Search Results for
"education"

This article investigates the needs and experiences of student teachers in England and Wales as they learn to teach post-16 on an 11-18 Postgraduate Certificate in education (PGCE). A different curriculum and assessment framework is in place post-16, offering much with which mentors might engage in their training role. However, mentoring in relation to post-16 teaching is reported as inconsistent. As a consequence, students feel underprepared at the end of their training for the demands of post-16 teaching. Students and mentors describe the demands of learning to teach post-16 differently to pre-16, particularly the need to differentiate subject knowledge. Yet little attention is given to effective post-16 teaching strategies in the literature, so students possess a false preconception of post-16 teaching, which mentors have not always been able to challenge. The research was organised as a case study of post-16 teaching and was conducted on a sample of Open University PGCE English students and mentors. Five research instruments were developed and used iteratively to generate qualitative data revealing student perceptions and mentor responses. The study reveals significant problems for student teachers as they learn to teach post-16, which were confirmed by mentors. The results illuminate the specific need for more effective models of post-16 mentoring in initial teacher training (ITT). Mentors need more effective training in the breadth of their role, and the ITT Standards need to ‘mainstream’ competence in post-16 teaching more explicitly. The results also exemplify the relative invisibility of the emerging 14-19 debate as it might affect ITT. The study concludes that post-16 teaching in schools is likely to continue to be on the margins of ITT, and might be better supported in a newly qualified teacher’s induction year. © 2003 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Between 1900 and 2000 an unprecedented effort to use state regulation to guarantee health, opportunity, and security to America's children failed to reach its goals. This account of the period reveals that the achievements envisioned were extremely ambitious and reflected entrenched, but self-contradictory, values as well as Americans' inconsistent expectations of government. Based on extensive research, the volume analyzes the period's public policies that affected children's welfare, work, education, and health. © Judith Sealander 2003 and Cambridge University Press, 2009.

The paper provides the outcomes of two small-scale sets of interviews carried out in the Netherlands and in England on views about and interpretations of the work-based route for young people. In the light of current revival of interest in work-based learning for young people, and in particular the apprenticeship model in England, I was particularly interested in the issue of parity of esteem between the work-based route and other routes. Whereas in the Netherlands the focus for the development of Vocational education and Training (VET) is on the full-time vocational route, which has a reasonably high status, England has opted for the apprenticeship route to be the development tool for high quality VET. The paper explores what we can learn about our own experiences in England in the light of what is happening elsewhere (Raffe, 1998; Raffe et al., 1999). It becomes clear from the data obtained that policy development in the Netherlands aims to increase the status of work-based learning through incorporating the route into the full-time route and providing end qualifications that can be achieved through either a full-time college-based route or through a work-based learning route. The modern apprenticeship route or work-based learning route as such has not a high status, contrary to what is sometimes claimed to be the case. In England, the aim of policymakers is to create a work-based learning route, which is considered to be a high quality route, and is comparable to the general/academic route. The paper shows that there are various reasons as to why this attempt might fail. Both countries aim to provide a 'ladder' or 'column' of opportunities in VET. The research shows that very few young people in fact move up a ladder, but rather move into work-based learning or apprenticeships at certain points on the continuum, and subsequently move sideways into general or theoretical provision in order to be able to progress higher up. Target groups for work-based learning are different at the lower end from those at levels 3, 4 and 5. Very few participants in either country move from level 1 up to level 4 through participation in a work-based route, and it may therefore be appropriate to talk about the provision of a climbing framework, where young people move backwards and forwards and sideways, rather than about a ladder of opportunities. © 2003, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article investigates the current popularity of the concept of competencies. After a brief exploration of perspectives on the concept of competencies, a study will be presented that was conducted in order to gain more insight into the backgrounds of the current status of this concept and to investigate competency-based practices. The study investigated the applications in enterprises and higher education. The last section summarises the main findings and raises some issues that need further elaboration. © 2003 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The pragmatist model of experiential learning in the form of work placements in industry provides opportunities for tertiary institutions to produce well-rounded graduates, possessing knowledge of workplace culture and values along with technical competencies. Work-based learning programmes provide graduates and leaders of tomorrow for a variety of business in the manufacturing sectors; such graduates are reported to rapidly advance in companies, and assume middle and senior management roles. Here, the authors propose that such employees need to develop an understanding of sustainability and suggest that work-based learning could act as a vehicle for delivering education for sustainability (EfS). This article begins with a description of the principles that underpin concepts for sustainability and EfS, and examines three models as to how work-based learning programmes could act as a vehicle for delivering EfS. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Nowadays, graduates need to cope with an increasing diversity and complexity of care situations in healthcare organisations. In order to improve the school-to-work transition it has been decided to broaden curricula. To date, research on the development and effects of broad curricula has been limited. Very little research has been conducted on the effects of curricula type on the employability of nursing and healthcare graduates. This is remarkable given the fact that, over the last twenty years, significant investment has been made in developing curricula to fulfil the requirements of the labour market as the care situations in healthcare organisations are becoming more diverse and complex. This article describes a mainly quantitative empirical study in which the focus has been on the influence of curricula on the employability of nursing and healthcare graduates. Results showed that the curriculum indeed has an influence on the employability of nursing and healthcare graduates. Thus, this explorative study has made a contribution to curriculum research, although much more needs to be known before definite conclusions can be drawn. © 2003 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

A participant observation study, located in central Scotland, was carried out to observe the process of skill acquisition among informally trained auto mechanics in the workplace. As well as noting processes of workplace learning, the benefits/limitations of this type of learning was noted and suggestions made as to how this information may be of benefit to the development of vocational education programmes for mechanics. lthough it is accepted that workplace learning by itself does not create an adequate formal training programme, it is an important constituent of most training regimes and, as such, the processes of skill acquisition should be of interest to those involved in the development or presentation of such programmes. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

There is a crisis in the vocational training provision of the Channel Island of Jersey's construction industry that has similarities with the British situation. Unavailability and inappropriateness of skills, nonviability of current training and recruitment policies on the island, fragmentation of the training infrastructure, the demand-driven and task- or job-specific nature of training, the Jersey-born and male focus of recruitment, and the uncoordinated, traditional and short-term approach of the local construction industry towards promotion and financing of training provision were found to be working against the industry's long-term needs and restricting its ability to respond to the variability of the production process. In contrast, a structured training policy incorporating the needs of both education and industry (employee and employer), and holding a longterm vision should enable the construction industry of Jersey to reverse the downward spiral. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The issue of gender-related differences in the transition of secondary vocational education graduates from school-to-work is discussed, relative to ‘male’, ‘female’ and ‘neutral’ curriculum choices, using findings from a national survey of graduates. The discussion explores this issue using matched employment and earnings as critical indicators. Comparisons are made with corresponding findings in a survey conducted by CEREQ for France. This article suggests that gender equity in entry and transition to labour market is a complex issue, when explored relative to gender-related choices of vocational streams and gender differences in transition performance. The findings were generally consistent with expectations, relative to the social context, which prevails in Greece. The evidence supports the French conclusion that, under certain conditions, non-traditional education and training can benefit young women in their school-to-work transition. On the other hand, unlike the French findings, data on some segregated training programmes show that female labour market performance is surprisingly favourable, especially for pre-vocational training courses, which have a stronger general education component in the curriculum than vocational education courses. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The article puts forward a case for broadening the curriculum within Higher education to incorporate and encourage group work-based learning (GWBL) experiences for students. Two case studies are described within two universities in terms of organising, monitoring and assessing group-based work. It is argued that being a part of a 'consultancy team' and responding to 'real clients' enables students not only to enhance their skills base but also provides them with opportunities for personal and social development both within and outside the world of work. The debate centres upon the concept that work-based learning (WBL) should be more than just 'economistic' in the way that emphasis is placed primarily on 'training for employment'. This central tenet of government policy is considered to be a necessary but not a sufficient condition for providing for group work-based learning experiences for students. The concept of 'social capital' is explained in terms of how group participation can bring about moral, cognitive and social benefits to its members and to the wider community. © 2003, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.