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Examples of Commercial
Work
'A
fire station for all' and other Swedish Work
Academic
Reference Point
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CV's
follow for Dave Baigent and Sarah O'Connor
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Dr. Dave
Baigent BA Honours, GradIFireE, PhD dave.baigent@fitting-in.com
I have a lifetime’s
experience of working, researching, training, teaching and
consultancy in and on the fire and rescue service. Since
1993 my experience has extended to researching all uniformed
public services and teaching students on public service
courses.
History
For over thirty
years I worked as an operational officer with the London
Fire Brigade, serving for over 20 of them as a Station
Officer at Tottenham and Edmonton fire stations. At a
more strategic level I also spent much of my service as
a Fire Brigades Union official serving as Area Secretary
and then as London's representative on the Officers National
Committee.
On retirement
(1993) I studied at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
to complete a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Politics and
research for my Doctorate (on
fire service culture). This period of education provided
me with the opportunity to change from - in my words,
“a sexist, racist, homophobe to someone who
now more fully understands the results and reasons of
such difficult attitudes and their results for the individual
and the service they work in.”
Fitting-in
I am the founding
director of Fitting-in, a teaching and training consultancy
that basis all its work on research. Using my academic
experience at Anglia Ruskin Cambridge and international
expertise on fire service culture(s), the range of services
offered includes:
-
specialist
education packages designed specifically for you
-
snapshot
audits to report on new ideas and reconsider old difficulties;
-
customised
workshop programmes that provides a range of packages
to achieve three outcomes in one
-
a range
of other educational and training opportunities
-
research
opportunities.
Sarah O’Connor
and I are deeply involved ina five year project
in Sweden to support the employment
of women firefighters. They have said
"Fitting-in
with their unique insight into real world fire service
culture and a firm theoretical base in academia provided
the MSB (The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency) with
invaluable expert advice and assistance in developing
a national action plan targeted at increasing equality
and diversity in the Swedish fire service."
In 2010 we
completed a cultural audit of South Yorkshire Fire and
Rescue Service Perceptions:
what is believed to be true can become true in its consequences
Our 2010 cultural
audit for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service looked
at how managers can improve relations with the workforce.
This is what CFO Mark Smitherman had to say about our
work
"South
Yorkshire Fire and Rescue was very pleased with the outcome
of our involvement with Fitting-in; as it says on their
tin, "managers in the emergency services are the
experts - What fitting-in can do is help managers to use
their expertise" and Dave and Sarah worked very well
with us to challenge imbedded perceptions and cultural
history within the service during a very intense period
of change within South Yorkshire. The result is a far
more rounded and pragmatic collective understanding of
where we want to be as an organisation – a challenging
process, but very worthwhile."
We have an
extensive portfolio with Merseyside Fire and Rescue, where
we developed the Ethos project, which seeks to reconcile
cultural difficulties in the fire service. The research
has identified that it is possible to ameliorate the difficult
cultural processes that turn new firefighters into people
who resist change and modernisation.
This is what
Merseyside
Fire and Rescue Service had to say about the Ethos
research, communications and training project:
"The
Service are delighted with the research and reports
produced by "Fitting-in. We believe that your
original hypothesis and work undertaken in Merseyside
has resulted in a ground breaking piece of work that
can only serve to inform the wider fire and rescue
communities."
Fitting-in
also hosts the very successful http://www.fitting-in.com
website that freely publishes international research on
the fire and rescue service.
I also offer
assistance to a number of national and international students
studying for a range of awards.
Academic
Until 2010 I
was a principal lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge
where I wrote and taught on the UK’s first Public
Service Degrees. The FdA and BA Honours in Public Service
are designed to help potential new
entrants and existing members of the emergency services
with the critical skills necessary to run tomorrow’s
uniformed services.
The degree takes
a critical view of all the emergency services. In
particular it focuses on understanding service and cultural
reaction to modernisation, community participation, service
delivery, leadership, change management, modernisation,
trade union relations, politics equality and diversity.
To support the
Public Service Degree, I also established the UK’s
first social science based fire service research unit at
Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. This unit has been
responsible for a number of research projects, including
the influential Sunrise
report on initial training. Additionally the unit submits
reports to government
committees on the fire service and is approved by the
CAA for auditing airport fire services.
My academic
portfolio is based around my research based teaching. In
the wider sense my academic specialities feature formal
and informal work cultures, masculinity and gender construction.
From a more focussed perspective I research and teach on
the effects and influences of formal and informal work cultures,
change management and leadership, the social construction
of masculinity and gender, equality, and women's experience
in the fire and rescue service.
International
Sarah
and I continue to work with the Swedish
Fire Service
I
have spoken at numerous conferences on the fire service
including
2011
LGA: 'Fire
and Rescue Services: Going the extra mile' (2011). LGA
commissioned fitting-in to provide an audit of national
responses to government austerity measures: Presented
to the LGA Annual Conference 20011.
2010
We have also
presented to the LGA Equality Network on our analysis of
how 'Localism' would influence the equality agenda. The
presentation, including the feedback from the interactive
session, are available on the LGA website - we are available
to carry out similar work in your service.
The Chair of
the network Cllr Brenda Forster said:
“Fitting-in
provided an excellent and informative presentation, with
many attendees giving it very positive feedback. The information
on fire service culture was very interesting and the interactive
session provided some good insights for the attendees”
LGA Annual
Conference 2010 - Fitting-in
workshop on fire service culture
2009
ReadRight:
action research fellowship on educating non traditional
students
2008
2007
• ‘Gender,
Work and Organisation,’ Keele
• Diversity
in Organisations, Communities and Nations,’
Amsterdam
• In
October 2007 I was an invited speaker for three sessions
at the Diversity in Emergency Services Conference in Melbourne.
Australia - for details of my speeches go
to
2006
I took part
in the delivery of two international conferences:
• At the Avon “Women as Leaders in the Fire
and Rescue Service” I chaired a series of workshops
on the subject of “Jobs for the boys” and
reported back to the plenary.
• At the “Leading Improvement through Leadership”
conference at the Fire Service College I sat on the round
table debate on equality
During 2004
I was a research fellow working in Australia as a researcher/guest
of the University of Western Australia and New South Wales
Fire Brigades (Sydney). During this visit I presented
a paper at the AFAC annual conference in Perth.
Assisting
researchers
I continually
assist international researchers with their work on the
fire service.
The assistance
I have given students, researchers and employers in the
UK, USA, Australia and Scandinavia indicates that the
fire service may have a ‘universal’ informal
culture: a culture that each generation of (masculine)
firefighters keeps in trust for the next generation. Amongst
the values this informal culture celebrates are some difficult
areas around white working class masculinity and some
ultra conservative attitudes about change. It is this
difficult area of informal cultural values and the modernisation
project that my work concentrates on.
Education
and Employment
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Education
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Anglia Ruskin
University, Cambridge
1997-2001 Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis provides a cultural audit of the UK fire service:
a qualitative sociological study of masculinity, equality
and gender, which also involved research in the police
and the military.
Available at http://fitting-in.com/baigent.pdf
1993-1996 BA (hons) Sociology and Politics
Dissertation provides an overview on female firefighters
and equal opportunities in the UK fire service.
Available at http://fitting-in.com/diss.htm
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Professional
Qualifications
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1970 Graduate
Member of the Institute of Fire Engineers
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EMPLOYMENT
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December
2001 to the current day
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Director:
Fire Service Research & Training Unit
Principal Lecturer Public Service Degree Anglia Ruskin
University
External Examiner BA Hons and HND in Public Service
Swansea Institute
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2001
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Contract
Researcher Anglia Ruskin University
Module Leader for Feminist Theory Anglia Ruskin University
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1996 – 2001
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Lecturer
in Public and Emergency Services West Herts College.
Module Leader for Politics, Sociology and Equal Opportunities
at BTEC National and HND level Public Service qualifications.
Work Placement Supervisor.
Supervisor: Residential Trips and Visits.
Year Tutor: final year students.
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1962-1993
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London Fire
Brigade.
1962-1966
Firefighter.
1966-1970 L. Firefighter.
1970-1972 Sub Officer.
1972-1993 Station Officer.
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Political
Service
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Councillor
1986-90
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WRITING
AND PRESENTATIONS
Baigent, D.
(1996) Who Rings the Bell? A Gender Study Looking at the
British Fire
Service, its Firefighters and Equal Opportunities, Cambridge:
available at www.fitting-in.com/diss. |
Baigent, D. (1999) 'Fitting-in' Fire Service Research Conference,
Fire Service College Moreton in Marsh. |
| Baigent, D.
(2000) 'Do officers gain from having a shared experience
with firefighters' Fire Service Research Conference, Fire
Service College Moreton in Marsh. |
Baigent,
D. (2001a) One More Last Working Class Hero: a cultural
audit of the UK fire service, Cambridge: Fitting-in. Available
at http://www.fitting-in.com/baigent.pdf.
Baigent, D. (2001b) 'Gender Relations, Masculinities and
the Fire Service: a qualitative study of firefighters'
constructions of masculinity during firefighting and in
their social relations of work' Department of Sociology
and Politics: Anglia Ruskin University.Cambridge
Baigent, D. (2001c) 'Against the Flow: Firefighters Working
Against Cultural Colonisation' Work Employment and Society
Conference, Nottingham.
Baigent, D. (2001d) 'Firefighting men can do it can women
do it too' Fire Service Research Conference, Fire Service
College Moreton in Marsh
Baigent, D. (2001e) 'Questioning the notion that officers
gain from their experience of having been firefighters',
Fire Command and Management November.
Baigent, D. (2001f) 'Firefighting: a masculinity in crisis'
Gender Theory Study Group, Cambridge.
Baigent, D. (2001g) 'Firefighting: a masculinity in crisis'
British Sociological Association Annual Conference, Manchester.
Baigent, D. (2001h) 'Experience Versus Degree', Fire 93(1150):
23-24.
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Baigent, D.
(2002a) 'Fire Service Culture' Fire Service Conference,
Fire Service College Moreton in Marsh.
Baigent, D., with Rolph, C. (2002b) Fitting-in: a cultural
audit of recruitment, training and integration in the fire
service. Part one: The first 14 weeks, Cambridge: Fitting-in
|
Baigent, D.
(2003a) 'Memorandum by The Fire Service Research and Training
Unit, Cambridge (FIR 12) to the
Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister:
Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions, available
at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmodpm/1168/1168we16.htm'.
Baigent, D. with Hill, R., Ling, T., Skinner, D., Rolph,
C and Watson, A. (2003b) 'Sunrise: a new dawn in training'
Fire Service Research Conference, Fire Service College Moreton
in Marsh.
Baigent, D., with Hill, R., Ling, T., Skinner, D., Rolph,
C and Watson, A. (2003c) Sunrise a New Dawn in Training:
training today's firefighters as the emergency workers for
tomorrow, Cambridge: Anglia Ruskin University. available
at www.fitting-in.com/sunrise.pdf. |
Baigent, D.
(2004a) 'Fitting-in: the conflation of firefighting, male
domination, and harassment', in J. G. a. P. Morgan (ed)
In the Company of Men: re-discovering the links between
sexual harassment and male domination., Boston: North Eastern
University Press.
Baigent, D. (2004b) 'Firefighting men can do it can women
do it too' Australian Fire Authorities Annual Conference,
Perth.
Baigent, D. (2004c) 'The secret fire-fighter: revelations
of inequality in the fire service,' Local Government Association
Annual Conference (Fire), Manchester, UK. |
Baigent, D.
(2005a) 'New Managerialism, Masculine Managers and a Masculine
Business,' Gender Work and Organisation, Keele.
Baigent, D. (2005b) 'New managerialism, masculine managers
and a masculine business (how gender may be key in attempts
to manage the UK fire service), paper presented at the Gender
Work and Organisation Conference, Keele June.' |
Baigent,
D. (2006a) 'One Decade On: summary of data collected,
available at http://www.fitting-in.com/decade/summary.doc'.http://www.fitting-in.com/decade/summary.doc
16-5-06
Baigent, D. (2006b) 'One Decade On: ethics statement,
available at http://www.fitting-in./decadecom/e.htm'.http://www.fitting-in./decadecom/e.htm
Baigent, D. (2006c) 'Memorandum by the Fire Service Research
and Training Unit tothe Select Committee on Office of
the Deputy Prime Minister, available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmodpm/872/872we47.htm'.
Baigent, D. (2006d) 'One Decade On: early summary of data
on shift systems available at http://www.fitting-in.com/decade/shifts.pdf'
accessed 16-8-06
Baigent, D. (2006e) 'Shift Changes: what women really
want', Fire August(2006).
Baigent, D. (2006f) 'Public Servants and free choice:
an early debate about the influences of structure and
agency.'http://www.fitting-in.com/structureagency 25-9-06
Baigent, D., Dolan, K., Marks, T. and O'Connor, S. (2006g)
Three students and their Fd Leader write about their experience
of a Foundation Degree in Public Service at Anglia Ruskin
University: Foundation Degree Forward. available at http://www.fdf.ac.uk/uploads/fdfcasestudy.pdf
Baigent, D. (2006). 'Shift
Changes: what women really want', Fire August(2006). |
| Baigent,
D. (2007a). "An early debate on how social norms
and values provide the rules that form the structures
for Public Servants (work in progress last update on 2-8-07)
http://www.fitting-in.com/z/a/2structureagency.doc accessed
on ****."
Baigent, D. (2007b). "Public Servants and free choice:
an early debate about the influences of structure and
agency." Retrieved 25-9-06, from http://www.fitting-in.com/structureagency.
Baigent, D. (2007c). "Public Service Workers and
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (work in progress), downloaded
from http://web.anglia.ac.uk/publicservice/studentsnotes/1modules/job%20one/3%20week%20three%20handout%20maslow%20adapted%20from%20boeree.doc
on *****."
Baigent, D. (2007d). "Quotes." from downloaded
from www.fitting-in.com/z/a/quotes on 9-10-07.
Baigent, D. (2007e). Speech to Melbourne Diversity in
Emergency Services Conference, 31-11-07
Baigent, D. (2007f). Stopping the Drip. Gender Work and
Organisation. Keele.
Baigent, D. O'Connor, S. and Evans, B. (2007a). Ethos
1
Baigent, D. and O'Connor, S. and Evans, B. (2007b). Ethos
2 |
Baigent,
D. and O'Connor, S. (2008a). Submission
to the C&LG Equality and Diversity Strategy Cambridge,
Fitting-in.
Baigent, D. and O'Connor, S. (2008b). Submission to the
D&CLG Framework Strategy. Cambridge, Fitting-in.
Baigent, D., O'Connor, S., et al. (2008). Ethos 3 - in
draft.
Baigent, D.
(forthcoming). "Book review: On the Fireline: Living
and Dying with Wildland Firefighters." Journal of
Risk Research.
Baigent, D
and O'Connor, S (2009) ReadRight:
report of an Inspire Research Fellowship into improving
access to education for non-traditional students
Baigent, D
and O'Connor, S (2010) Perceptions:
what is believed to be true can become true in its consequences
Baigent, D
and O'Connor, S (2011) LGA: 'Fire and Rescue Services:
Going the extra mile' |
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| Sarah O'Connor
Curriculum Vitae |
Educational
Background - Present
PhD
Sarah is undertaking PhD on fire service managers and management
at the Kent University.
Sarah completed
a Foundation degree in Public Service in 2003 and became the
highest scoring student on the BA (Hons) degree in Public
Service when she graduated in 2004.
Since graduating
Sarah has pursed her passion for teaching by attaining her
Post Graduate Certificate in Education. Sarah has taught students
at various levels until she left Anglia in 2010.
International
Sarah has co-delivered a range of papers with Dave Baigent
in relation to equal opportunities in the fire service
• Diversity
in Organisations, Communities and Nations,’ Amsterdam.
Skills
Audit
The BA (Hons) Degree provided Sarah with the skills to:
• pursue
her enthusiasm for researching into the changing and resilient
culture of the fire service
• explore
ways of developing the change needed in line with government
objectives in relation to the 're-invention' of the fire service.
• to evaluate
the cost of change to all individuals in the fire service
• to help
re-build the framework of individual and watch identities.
Sarah applies
her knowledge of sociological theory to ‘real events’
and her real skill may be demonstrated in the use of ‘abstract
conceptualisation’.
Research experience has led Sarah to develop a wide understanding
of the multi-faceted tensions in the developing fire and rescue
service. Sarah's real passion is in trying to create the space
for individuals to develop and re-align a sense of self- identity
within the complex cultural arrangements that exist, whilst
not loosing sight that public service is under constant pressure
from government to modernise.
Sarah works with
Dr Baigent to promote a reconciliation of competing cultures
within an environment of pressurised change.
|
| Sarah is joint author
of a series of Ethos
Reports- the research based report that suggests new
ways of answering the question that most Chief Fire Officers ask
- “Why is it that the values and attitudes held by firefighters
when they join the fire service, almost seem predisposed to change
from the day they commence training?” Contact Dave
Baigent about these exciting reports, which have been completed
for the ******* Fire and Rescue Service and hopefully will be
made public released soon |
| O'Connor,
S. (2004) The Individual In The Fire Service: A study of the
changing context of the white male heterosexual firefighter in
the fire service, exploring gender, culture new forms of institutional
control and effects on self-identity, Dissertation for BA Honours
in Public Service Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. |
Baigent, D., Dolan,
K., Marks, T. and O'Connor, S. (2006g) Three
students and their Fd Leader write about their experience of
a Foundation Degree in Public Service at Anglia Ruskin University:
Foundation Degree Forward. available at http://www.fdf.ac.uk/uploads/fdfcasestudy.pdf
Baigent, D. and O'Connor,
S. (2008a). Submission
to the C&LG Equality and Diversity Strategy Cambridge,
Fitting-in.
Baigent, D. and O'Connor, S. (2008b). Submission to the D&CLG
Framework Strategy. Cambridge, Fitting-in.
Baigent, D. (2008a) 'Culture, the formal and the informal'.
DOI:
Baigent, D. (2008b) 'One Decade on: data on the harassment of
women in the UK Fire and Rescue Service (work in progress) http://www.fitting-in.com/decade/harassment.doc'.
DOI:
Baigent, D. (forthcoming). 'The need to have accepted core values'.
Baigent, D., O'Connor, S., et al. (2008). Ethos 3 - in draft. |
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