The Drop Out Rate in Education in Cambodia

The Drop Out Rate in Education in Cambodia Introduction The number of students who drop out school in the basic education level is still very high although the government and the other stakeholders have been striving to cut down on number. It is very clear that there are number of things which cause those children to abandon their studies. It is, however, still a skeptical whether the demand side or the supply side which has the most influence on this phenomena. The government of Cambodia has considered the capacity building and human resource development as priority. In the Rectangular Strategy of the Royal Government of Cambodia has emphasized several points related to the education quality improvement at all levels. Like stated in the policies and strategies in ESP (Education Strategic Plan) 2006-10, there are a lot of reforms have been made in order to reach the Millennium Development Goals. The six EFA Dakar goals: 1- Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. 2- Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girl, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality. 3- Ensuring that learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes. 4- Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults. 5- Elimination gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls full and access to and achievement in basic education of good quality. 6- Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuri ng excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. Source: UNESCO (2000 b), as cited in FE of IFL, pp 66-67 In those reforms, there have also been the strengthening tasks with other partnerships between the public and private sectors. These important tasks are really applicable for implementing the development goals for the betterment of the quality of education. Without doing the reforms, it is not effective form for the implementation because the concept or the social context does not respond to the strategic plan. The strategic plan and the resource of mobilization and utilization can not be cut off from the the understanding from the context or it will be failed to implement. (MoEYS, (2006) Education strategic plan 2006-2010). The objectives of the Ministry of Education, the implementers received the commands from the Royal Government of Cambodia, are to conduct the holistic development within the Cambodian youths. Young people are considered as bamboo shoots which can replace the old and dying bamboo, so building up the capacity among them is compulsory. The development of understanding among young people needs to be done for all sectors. In addition, the Ministry of Education attempts to contribute and engender a sense of nationalism and civic pride because it is really essential for them to determine their own identities. It also strives to upgrade the concept of high standards of morality and ethics in order to build up a good country that people can live in harmony. According to this stance, three main purposes have been set. The first purpose is the equitable access to education that indicates that all Cambodian children have right to receive education at least 9 years (finished grade 9). They receiv e education for free of charge in which the Ministry of Education calls for to promote this prestigious opportunity for all young Cambodians. Secondly, promote the service quality and efficiency of education; so for the Ministry strives to promote the quality of education in all levels especially the low level of education. It has created more supporting programs. In that the establishment of teaching materials is also paid the utmost care. Third, the Ministry intends to introduce the the idea of capacity building for decentralization in which new curricular has been put to manipulate this concept within young Cambodians through lesson of decentralization. The curriculum has been set by focusing much on the expansion of decentralization (Education strategic plan 2006-2010). According to the strategies and policies that the Ministry has set and determined above, it is not uncertain to fully understand what can be the things that have come as constraints to make students at basic level stop study. A long with the stimulants that the government have distributed, the families have to have some involvements to keep students remain in school. The government has continuously conducted reforms to find and to determine the weak points. Thus, this paper is to seek for the deep understanding on the hardships on the demand side and the capacity of distribution of the supply side. We also study to find out how the government of Cambodia manipulates with these challenges. Challenges That Lead to Dropping Out There are several significant challenges which lead to the dropping out among children. Some challenges are ignited by the supply sides while the other is caused by the demand sides. There have been several researches revealed the challenges that lead to the dropping out. The world Bank, in 2004, did stress the problems that lead to the drop out. Each year there is high rate of enrollment at basic level, but they eventually abandoned the school. These phenomena were caused by some factors. First, there is the increase of child labor at the very young age; children were exploited by several means without getting any care from the society or it is lack to be care by the related individuals. Second, there was late enrollment of the children and after a few years in school they felt embarrassed because they saw themselves as big; eventually, they quit. Third, there was lack of readiness for the enrollment; at the beginning of the enrollment the families seemed to have ability to send the m to school and later on it was impossible to do, so they stop. Fourth, there is the significant number of incomplete the low level school. Fifth, the lack of qualified teacher was identified as the ignition of the school abandon among the young children. Finally, the identification of the cause was the lack of health-environmental facilities such as playground and libraries (WB 2004). In fact the number of enrolment at primary level is quite big. The process of their studies can proceed only for a few years and after that the big number become smaller and smaller. There are numbers of complicated obstacles for these drops out. According to the data conducted by EMIS, only 45 per cent of children who start primary school can eventually finish grade sixth and among them, there are only thirty-eight per cent can go to lower secondary school; some of them didnt finish grade 9; in lower secondary school; there are three years which most students can only reach grade 8. It is such a big number of drop out which will be foreseen as number that will be much downgraded to reach grade 9. With this high percentage of drop out, it takes 10.8 years for a child to complete his or her education in primary school (EBEP 2006-2010). Recently, the Royal Government of Cambodia announced its practical way in improving the education system. Also it proclaimed the great achievements. In the contradict to this, there are still some big problems remain behind the achievement. The drop out rates is still high among primary school children and only small number that can accomplish grade 9. This phenomenon is a constraint for the Ministry in reaching its goal in stimulating the young people to receive basic education from grade 1 to grade 9 by the year 2015. Along with this, some constraints are identified by the Ministry of Education. In order to identify such problem, the Ministry created another department called Education Sector Support Program (ESSP) to detect and identify the problem. The challenges are found as follows: i) low access to basic education, particularly lower secondary schooling, among children from poor families, girls, ethnic minorities, children with disabilities, and children who are living in rem ote areas. ii) high dropout rates in basic education, with this most dropouts occurring in upper primary school before children have completed the full cycle. iii) uneven quality and standards in basic education (Benveniste 2008, p 15). In 2005 the World Band wrote that the transition period is another main cause of the drop out. The drop out occurs when they finished grade 6, and they are awaiting to pursue to grade 7. The number of children about 75 percent were able to go through from primary school and among that only 52 percent went on their studies to the secondary school and finished their basic education (from grade 1 to grade 9). During this interval, the decisions of the children as well as their parents are abruptly changed for some reasons (World Bank 2005). Supply-Side Factors So far the Royal Government of Cambodia that has the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports as an acting figure in implementing the educational policies has been working really hard to reduce the dropout rate among the basic education. The Ministry itself is looking for the the causes and it invests a lot of money in building facilities and instructional materials in recent years. Moreover, the government also set up policies to reduce the house whole financial burdens by letting children to enroll school for free. A long with this the necessity for the children to study is also supported. However, this support is still not enough for the children. The significant barrier for disadvantaged children is the direct cost. In recent year, the government commanded the removal of formal entry to enable them to enroll. Moreover, the Ministry strives to disseminate the information of free of charge enrollment for children. Some educational billboards about the importance of enrollment have been displayed in public to draw the understanding among parents. Unexpectedly, when students have already enrolled, some problems still occurred associated with the informal fees through providing the extra class to students or the like. This phenomenon should be combated for it functions as great constraint that lead to the drop out (Benveniste 2008). Another strategy to combat the dropout rate is to build up relationship with the community so that they can understand; they will support the enrolment and keep their children in school. In the citation of Education Strategic Plan 2006- 2010, there is the promotion of the relationship between homes and communities. The reasons of this expansion are to promote a shadow education which is considered as the important stimulant to achieve the objectives that have been launched. The campaign aims to disseminate the community- based information of holistic intervention at the early ages. The investments in early age among children has been increased from USD 0.19 million in 2006 to USD 0.3 million by 2010. The promoting program was supported by PAP (Priority Action Program) (Benveniste et al 2008). To ensure the stimulant package to upgrade within the children enrolment, the Ministry has also launched some other practical projects. In that, child friendly schools are seen significant to push the enrollment and to persuade children to remain in school. However, the campaign to spread the information about this project is not widely done so that parents do not fully understand the significance of it. If the parents know that they will value and help to encourage their children to remain in school. World Bank (2005) addressed other kind of constraints that lead to the dropout is the quality among teachers. The word quality in here does not really focus on the knowledge of the responsible subjects, but also the art or talent of teacher to harmonize with the students. Teachers need to have psychological knowledge to call for the interest among students. Qualified teachers can help students to stay in school more. In order to reform this, the project of quality improvement interventions program is also launched and a lot of money has been used to conduct this ability upgrading project. A long with student retention, promotion, and especially in student learning is done accompanying with teacher improvement. In the program of upgrading the quality of education, one dollar per pupil has been increased. The program also focuses on teacher training and this prestige implementation lead to the increase in points the students get between 0.70 and 1.05. After the implementation, there is the observation of increase in literacy as well; one dollar was invested in the upgrading policy, one percent was also excelled in student literacy. Another important task that the Ministry of Education pays its concentration in order to reduce the dropout is the investments in health care and skills training. Besides that, it goes to the the modernization of infrastructure.(World Bank: Quality Basic Education for All 2005) The followings are the components that can be used to stimulate the aspect of pushing the students to remain in school. The practical ways of encouraging students to remain are to enlarge the services to be available such as building up more school houses so that students are easy to get to school. This should be done in both primary and secondary school. Next, there should be the expanding of operating budget for these two levels. To do this can also lead to the elimination of gathering the illegal money. Thirdly, the development of remedial classes must be done. Fourth, the instructional material must be available to improve the quality of teaching and make the learning enjoyable for students. Sometimes it is hard for students to understand the abstract concept, so the use of teaching material can help students to form pictures in mind; they can understand better (World Bank 2008). Demand-Side Factors Elimination of unofficial fees. Unofficial fees are the significant constraint that make students families cant afford education for their children. In fact, under the support of the government, students do not pay for registration at the beginning of the new academic year. Surprisingly, students need to pay like bicycle parking fees; it is not a compulsory pay but students need to do unavoidable because they dont know where to park. The parking fees are thought to be too high sometime. Other unofficial fees are the fees students pay for the extra class. Students are not put pressure directly, instead they are put pressure indirectly through, for instance, giving low mark. Extra classes are reported in only 6-7 percent of small rural schools, but in more than 40 percent of large urban schools. Fees also vary considerably from less than R300 per class in small rural school to more than R500 in big urban schools (Araujo 2008. p. 58). Some other problems are identified for the demand side. These problems are the obstacle to miss persuading the students to remain in school. The primary education, especially the repetition of grade 1, 2 and 3 and the drop out of grade 5 and 6 still has some issues which have to be solved timely such as: a/Documents related to Child Friendly School program are not widely available. b/ PB budgets cannot be accessed at the start of the financial year, this impacts negatively on conducting activities and the achievement of targets. c/ The teaching hours and school calendar are often curtailed. d/ Insufficient access to textbooks reduces the quality of education and coverage of the curriculum. e/ Insufficient infrastructure, including: latrines, sources of water and sanitation, libraries in many schools in remote and disadvantaged areas impacts on students attendance and performance. f/ There are insufficient teachers in rural and remote areas undermining the quality of education and learning in these areas. g/ The capacity of District Training and Management Teams (DTMT) in all provinces and capital city is not strong enough to help the teachers and school directors improve school performance (National Education Congress Summary Report-Academic Year 2008-09 p.4) Work force The number of dropouts in the rural areas is higher than in the urban. In rural areas, children are subject to do works such as looking after cattle in the fields; besides that, those children need to do more chores like carrying water from ponds, wells nearby, and firewood to supply home. That is a great burden for them to manage time to study. When they are so busy with this kind of work, they seem to have no feeling to read books (Dy 2004). What the Government Should Do to Reduce the Dropout Rate In order to reduce the number of dropouts, the government should do several jobs such as staff training, financing, evaluating, facility providing, setting clear policies, and other program monitoring. As stated in the Congress Report (2009), staff training is important in reducing the dropout rate for it helps students to gain their knowledge quite well. It also relates to the quality of education. When students get good academic achievement, their families as well as themselves feel really proud so that they have strong commitment towards education. Sometimes, the academic achievement can insult students and their families and in the end student can quit their studies. Another important thing for the government to do is to finance especially on building more school building quite near to their home. The government has to ensure that one village there is one primary school. Besides the school buildings, financing on teaching materials is also important to achieve the effective academic result. Moreover, the government should provide more money for teachers. If teachers have high salary, it is clear that they spiritually have committed to their teaching and their teaching will have good result. Setting up clear indicators as well as other policies related education is extremely significant. Dy (2001) stressed the importance of clear policies making. Prioritizing the policies making is to pave the way clearly that the Ministry could access their goals. The Ministry of Education that has administrators to implement the policies should particularly focus on primary education by conducting special training for all teachers as well as the school principals. Conclusion It has been observed that the dropout rate is still remaining high even though the government has been striving its works to eliminate or to reduce. The areas that are considerably indicated as high are in rural. The problem is that in those remote areas really face many difficulties for children while the urban areas students seem to use most of their time in learning. In contrast to the city children, rural children use most of their time to do house work and other non-academic affairs. Although these problems occur, the government is the one which has significant function to stimulate the reducing process of the dropout among children in lower education.

Essay --

No two people are the same, not even identical twins. There are overachievers, and alternatively underachievers, alcoholics and abstainers, the timid and the outgoing, and every possible mixture in between. Living With Our Genes argues that genes are the most outstanding factor in the process of developing the complex variability of human nature. Hamer and Copeland lay out the idea of the nature-nurture controversy by identifying the differences between temperament and character. Temperament is the collection of primal behavioral tendencies we acquire, which are adapted to varied degrees by our character, beliefs, and the values our surroundings bestows on us. Essentially it is a game of genes versus environment, with a constant back and forth as the authors explain the behavioral characteristics that effect our lives. The nature/nurture argument originates from the fact that people are more reluctant to accept a genetic influence on behavior than they are on more simple traits such as eye color or an inherited illness. Hamer and Copeland put it as follows, "We accept that ...

Professional Development Portfolio Essay

My role within the workplace My primary role within the organization is as a shop assistant at Asda there are lots of various roles that require core skills to be able to do fulfil the job sufficiently. I have other side roles within my occupation other than my primary role as our organization operates a job enlargement system of human resource management so therefore I am trained on other areas of the organization aside of my primary job description. The skills I already process will be highlighted in the following SWOT analysis, it will also highlight areas that I have discovered that are of weakness currently also Identifying a problem The problem I have identified was a problem at work that occurred earlier in the year. The problem was that there was no policy regarding the allocation of available overtime; it was just made available on a board on a Saturday morning and was up to anyone to pick up as many/few shifts as they pleased. This led to a problem I identified, which was that for people that were not  contracted to Saturdays were at a disadvantage regarding the shifts that they could pick up, weather this be amount of shifts or certain days etc. From this I came to the conclusion that I would form a problem solving analysis upon this problem. The analysis I found most simple and useful was a SWOT analysis. Strengths My strengths in approaching this problem were; †¢I managed to identify that there was an issue and was causing slight friction within the workplace and more specifically our department †¢I realized that I could have skills to assist in resolving this problem †¢The strengths I could adapt to this situation are the ability to be articulate and speak to people in an appropriate manner †¢Another strength I have is to be able to explain things to people individually in a appropriate way they can understand †¢After evaluating my reflective practice I discovered that I was very strong at taking full responsibility for my actions for if a project fails, this would be an appropriate strength as posting and implementing new ideas at work can go wrong and it is right to accept this and reflect upon it by taking the positives and working on the areas that did not go so well Weaknesses My skills weaknesses in approaching this problem were; †¢My active approach to learning often hinders me from being pragmatic and reflective regarding input from others in work or problem solving situations †¢Another weakness of mine is my ability to evaluate practical points in order to make the most relevant points get across to becoming action †¢The time it takes me to notice problems of this nature is often quite a large time scale †¢Another weakness of mine is time spending to find relevant links between different things, this is relevant because problems can be spotted earlier if problems between links on projects are spotted and addressed early which limits their overall negative impact in an area of work, this weakness links with the earlier one of evaluating practical points Opportunities †¢However the opportunities that finding this problem were initially that it made the managers think of an alternative to the current operations of overtime allocation †¢It revealed personnel opportunities for myself that showed I have skills to find problems and niggles †¢Skills such as problem finding, conversational and interpersonal skills in order to communicate the problem to the right people, identifying a possible solution to the problem, and forming an input into a new policy that solved the problem and was fair to all †¢This problem also showed the opportunity of self realization of some skills that I had acquired and helped me reflect on skills that I needed to work on. Threats †¢One threat is I need to allocate my skills more accordingly to relevant situations †¢I also need to be more aware of the skills I have to offer †¢Threats to this work situation are that initially the management does not embrace the change accordingly †¢Also that they do not make the policy aware to the masses (0.1)Professional Development Action Plan Template As I develop my Action Plan, I will use the SMART model by ensuring all of my goals and action steps are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and within a specific Timeframe. Complete a plan for each of my goals. Goal: To implement a new policy at work in relation to allocating overtime in a fair and proper manner Relevance – how will this goal help me: It will help me be able to highlight strengths in skills that I already possess and will also show gaps in my skills and my weak areas, whilst assisting in solving a problem within the workplace What are the steps or strategies I will take?What is the realistic timeframe to accomplish the step or strategy?How will I evaluate each step or  strategy?How will I know the step or strategy has been accomplished? Firstly, to look if there is any overtime allocated practices or policies in place 3-5 daysTo analyze policies regarding overtime and shift patterns within the department to therefore begin to looking to find a solutionWhen I have compiled enough knowledge on our current policies, or after realizing if there are any current policies in place or not Thought shower some potential policies or means that could assist solving the issue 1 weekTo find as many potential solutions or potential policy changes that could help address the issueWhen there is enough relivent ideas and data that can potentially contribute towards the solving the problem Use a problem solving technique such as a SWOT analysis 2 weeksAllocate characteristics of the problem into strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to find the problemWhen the technique is concluded and its findings are apparent Decide and allocate which solution is best to solve the problem and is most relevant to its characteristics 6 weeksFind the solution and start putting in foundations to build steps to it implementationWhen I have the final solution and have considered the methods to applying it without causing any other operational issues Look at the results of the SWOT analysis and thought shower to beginning to find a solution to the problem 4 weeksLook at the key issue in relation to the problem an then derive ways to solve it without causing any more problems of grievancesWhen a solution, or many solutions are tangible or available (1.0)Professional development Progress towards targets section 2 (BIS00093) (1.1)Introduction To develop my skills this year we have been set the task of a reflective piece of writing in relation to shown we tackled the targets we had set  earlier in the year to develop professionally and reflect on how we have improved our own skills both at work and in an academic place of vocation. In order to complete this we set out a set of skills that were both areas that we could develop and ones that were already strong but aspects could be built on and in my case I have related this skill set to my highlighted problem at work that I set earlier in the year in order to make my portfolio coherent which is in the first part of this portfolio prior to this report. (1.2)Introduction This professional development report is a progress report on the skills I have chosen to develop in my action plan which was highlighted earlier in the year, in order to get to the point where I might be in a position to solve my highlighted problem. This was to try and create a policy to fairly rationale the overtime that is available at my workplace of ASDA living at Cortonwood, Barnsley. The importance of reflection in this account cannot be underwritten, and the whole aim of this account is to show my reflection on my skills set and how I have developed my skills, and how other skills still require some development in order to move my professional development foreword. I highlighted seven skills which need addressing in order to fulfil my further professional development. (2.0)Approach to problem situations The first skill I highlighted was my ability to approach problem situations, Initially I believed that I needed to be more pragmatic and reflective in my approach to not just solving this problem but any problem in life, as my initial way of solving a problem is to just get stuck in and do things instead of checking and reviewing matters. This was also highlighted in my skills assessment audits. To develop and improve this skill my action plan was to go and initially speak to my peers at work about how they solve their problems and what approach they take. This would also help me open up other avenues and perspectives to problem solving. The conclusion I came to after divulging over many opinions and reflecting on my own failures in this skill was to keep persevering with my new approach of learning new ways to approach problem situations and then after refining these methods to learn to use appropriate ones for certain situations. For example you can approach  some problems by stepping away from the situation and being pragmatic and ordering objectives, but some problems require you to just take my original approach to all problems which are to just jump in and do things to solve the problems. Through my development I have been able to develop new approaches to problem situations such as finding myself solving a problem, and simultaneously being able to find other problems in the topic or situation and pose new questions regarding how to solve internal problems and issues within the bigger initial highlighted problem. (3.0)Evaluate relevant points The next skill I chose to develop was being able to evaluate relevant point, in relation to developing this skill I highlighted that I needed to focus on critically in order to complete a task more efficiently, rather than trying to do lots of different tasks simultaneously and never really completing the initial task that was set. My initial targets to combat this skill gap was to focus on one job at a time, I asked my manager at work to also asses and keep an eye on my work from the point of addressing this skills gap in this manner (appendix A, manager minutes). After concluding a few tasks I had a conversation with him regarding my development and he commented that I had improved my skill in relation to just committing to relevant points and tasks within work and was pleased with my approach to combating my skills gaps within the workplace. In reflection to this skill I believe it went very well and my professional development plan directly addressed the issue highlighted which is an addition to this development of this skill as I have been able to identify a skills gap and fulfil my own planning to a degree of success and formality. I have also been able to notice this skill of evaluating and addressing critical points and areas of a job come into play further and slowly has become a more refined skill of mine to the point where I am able to strip a task down to its bareness and simplify it for others to follow my structures and planning in there conquest to assist completing the job or project. (4.0) Time management The next skill I needed to develop in order to gain an overall solution to my problem was to develop my time management skills, which at my skills assessment were set at the lowest level of skill initially as having little  experience of this skill, I believe it is one of my main skill’s weaknesses and has been for some time, it is something I have always found very difficult. I have decided to address this skills gap by trying to use more time management tools. I have tried to develop this skill very slowly as I have limited and poor quality experiences of this skill nature in the past. Therefore initially I started off with simple methods such as keeping a calendar of my day to day events in order to give me at least some time management structure as I was basically very fluid beforehand with no structure whatsoever, I have not developed this skill any further as I am having some success with the calendar on its own as of present but it is a skill that I am going to look to develop further, particularly next year when I am studying for my honours top up degree as I believe this skill will be imperative at this point, however I can attribute the lack of development in this skill down to my previous poor levels of experience in this skill nature and the fact that I am a very impulsive and spontaneous type of person and therefore have never really considered time management as a way of progressing my skills platform and skills matrix. On reflection I believe I would be able to describe my development in the skill of time management as one That I have shown some development in but not of a sufficient manner towards assisting solving the problem, however I have being able to reflect on these issues and have shown how they can be overcome and stated reasons that it is essential to overcome these issues and given the skills gap a focus in order to assist its completion to be competent in the skill of time management. (5.0) Identifying problems The next skill I identified and chose to develop was the skill of identifying problems, I evaluated this as one of my stronger skills towards being able to solve my problem, it is also very applicable to any problem that needs solving as in order to solve a problem it needs to be indentified beforehand in order to focus resources on the problem in hand. I am quite strong at this area of skill, both in the workplace and academically. This has been noticed and occasionally complemented by my peers in both of these areas of my life. However it has been highlighted by my peers in the past that sometimes I am not very confident in expressing my abilities in regards to identifying problems and could push myself foreword more in relation to  this. I have reflected upon this and also noticed there are times where I identify problems but lack confidence to express theses problems to a superior due to a lack of confidence and diligence, however I also have reflected on my strength in this field and have made it more of a prerogative to continue my good work in relation to identifying problems in order to assist the overall bigger identified problem which is to compile a policy to allocate overtime at work out more fairly between employees in order that everyone gets a fair share of the hours available. In relation to my slight weakness in this aspect however I shall try to be more outgoing when expressing my opinion on problems or potential problems and assist in identifying other diverse problems that are not always directly addressed to me in the most appropriate way possible. In relation to this there is an abstract on my mind map (appendix B) that relates to this aspect of problem identification and what it can be used for. (6.0)Verbal communication The next area of skill I have identified that I will need to solve this problem set is the ability of verbal communication. As this is a problem that influences everyone on the department it is an area that will be quite sensitive in nature to the vast majority of people. Therefore being able to communicate ideas and possible ways that the policy could be moulded are essential, the ability of verbal communication and having this ability along with the needs to take on board feedback from organisational members is vital in relation to this policy. In truth I believe this has always been one of my strongest areas in skills regarding developing this policy at work. This is because I am articulate and am very good in changing both my language, demeanour and body language appropriately according to the situation, characteristic of the third person and the age and intellectual level of the person that I am speaking to, this is because I am an empathetic type of person when it comes to social exchanges of this matter. My only self criticism and gap within this skill is that I can sometimes go over the top and digress away from the original issue. On reflection I just need to continue being articulate and selective with my demeanours in relation to the type of social situation, I also need to keep taking on board feed back within verbal communication and being selective towards  which feedback I find useful and not so useful, and applying these ideas towards the final outcome and solution to the problem. Also, as previously mentioned I can digress away from the point in my verbal communications, they way I have tackled this aspect in my skills development is to for a small structure (Appendix C) to just keep my conversational points work related and retain focus on the subject matter in hand which is ultimately solving the problem and drawing up some sort of policy. (7.0) Influencing peers The next area of skill I have identified as an area of skill that will be required to solve my problem in the workplace is the ability to influence peers and others within both the organisation and life in general. I believe this skill is particularly applicable to this problem and is a key cog in order to get to a solution for the problem, as after taking into account the views of the departments employees and gaining their feedback it is only possible to use some of the best ideas and fuse them into the policy and therefore create a solution to this problem or issue, and for this reason alone it is important that influence on peers is a strong skill in order to influence one’s own ideas and impress them on the masses in the working environment in order to keep a harmonious working environment and not cause further problems by implementing a policy of this nature in the first place, so for this alone I believe this skill is a very important one for getting everyone on side to find some common ground for all so that the policy can be successful when, or if it is implemented. My level of skill on influencing my peers is quite high, in situations both at work and in other areas of life such as sport. However during this experience of solving or trying to solve my problem I have found a few cracks in this skill even though it is one of my stronger skills. I highlighted the fact that I needed to be more confident to press my influence on others and try to become a motivator which I can potentially do. To do this I have tried to take more charge in workplace situations and influence others into potential directions that they can go with their own projects at work, I have also approached management about things and issues I believe have occurred at work, for example I believe the budgeting programme for our business being historical is incorrect given the businesses size and turnover. This shows  that I have tried to be influential on all levels of personnel at work and have built up the confidence to approach members of the organisation that are higher in the hierarchy about myself with issues I believe could be addressed. On reflection I believe I have move this skill foreword slightly and improved in the areas I have highlighted that I would like to in my plan, however I would also like to take my influential persona and use it to my own benefit in other areas if and when I graduate to have as a skill that employers might find as an attractive one. (8.0) Plan work The final skill I believe is essential to finding a solution to this problem presented is having the ability to plan work and have plans that are both flexible for external influence but structured towards attaining a result in the workplace that satisfies the needs of both myself and the organisation. This skill has often been a challenging one for me as I stated earlier regarding my time management that before I attended university I often worked on spontaneity and impulse and never really planned my time and planning work also falls into a similar category in regards to planning work as the go hand in hand in some conduct. As I have highlighted this as a weakness or gap in my current skills I have drawn up a detailed action plan with this in mind. I have highlighted in my plan to spend more time planning both at work and at university and to do this I have stated that I need to write more things down and be more formal as regards to planning. After writing this in my plan and reflecting on how I will approach this matter I decided to start using the built in diary on my phone as I believed it was a more practical solution to the planning aspect, I have had to attempt to be innovative in order to improve this skills gap as I don’t like the idea of carrying a diary or journal around as I will not keep it up to date and potentially could lose it. I have however drawn up my formal plans at work in a small notebook and kept line of my tasks and have found this useful, particularly on busy days when there are many tasks it is easy to forget something that could be essential when you have no or little structure as regards to planning and planning time towards certain critical tasks. It has been very applicable to the problem that has been highlighted, as in order to form the policy and therefore a general solution to the problem it is very important that the stages to get there are put in place and planned  accordingly. This is for many reasons, particularly if something goes wrong during getting to the solution as it is easier to trace the steps that are written down or recorded in some way than if there is no structure at all which would make the locating of the key area that created to problem a near impossibility, and would make it very

Angels Unaware Essay Example

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Traditional Marriage Has Outlasted Its Relevance Essays Traditional Marriage Has Outlasted Its Relevance Essay Traditional Marriage Has Outlasted Its Relevance Essay Assignment:Persuasive Research Paper Plan Bible. com Ministries. Retrieved from bible. com/bibleanswers_result. php? id=256 Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary. (1998, February). Marriage. Retrieved from merriam-webster. om/dictionary/marriage The ‘Lectric Law Library. (2012). Legal Definition of Marriage. Lectlaw. com. Retrieved from lectlaw. com/def2/m087. htm Samuel, E. , West, Elder. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Retrieved from mormonbeliefs. com/marriage%2C_sex%2C_adultery%2C_homosexuality. htm Waite, L. J. Lehrer, E. L. (2003), The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis. Population and Development Review, 29:255-275. doi:10. 1111/j. 1728-4457. 2003. 00255.

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Intercultural Communications - Assignment Example Multiculturalism in Canada is often seen in towns and cities when they hold festivals that celebrate their individual cultures. An example of such festival is Folk fest which shows different cultures that include heritage, cuisine, and dance. These kinds of festivals give Canadians a chance to understand and appreciate different cultures that make up Canada. Canadians are known for their friendly culture. They appreciate that the country is made up of so many cultures and respect each culture. Marriage is viewed differently in different cultures because arranged marriages are accepted in one community while in others, people are expected to choose their future life partners (Coontz, 2014). These behaviors are impacted by the historical background of a culture. This history moves from one generation to the next and is accepted by the group. The behaviors are also impacted by the religious background of a group. For example, in the Muslim community, parents are obligated to arrange for their children’s marriage. Different cultures also view love differently. Communities that support arranged marriages view love as infatuation. Countries that follow this culture have low divorce rates. On the other hand, communities that support individual arrangements view love as the basis of marriage. What an individual’s family might feel to be best for the individual may not be best for him or her. Communities exhibiting these behaviors can be classified in the cultural di mension model because the cultures are differentiated based on the difference in national cultures. Different communities have their own interpretation of public display of emotion. In some communities, public display is a norm and people believe that this helps other people understand a person. However, this is not the case in other communities who believe that the public display of emotions especially, from those who hold power

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Kent Fire and Rescue Service Company - Case Study Example The management of the company works together with the human resource Coastguard and the Royal Air-force so as to offer its services during the period when the off-shore ship fires occur and it rescues people who may be experiencing problems when accidents occur. It operates under the rules and regulations that are stipulated by the Kent Fire and Rescue Service Authority. Kent Fire and Rescue Service Company are regarded as one of the largest non-metropolitan fire and rescue services and it consists of over 66 fire stations. It has over 2000 employees who are charged with the responsibility of running its operations of its different departments. The major objective of the company involves investing in the activities that are geared towards preventing fires and accidents from occurring, responding quickly to incidents and accidents that they are called upon to control and ensuring that the staff is well trained in dealing with the major accidents arising from their areas of operation. In the year 2005, a comprehensive performance assessment was conducted and it showed that the company had excelled better than other fire and rescue services in the country (Hughes, Mardon, and Meakins, 2005:96). The officers of this company face major challenges of running its operations while crossing through the White Cliffs at Dover when they are called upon to rescue people who may have been stuc... The resources may run out, become polluted and degraded while being used, thus, it is important to ensure that they are properly managed. They can be managed by being distributed equally and conserved for future use. The management of the resources requires coordinating and overseeing the application of tools, processes and systems needed by a manager to deliver resources within a specified period of time. The management of the company has recently adopted the health and safety electronic program whereby, the global electronic producers produce learning materials that are used. The data interactive system and the health and safety management systems assist the staff in carrying out their tasks in the right way. The facilities are used by the management to address issues that relate to safety issues for the first response units while dealing with fire and ambulance services. The fire fighters and ambulance crew use the electronic materials in enlightening them on how they should carry out their activities efficiently and effectively. The management of the company has recently established a solutions training venture that is aimed at developing and delivering electronic learning materials for its client. The staffs have gained skills and knowledge on how to protect themselves against risks while handling any incidents that have occurred (Wallington, 2009:55). There has been recent implementation of other systems within the organization that are aimed at enhancing quick delivery of services for its clients the systems include agresso. The agresso system has been assisting the management in reducing the cost of undertaking its administration tasks and it also reduces the amount of duplicated data for their