Search Results for
"Vocational education"

This paper seeks to explore the different perspectives held by those joining in the work-based learning experience. First it examines the concept of partnerships in work-based learning in more detail and considers the various partners who may be involved. It also discusses the types of learning that occur during these collaborative processes. Then it focuses on one particular partnership, that between the employee and the academic mentor, as the authors reflect upon their own learning from the setting up and running of a work-based learning module on the part-time degree programme run by the Institute of Continuing education at The Queen’s University of Belfast. This module has been supported by the QUB Enterprise Project with funding from the Northern Ireland Training and Employment Agency. Finally, we raise some questions around the nature of employer learning and leave these open for future debate. © 1998 Journal of vocational education and Training. All right reserved.

This paper examines the "connection" between higher education and economic development in Massachusetts, a state whose renowned academic institutions have fueled the rise of a premier high technology industrial district. But in the aftermath to the abrupt demise of the "Massachusetts Miracle", the state higher education system sought to develop a new mandate for public service in the 90s keyed to upgrading the state's industrial base and coordinating with labor market needs. These growing involvements in manifestly vocational endeavors seem to reflect a major shift in the models that articulate the higher education-economic development "connection" in Massachusetts. Thus, it appears that the elite model of the "world-class" research university sparking numerous industry spin-offs has been joined by newer diffusion-oriented models of academic outreach that extend out from the community colleges into the workplace and even into the K-12 schools. © 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

At a time when Britain's vocational education and training (VET) system and vocational qualifications are undergoing a major review and restructuring in response to critical reports about the model established under the former National Council for vocational Qualifications, the British Council and associated agencies is currently trying to market National vocational Qualifications (NVQs) overseas. The chief weaknesses and failings of NVQs and the competence-based education and training (CBET) system on which they are based are outlined in terms of assessment anomalies and the needs of firms, trainees and employers. Since these shortcomings are so so serious, it is suggested that - until they have been remedied through the current reforms under the aegis of the new Qualifications and Curriculum Authority - it is ethically unjustifiable to export a failed VET system to countries which may be unaware of the critical research surrounding NVQs and CBET.

[No abstract available]

The transition to mass participation in post-16 education, which had occurred considerably earlier in other European countries, has finally taken place in England. However, high drop-out and failure rates persist, particularly on vocational qualification routes. Our hypothesis is that an important factor is the lack of basic competence of lower-achieving English students in the key skills - English language and mathematics - required for success in further study. Our research addresses the validity of the argument by investigating whether any significant difference can be detected between the skills of English students entering post-compulsory education and those of students in countries where drop-out and failure rates are low. The country investigated in this study was Sweden where participation of 16 year olds in post-compulsory upper-secondary education is currently over 90%; and where some 90% of those enrolling normally obtain an academic or vocational qualification. Some General Certificate of Secondary education (GCSE) mathematics questions were incorporated into the national test taken by Swedish 16 year olds at the end of compulsory schooling; and significant differences were found in the scores of the lower 40% of the cohort in the two countries. The results are consistent with the hypothesis; and also go beyond previous Swedish-English comparisons, which reflect the general emphasis in international studies on younger age groups (typically 9 and 13 year olds).

The success of the New Deal policies of the current Labour administration - particularly the Welfare to Work and University for Industry initiatives - will depend crucially on the cooperation of the vital small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector of British industry. In turn, the reaction of small employers to the new policies will be structured by the national vocational education and training (VET) efforts and the vocational qualifications system. Against the background of our recent research on SMEs in the West Midlands region, we argue that the New Deal policies will fail to engage with SME needs and interests unless the new Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) effectively abandons the old agenda of the former National Council for vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) in its ongoing restructuring and radical review of issues and policies for VET.

In this article, John Bishop summarizes research from many sources concerning the current debate over occupation-specific versus general education and training. He argues against a recommendation made by the Economist magazine that government scale back its support of school-based occupation-specific training and instead focus on academic education. Research shows, to the contrary, that productivity derives directly from social abilities (such as good work habits and people skills) and cognitive skills that are specific to the job and occupation, not from reading, writing, and mathematics skills. Old skills are becoming obsolete more rapidly, so new skills must be learned more frequently. This implies a greater overall need for occupational training, not a reduced need. The rise in job turnover has made employers more reluctant to hire inexperienced workers and provide them skill training, so the need for school-based vocational training has never been greater. Occupational turnover has been declining, so the payback period of occupational skills has been rising. © 1998, SAGE Periodicals Press. All rights reserved.

Training and Development (T&D) programs are increasingly playing a crucial role in determining long-term survival and success for technologically advanced corporations and societies alike. T&D is the sine qua non to address major challenges at both the societal and the corporate level through continuously building and renewing technological skills and knowledge. A resource-based, dynamic learning systems approach encompassing the major stakeholders of vocational and corporate Training and Development programs, addresses the following three questions: (1) What hinders the strategic role of T&D? (2) What facilitates/reinforces the strategic role of T&D? (3) How can the hindrances be alleviated and the reinforcing elements enhanced in a Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) framework based on multinational benchmarking of "Best Practices"? A comparative analysis of the historical evolution and the state-of-the-art in corporate- and government-sponsored Training and Development in the U.S., Japan, Germany, and France are used as the frame of reference for dealing with these questions. The answers developed provide a conceptual framework for T&D within the context of the learning, technology-driven corporation of the future, which pivots around three mutually reinforcing levels of technological learning: operational learning, tactical learning or learning how-to-learn from experience, and strategic learning or learning to learn how-to-learn from experience. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

During the vocational training of apprentices in the hairdresser's trade (n=169) and nursing care (n=255) in East Thuringia, an epidemiologic study was carried out between 1992 and 1993. The trainees were interviewed in a standardized way and had to undergo dermatologic examinations right at the beginning of their apprenticeship, six months (for the hairdressing apprentices) respectively twelve months (for the hairdressing and nursing apprentices) after they had started the apprenticeship and at the nd of the apprenticeship. In their case histories, 6.7% (n=17) of the nursing apprentices and 1.8% (n=3) of the hairdressing apprentices showed hand eczema. During the primary examination, 15.3 % (n=34) of the nursing apprentices and 17.8 % (n=30) of the hairdressing apprentices showed hand eczema. During the first follow-up examination the percentage of the persons showing hand eczema had increased to 24.9 % (n=49) respectively 39.5 % (n= 60). The final examination showed a slight decrease in the percentage of hand eczema for both professional groups. Although the majority of patients had regularly used skin care products, there was a high percentage of skin diseases of the hand among the trainees. An atopic skin diathesis (> 10 points according to Diepgen) could be identified as risk factor. Metal sensitization or respiratory atopy could not be associated with the development of hand eczema.

By the end of 1998, nationally recognised industry competency standards - including occupational health and safety (OHS) skills - will have been set for the majority of industries which make up the Australian economy. These standards, along with new ways of delivering training and assessing workplace skills, an influx of private training organisations into the vocational training system, and the introduction of school-based workers through new apprenticeships and traineeships, have all occurred with little attention from the OHS sector. This paper describes recent changes to the vocational education and training (VET) system in Australia, the impact of these structural and philosophical changes for the OHS sector and current approaches to prevention in the workplace. In particular, impacts on the OHS regulatory system, training arrangements and the professional and technical skill base are discussed. Current interventions designed to maintain effective standards of OHS training and practice are outlined.