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This paper presents the findings of a national survey of over 3400 teachers across all phases of education in England, 10 weeks into school closure. In this paper we report on the teachers' experiences and their testimonies of the effects of the lockdown on their wellbeing as they navigate the situation, trying to cope with teaching and adjusting to the use of new technology to deliver lessons in the confines of their home. We present their voices as they related their experiences and emotions in real time as the event unfolded. Teachers reported an increased workload with a proportionately large amount of time spent on administrative duties and planning, but less on actual teaching. On average, these teachers spent 15 h a week marking during the lockdown. Under half of the respondents said they felt happy and cheerful often, while only 17% said they did not feel this way often. Almost all teachers said they felt that what they were doing was important and worthwhile. The most common emotions expressed by teachers were fear, isolation, neglect, anxiety, and confusion. The inconsistency and lack of clarity of government guidelines added to teachers' anxiety. The negative media portrayal of teachers did not help. The majority of teachers reported little previous experience in online teaching and only a quarter were confident in using edtech to deliver remote teaching. Only a third of teachers said they were adequately supported for online teaching. This has implications for future teacher development and initial teacher training. However, there were equally numerous positive experiences reported by teachers. Active support from parents and consistent school-home communication were seen as important in ensuring students' continued engagement with learning. These lessons are beneficial in supporting the long-term sick and school refusers post-lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a pull–push theory of industrial revolutions. Generalizing from the first industrial revolution in England and the second industrial revolution in the United States, it points to the presence of three necessary conditions, namely (i) the existence of a trigger event which creates (ii) new market opportunities (pull) as well as (iii) new process technologies (push). The result is a novel approach to the underlying cause(s) of industrial revolutions, one that is consistent with both material and non-material views in the literature, as well as with demand-shock and supply-shock views. Furthermore, it is consistent with previous accounts of the 19th-century rise of managerial capitalism. Lastly, it provides a set of necessary conditions for what constitutes an industrial revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investment in capital, new technology, and agricultural techniques has not been considered an endeavor worthwhile in a medieval economy because of a lack of strong property rights and no incentive on the part of lords and barons to lend money to or grant rights to peasant farmers. Therefore, the medieval economy and standards of living at that time often have been characterized as non-dynamic and static due to insufficient investment in innovative techniques and technology. Paul Baran's concept of the economic surplus is applied to investment patterns during the late medieval, mercantile, and early capitalist stages of economic growth in England and the UK. This paper uses Zhun Xu's Baran Ratio concept to try to develop general trends to demonstrate and reinforce other historical accounts of these times that a productive and sufficient level of public and private investment out of accumulated capital income, taxation, and rents does not have a real impact on economic per capita growth until around the 1600 s in Britain. This would also be about the time of capitalism's ascent as the dominant economic system in England. Even then, dramatic increases in investment and economic growth do not appear until the late 18th Century when investment more consistently becomes more than one hundred percent of the level of the domestic economic surplus and takes in government spending. The types of investment, threshold amounts of investment out of profits and rents along with government spending seem to matter when it comes to a growth path raising GDP per capita and national income per capita to higher levels. Although much of this knowledge perhaps is embodied in current historical accounts, the Baran Ratio nicely summarizes and illustrates the importance of levels of investment to economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since at least 2012, UK housing providers (and policy makers) have introduced policies aimed at developing autonomy and independence among service users, through an agenda sometimes referred to as 'responsibilisation'. This paper considers the role that technologies play in this agenda, through an analysis of how wellbeing and independence are facilitated amongst older social housing tenants. Based on case studies of four supported housing schemes in England, the research considers the capacity to exercise agency amongst older persons, through their willingness and ability to accept technological interventions, and the role of support networks to facilitate independent living. Using the concept of modalities of agency, the research examines the impact of implementing 'low-level' assistive technologies in the home, based on the perspectives of residents and staff. The interventions studied were designed to improve social relationships, promote self-sufficiency and support self-managed care (based on the principle that the most effective projects facilitate individual agency). The research findings identified that residents responded differentially to technology, based on their levels of capability, motivation, reluctance and resistance. Whilst the study demonstrated that small technological innovations could have disproportionately positive impacts in improving wellbeing, the research demonstrates the complex nature of agency and limits of responsibility. The paper argues that responsibilisation is part of a wider neoliberal project, where choice and agency are manufactured to create an idealised notion of the autonomous actor (in this case through technology-enabled care). The article argues that a collaborative approach to service provision in which responsibility is shared, via co-managed care, is a more effective means of enhancing agency, than one which advocates a withdrawal of support (in the guise of autonomy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiple benefits of water reuse have yet to be fully realized in our urban water management systems. One pathway to optimal implementation is to plan for their integration with wider assets in water resource or drainage and wastewater management plans. This paper explores the perspectives of water resource and wastewater management planners. Qualitative data was gathered from a workshop organized by the Chartered Institution for Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) with 25 participants from England's Water Service Providers (WSPs), regulators (Ofwat and the Environment Agency) and consultants working within the UK water sector. The participants acknowledged that water reuse is relevant to both water resource and drainage and wastewater management planning, but that current regulatory and funding frameworks are constraining effective engagement between water resource and drainage and wastewater management planners by encouraging the development of separate plans. A general consensus of the participants was that it would be beneficial to include water reuse technology within current and future Water Resource Management Plans (WRMPs) and Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs). Participants suggested this could be developed through collaborative working partnerships and support from regulatory and funding frameworks that allow for the growth and development of innovative technologies and nature‐based solutions. Participants also highlighted a stronger economic case could be made for water reuse technologies if the approach seeks to capture the wider benefits and not only the 'best value' solution. Societal acceptance and the availability of good quality data will be key to the successful adoption of any incentivized water reuse schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade there has been an upsurge in the popularity of electric mountain bikes. However, opinion is divided regarding the implications of this emerging technology. Critics warn of the dangers they pose to landscapes, habitats, and ecological diversity, whilst advocates highlight their potential in increasing the accessibility of the outdoors for riders who would otherwise be socially and/or physically excluded. Drawing on interview data with 30 electric mountain bike users in England, this paper represents one of the first attempts to explore empirically the experiential, ecological and socio-cultural implications of this activity. Utilising Stiegler's account of the pharmakon, in which technology is positioned as both remedy and poison, we suggest that the e-mountain bike's role in the promotion of social and environmental responsibility is both complex and contradictory. Specifically, findings indicate that while this assistive technology can play a key role in facilitating deeper connections between riders as well as an ethic of care towards others, it can, at the same time, generate more individualised and automated experiences of recreational mobility in outdoor environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In some countries, such as the Netherlands and Norway, point-of-care testing (POCT) is more widely implemented in general practice compared to countries such as England and Australia. To comprehend what is necessary to realize the benefits of POCT, regarding its integration in primary care, it would be beneficial to have an overview of the structure of healthcare operations and the transactions between stakeholders (also referred to as value networks). The aim of this paper is to identify the current value networks in place applying to POCT implementation at general practices in England, Australia, Norway and the Netherlands and to compare these networks in terms of seven previously published factors that support the successful implementation, sustainability and scale-up of innovations. Methods: The value networks were described based on formal guidelines and standards published by the respective governments, organizational bodies and affiliates. The value network of each country was validated by at least two relevant stakeholders from the respective country. Results: The analysis revealed that the biggest challenge for countries with low POCT uptake was the lack of effective communication between the several organizations involved with POCT as well as the high workload for general practitioners (GPs) aiming to implement POCT. It is observed that countries with a single national authority responsible for POCT have a better uptake as they can govern the task of POCT roll-out and management and reduce the workload for GPs by assisting with set-up, quality control, training and support. Conclusion: Setting up a single national authority may be an effective step towards realizing the full benefits of POCT. Although it is possible for day-to-day operations to fall under the responsibility of the GP, this is only feasible if support and guidance are readily available to ensure that the workload associated with POCT is limited and as low as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyday life in rural places can be hampered by many different infrastructural challenges for which technology is often considered a panacea. However, little is known about technological interactions among people living rurally with dementia, who more often live alone and make up a larger proportion of the rural population in England compared to urban. Assemblage theory in a multiple case study approach used field notes and data from a mix of instruments administered in a semi-structured interview in people's own homes. Within and cross-case analysis illuminated the rural context of the interplay between everyday technologies and everyday life situations among ten people living with dementia in a rural part of northern England. Findings highlighted participants' reactions and responses to interactions that involved Information Communication Technologies (ICT), driving and parking technologies, shopping, banking, and payment technologies. Other rural actors were involved in these interactions; staff and customers, neighbours, family members, infrastructures, policies and local service providers. Case's reactions and responses were seen to involve processes of technologising and manualising to stabilise their everyday lives and mitigate destabilising threats. The implications of this paper highlight a need to: 1) Improve access to, and support people to decide upon and use rurally befitting ICT infrastructures. 2) Create easy-to-use, sustainable and resilient banking processes in rural places that promote a sense of community. 3) Simplify access to services by considering parking and technological demands and procuring the most inclusive solutions. Meeting these needs could support rural communities to become and remain dementia-friendly in the face of continuous technological change. • Everyday technology use can destabilise daily life among people with dementia. • Communities need access to and information about rurally suitable ICT services. • Participation has been impacted by reduced access to banks, post offices and cash. • Technologised services must be cognitively accessible and inclusive. • Easy-to-use technologies and face-to-face services can stabilise rural life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Online consultation (OC) was previously promoted by the NHS to solve primary care workload challenges. Its implementation was sped up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Workload effects are widely debated. Using a job design perspective may enhance understandings of workload effect. Aim: To qualitatively interrogate the workload experiences of primary care staff involved in OC implementation, using the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) to enable the following: a clearer understanding of the primary care staff psychological experiences; and recommendations informing the design of digital implementations and continued use. Design & setting: A qualitative interview study of GP practices using OC within South West England. Method: Thirteen participants representing seven practices completed JCM-based semi-structured telephone interviews. An abductive theoretically driven thematic analysis was completed. Results: Participants experienced different tasks pre- and post-implementation of OC, and adapted differently to them. Differences included the following: contact modality change, some administrative staff felt removed from patient contact; and in perceived autonomy, some GPs valued increased workload control. Variation in workload experience was affected by job role and practice context, and the form of and rationale for implementation. Use of a psychological model (the JCM) allowed clearer consideration of the effects of change, as well as OC on workload. Conclusion: Psychological theory may be helpful in interpreting workload effects of technology implementation such as OC. Designing change to include consideration of technology effects, psychological experiences, differences across roles, and individual and practice contexts may be important for technology implementation and evaluation of its workload effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Healthcare services is an expanding international market with which national healthcare systems engage, and from which they benefit, to greater and lesser degrees. This study examines the case of the China-England engagement in healthcare services as a vehicle for illuminating the way in which such market relationships are constructed. Findings: China and England have different approaches to the international healthcare services market. Aware of the knowledge and technology gaps between itself and the leading capitalist nations of the West in healthcare, as in other sectors, the Chinese leadership has encouraged a variety of international engagements to facilitate the bridging of these gaps including accessing new supply and demand relationships in international markets. These engagements are situated within an approach to health system development based on establishing broad policy directions, allowing a degree of local innovation, initiating and evaluating pilot studies, and promulgating new programmatic frameworks at central and local levels. The assumption is that the new knowledge and technologies are integrated into this approach and implemented under the guidance of Chinese experts and leaders. England's healthcare system has the knowledge resources to provide the supply to meet at least some of the China demand but has yet to develop fully the means to enable an efficient market response, though such economic engagement is supported by the UK's trade related departments of state. As a result, the development of China-England commercial relationships in patient care, professional education and hospital and healthcare service development has been led largely by high status NHS Trusts and private sector organisations with the entrepreneurial capacity to exploit their market position. Drawing on their established international clinicians and commercial teams with experience of domestic private sector provision, these institutions have built trust-based collaborations sufficiently robust to facilitate demand-supply relationships in the international healthcare services market. Often key to the development of relations required to make commercial exchange feasible and practicable are a range of international brokers with the skills and capacity to provide the necessary linkage with individual healthcare consumers and institutional clients in China. Integral to the broker role, and often supplied by the broker itself, are the communication technologies of telemedicine to enable the interaction between consumer and healthcare provider, be this in patient care, professional education or healthcare service development. Conclusions: Although England's healthcare system has the knowledge required to respond to China's market demand and such economic engagement is supported and actively encouraged by the UK's trade related departments of state, the response is constrained by multiple domestic demands on its resources and by the limits of the NHS approach to marketisation in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Implementation of new technologies into national health care systems requires careful capacity planning. This is sometimes informed by data from pilot studies that implement the technology on a small scale in selected areas. A critical consideration when using implementation pilot studies for capacity planning in the wider system is generalisability. We studied the feasibility of using publicly available national statistics to determine the degree to which results from a pilot might generalise for non-pilot areas, using the English human papillomavirus (HPV) cervical screening pilot as an exemplar.Methods: From a publicly available source on population indicators in England ("Public Health Profiles"), we selected seven area-level indicators associated with cervical cancer incidence, to produce a framework for post-hoc pilot generalisability analysis. We supplemented these data by those from publicly available English Office for National Statistics modules. We compared pilot to non-pilot areas, and pilot regimens (pilot areas using the previous standard of care (cytology) vs. the new screening test (HPV)). For typical process indicators that inform real-world capacity planning in cancer screening, we used standardisation to re-weight the values directly observed in the pilot, to better reflect the wider population. A non-parametric quantile bootstrap was used to calculate 95% confidence intervals (CI) for differences in area-weighted means for indicators.Results: The range of area-level statistics in pilot areas covered most of the spectrum observed in the wider population. Pilot areas were on average more deprived than non-pilot areas (average index of multiple deprivation 24.8 vs. 21.3; difference: 3.4, 95% CI: 0.2-6.6). Participants in HPV pilot areas were less deprived than those in cytology pilot areas, matching area-level statistics. Differences in average values of the other six indicators were less pronounced. The observed screening process indicators showed minimal change after standardisation for deprivation.Conclusions: National statistical sources can be helpful in establishing the degree to which the types of areas outside pilot studies are represented, and the extent to which they match selected characteristics of the rest of the health care system ex-post. Our analysis lends support to extrapolation of process indicators from the HPV screening pilot across England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Policing is changing in response to increased demands from the community, the need to do more with less, fiscal austerity, the varying nature of crime, new technology, the loss of legitimacy, and the need for more transparency and accountability. One strategy that has been identified that could assist the police in responding to these challenges is evidence-based policing. This research examines the adoption of evidence-based policing by police forces in England and Wales. The research found that while most officers understand what evidence-based policing is and are amenable to its adoption and use, the methods that agencies use to communicate and disseminate information, internally, were inadequate and the current organisational structures cannot support evidence-based practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is a key concept of modernity. It acquired its lettres de noblesse in the twentieth century, thanks to or because of economics and technology. However, for centuries the concept was essentially pejorative. How can we explain this connotation? This article suggests that one of the crucial moments is the Reformation. Using official documents of the time, the article studies the vocabulary of the English Reformation and documents the meanings and the uses made of innovation. The article suggests that innovation served two functions or purposes: an injunction (not to innovate) and an accusation of non-conformity. Thereafter, innovation became a linguistic tool of polemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmer-led innovation brings farmers together with other stakeholders in a collaborative endeavour that recognises multiple forms of expertise. Critical engagement with mainstream models of agricultural science and technology (AST) development has drawn attention to the isolation of farmers as technology adopters within a compartmentalised model of AST development and dissemination. Academic, government and non-governmental actors and organisations are increasingly supporting facilitated processes in which farmers, scientists and engineers develop new knowledge, learning together about the nature of the problems being faced and the potential of different solution pathways. Despite the centrality of learning to farmer-led innovation, its role has yet to be systematically explored. In response, this paper looks to understand the forms of learning and their contribution to farmer-led innovation during a three-year action-research project involving two groups of farmers from northern England and the Scottish Borders in the UK. A researcher-facilitator convened a structured process of twenty meetings that together created opportunities for interaction, deliberation and re-framing of problems and solutions among groups of farmers, a university-based engineer, and wider stakeholders. Multiple qualitative methods were used to build understanding of the different farming contexts and to explore the issues the farmers wanted to work on. Meeting transcripts and fieldnotes were subject to thematic analysis, informed by the analytical framework of cognitive, normative and relational learning derived from the social learning literature. Cognitive, normative and relational learning were found to be mutually interdependent and equally significant, building iteratively rather than linearly: the farmers and engineer assessed new information and reappraised existing situations; they did so informed by and informing a shift in understanding of their goals for new technology; and in so doing they relied on and developed the trust and confidence needed to acknowledge or challenge each other's perspectives. By orientating the group engagement process around the space to explore and challenge histories and contexts of AST, and by drawing on social learning principles to facilitate interaction between the different expertise of farmers and between farmers and engineers, learning emerged that interleaved technology co-design with incremental refinement of the shared norms and values embedded in the process itself. A focus on learning helps deepen understanding of key mechanisms and processes that define and deliver innovation, and the findings suggest that priorities for farmer-led innovation process design should focus on modalities that open up spaces to negotiate both the purpose and products of innovation. [Display omitted] • Farmer-led innovation is increasingly supported, relying on farmers and stakeholders learning together. • The forms of learning and their contribution to innovation are overlooked in research and practice. • Cognitive, normative and relational learning were mutually interdependent and equally significant in two farmer groups. • Learning was iterative, interleaving technology co-design with refinement of shared norms and values. • Opening spaces that recognise power and context allows negotiation of purpose and products of innovation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]