Search Results for
"Vocational education"

FOR A NUMBER of years, we have been helping high schools and districts that are attempting to create or improve career academies- hence our title: "Learning by Doing Career Academies."4 Our assistance includes developing the schools' capacity to keep track of results for students by relying mainly on information that is ordinarily available from student transcripts. We believe it is essential for schools themselves to continuously gauge results of career academies and other educational programs, because even if such programs have been found to be effective somewhere, they are unlikely to be effective everywhere. Therefore, one of our aims here is to describe how schools can self-monitor, and what they can learn in the process of operating career academies. Second, we wish to add to general knowledge about career academies by testing some ideas about why they may be more effective in some locations and situations than in others. Specifically, we conduct a cross-site analysis to explore whether sites that implement certain features of the academy model to a greater degree also obtain bigger gains in performance of academy students. Both parts of the analysis in this chapter focus on student performance during high school, not post-high school outcomes such as employment or college attendance. Longevity and solid evidence of effectiveness distinguish career academies from other programs, practices, and policies that were bundled under the "school-to-work" or "school-to- career" rubric in the United States during the 1990s. The first known career academies were started in 1969, well in advance of more recent initiatives such as Tech Prep or job shadowing, though much later than co-op or vocational education (Stern et al. 1995). Relatively persuasive evidence of career academies' effectiveness comes from several quasiexperimental studies, and especially from a random-assignment evaluation conducted by MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation). The second part of this paper spells out what we mean by a career academy, and summarizes career academies' history and existing research. (Chapter 6 in this volume, by Margaret Terry Orr and her colleagues, provides additional information about the purposes and pedagogical practices of career academies, especially those associated with the National Academy Foundation.) Despite evidence that career academies can produce positive results for students, success is never automatic. Local circumstances may enhance or undermine the effectiveness of a particular career academy, within a particular school at a particular time. The careeracademy model has several elements, all of which require planning and effort to put in place and keep in place. In 1997 we established the Career Academy Support Network (CASN) to help high schools and districts that want to develop and improve career academies. CASN provides professional development, on-site coaching, and other kinds of implementation assistance. As part of its service, CASN uses available data from student transcripts to monitor implementation and to determine whether academy students are improving more or less rapidly than nonacademy students in the same high schools. Nonrandom selection of students into academies and nonrandom attrition make it impossible for this analysis to determine whether academy participation causes greater improvement in students' performance.2 But the available data can nevertheless inform academy stakeholders about the kinds of students who are participating and how their performance is changing over time. The third and fourth sections of the chapter illustrate this kind of analysis. The second question we seek to answer in this paper is whether academy students' growth, relative to nonacademy students in the same school, is associated with implementation of certain key features of the model. We focus on measures having to do with scheduling and course taking because these are considered fundamental to the academy design and they can be computed from student transcripts. This analysis, using a hierarchical model, is reported in the fourth and fifth sections of the chapter. Although the differences between academy and nonacademy students may be attributable in part to nonrandom selection or attrition, this exercise demonstrates a new procedure for estimating how much implementation matters. Copyright © 2007 by Russell Sage Foundation.

Background and objective: The case/problem-based learning discussion method was recently introduced into the theory-based training program for residents run by the Catalan Society of Anaesthesiology. This study was designed to assess and compare its effectiveness with that of the lecture-based approach for teaching pre-anaesthetic assessment, applying an objective tool for knowledge evaluation before and after teaching. Methods: A prospective randomized study of two consecutive year groups of first year anaesthesiology residents was conducted. Twenty-nine residents attended a lecture, and 25, a case/problem-based learning discussion session. Their knowledge of pre-anaesthetic assessment was assessed before and after the teaching session with tests on four different clinical cases measuring six fields: (1) 'recognizing clinical data with anaesthetic implications'; (2) 'reasoning clinical data with anaesthetic implications'; (3) 'ASA class'; (4) 'Mallampati class'; (5) 'choice of anaesthetic technique'; (6) 'reasoning choice of anaesthetic technique'. Results: Before the teaching session, the lecture group scored significantly higher on field 1 (P = 0.006). Both teaching methods improved scores on fields 1, 2 and 4. The case/problem group also improved on fields 3 and 6. After the teaching session, the field 1 score was still significantly higher in the lecture group (P = 0.005), and the field 3 score was significantly higher in the case/problem group (P = 0.044). Conclusions: The effectiveness of lecture and case/problem-based learning discussion differed little in terms of improving participants' immediate knowledge of 'pre-anaesthetic assessment'. © 2007 Copyright European Society of Anaesthesiology.

This article argues in favour of a situated approach to understanding learning in practice at trade vocational school and at trade in vocational education. Boundary crossing is regarded as contributing to expansive situated learning by apprentices across trade vocational school and the trade. The purpose of the article is to show that the relationship between strangeness and legitimacy is central to situated learning across different contexts such as at trade and at trade vocational schools. The article draws on examples from a recent qualitative field study of learning among apprentices in the Danish vocational education sector.

This article argues that partnerships for vocational education and training (VET) reflect contradictions within capitalism and labour power, and therefore should be analysed within the broader context of industrial and workplace relations. Therefore, in contrast to a consensual model, we posit an understanding of social partnerships as sites of struggle and negotiation. Our analysis of interview data suggests tensions between employers, educators and unions over who can deliver training and how training is to be delivered and regulated. These tensions have implications for access to apprenticeship opportunities and for how apprenticeship operates. We argue that a greater understanding of the social, political and economic contexts in which work experience programs operate is needed to move beyond partnerships that seek to produce appropriately skilled labour.

Reforming vocational education in the English education and training system has occupied governments for at least the last three decades, the latest development being the introduction of 14 lines of Specialised Diplomas. Using an historical analysis of qualifications reform, we suggest they are unlikely to transform 14-19 education and training. The failure to reform academic qualifications alongside their vocational equivalents is likely to result in 'academic drift', lack of status and a relatively low level of uptake for these new awards, a process compounded by low employer recognition of broad vocational qualifications. In rejecting the Tomlinson Report's central proposal for a unified diploma system covering all 14-19 education and training, we argue that the government may have condemned the Specialised Diplomas to become a middle-track qualification for a minority of 14-19-years-olds, situated between the majority academic pathway and the sparsely populated apprenticeship route.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to assess the agreement of Emergency Department (ED) attendings, ED residents, and neurology residents compared with stroke neurologists in the assessment of intravenous rt-PA eligibility. Methods: A convenience sample of patients presenting with possible stroke symptoms to the University of Michigan Hospital ED from June 2003 to July 2004 was identified. A physician from each of four groups: ED attending, ED resident, neurology resident, and stroke neurology attending independently evaluated each patient for eligibility for intravenous (IV) rt-PA. Accuracy, sensitivity, and positive predictive value (PPV) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by physician type, compared with the stroke neurologist, for eligibility for IV rt-PA. Results: Exactly 36 (49%) out of the 73 evaluated patients were diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke and 11 were deemed eligible for treatment with IV tPA by the stroke neurologist. Agreement with the stroke neurologist for rt-PA eligibility was 93% [95% CI: 84%, 98%] (sensitivity = 82% [48%, 98%], PPV = 82% [48%, 99%]) for the ED attendings, 79% [65%, 90%] (sensitivity = 75% [35%, 97%], PPV = 43% [18% 71%]) for the ED residents, and 84% [73%, 92%] (sensitivity = 100% [74%, 100%], PPV = 52% [31%, 73%]) for the neurology residents. There were two false positive cases identified by ED attendings, eight, by ED residents, and 11 by neurology residents. Conclusions: This study suggests that the agreement between ED attendings and stroke neurologists for determination of rt-PA eligibility is good. There is room for improvement, however, in the determination of acute stroke therapy eligibility in the ED setting especially among trainees. © Humana Press Inc. 2007.

The pre-eminence of knowledge and skills as the sources of wealth creation and economic growth is one of the major issues in business at the beginning of the twenty-first century. As a result, Human Resource Development has been propelled into a central role in management thinking. However, this has not always been reflected in practice since many of the methodologies for monitoring and assessment continue to reflect the previous importance of fixed capital, the industrial society and the quantity of labour employed. The police service like other public services has had to ensure that its staff is skilled to undertake an ever more complex role within society. This has traditionally been delivered through typical organisational training processes. The value of learning as opposed to training is rarely proposed. The 'soft' benefits of education, elements like critical thinking and emotional intelligence as well as learning, are rarely given sufficient emphasis. However, increasingly organisations are realizing the benefits of creating an open environment that allows informal learning to flourish. This article will explore the concepts of traditional training within policing before reviewing as a case study the introduction of a work-based and experiential learning paradigm within police development.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the debate surrounding quality of training as it has unfolded in Australia and how concerns about high non-completion rates have entered the debate. Design/methodology/approach - This paper bases its discussion of quality in VET training on analysis of qualitative data collected from focus groups and one-on-one interviews conducted with employers, Institutes of Tertiary and Further education, registered training organisations, trade unions and local, State and Commonwealth government representatives located in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia. Findings - The paper shows that throughout many parts of the world a growing concern has emerged about the quality of training for apprentices and trainees in what has become an increasingly deregulated environment dominated by private interests. In Australia, where non-completion rates can be as high as 50 percent of those who commence training, government leaders at both State and Federal levels are taking a renewed interested in understanding the relationship between quality of training and non-completion rates. The paper finds that data suggesting training quality in Australia is being threatened by fully on-the-job training, the narrowing of training skills, the loss of transferable skills and a lack of training. It argues that these factors have contributed to high rates of non-completions among apprentices and trainees and that poor regulation of quality standards, government subsidies to employers and training organisations and abuse are contributing to these quality problems. Originality/value - The paper presents useful insights into the relationship between quality in training and attrition among apprentices and trainees in regional Australia. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to show that The Netherlands offers an interesting case of apprenticeship as part of an elaborated system of vocational education, combining school and workplace learning. For reaching objectives of vocational education with regard to effective problem solving on the job and work process knowledge the quality of workplace learning is essential. Design/methodology/approach - The research in this paper is explorative. It is based on policy analysis, literature review and meta-analysis of recent research on workplace learning, done by the authors and some colleagues. New theoretical approaches on workplace learning are used to throw new light on developments in Dutch apprenticeships. Findings - The paper finds that governments as well as schools and companies are attempting to uphold the quality of learning in apprenticeships. More intensive interaction between workplaces and vocational schools are developed. Still, there are two main issues in dispute: the quality of workplace learning (content, guidance, assessment) and the quality of the connection between workplace and school-based learning, despite attempts to make VET more practice oriented and to improve connections between school and work. Practical implications - The paper shows that VET innovation should pay more attention to quality improvement and connectivity of work-based learning by establishing quality criteria for work-based learning places, by enriching workplace learning and by designing curricula, which integrate learning places as well as learning experiences. Originality/value - The value of the paper is delivering new insights on apprenticeships by confronting new theories with the Dutch case. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.