Search Results for
"Vocational education"

Because of the restructuring of work and deregulation of the labor market school-to-work transitions have been predicted to become destandardized. These structural changes will finally also erode Germany's renowned dual system of apprenticeship training. From an economic-structural point of view it is likely that young persons' social integration and biographical plans can no longer rely on this occupation-driven transition arrangement. Based on a quantitative and qualitative longitudinal study with young adults in two German labor-market regions, this exploratory study shows that the dual system not only trains for certain occupations, but also socializes for the contingencies of the labor market. The results are interpreted in the new conceptual framework of self-socialization, which links individual agency with social contexts across the life course in terms of a biography-environment fit. Applied to transition discontinuities and shifting contexts of career development, processes of self-socialization are reflected in different modes of biographical agency in the shaping of early employment careers. Self-initiated and enforced discontinuous employment and occupational change are mediated by various constellations of occupational contexts and modes of biographical agency. The study suggests that for young adults the dual system still provides skills and orientations for coping with career discontinuity. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).

The author presents an account of the history of the American system of vocational education. Special emphasis is placed upon the tension between the two fundamental concepts underlying vocational education: the pedagogical und socio-political perspective on the one hand, and the economic interests on the other. This conflict is reflected in the debate on the form of vocational education: work-based versus school-based.

Recent policy statements reveal that the future work-based route to vocational qualifications in the UK will include 'taught knowledge and understanding' as well as competence acquired in the workplace. The intention is to bring National/Scottish vocational Qualifications into line with the German dual system of apprenticeship, which involves much more academic study. This article seeks to clarify the UK policy by exploring recent developments in the German dual system, and considering two key questions: how to define knowledge and understanding in this context, and how to distribute control of the curriculum between the stakeholders.

One of the traits which distinguish the German dual system of vocational education and training (VET) from most training systems in the world is the voluntary contribution of companies towards it, in both practical and financial terms. Obviously, the craft sector is a training segment within the dual system where the importance of practical experience is more strongly emphasised than the systematic approach underlying all modern training schemes. However, the overall supply of training placements in the German system decreased during the 1990s. Although the crafts have fared comparatively well, this tendency is now starting to also affect the sector. Being a sector with seemingly less attractive job prospects in small businesses and a comparatively low net cost per apprenticeship, the crafts face problems in terms of social selection as well as challenges with respect to the modernisation of training contents and instruction methods. The crafts are a sector with predominantly male participation and mainly absorb school leavers with lower secondary school qualifications. In this context, one of the questions for the Dual System and its uniform training practices might be whether the rapidly expanding services sector, with similar “small-business” features, will be able or willing to follow the “training philosophy” that originated in the craft sector — and which is still seen as the “backbone” of the German Dual System of training. © 2001, MCB UP Limited

This paper surveys the development of various approaches to quality that are essentially learning-centred: • In the Schools sector: a brief overview of the Victorian Quality in Schools project; • In Higher education: work in progress at two Australian universities (Victoria University of Technology and Swinburne Universities of Technology in Melbourne); and • In vocational education and Training: work in progress in re-orienting the policy approach to Quality towards a more flexible and learning-centred model. This paper will argue that when looked at from the perspective of the individual learner, there is a strong case for student learning to be placed at the very heart of Quality Systems in all sectors of education, and also therefore in related sectoral Quality Assurance programs and processes. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Lifelong learning has become a frequently repeated mantra of national planning and policy agencies in Australian vocational education and Training (VET). Critics claim the use of the term is rhetorical rather than a real commitment to the principles and practices of lifelong learning. A review of research indicates that real progress has been made in implementing some aspects of lifelong learning in VET, but that contemporary practice falls far short of internationally agreed principles of lifelong learning or even the sector's earlier experience with the similar concept of recurrent education. Current policy settings impose too many barriers to the adoption of lifelong learning in VET and need comprehensive reform.

The selection of students for the health professions is typically a very competitive multi-staged process that includes assessment of both cognitive abilities and personal qualities. The need for reliable and valid assessment measures is obvious. This review of the health professions literature examines the evidence to support the use of various selection tools. It is clear that pre-admission overall grade point average (GPA) is the best predictor of academic performance in all of the health professions; however, the relationship between pre-admission GPA and clinical performance is less clear. The Medical College Admission Test is a good predictor of performance of medical students in terms of in-course grades and licencing examination scores but a similar test does not exist in the other health professions. Controversy remains as to the value of personal interviews and written submissions as selection tools, although it is clear that training of assessors and explicit rating guidelines enhance their reliability and validity. Ongoing research is needed to find more reliable and valid ways of assessing non-cognitive characteristics of applicants.

Multiskilling, or cross training, can enable students to gain the knowledge and skills to become proficient practitioners. This article describes a multiskilling course designed to increase dietetics students' awareness of diverse healthrelated skills and to enhance their ability to develop new skills for future practice. Allied health professionals lectured on and demonstrated cardiopulmonary resuscitation, stress management, dysphagia and swallowing evaluation, adaptive feeding devices, exercise testing, monitoring of vital signs, and multi-department management. Results of course-evaluation surveys distributed to the students (n = 12) on the last day were extremely positive, with an overall mean rating of 1.07 on a scale of 1 (highest) to 4, indicating that the course included appropriate information, assignments, and evaluation mechanisms. This study provides preliminary evidence that a didactic experience can enhance students' awareness of other allied health professions. Through "hands-on" activities, students can become more confident in their knowledge and in the skills needed to function effectively as members and leaders of healthcare teams.

This paper examines curriculum and assessment policy in Australian vocational education and training. Throughout the 1990s curriculum and assessment policy in Australia has been enacted through demand-side market oriented policies. Training policy has focused on the development of a competitive national economy through centralist policies for competency-based training, which emphasize the development of standard outcomes of training to meet industry needs and requirements. Competency-based training is conceptualized into dichotomies that reflect a rational orientation based on an underlying positivistic approach in which facts and values, means and ends are separated as rational, managerial mechanisms of control. An alternative coherentist view of pragmatic problem-solving approaches to curriculum and assessment policy is advocated. In this framework the tentative and evolutionary nature of theory are acknowledged. Rather than a concern for universal solutions, pragmatic evolutionary approaches are concerned to develop an enduring capacity in the system to recognize and deal with shared problems, issues and dilemmas.

National training packages have become the mandated framework for course delivery in Australia's vocational education and training sector. Each training package contains: qualifications that can be issued, industry-derived competencies, and assessment guidelines but do not contain an endorsed curriculum component or learning outcomes. All public and private vocational education and training providers must use training packages, or industry-endorsed competencies in cases where they do not exist, if they are to receive public funding for their programs. This article describes the operation of Australia's national training packages and considers some of their strengths and weaknesses, many of which may be shared by similar systems elsewhere. Argues that training packages may result in poorer student learning outcomes, and that they may threaten the end of effective credit transfer between the vocational education and training and higher education sectors. Suggests that national training packages are not a good model for other countries and that Australia's current vocational education and training policy needs to be reviewed. © 2001, MCB UP Limited