Search Results for
"education"

Partnership arrangements involving further education colleges and higher education institutions have received varying amounts of attention, and it is clear that they represent a complex management challenge. When planning a partnership arrangement, it is important for senior managers in a college of further education to take into account the imperfections of the marketplace; government policy; the role that Local education Authorities, local chambers and learning and skills councils play; the motives of senior managers employed by institutions of higher education; the benefits associated with formal partnership arrangements; and the importance of forming strategic alliances with educational institutions which have a similar or the same value system. In order to be successful, a partnership arrangement needs to be viewed from a relational stance, and managers need to be committed to building long-term working relationships which are based on trust, loyalty and mutuality. © 2001, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Transition from school-to-work and self-determination are two important themes driving research and practice related to secondary education for students with disabilities. Although the value of career education, specific vocational experiences, and self-determination development is widely recognized, there is a need for research on the interplay of individuals' self-determination and new forms of career-oriented schooling introduced through general education in the last decade. In this paper, I discuss conceptual models and previous research that illuminate the complex and promising relationship between career-oriented schooling and self-determination for all students. © 2001, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

British apprenticeship, now dependent on the Modern Apprenticeship programme, is compared in this paper to both German apprenticeship and its national predecessor, Youth Training. Modern Apprenticeship shares many of the attributes of Youth Training, and shows some improvement in terms of skills produced. However, British apprenticeship performs poorly, in terms of rates of qualification and completion, as well as in breadth and depth of training, relative to its German counterpart, despite the provision by Modern Apprenticeship of substantial government financial support. The fact that MA resembles YT more than German apprenticeship reflects continuing institutional differences between the two countries, notably the limitations of the training quasi-market in which both YT and MA have operated. The prospects for MA to flourish, let alone perform the educational role that the government envisages for it, are bleak in the absence of institutional development along different lines. © 2001, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

There are number of advantages to be gained from work experience programmes. For the enterprise they provide a cost effective source of skilled or semi-skilled labour and a means of screening potential employees. Whilst for the education institution they offer a ready source of practical experience for young people, enabling institutions to develop employability skills. Traditionally, work experience programmes formed part of a sandwich course in which a young person would spend a year in industry obtaining relevant work experience. However, the nature of these programmes are beginning to change in response to policy reforms in the education system and due to the demands of the workplace. This article presents the findings of a study that investigated how work experience programmes are coping with these pressures. Using a series of case studies it identifies how programmes in the field of engineering at the Further and Higher education level are responding to the varied needs of industry. Overall, the study finds that these programmes are undergoing changes and the traditional year-long sandwich programme, involving a year placement in industry, is not always the typical route followed by engineering students in the United Kingdom today. On a theoretical level the article argues that the market orientated reforms introduced into country’s education and training system over the past two decades, has done little to encourage industry-education links at FE or HE institutions. Moreover, when such links do occur they are a result of the innovative approaches adopted by individual departments, as well as the commitment of staff working in these institutes. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Secondary-level career education, designed to prepare students for their occupational lives, generally adopts a human capital approach to learning. We critique this approach by comparing a range of career-education polices and programs with three key principles for democratic learning. We identify areas that would be enhanced by introducing these principles: avoiding the ahistorical depiction of labour-market and working conditions, expanding current conceptions of lifelong learning, offering students alternative viewpoints on occupationally related issues, respecting moral reasoning in character development, and strengthening critical thinking strategies.

It is often argued that training and development offer the potential for trade unions to develop modern, cooperative bargaining strategies, far removed from the traditional adversarial agenda of the past. The article explores such concerns through a case study of training policies and practices in the United Kingdom printing industry. Until very recently, training standards and provision in printing were underpinned by a national agreement for recruitment, training and retraining. Whilst this agreement was relatively innovative it proved unable to maintain training levels within the industry and, in late 1998, it was replaced by a ‘training charter’. The analysis reveals the way that training and development issues are often highly contested. © 2001 Journal of Vocational education and Training All rights reserved.

This paper highlights the extent of vocationalism on higher level tourism courses and outlines a typology of undergraduate degrees. Industry influence on curriculum content is considered in the light of a few modules on one particular single honours degree programme. Finally, issues are raised for the next decade: 'credential inflation' is likely to lead to more graduates, the need for education of cross-cultural communication and host community involvement is raised together with the effect of 'de-layering' concomitantly with increasing numbers of graduates is considered. © 2001, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This paper situates mathematical content and process knowledge within the construct of broad occupational competence. It is critical of many developments in vocational mathematics curriculum and pedagogical practice in Australia over the last decade or so, especially the trend towards the de-institutionalisation of disciplinary knowledge. This has been accompanied by a chronic lack of professional development for many involved in vocational education to enable development of this mathematical knowledge. Meanwhile, workers' actual and potential mathematical knowledges remain largely unrecognised, whilst irrelevant, often infantile, pedagogic texts form their subjectivities as doers rather than knowers, always in need of more training to adapt to ever-changing technologies of workplace plant and management. It argues that to attempt to satisfy government and industry demands for a creative, problem-solving workforce−to say nothing of workers' entitlement to democratic participation−there is a need for mathematical disciplinarity beyond current practice. © 2001, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Since their inception, community colleges have carried out a number of complex and often competing programs or foci. The transfer, vocational, developmental, and continuing and community service foci have become increasingly important as the mission of community colleges has evolved. During their early history, operating primarily as transfer institutions, the student population of junior colleges was not especially diverse—traditional age, male, White, college-bound students filled most classrooms. As times passed and as enrollments grew, community colleges became increasingly diverse in the students they serve and in their purposes for being. Today, community colleges fulfill a multiplicity of roles within their communities, offering a myriad of educational programs and services with a broad and sometimes contradictory set of intended outcomes. This article summarizes pertinent literature related to community college access, mission, and outcomes, exploring the complex intersections between these important constructs. It concludes that meeting the needs and goals of students should be paramount in conceptualizing outcomes, otherwise community colleges will continue to be criticized by populists who observe that they are not reaching enough students and elitists who believe they do not meet traditional outcomes linked to educational and economic attainment. © 2001, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

A Student Exchange Program began with four students from Germany visiting Siemens-Westinghouse and the University of Central Florida in Summer, 1999, as an initiative from Siemens training officials in Muelheim, Germany. In Summer 2000, a program with four German apprentices coming to the U.S. and four U.S. interns working and studying in Germany was very successful. The initial UCF students continued part-time work at Siemens during their senior year and were offered full-time employment upon graduation. Not only did the German students complete their work, but some of them returned for employment in the U.S. Siemens, as a multinational enterprise, is preparing technologists and engineers to understand product design and manufacturing for integrated systems in international markets. Students will benefit from an understanding of the systems, standards, and cultures involved. The internship model being developed uses the best from the German and U.S. systems and merits further study and implementation.