Social Policies Analysis - Essay Example

Discussion on social policy is about education and minimum wage. Also, essay would be chaotic without the sub s But you may do so as you please. If that is what is required.) SO 2010 Social Policy The framers of social policies are constantly guided by the principles that promote human welfare. Indeed, the impetus of formulating social policies aims to provide ample social support to individuals, households, and societies. Alcock et al (2003) characterised social policies as instruments for social welfare and protection. Moreover, social policies pertains to the development of processes that lead to social development. Holzmann and Jorgensen (2000) defined social policies as public measures that are designed to promote income security for individuals and households. The notion embraces the aspects of labour markets, social insurance, and social services. Traditionally, the formulation of social policies is based on the maximisation of social justice. Marshall (1998) stated that social justice entails the allocation of scarce commodities to the population; the foundation of these policies is centred on due process, impartiality, and implementation of suitable distribution criteria. De Jasay (2004) describes the effect of social justice as a balance distributor of income. Likewise, achieving social justice will result to the elimination of injustices in societies. Amidst the perceived importance of aligning social justice to social policies, there have been risks associated with the policies. In effect, some social polices have become detriments instead of growth drivers. Holzmann and Jorgensen (2000) mentioned that risks circumstances that produce adverse effects as social policies are implemented. The next discussion will focus on the extent of risk minimisation in the labour policies and education in United Kingdom (UK). In order to understand the theoretical framework for the mentioned policies, this discussion will present a backgrounder. Finch (1984) contended that education is used as a vehicle that guides other forms of social polices. For example, the universal coverage of education makes the formulation policies regarding children easy. The formulation of education policies have been aimed at the development of individuals' intellectual and social potentials. Also, education is used to transmit social norms and values and to practise social control. In addition, the education policies mould individuals to become quality workers and productive economic contributors. Finally, educational policies are effective in motoring social changes. Among the models of education, UK has been known to practise vocationalism. This means that educational policies are linked with practical applications and addressing the economic issues. The educational system provides different training among various groups. Recent changes in UK that have seen the participation of the government is the decision making of schools. In addition, the government has been providing financial support to learning institutions that has rigorously implemented the state's educational policies. (Halsey et al, 1997) With the introduction of New Labour, the educational policies of UK shifted to the provision of positive and challenging learning opportunities among students (Fielding, 1999). Kennedy (1997) has stressed the need of reinvented policies to eliminate the negative effects of the increasing inequality in education. Hayton (1998) proved that the New Labour managed to address the alarming situation of inequality by focusing on the critical aspects of the system. The labour policy in UK came into prominence with the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. Before the reforms in the labour policies were crafted, it was observed that there was poor comparison of labour policies manifested by UK to that of other countries. Protection against dismissal was weakened and employees who have worked for at leas two years for a firm are given documented explanations of their dismissal. As a result, a conclusion was arrived that administrative approval of dismissal was never part of the labour policies in UK. (Commission of European Communities, 1988) Aside from the mentioned situation, it is evident that the lack of general policy of required working hours has made the goal of flexibilisation useless. Part-time workers, however, are provided with flexible working hours. Also, job splitting was promoted along with the idea of financial incentives. More important, there was a decline of power of Wage Councils in implementing suitable minimum wage. For instance, young workers were excluded from the law that requires employees to compensate their workers based on the minimum wage. Furthermore, the protection of employee rights on certain occurrences has been solely the discretion of the European Court. (Emerson, 1988) After the change of administration, the changes in labour policies have centred on the outlawing of discriminatory grounds. The fair distribution of labour has bannered most of the policies that were implemented since the Labour Party held the political leadership. Most of the policies highlighted the importance of equitable remuneration, equal treatment regardless of age, race, and gender, and the disclosure of labour related issues to the public. (Harrison, 2000) Evidently, the model of education in UK indicates the varying educational opportunities provided to individuals. This reality has led to the emphasis of social justice to guide future education policies. Social justice is still being pursued in most policies although there appears an inclination to minimise the risk of the policies. Since the general goal of education is for economic progress, the likely risk that will occur is the ability of students from UK to compete globally after graduation. The emphasis on methods of teaching is deemed to affect the competence of UK students compared with students from other countries. At the start of the Labour Government's tenure, one of the monumental educational policies formulated was the improvement of information and communication facilities of schools. The policy stressed the need of schools to be accessible to the technological and communication advancements. Indeed, boosting the capabilities of learning institutions to acquire methods of learning and information will improve the competence of students. On the other hand, the efforts have been mired by controversies. Clearly, the government has deviated from the promotion of social justice considering that acquisition of information and communication infrastructures and equipments entails high cost. (Trowler, 2002) The educational policy highlighted the use of the internet as scheme of teaching. Teachers were trained to be knowledgeable of the new method of instructions. Also, the government has encouraged the development of systems to make the learning process easier and for students to access relevant information without hassles. On the labour side, the previous policies on labour have revealed huge discrepancy in the wages provided to workers. Traditionally, workers are paid according to the hours worked instead of being remunerated in fixed schemes. The risk of such policy is obviously felt by the workers who fail to be productive on certain days. In effect, workers are paid inconsistently and sometimes the wage is insufficient to support the needs of their families. Indeed, there is a risk in the uneven remuneration scheme used as workers emphasise on working for long hours instead of productivity and quality. The innovation of the New Minimum Wage aimed to address the impending risk of an inconsistent wage determination scheme. Ascertaining the minimum wage rate used economic bases and considerations that protect the welfare of firms. Instead of being paid by the number of hours worked or the quantity of products manufactured, workers are paid at a rate that balances the welfare of the employees and the employers. Although the New Minimum Wage is subject to different interpretations, the policy recognises the consistent efforts provided by the employees in completing their task. Gradually, policies such as the New Minimum Wage promote the minimisation of risks. (Dickens and Manning, 2002) As expected, the policy of employing a fixed minimum wage has gained the ire of some employers. Small businesses, in particular, have contended their incapacity to provide such wage rate considering the extent of their revenues. Also, some critics mentioned the possibility of declined production since wages are fixed and the hourly basis for salaries is eliminated. With the emergence of risk minimisation, it is suggested that UK has to consider the possibility of implementing social risk management. The World Bank has promoted the method that seeks to analyse the inevitable exposure of individuals and households to risks. Specifically, individuals belonging to the lower class are exposed to risks coming from different sources. The idea of social risk management lessens the vulnerability of lower class individuals to face the risks. Some social policies have revealed risks among individuals. For instance, the focus of UK's educational policy to economic benefits has caused gaps in competitiveness. Also, the policy of wage provision based on hours worked has burdened majority of the workers. Part of the social risk management is strategies that seek to tackle the risks in the stages of their development. Preferably, the strategies are institutionalised to legitimise all the efforts concerning risk elimination. The first strategy deals with the prevention of risks. Social policies are instrumental in ensuring that the risks fail to influence the individuals concerned as policies are manifested. The government plays an important role in assisting individuals and households in preventing social risks. The second strategy deals with mitigating the adverse effects of the risks. In this situation, social policies are critical in preventing further damages caused by the risks. The third strategy is related to the coping mechanism that seeks to help individuals and households recover after the risks have taken their toll. By and large, the formulation of policy have to prevent the risks, mitigate the risk effects, and ensure that the individuals concerned move forwards after experiencing the negative effects of the risks. In this section of the essay, it is important to link the policies discussed previously to the notions of risk minimisation and social risk management. First, the policy on improving the information and communication technology of most learning institutions has been the key to the efforts of the Labour government to promote competitive education. Because of the traditional education policy, the risk of producing incompetent students became a major concern. Definitely, the government has to do something to expand the learning capabilities of students and improve the teaching capacity of schools. Using the internet as a tool for instructions embraces the effective methods of increasing the competitiveness among students. The policy also has the ability to prevent the risk of having incompetent graduates, mitigate the effects of having incompetent graduates, and allow incompetent graduates to further develop. Second, the labour policy of implementing new minimum wage instead of the usual hour worked basis aims to minimise the risk of workers of having less spending power to provide the needs of their families. With the previous basis of wages at work, it was observed that workers receive their wages inconsistently. Providing a fixed salary tends to prevent workers from experiencing low budgets in the event that the hours required for work is not satisfied. Moreover, the policy seeks to improve the economic condition of the workers by boosting their income. Furthermore, applying the new minimum wage aids workers in overcoming the effects of economic breakdowns as businesses have become prone to closure because of economic uncertainties. The idea that social risk has been addressed properly is still debatable at the moment as there is always an on-going discussion on how to improve social policies not only for political reasons and posterity but for reasons rooted to serving the majority of the citizenry. The discussion focused mainly on the strategy called "social risk management" as introduced by the World Bank to aid the lower class individuals from being exposed to social risks. The discussion centres on the capability of the chosen policies to prevent social risks, to mitigate the effects of social risks, and to help individuals to adjust after the social risks have been manifested. The focus is on implementing social risk management in the formulation of social policies. And to conlcude, the change in leadership in UK has resulted to complete changes in the formulation of social policy. In most situations, social justice has been used as the basis for promoting certain social policies. In fact, majority of the policies have been identified with equality and fair distribution of wealth. Despite this reality, the emergence of risk minimisation as basis for policy formulation has been gaining some ground. Logically, the gradual reduction of issues related to discrimination and social inequality has made social justice an obsolete point of reference. Because social risks have posed greater challenges, UK government has to recognise the need to shift focus in formulating policies. This has been emphasised by the Labour government through its labour and education policies. Although it appears that the policies address the issue on equality, the central idea of having such policies is to prevent, mitigate, and cope up with the impending social risks. The policies are designed to add a different dimension in the policies that seek to protect the welfare of individuals and households. Since social risks provide greater impact, it is only logical for the government to introduce the idea of minimising risks than focusing on social justice. In truth, UK is still in its early stage of transition and the new policies have yet to materialise significantly. The most important argument that justifies the superiority of risk minimisation over social justice maximisation is the manner in which both address the issues. The latter notion deals with the UK's past; the former idea leads UK to the future. Word Plan: Introduction - This section gives an overview of what will be discussed in the body or the content of the whole essay or discussion. It presents a summation of the topic, of which in this case is the minimum wage policy and education. The introduction is necessary for the reader to have an initial grasp of what is expected ahead. Theoretical Framework - The Theoretical Framework of every essay or research presents the outline of contents within the discussion. It gives a gist to the reader of the necessary discussions, theories or hypothesis, of which the discussion will expound. It serves as the skeleton of research content. Policy Formulation- Policy Formulation presents detailed areas of the pros and cons within the specific topic or issue under question. It presents why a policy is necessary, and why it is not. It gives details as how a certain issue affects the constituents of the governed sector. This is necessary to give a background of the positive and negative possibilities or threats for each side of the coin. Discussion and Analysis- This gives a total detail of what is under discussion. This serves as the panel where everything which is necessary regarding a topic or issue are presented in a way that is understood and where the reader could clearly see why or how a certain side of the issue must prevail or followed. Conclusion - The Conclusion presents the final understanding and opinion, as well as analysis, recommendations and most important belief that has been formed under the process of discussion. This part is usually the side of the author, writer or researcher and is opinionated in most cases. Although there could be impartial or balanced conclusions, it is necessary that one side of the issue is favoured in the conclusion over the other. Annotated Bibliography - Annotated Bibliography gives the details of the source or reference as to the original author of an idea, proposition, thesis, or presentation, the date of publication, publisher, title of material, article or book, name of publisher, volume or issue number of a publication, as well as exact pages used in a publication as a reference material. On top of all the data given, Annotated Bibliography also presents an overview of the contents or ideas of the reference which had served its purpose in any given research or essay. Annotated Bibliography: Alcock et al. (2003). The Student's Companion in Social Policy. London: Blackwell. This book explores in basic terminologies and discussion social policies in the United Kingdom. De Jasay, Anthony. Reflections from Europe. "Economic Theories of Social Justice: Risk, Value, and Externality." California: Hoover Press. Commission of European Communities. (1988). MISEP Basic Information Report. This entry expounds on the comparative points that can be gleaned on economic policies in the United Kingdom as against other European Union members. Dickens and Manning. (2002). "Has the National Minimum Wage Reduced UK Wage Inequality" London: London School of Economics and Political Science. This article tries to present probable benefits, effects and advantages or disadvantages of the National Minimum Wage in the United Kingdom. Emerson, Michael. (1988). European Economic Review. "Regulation and Deregulation of the Labour Market." What are the governing factors as well as economic and social impacts of regulation and deregulation of the labour market is the main question being answered in this article. Fielding, M. (1999). Cambridge Educational Journal. "Taking Education Seriously: Ten Years Hard Labour." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Education policies and steps to improve a nationwide policy is the crux of this essay. Finch, J. Education as Social Policy. London: Longmans Publications. Finch, in his book Education as Social Policy stated the importance on education policies in creating other polices. The book explained the model of education used in UK and how it affected the policy formulation. The other part of the section explained the labour policies that were implemented in UK. The journal published by the Commission European Communities outlined the situation of the labour sector in UK during the rule of Margaret Thatcher. Halsey et al. (1997). Education: Culture, Economy, and Society. London: Oxford University Press. This book presents prevailing educational, cultural, social and economic issues of the modern society. Harrison, Tom. (2000). Employment Law Fourth Edition. Sunderland: Business Education Publishers. This book expounds on employment law affecting the labour force in general. Hayton, Annette. (2002). Australian Journal of Education. "Educational Inequalities in UK: A Critical Analysis of the Discourses and Policies of New Labour. Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research Holzmann R. and Jorgensen S. (2000). Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0006. "Social Risk Management: A New Conceptual Framework for Social Protection, and Beyond." Washington: World Bank. The essay made used of the definition of "social policy" as used in the journal of Holzmann and Jorgensen. The term risk was also defined using the same journal authored by Holzmann and Jorgensen. The journal was used because it characterises the existence of risks in the formulation of social policies. Kennedy, H. (1997). Learning Works: Widening Participation on further Education. Coventry: FEFC. Marshall, Gordon. (1998). A Dictionary of Sociology. "Social Justice." London: Oxford University Press. The term "social justice" was defined as extracted in A Book of Psychology written by Gordon Marshall, among otherkey terms used in this essay. Trowler, Paul. (2002). Education Policy. London: Routledge. Education Policy written by Trowler mentions the policy of UK to boost the information and communication technology capabilities of learning institutions. Perhaps this is the boldest move of the Labour Government to address the risk of education competitiveness. The journal of Dickens and Manning expounds of the New Minimum Wage as a tool that improves the social plight of workers. World Bank. (2006). "Social Management Risk." Date Retrieved: 25 July 2006. from: Read More