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"education"

In this article I draw attention to the current legitimising of new forms of identity of vocational and higher education learners. Using identity as a lens for examining pedagogy I focus on one of these new forms–the learner-worker identity. I examine one teaching and learning practice portfolio development, by discussing the program within which this practice is located and then analysing the texts that are written by the learner-workers as they participate in this program. Through this examination I draw attention to the complex set of identities and accountabilities of learners who move between work and learning sites, and in doing so I aim to illustrate the usefulness of understanding these kinds of textual practices as identity work. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

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It is widely accepted that the vocational and professional training system has a major impact on national competitiveness. In this paper a number of German-British studies in manufacturing and services are examined in order to show how skill systems have affected the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the two countries' productivity performances. The studies have been conducted since the end of the 1980s to 2003 and have revealed specific links between vocational training, products and competitiveness on the basis of matched plant comparisons. The comparison between Britain and Germany has been chosen as these countries have very different national VET systems. The findings suggest that higher levels of apprenticeship training in German companies give them an advantage over their British counterparts with respect to flexibility to changes in markets, technology, quality and supply chains. The paper closes with a short discussion.

This paper examines the socio-moralistic justification of vocational education in colonial and contemporary Ghana. In the international arena, vocational education has been justified in various ways (mostly in economic terms), but in Ghana, the primary reason for introducing vocational education has always been the development of socially appropriate character, as a means of halting social problems such as urban migration and unemployment. The consistent sociomoralism of vocational education has been met with persistent public aspirations for academic and longer education. The government has attempted to solve social problems by curricular change, but the causes of the problems are in labor structure and the incentive mechanism of schooling.

The background to the work reported in this chapter is an educational reform which seemed to contain unpromising elements of managerial control and prescription, namely the 'competence-based' format for vocational education initiated in the UK by the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ)l. The approach to vocational education promoted by NCVQ consists of detailed specifications of the competences 'required in employment', to be demonstrated in portfolios of evidence derived from workplace practice. This can be presented as a (positive, progressive) reform in that it represents an attempt to: 1 derive curriculum aims from practitioners' experiences (rather than merely from academics' theories) through a process of 'functional analysis' of work roles2; 2 expand educational opportunity by ensuring that access to qualifications is not limited by practitioners' inability to afford or attend expensive or distant 'courses' - because educational requirements are entirely embodied in 'outcome' statements describing professional practice; 3 give learners greater control over their education by making explicit in advance the criteria by which their work will be assessed; 4 ensure that vocational curricula and qualifications are directly 'relevant' to the work roles to which they refer. (Jessup, 1991) However, these claims are frequently met by counterclaims, criticizing competencebased curricula as fragmented and reductionist, as a denial of the creativity and autonomy of professional work and the subjection of professional education to crude managerial control (Ashworth and Saxton, 1990; Field, 1991). In particular, such criticisms have been advanced by writers with a commitment to an action research oriented version of professional development (Elliott, 1991; Norris, 1991) and we have much sympathy with their point of view (see Winter, 1992). © S. Hollingsworth, 1997. All rights reserved.

This paper begins by describing the nature of problems encountered by the present system of providing 'vocational' education to the youth in India. It then proceeds to describe the vocational education in place in Germany and Japan in particular, and the contrasting experience of South Korea to some extent in order to, inter alia, emphasise the range of institutions that need to be created, and the depths of coordination needed between seemingly antagonistic players in the field.

Objectives: This paper outlines the development of family medicine in South Africa with special reference to the process leading to the recognition of this discipline as a medical specialty. It also examines the constraints under which the discipline has had to function, considers where the discipline should be, seeks to identify the barriers to its further development and suggests ways in which to overcome these. Methods: A short review was carried out of the available South African literature to record the advancement of the discipline and the international literature was searched for articles supporting this direction. Results: The situation in South Africa is complicated by the existence of many doctor groupings claiming to represent the generalist and the perception that family medicine only addresses the needs of middle-class citizens. A flawed consultative process leading up to the present stage has contributed to this perception. Conclusions: The available literature supports the establishment of family medicine as a speciality. Developments in South Africa, such as raising the status of Family Medicine and creating a compulsory rotation through family medicine as an extended internship and the creation of registrar posts in family medicine will advance the discipline in a positive manner, whilst possibly attempting to resolve the medical migration issues that are presently destroying Sub-Saharan Africa's health services.

The recent restructuring of automotive supply-chains in response to intense competitive pressures has led to rapid change in, and upgrading of, the skills required by automotive component suppliers. In this paper we compare matched samples of Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers in Germany and Britain in order to examine how the ability of suppliers to develop the required new skills has been affected by the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the two countries vocational education and training (VET) systems. Our findings suggest that higher levels of craft apprentice training in German establishments give them an advantage over their British counterparts in responding flexibly to changes in markets, technologies and supply-chains. Furthermore, the engineering and commercial graduates produced by German Fachhochschulen help German suppliers to improve design skills relatively quickly and to manage long-term relationships with local supply-chain partners. Copyright © 2005 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Based on interviews with youth in Canada participating in a high school based apprenticeship programme, this article investigates the extent to which such programmes affect stated policy goals of facilitating school-work transitions and developing workplace skills. Although embedded in very different education and labour market structures, Germany's dual system is often discussed as a successful model for youth apprenticeship programmes, A comparison between Canadian and German youth apprentices therefore provides a rare critical look at how these differences shape individual experiences in apprenticeships, but also how they affect the accomplishment of policy goals. Findings show that the study participants themselves viewed their apprenticeships as positive and meaningful experiences, Yet the Canadian apprentices had only a cursory knowledge of apprenticeship regulations and career paths, and the German apprentices were restricted in their choices by the early streaming processes in Germany's education system, Skill development in Canada was limited by a focus on workplace-readiness skills and a lack of integration of what participants did at work and what they learned at school, Rather than gaining an understanding of their rights and responsibilities in the workplace, they were learning to accept their underprivileged place in it. Copyright © 2005 BSA Publications Ltd.

Online MBA programs have seen a rapid rise in student enrollments in recent years and institutions of higher education have keen interests in offering quality online MBA programs to meet the demands. The present study reports the results of a case study in which over 100 students enrolled in a top-ranked online MBA program were interviewed and surveyed to investigate their perceptions of the benefits and challenges in online learning and their suggestions for improving the quality of the online MBA program. It was found that virtual teaming was a major factor that influenced the students' online learning experience; they viewed virtual teaming experiences as valuable for preparing them for the increasingly global business environment; at the same time, it also served as a key challenge to their learning in the online environment. Students' suggestions for improving the quality of online MBA program are discussed as well. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.