Search Results for
"education"

The article focusses on the system of further vocational education for Japanese teachers which is to the greater part based on a network of cooperation among colleagues. It is shown in what way the Japanese conception of teaching as a craft determines the professional career of teachers in the field of primary and secondary schooling. In Japan, the highly developed form of further education accompanying the professional practice has led to a professional culture in which knowledge relating to pedagogical action is continuously submitted to a process of reformulation and change. This dynamism has to be balanced against the disadvantageous fact that further professional education for teachers is only possible within the framework of the existing culture of instruction and draws not enough on either the universities or educational research on teaching.

While there is increasing emphasis on the idea that vocational education should equip students to think well, very little attention is paid in course design to messages from cognitive research that the quality of people’s subject knowledge influences their thinking about problems. The overall aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of ideas from cognitive research and from the ‘meta-cognitive movement’ in designing instruction intended to improve students’ ability to deal with simple accounting problems. A new ‘cognitive’ approach to teaching an existing basic accounting module was implemented by further education lecturers and evaluated using an experimental/control design. The results indicate that the ‘cognitive’ instruction significantly improved students’ scores on non-routine accounting tasks. The authors interpret the results as consistent with their view that the emphasis on understanding and thinking in this study may be more vocationally relevant than is commonly supposed. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This study examined effects of high school students’ (n = 4050) participation in work-based learning programmes representing School-To- Work (STW) initiatives on their activities 1 year after graduation. Work based learning offered some advantage to participants compared to nonparticipants. Specifically, students who participated in the Career and Technology education (CTE) programme had higher state-reported total and quarterly earnings, and self-reported higher hourly wage, and greater relevance of high school curriculum to their post-secondary education, training and employment than non-participants. CTE participants rated themselves better prepared in what to expect at the job and knowing technical information about the job than non-participants. Unexpectedly, interns had lower state-reported total earnings and number of quarters worked than non-interns. Interns rated themselves as equally prepared as non-interns in general work skills. Observations made during the evaluation suggested areas for improvement in the implementation and evaluation of STW activities, namely, the need for abstraction in STW programme development, implementation and evaluation, and the need for broader reach of students. © 2001 Journal of Vocational education and Training All rights reserved.

The role of competencies in postgraduate dental education and training has been a major topic of interest in recent years. Concerns have been voiced from all sides of the profession about how the competence of trainees and the quality of training can be assured so that high standards of patient care can be maintained. A three year project which seeks to develop a competency-based assessment system for general professional training is underway which hopes to answer some of the concerns and provide an evidence-based system of assessment for the early postgraduate years. This paper looks at the reasoning behind the project, its aims, and the progress made to date. © British Dental Journal 2000;.

[No abstract available]

Presents the findings of the second phase of a research study carried out in the summer of 1999 and commissioned by CAPPE/ACPEP, and The Churches' Council on Theological education in Canada. Reports the results of a survey of students who completed a basic unit in Supervised Pastoral education to identity the self-perceived effects of the unit on their pastoral functioning. Notes that the results of both the first and second phase of the research affirm the use of experiential learning and the success of basic SPE in increasing self-awareness.

The final year of medical education in Germany (practical year) is hardly systematized. In order to improve student learning during dermatology internship we introduced a portfolio to clarify which components are considered important within dermatology: 25 qualifications were divided into "general-basics", "dermatology-basics" and "special-dermatology" and were listed in a student's portfolio with a theory-, supervision- and clinical practice/hospitation part. The individual achievements were documented in the portfolio by the supervising residents. Since November 1999, 15 students participated at the portfolio-program. They absolved at the rate of 70% (in the mean) of listed activities. General basics were fully completed by all students, 75% of dermatology basics were absolved and 46% of special dermatology were absolved. There was a remarkable increase in achievement compared with a historical control group, especially concerning special aspects in dermatology. The students welcomed the portfolio because it provided a useful overview of learning opportunities and achievements. They strongly requested implementation of portfolio-based learning in other faculties.

An epidemiological survey was carried out by a local association network and was developed in partnership with regional and national institutions. The survey on wellbeing and health was conducted over an 18-month period in the French department of Charente. The purpose of the research was to test the hypothesis that «the change in context that is experienced by adolescents at the end of junior high school and at the beginning of high school leads to an increase in risky behaviours». To this end, the survey questioned 3,800 young people on a random basis, mixing those from different grades, those participating in vocational training and apprenticeships, and those from public and private schools. The accomplishment of this survey was made possible thanks to the motivation of a pre-existing strong local network organised and linked to education professionals, the technical contribution of the region's health observatory who conducted the statistical analysis of the data, and the assistance of Unit 472 of the French Institute of Health and Medical Research who provided scientific supervision and advice. The high participation rate and quality of the data (comparable with and even better than some existing studies) demonstrate that it is possible for local associations to carry out effective epidemiological surveys based on the needs keenly felt by the workers themselves, within the scope of a reasonable budget and in a short time span without sacrificing the precision demanded by the scientific method.

This study addresses the question "Do school-to-workprograms, as embodied by career academies, facilitate postsecondary education?" The author conceptualizes postsecondary education as a series of steps through the university and examines the high school career academy's influence on entrance into, route through, and outcomes from a 4-year university. Data are drawn from applicant and student records at a comprehensive, urban university for all individuals originating from a single district's high schools. The findings suggest that students from career academies have higher academic achievement upon leaving high school, less need for remediation in English at the university, and a 4-percentage-point increase in graduation from the university than students who are not from academies. These findings suggest that school-to-work programs could facilitate positive outcomes in postsecondary education. However, the continued high rates of remediation and the low rates of graduation, even for students from career academics, suggest that their influence might not be enough to ensure success in postsecondary education. This analysis therefore suggests that further research should identify program components that increase postsecondary education and determine how these components can be institutionalized and built on in subsequent reforms.

We have carried out case based comparative studies in Japan, US and Korea with special reference to the medical education programme using standardized patients (SPs). The schools in US we have visited are still in the process further reforming interactive medical education. In Daegu, Korea, five medical schools have jointly started a working group for the betterment of medical education on a regular basis from the year 1999. The emphasis is on cooperative research on standardized patient training and its application. In Japan, the substantial activities for training and implementing SPs were later followed by several citizens who are active in training and providing SPs to medical schools and hospitals in need. In comparison to the established research oriented framework and flexible application of SPs in US and new & dynamic developmental discussions of SPs in Korea, the Japanese reality is a bit behind with less opportunity for research oriented trials.