Search Results for
"Vocational education"

Australian vocational education has a history dating from the late eighteenth century. As Australian colonies and, later, federated states evolved each constructed its own version of vocational education provision. Generally the systems, consisting of community-based or state-controlled colleges for the training of operatives, apprenticeships and professional support personnel, were poorly resourced and lacked powerful sponsors to support and promote the education and training of their mostly working-class students. By the early 1970s Australian governments had developed commissions to supplement the funding of state-based elementary, secondary and university education systems, even though under the Australian Constitution education remained state-controlled matter. A reformist federal Labor government at the time consolidated elementary, secondary and university funding but neglected to consider, or even acknowledge, the 400,000 vocational education students not covered by these commissions. Following pressure from vocational education teacher unions, among others, the Labor government established the Australian Committee for Technical and Further education (ACOTAFE) to address the needs of these students. At ACOTAFE's first meeting on 25 March 1973, the Minister for education Kim E. Beazley said, 'It will be a renaissance in education when technical and further education cease to be Cinderellas in education. It is the role of your committee to bring Cinderella to her rightful role as princess'. ACOTAFE was to be chaired by Myer Kangan from the Department of Labour and National Service. The committee's published outcomes were referred to evermore as the iconic 'Kangan Report' rather than TAFE in Australia: Report on Needs in Technical and Further education, its formal title. The report gave Australian vocational education a name (TAFE), a philosophy (access to all through lifelonglearning) and much needed capital works and infrastructure funding. The paper will outline the circumstances leading to the formation of the committee, its work and its outcomes. Focus will be placed on the influential role of Chairman Kangan in shaping ACOTAFE's conclusions. A key theme within the paper is the intersection of biography, politics and the economy in shaping policy construction. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

Background: Child labor remains a widespread phenomenon in today's world. The purpose of the present study was to describe the working conditions and health status of child workers in Kocaeli. Methods: A cross-sectional research study has been carried out on 365 working children at the Kocaeli Occupational Training Center. Data were collected on working conditions, smoking habits, work accidents, perceived health status and psychological status using General Health Questionnaire-12. In order to evaluate the physical growth of children, their height and weight were measured. Results: Most working children usually have a low level of education, low income and extended families. The mean age for children to start working was 14.8 ± 1.5 years and their daily working periods were 11.3 ± 1.3 h on average. Girls were found to have more psychopathology compared to boys on the GHQ-12 and the results were statistically significant. The height z score was less than-2 SD at 6.9% while the weight z score was less than-2 SD at 1.9%. According to body mass index (BMI) percentiles range, 3% of children were found to be underweight. A statistically significant and negative directional correlation was detected between body mass index z scores with age and daily working periods. Statistically significant but weak correlations were detected between height for age z scores and the starting age of work and also between weight for age z scores and chronological age. Conclusions: Both the mental and the physical health of children were found to be negatively affected, by having to work at an early age, and by long working hours. For this reason, immediate and direct intervention should be taken to eradicate child labor, and protect children from unsafe and exploitative working conditions. © 2010 Japan Pediatric Society.

This article discusses forms of 'boundary-work' in school-based training for industrial work or, put another way, discourse and practices that cross, blur or reinforce boundaries between school and industry. The discussion builds on two ethnographic studies, one conducted in the 1980s and one in 2006, to provide insights on continuity and change in an activity system with two partly conflicting raison d'êtres: One linked to the educational mandate of the school and the other to industrial demands on the school. Two forms of boundary-work are used by teachers and students to make sense of everyday activities and define school-based vocational training. The 'reaffirmation' of boundaries and of schooling specificity involves taking the fostering and educational aspects of education seriously; the 'reconstruction' of workplace experiences provides instructional practices that link schooling to work. Various manifestations of these forms of boundary-work are analysed, as are tensions and developments over time. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

Since 1997, the English government has committed itself to the twin (and inter-linked) policy aims of reducing health inequalities and tackling social exclusion. Welfare to work interventions have formed a key part of the policy response to both of these problems. So far, this approach has been largely supply-side focused and 'gender-blind', treating both men and women who are not in employment as discrete entities who, with the right combination of training and support, can be engaged within the formal economy. Drawing on data from qualitative case studies of two such interventions in the North-East of England (one of which offered unemployed parents childcare training and the other of which provided vocational and advisory support to young parents), this paper contributes to a growing literature exploring the gender dimensions of social policy interventions. The findings emphasize the centrality of gender to participants and demonstrate the necessity of gender sensitivity in projects designed to tackle worklessness. © The Author(s), 2010.