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Registrars in general practice have to submit an audit project as one of four parts of summative assessment. A criterion-referenced marking schedule has been developed in the West of Scotland, consisting of five independent criteria all of which have to be judged above minimum competence to pass. A system was developed to test the instrument using a marking exercise which calculated the sensitivity and specificity of the assessment process, for different combinations of assessors. One hundred and two registrar audit projects were then assessed by three independent assessors. Ninety-two (90%) passed and 10 projects (10%) were referred back to the registrar as being below minimum competence. After resubmission six projects (6%) passed, two projects (2%) were still below minimum competence, and two (2%) were not resubmitted. A referral process for assessing the audit projects of general practice registrars has been developed to maximize the opportunity of finding a project below minimum competence.

In the last decade in Australia there has been a significant emphasis placed on vocational education and training. More recently within this context there has been renewed interest in apprenticeship training which has both formal learning (in a technical and further education college), and informal learning (in the workplace) components. This article, which draws on the perspectives of both apprentices and their workplace trainers from six industrial sites, is focused on the extent to which apprentices and their workplace trainers perceived the workplace to be a learning context. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed. The findings of the study indicated that, in a context where production is valued over learning, a number of effective learning processes are underdeveloped and undervalued. © 1997 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article examines how different forms of vocational knowledge are constructed from social sources. Using a Vygotskian framework it is claimed that in different ways vocational knowledge is shaped by history, community and ontogeny through microgenetic development. This process of ongoing problem-solving links social circumstances to the development of cognitive structures necessary to conduct vocational practice. It is held that such findings help explain the limitations of transfer and also the need to conceptualise expertise at the particular community of practice, rather than at some disembedded level of practice. © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Two factors have made behaviorally based task analysis training systems obsolete: (1) these systems cannot describe the complex knowledge required of European and North American workers by recent changes in the global economy, and (2) recent research in cognition shows that the cognitive processes and structures involved in complex work tasks serve as a more useful content for training and development. A description and a brief review of research on cognitive task analysis (CTA) systems is provided Claims for the benefits of CTA are discussed, including Means and Gott's (1988) contention that the equivalent of five years of advanced job knowledge can be transmitted in about 50 hours of training based on CTA The article concludes with a call to include current knowledge of CTA in training design systems and for additional research directed to the development of CTA systems. Copyright © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

This research review found that the three elements of the school-to-work transition - schools, employers, and the relationship between them -operate differently than is commonly assumed. First, the selection process and outcomes of vocational education are more variable and generally more positive. Second, although employers decry youths' poor preparation, research indicates that employers may inadvertently contribute to it. Third, economic theory warns about the inefficiencies of institutional linkages, but research indicates that school-employer linkages can enhance incentives, the flow of information, and employment outcomes. This article suggests that the school-work transition may be improved if schools make academic instruction vocationally relevant, employers base hiring on applicants' achievement in school, and school-employer linkages are created and appropriately designed.

This article looks at the link between the established tradition of a nation's vocational training system and the specific pattern of state or government involvement in the process of skill formation. It is based on the perception of the different features of the German and the English approach towards the qualification problem. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the Vocational Training Act submits vocational training to a certain amount of quality control. This control, however, is merely injected into existing patterns and procedures and therefore the state's function is only partly one of defining standards and conditions. It builds on specific traditions which allow a variety of agents and institutions to become involved in the process of qualifying young people for skilled occupations.

This article provides a rationale for exploring ways in which science educators can structure learning activities that more accurately reflect the scientific inquiry processes used by practicing research scientists. Science learning activities based on the experiential model are better able to promote student construction of scientific knowledge and provoke students into making the transition from naive to higher-order, scientific ways of thinking. The conclusion is drawn that experiential education strategies will strengthen school science performance, particularly among students from underrepresented groups, and create an increased pool of scientific and technical workers.

This article explores implications of Patient-Focused Care (PFC) for the education and training of nurses. It does so by examining various models of competence and their strengths and limitations as bases for developing training programmes. It cautions against attempting to transpose an approach to training based on the U.S.A. model of PFC without modification, given the differing nursing roles in the U.K. PFC setting. It argues for a broad-based definition of competence rather than a narrower focus on training in specific skills alone.

Second-year pharmacy students were divided into two cohorts, one of which participated in structured work-based learning (WBL) activities in a summer vacation training programme (VTP) in a community pharmacy work placement. Assessment methods were developed to measure quantitatively any change in knowledge and knowledge-based transferable skills. Results from the assessments showed that participation in structured WBL activities increased the students' knowledge and knowledge-based transferable skills.