IER News & blogs
Jordan British Council and AQACHEI visit IER
IER welcomed members of the Jordan British Council, the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission for Higher Education Institutes and the higher education sector (AQACHEI) in October 2019. The delegation was comprised of key members responsible for the implementation of the Jordan National Qualification Framework.
They came to find out more about and how it is supporting careers education and guidance within the education sector.
The event was organised by Lisa Collett from Cotswold Research who has been managing the Action Learning Forum project in Jordan.
Professor Peter Elias, CBE, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
Professor Peter Elias, CBE, of IER has been conferred as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. This Fellowship is a huge accolade. Fellows are drawn from academics, practitioners and policymakers, marking the impact of their work through the use of social science for public benefit.
Professor Chris Warhurst, Director of IER said:
鈥業t is another indication of the very high esteem with which Peter is held for his work on, amongst other things over the past thirty years, occupational classification schemes in the UK and internationally and, more recently, developing protocols for the use of Big data for the OECD countries.鈥
Lifelong guidance in the EU
IER and FIER at the University of Jyv盲skyl盲 have been working on a project commissioned by the EC DG EMPL researching lifelong guidance policy and practice in the EU. The team, led by Sally-Anne Barnes, organised a successful workshop in Brussels at the beginning of October to discuss the findings of the study. This event was attended by 32 experts in guidance and lifelong learning from across Europe.
Following this, the research findings were presented at the European Vocational Skills Week 2019 held in Helsinki. The interactive session on 'guidance for lifelong learning' was streamed live and debated what support was needed to promote lifelong guidance.
The research report is due to be published in 2020.
IER report published by Government Equalities Office on why employers should introduce wide-ranging family-friendly working policies

A new report, 'Family friendly working policies and practices: Motivations, influences and impacts for employers', led by IER's Professor Clare Lyonette and Beate Baldauf , and commissioned by the Government Equalities Office (), is the outcome of a series of GEO funded research projects aiming to support employers in closing the gender pay gap.
Key recommendations for employers include:
鈼 Introduce and promote a wide range of flexible working policies and practices
鈼 Disseminate good practice
鈼 Develop a positive workplace culture
鈼 Encourage transparency among managers, flexible workers and other colleagues
鈼 Trial and measure flexible working over a reasonable time period
鈼 Think in the longer-term
鈼 Challenge gendered attitudes and approaches towards flexible working.
Commenting on the findings, Professor Lyonette said:
鈥楾he link between family-friendly working policies and practices and the gender pay gap may not be immediately obvious. We highlight evidence which shows that offering and promoting flexible working to both women and men can create a positive workplace culture, benefiting both employees and employers. Ultimately this can lead to greater gender equality and a reduced pay gap but only if flexible working is not seen as a women's issue'.
The full report can be accessed and the summary report .
Digitisation and future of work
滨贰搁鈥檚 Chris Warhurst and Wil Hunt have a new on digitalisation and the future of work.
Going beyond the usual 鈥榙eath of jobs鈥 debate, the paper examines the work and employment implications of Industrie 4.0 and Uberisation plus the political positions being adopted on these two major developments and the likely policy responses within the European Union.
It is published by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.