Search Results for
"human"

Do apprenticeships convey mainly general or also firm- and occupation-specific human capital? Specific human capital may allow for specialization gains, but may also lead to allocative inefficiency due to mobility barriers. We analyse the case of Switzerland, which combines a comprehensive, high-quality apprenticeship system with a lightly regulated labour market. To assess human capital transferability after standardized firm-based apprenticeship training, we analyse inter-firm and occupational mobility and their effects on post-training wages. Using a longitudinal data set based on the PISA 2000 survey, we find high inter-firm and low occupational mobility within one year after graduation. Accounting for endogenous changes, we find a negative effect of occupation changes on wages, but no significant wage effect for firm changes. This indicates that occupation-specific human capital is an important component of apprenticeship training and that skills are highly transferable within an occupational field. © 2015 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

The UK government aims to increase both the number, and also the status, of workers with intermediate-level skills, with a view to creating a ‘modern class of technicians’ who can help to bolster economic growth and prosperity. This article considers the prospects for such a policy by focusing on one particular, but neglected, group of technicians, namely those who work in university laboratories and workshops. Data from English universities are used to shed light on the recruitment, training, skills, qualifications and career prospects of technicians. Factors shaping employer decisions about recruitment and training are examined, in the context of broader human resource management arrangements and the development of a new technician registration scheme. © 2015 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

Mimesis, learning through observation, imitation and practice, is held to be the main contributor to human endeavours. In this article, observation is proposed to be a key feature of trades learning through affording ease of entry into trade occupations’ practice communities. Observation provides apprentices with significant socio-cultural and socio-material cues to resolve initial ‘newcomer’ status. Aspects of work learnt through observation influence apprentices’ engagement with and learning of trade occupations’ inherent complexities. This article utilises narratives of apprentices’ experienced curriculum to illuminate the role of observation in learning a trade and proposes recommendations to circumvent barriers to maximising the potential of learning through observation. © 2015 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

In this contribution we describe a theoretical way of linking dynamics as gamification design elements with competency-based education. Furthermore the value of the adoption of dynamics is addressed in order to support the design of gamified and competency-based learning on an abstract level of goal definition. © 2015 ACM.

Objective: To determine the elements of quality clinical and field placements through the eyes of paramedic instructors. Design: Qualitative study. Settings: Two large paramedic services in two countries where the entry to practice qualification for paramedics has been set at the Bachelors degree level. Participants: Fifteen purposively selected paramedic instructors were invited to voluntarily participate. The criterion for inclusion was that they had supervised at least one university paramedicine student on a field placement. Recruitment ceased when saturation was reached. Methods: Face to face semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who were asked their views and expectations of paramedicine student clinical and field placements. Inductive thematic analysis of the transcripts was completed using Nvivo software. Results: The elements of quality clinical and field placements from the perspective of paramedic instructors were identified. With no agreed clinical and field placement paramedicine standards in the countries studied there is variation in the focus of placements, preferred settings, and expectations. Vocationally trained paramedics favoured paramedic service placements, whilst university educated paramedics see benefits in placements in more diverse settings. Conclusions: Paramedic services and universities need to collaboratively address the variation in paramedicine university student clinical and field placements. Standards need to be developed that address the purpose of placements, expectations of students and instructors, and be scaffolded across the education spectrum from undergraduate student to graduate paramedic to instructor. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

This article depicts the case study of Casa Rut (“Ruth Home”), a shelter for victims of sexual trafficking, who are predominantly Nigerian women. Since 1995, through the implementation of article 18 of the consolidated act on immigration, Casa Rut has offered a program of social assistance and rehabilitation to 340 women, 120 of whom were Nigerian and 41 of whom were pregnant. Data gathered during a 2-month internship between 2008 and 2009 are examined in light of the context of the Nigerian sexual trafficking operation and its collusion with the local criminal organization Camorra in the surroundings of the southern Italian city of Caserta. Casa Rut’s interventions are analyzed according to a multilevel perspective and the nature of victims’ case management in order to assess whether this nongovernmental organization can be considered to represent “good practice” in the fight against sexual trafficking. Hence, the work of the social cooperative NewHope—a tailoring cooperative founded in 2004 by Casa Rut that provides vocational training to formerly trafficked women—is considered in relation to the long-term employment needs of sexual trafficking victims. human and sexual trafficking has not been extensively investigated within social work, even though practitioners are best positioned to address this issue. This work therefore aims to facilitate social service providers in their everyday activities by presenting multilevel evidence of good practice in the fight against the modern day slave trade. © 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.

This paper provides a psychology perspective on the human factors that should be taken into consideration when designing behaviour-based energy-saving interventions for non-residential buildings. We review psychological theories used to explain energy-related behaviours and discuss their limitations as well as additional hindrances that interfere with employees' energy conservation. Furthermore, we highlight the features that distinguish residential from non-residential buildings and discuss how these factors may affect peoples' efforts to save energy. In conclusion, we argue that it is ineffective to promote energy-saving behaviours through top-down communication (e.g. information campaigns) but that decision-makers should rather rely on participatory designs, since these facilitate consumers' involvement, increase intrinsic motivation to save energy, take consumers' social environment into account, establish new energy-consumption norms, and encourage overt commitment of individuals to energy savings. Furthermore, we outline how participatory interventions could be strengthened by using motivational interviewing (MI) techniques, a conversation style that could be utilised to evoke users' motivation to engage in energy-conversation behaviours in non-residential buildings. Since basic MI skills can be learned within few days, we recommend that energy managers receive such a training in order to conduct in-house participatory MI-based interventions. © International Society of the Built Environment.

Purpose: The globalization of the market economy and the technology revolution present multiple demands for education to meet the needs of the knowledge society. In this global context, work-based learning (WBL) has become increasingly valuable and critical for individuals and governments to enhance employability and to produce competitive workforces. Yet, the interdependence nature of globalization urges us to learn from each other the various theoretical and methodological approaches to WBL. Applying an appreciative inquiry, the purpose of this paper is to propose the transformation of current WBL practices by integrating or "meshing" Confucian Learning Model (CLM) into Western approaches for sustainable human development in this multi-cultural economic-driven global context. Design/methodology/approach: This study is grounded in literature review and critical examination of profound pedagogical theories and practices from both Western and Eastern perspectives. Western education philosophies, learning theories, and models are critically examined and contrasted with CLM an important Eastern perspective in order to identify the major limitations of current WBL development. Appreciative inquiry and comparative view are applied as methods to highlight the significance of integrating or meshing CLM into the Western approaches to transform current WBL practices in this global context. Findings: WBL has greatly benefited current workforce development worldwide, which is well documented in the literature. However, through futuristic and holistic human development perspectives, current WBL development is seen as moving toward pragmatism and utilitarianism due to overemphasizing the use of education for economic competition and for satisfying employers' immediate work/job needs. Through an "appreciative eye" and comparative lens, this paper helps identify an urgent need to integrate or mesh CLM, an important Eastern perspective, into Western perspectives for enhanced theoretical foundations and more holistic and systemic practical approaches to transform current WBL practices for global sustainable human development. Originality/value: This paper employs a unique method of "appreciative eye" and comparative lens through which scholars and practitioners may identify what is missing but needed in current WBL development in the global context. It is through this unique approach that this paper increases the reader's awareness of the limitations of current WBL practices, guides them to envision how to fully prepare and release the potential of the twenty-first century workforce, and calls for integrating or "meshing" CLM into the various Western approaches for a more holistic perspective for the possible transformation of current WBL practices worldwide. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2042-3896.

Vocational education systems (VET) convey occupation-specific skills to their students. If the demand for the particular skills is scarce at the time when VET graduates attempt to enter the labor market, they run the risk of not being able to make use of them. This is not only the case when VET graduates become unemployed but also when they have to change the occupation. This paper investigates, first, whether the vacancies in the occupation for which the VET graduate is trained and those for which he or she is not trained affect the likelihood of finding a job in the certified occupation, changing the occupation or becoming unemployed. Second, the paper examines how the strength of the demand for occupation-specific skills modifies the influence of educational and individual factors on the three options of labor market entry. Switzerland known for its vocational education system and occupation-specific segmented labor market serves as empirical reference. The multinomial logistic regression models are based on the Swiss PISA/TREE panel data, focusing on VET graduates. We link the individual data on VET graduates to the job advertisement data of the Swiss Job Market Monitor (SJMM), matching the occupation-specific vacancies and those outside the certified occupation by occupation, year, and region. The link between the supply and demand sides of occupational skills at the individual level of labor market entrants offers the unique opportunity to assess the fundamental significance of job opportunities for labor market entry. © 2015, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Many extensions of classical human capital theory regard labour market rigidities as a prerequisite for firms to invest in general training. From this perspective, the German labour market reforms since 2003 should have reduced their willingness to support the apprenticeship training system. This article demonstrates that, on the contrary, German firms did not abandon the training system but instead changed their training strategies after the implementation of the labour market reforms. We analyse the new training strategies that German firms deployed to cope with the increased labour market flexibility engendered by the labour market reforms. Switzerland, where no such reforms occurred, serves as the counterfactual. The results demonstrate that German firms successfully reduced the net costs of training by involving apprentices in more work and reducing non-productive tasks. © 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.