traditional values constraining growth. Concluded that effective organizational learning in the public sector must be collective and aware of…

Interviews with managers and lecturers at a British further education college that had experienced a change in governance found the rise of a "new managerialism." Lecturers opposed this style and its values, perceiving a threat to the professional culture of further education. (SK)

Purpose: This research aims to fill a gap in the literature concerning the extent to which recruitment interviewers may substitute leadership capability sets (CSs) differing from those in the job specification (JS). Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior personnel involved in senior staff selection in a…

British survey data from 3,733 on-time graduates and 841 mature graduates (first degree after age 25) showed that lower pay for mature graduates was linked with social class, institution attended, and public sector employment. The public sector was less likely to discriminate against mature graduates. (SK)

The prospect of tuition fee increases for public sector universities has attracted an enormous amount of attention in recent years as governments in all industrialized countries have responded to the converging pressures of increased demands for higher education and rising costs of competing areas of social spending. I show that this dilemma is…

The auditing culture and its concomitant, "performativity", have been at the core of the on-going public sector reforms of the last twenty-five years or so. The advantages and limitations of performance indicators as a managerial technique of control have long been known. Considered from an organisational, social and political…

Public bodies hold a range of information and content ranging from demographic, economic and meteorological data to art works, historical documents and books. Given the availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs) public sector information can play an important role in producing innovative value-added services and goods.…

Over the last decade, many groups of professionals in the public sector have been reoriented as individual managers. In British higher education, individual department heads have been pressured to develop private-sector-manager-like identities and relations with their colleagues. This case study revealed considerable resistance to managerialism in…

Reestimates the P-test in the United Kingdom, correcting for the possible endogeneity of employment sector. Results do not support the strong screening hypothesis. After accounting for selectivity bias regarding choice of employment sector, the rate of return for the private sector is still higher than for the public sector. In 1985, an extra year…

Examines the scale and determinants of alumni giving, using datasets from two public-sector UK universities. Considers the importance of alumni giving as revenue and performance measures, comparing UK with U.S. alumni behaviors. Women are more likely to give; high-income grads, particularly lawyers, give greater amounts. (Contains 35 references.)…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present a case study of an HRD team from the UK that delivers training to a large public service Hungarian organization with the aid of interpreters and translators. Design/methodology/approach: The article takes the form of a case study. Findings: The article acts to illustrate good and ineffective…

Examines current issues and trends in the United Kingdom's outdoor education industry as context for discussions about forming a national association for outdoor professionals. Discusses declining state provision of outdoor education in schools, increasing commercialism, recent negative images of the outdoor industry, increasing emphasis on safety…

This article reports an investigation of the attitudes and opinions of children's librarians towards poetry, and towards its promotion in the public library. It also reports some attitudes towards literature promotion to young people in general. A series of structured interviews with library professionals currently working in the public sector…