Search Results for
"Vocational education"

The development of hospitality and tourism education in Taiwan in the past two decades brought forth various off-school internship systems to meet the needs of educational and business fields. This paper, with methods of literature review, interview, and pragmatic investigation, researched tourism-related students' work performances under different off-school internship systems. The data gathered and analyzed came from interviews and questionnaires with directors of Personnel, Room Service, and Food and Beverage Departments from select international tourist hotels with tourism-related off-school intern programs in Taiwan. The results showed, in correlated recognition of hospitality and tourism education and off-school internship, no matter what the degree of emphasis or satisfaction was, business directors placed higher appraisals on off-school internship systems of Employment Link Intern Program, Old Sandwich Intern Program, and New Sandwich Intern Program. In regard to work performances, interns did better in aspects of interpersonal relationship, work adjustment, service concepts, and interest for learning, while worse in aspects of foreign language proficiency and customer complaint management. In regard to off-school internship systems, interns of Sandwich Intern Programs (both Old and New) performed better than those of other systems. To be specific, interns of New Sandwich Intern Program fared the best, with those of Old Sandwich Intern Program being second, and those of vocational Intern Program the third. Copyright © by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

A prison setting, with its numerous clinical issues, is a valuable learning experience for the graduate art therapy student. Oftentimes, they see the correctional facility as a dangerous challenge and an intriguing unknown. However, confusion and ambiguity often emerge while providing art therapy services. A graduate art therapy program in a major university in the Southeast instituted an internship/research site in a prison setting for its graduates. Ongoing dialogue between the intern placed at this facility and her faculty supervisor revealed unique boundary issues, specifically those that involve time, space, materials, self-disclosure, and transferential issues. Through supervision, the intern gained further insight into different approaches to addressing these boundary concerns. This essay focuses on the intern's struggles with certain boundary transgressions and the supervisor's responses to her inquiries. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This article focuses on the development of traits of self-regulation within vocational education and training (VET). This perspective is in accordance with the general objective of VET within the German speaking countries and is addressed in the objective "education and training for the ability of self-directed planning, regulation and evaluation of vocational performance". In order to foster these and other relevant abilities, specific vocational training programs were developed and implemented in a training center in Switzerland. One such program was evaluated in a longitudinal study. From 1999 to 2003, a cohort of more than 100 aprentices was monitored with respect to the development of vocational skills and traits. One of the instruments used was a German-language version of the Trait Self-Regulation- Questionnaire (TSRQ) by O'Neil and Herl (1988). Participants filled out the questionnaire 5 times in the course of their 4-year apprenticeship. In this article, a first focus of the data analysis is on the development of the traits of self-regulation over time, looking especially at self-efficacy according to Bandura (1997). Results indicate differential effects for subgroups among the trainees. In a second focus, the analysis reflects on the effects of using a self-evaluation instrument within the longitudinal study. In this respect, the issue of validity of measurement is under consideration. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd.

We are nowadays so clued into the idea of GCE A-levels, five years at dental school, a year (or possibly two) of vocational training and then a career life-long learning process that the notion of anything less seems fanciful. And as for apprenticeships, well dental education has come on in leaps and bounds since those days. Hasn't it? Stephen Hancocks takes another look.

Purpose - This paper aims to analyse, through the lens of learning network theory, ways in which external VET practitioners work within private enterprises to promote learning within these organizations. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on analyses of six case studies in two Australian States, each comprising a vocational education institute and an enterprise. In total, 34 interviews were held with four groups of participant - TAFE managers and practitioners, enterprise personnel and worker-learners - from different industries. Findings - The paper finds that the overlaying of an external learning system on existing learning systems brings inevitable tensions that need to be carefully managed. VET practitioners working in industry operate in two worlds with very different cultures. They need to learn how to work within different power structures, how to build around existing work and learning networks, and how to mesh in with the flow of enterprise work. In the process of working with company staff, and crossing boundaries, they may well be creating a "third space" in which new meanings can be, and have to be, constructed that go beyond the limits of either site. Practical implications - The paper shows that understanding these ways of working has practical implications for VET managers and practitioners, company staff and policy-makers in terms of how human resources are managed and how different parties work together. Originality/value - The paper shows two objectives: a relatively new focus in the research literature and an extension of learning network theory in terms of external learning systems.

Background. Thomas Bessell Kidner is well-known in the United States as a great contributor to occupational therapy. He is not well-known in Canada despite the fact that his first contributions to the profession were made here between 1900 and 1918. Purpose. To tell the story of Thomas Bessell Kidner and his impact on occupational therapy. Methods. Interpretive biography research methods using archival materials, published papers and family papers. Results. Kidner's work as an organizer of manual training in elementary schools in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and as Director of Technical education for Calgary prepared him for his work as vocational Secretary of the Military Hospitals Commission during World War I. Kidner developed, implemented and oversaw the reeducation program for injured soldiers across Canada. It included bedside occupations, off-ward and curative workshop activities provided by ward aides, as well as industrial training and apprenticeships in the workplace. Practice Implications. Kidner's story stimulates us to revisit our profession's early emphasis on return-to-work. Knowing about our past helps occupational therapists to build a stronger identity. © 2006, Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT). All rights reserved.

In this essay, Christopher Winch explores the relevance of Ludwig Wittgenstein's account of rule-following to vocational education with particular reference to the often-made claim that any account of an activity in terms of rule-following implies rigidity and inflexibility. He argues that most rule-following is only successful when it involves a degree of flexibility. For instance, most technical work that involves rule-following requires flexibility and situational awareness for success. Technical education that fails to take account of the need to apply rules in a way that accounts for a wide variety of situations is likely to be unsuccessful. Winch offers an account of professional judgment based on Stephen Toulmin's theory of argumentation and discusses progression from novice to expert in terms of Toulmin's analysis. He also considers the relation between vocational education and other practices in the context of the wider civic implications of occupational practice. © 2006 Board of Trustees.

Teaching anatomy is becoming increasingly challenging due to the progressive evolution of university teaching missions, student populations, medical and undergraduate curricula, coupled with a paucity of empirically tested evidence-based instructional practices in the anatomical and medical education literature. As a mechanism to confront these pedagogical challenges, recent advances in educational psychology are analyzed for developing a framework to guide educational reform efforts. Extensive research in educational psychology over the last 100 years has resulted in four major theories on human learning that have facilitated a paradigm shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered classrooms and are described here in temporal order of development: behavioral theory, information processing theory, metacognitive theory, and social constructivist theory. Each theory is analyzed in detail and is used to construct instructional design principles for enhancing anatomical education research and practice. An example of a cognitively based learning environment for an undergraduate anatomy course is presented. Preliminary results suggest that intentionally drawing on different theories of learning when making instructional decisions gave students the learning support they needed to be successful and nearly doubled the course's student retention rate over a 3-year period. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.