The role of the middle manager has proved to be a difficult one to define due to the fluid nature of the tasks performed and the heterogeneity of understanding that exists for the term. This is further complicated by the differences associated with the context in which individual manager's work. This research, which explores the drive towards…

Purpose: To highlight the way a public policy aiming to achieve a 50% decrease of pesticides use in France reframed advice provision in public and private networks. Design/methodology/approach: We developed a framework to analyze intermediation in a public funded network, a farmers' association, and a network of co-operatives. The framework…

This article explores the current issues on the public-private divide in the Ethiopian higher education landscape and their policy implications. It critically examines issues related to legal and regulatory frameworks in order to understand the public-private divide in the Ethiopian higher education context. The article is based on two premises.…

This article examines language policy in the virtual linguistic landscape (VLL) in Norway and its development over time. The analysis is based on diachronic website data and interviews with state employees concerning the presence or absence of different languages on the websites of three central state institutions. The article reveals a linguistic…

This article examines the interplay between governance and cost-containment efforts in the public sector and the emotional labour and well-being of childcare workers. Care-work researchers have highlighted the complexities of power in emotional labour, such as the fact that emotional labour may simultaneously benefit the individual worker and…

This paper explores contested notions of the purpose of education and careers work. The research for the paper examines public sector employee reactions to notion of a psychological contract breach, when cuts in funding put their jobs and careers at risk. It argues that, in this environment, the search for career fulfilment can be marked by…

This article examines what has happened to training in public sector organisations in the UK in a period of austerity. It draws on individual-level data collected over the period 2000-2012 and establishment-level data collected from employer surveys carried out between 2005 and 2012. To understand these data further, 75 qualitative interviews with…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide insights about the usefulness of management education for the public sector in the Republic of Mauritius, which embarked on reforms initiatives around two decades ago. In this context, public officers were encouraged to follow specialised management courses. However, as at date, there is…

Purpose: This paper is a historical review of the development of private primary and secondary education in Hong Kong from 1841-2012. The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolving relationship between the state and private schools in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach: This paper utilizes sources from published official documents,…

This article concerns gender equality work, that is, those educational and workplace activities that involve the promotion of gender equality. It is based on research conducted in Sweden and Finland, and focuses on the period during which the public sector has become more market-oriented and project-based all over the Nordic countries. The…

This study explored the factors that are critical to the success of public (government) sector knowledge management initiatives and the lessons from private sector knowledge management and organizational learning that apply in the public sector. The goal was to create a concise guide, based on research-validated success factors, to aid government…

This article analyses the expansion of higher education offered by technical and further education institutes in Australia and it compares this provision with the expansion of higher education in further education colleges in England, and baccalaureate degrees in community colleges in the United States. It argues that this provision can open new…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to define characteristics and processes that enhance informal learning in a public sector workplace. Design/methodology/approach: Based on interviews and questionnaires, the authors solicited examples of informal learning practices that 40 supervisors experienced during their careers. The examples were content…

This article derives from a qualitative study that employed a sociocultural perspective to investigate the mediation of institutional policies on teachers' classroom practices of assessment for learning in one public and one private university in Vietnam. Data included observations of classrooms, interviews with teachers, executive officers and…

Currently, there is a shortage of research on how Ecuadorian universities are coping with the contemporary reforms of higher education under the government of Correa. In 2010, "La Ley Orgánica de Educación Superior" (higher education law) defined the development, transparency and quality assurance of existing and new higher education…