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Vocational Education (vocational + education)
Selected AbstractsVocational Education and Training and Human Capital Development: current practice and future optionsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 2 2010MANFRED WALLENBORN EU neighbouring countries (partner countries) have made considerable efforts to improve their vocational education and training (VET) systems, with different policies and strategies that take account of country-specific priorities in human capital development. This article addresses the donor community. It analyses the role of partner countries' VET in contributing to human capital development in order to benefit better from the globalised economy. The emerging debate on the role of VET in these countries and among donors is considered in terms of the functional dimensions of employability, productivity and sustainable growth, taking into account the economic, social and ecological dimension of growth and development. Not addressed is the systemic perspective on VET in terms of improving existing curricula, learning arrangements and textbooks. The article focuses, rather, on functional dimensions of VET that are relevant to achieve development goals and makes some recommendations for international cooperation. Given the complexity of multi-stakeholder-driven VET systems, cooperation needs to build on existing VET structures. Moreover, cooperation must contribute to an effective reform implementation. [source] National Qualification Frameworks: from policy borrowing to policy learningEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 2 2010BORHENE CHAKROUN This article takes up the issue of the internationalisation of Vocational Education and Training (VET) reforms, expressed in the way policy instruments such as National Qualifications Frameworks (NQF) are introduced in the European Training Foundation's (ETF) partner countries. There is an international debate and different perspectives regarding NQFs. These perspectives have largely talked past each other. The article brings together these perspectives and highlights the issues at stake in this field. Through the analysis of ETF interventions in different regions, the article makes a case for new approaches of intervention, namely policy learning, that aim at enabling national stakeholders and that are conducive for home-grown VET policies. The discussion is broad in scope, not only because the article reviews developments in qualifications frameworks across-regions, but also because it highlights the complex interaction of the global and local development when introducing NQFs and the impact of such reforms on VET systems. [source] Educators at Work in two Sectors of Adult and Vocational Education: an overview of two European Research projectsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 2 2009BERT-JAN BUISKOOL Adult learning staff play a key role in making lifelong learning a reality. It is they who facilitate learners to develop knowledge, skills and attributes. At the European level there is a lack of information about various aspects of the profession, such as who they are, how they are recruited, what their specific roles and tasks are, what competences and qualifications they are expected or required to possess, what their employment status is, how their professional development is organised, how they are assessed, and how attractive their profession is. This article is meant to bridge this gap and describes the variety of contexts in which adult learning staff are working. Furthermore, it seeks to reveal the factors that promote or affect the quality of the work provided by these practitioners and will address a number of issues that should be on the agenda of policy makers. This article is based on the outcomes of a study that have been carried out by an international research group in the period 2007 -2008, under guidance of Research voor Beleid and PLATO University Leiden under contract of the European Commission (DG Education and Culture). [source] Achieving the Lisbon Goal: the contribution of Vocational Education and TrainingEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 3 2005TOM LENEY This article summarises the main conclusions of the ,Maastricht study': Achieving the Lisbon Goal: The Contribution of VET (Leney et al., 2004), which the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), in collaboration with the Institute of Education and other international partners, prepared for the European Commission's DG Education and Culture in 2004. Based on the self-assessment reports prepared by the Directors-General for VET (DGVTs) of 31 European countries, and on independent expert reviews of the national and international literature on VET, the report analysed the contribution of VET to achieving the Lisbon goal and influenced the framing of the Maastricht Communiqué which the European education ministers agreed in December 2004. This summary of the findings of the report is organised under the following sections: 1) The potential of VET as an aspect of European cooperation; 2) The current state of play and progress of VET towards achieving the Lisbon goal; 3) Innovation in VET teaching and learning; and 4) Conclusions. [source] Learning by Leaving , Towards a Pedagogy for Transnational Mobility in the Context of Vocational Education and Training (VET)EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 4 2001Søren Kristensen First page of article [source] Exploring the mismatch between skills and jobs for women in Saudi Arabia in technical and vocational areas: the views of Saudi Arabian private sector business managersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2002John R. Calvert Saudi Arabia's rapid development has highlighted the shortage of national technical manpower and the subsequent need to recruit non-Saudi technical workers, on the one hand, and the difficulty of replacing these workers with qualified Saudis, on the other. Therefore successive Development Plans have tried to raise the quality and quantity of technical and vocational education for both men and women. In 1995/96 only 5 per cent of Technical and Vocational Education (TEVT) enrolled students were female. This compares with an average of 29 per cent in other Islamic countries and 45 per cent in Japan (UNESCO, 1997, 1999). Part of this may be due to the preferences of female students in education, part due to the structure of TEVT in Saudi Arabia, part due to the availability of technical and vocational jobs available for women after completing their training and part due to the natural place of women in Saudi society. The Seventh Development Plan (2000,2004) assumes that the private sector will play a very significant role in employing a Saudi labour force including both men and women. As part of a comprehensive study concerning the factors affecting women's employment in the Saudi private sector private sector business managers in four large cities were surveyed to see what factors they felt were important. The main factors affecting employment of women in technical and vocational education were seen by the managers as those relating to the structure of TEVT education in Saudi Arabia rather than preferences of women or pressures from society. [source] Youth Transitions and Employment in GermanyINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 164 2000Walter R. Heinz In the 1990s, the timing and duration of youth transitions has become variable because of cultural modernisation and the declining stability of careers. In particular, the German ,dual system' of Vocational Education and Training (VET) has come under pressure of globalisation and labour market deregulation. Despite economic turbulence, the main features of the VET have been maintained. The apprenticeship route is still highly accepted-two-thirds of the cohort of school-leavers are passing through it. It continues to provide standardised occupational qualifications and a context for socialisation. It supplies a skilled labour force and keeps youth unemployment low-despite shortcomings in standards of social equality and a slow pace in adapting to changes in technology and work. For the future, the ,left modernisers' strategy of upgrading skills remains possible, by reforming the apprenticeship system and main-taining the 'high-skills, route for transition from education to work. In transition studies structural analysis should be combined with research on institutional regulations, transition pathways, and individual agency. [source] Vocational education and training and employer engagement: an industry-led sectoral system in the NetherlandsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2010Johnny Sung The overall objective of this paper is to determine, through a qualitative case study of the Dutch sectoral training system, factors associated with successful employer engagement. As well as examining the key features of the Dutch approach to vocational education and training (VET), the article makes a number of specific arguments: (1) employer ,buy-in' is crucial to the success of the sectoral approach to VET; (2) simply establishing a system of sector-based training bodies (e.g. skills councils) does not guarantee effective employer engagement; and (3) to make sectoral training work, especially in countries where a ,supply-led' system dominates, a fundamental reform is required in areas such as funding, qualification structure, leadership and system support. [source] Social Inequality in Education: A Constraint on an American High-Skills FutureCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 4 2007THEODORE LEWIS ABSTRACT Countries everywhere are turning to education in the quest for competitive edge in the global economy. How to attain the high skills needed in new reformed workplaces is a preoccupation that can be observed across developed countries. In this widening discourse of high skills and competitiveness, the U.S. skills production model is being seen as undesirable because it is perceived to be premised upon educational inequality and skills polarization. This article agrees with such characterization of the U.S educational condition. It examines skill tendencies in new reformed workplaces and conceptions of how schools must respond, then interrogates assumptions underpinning college-bound/non-college,bound formulations that would have low socioeconomic status (SES) children pursuing watered-down academic fare, or vocational education, while high SES children are set on college pathways. I contend that curricula approaches that are premised on alternative post-school destinations leave the children of underclasses in the same unfavorable position as their parents, such curricula serving only to reproduce inequality. The article rejects curriculum tracking, and the notion of the non-college bound, and instead argues for the democratization of high status knowledge as the best response to the challenge of a high-skills future. [source] RULES, TECHNIQUE, AND PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE: A WITTGENSTEINIAN EXPLORATION OF VOCATIONAL LEARNINGEDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 4 2006Christopher WinchArticle first published online: 30 NOV 200 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. [source] Vocational Education and Training and Human Capital Development: current practice and future optionsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 2 2010MANFRED WALLENBORN EU neighbouring countries (partner countries) have made considerable efforts to improve their vocational education and training (VET) systems, with different policies and strategies that take account of country-specific priorities in human capital development. This article addresses the donor community. It analyses the role of partner countries' VET in contributing to human capital development in order to benefit better from the globalised economy. The emerging debate on the role of VET in these countries and among donors is considered in terms of the functional dimensions of employability, productivity and sustainable growth, taking into account the economic, social and ecological dimension of growth and development. Not addressed is the systemic perspective on VET in terms of improving existing curricula, learning arrangements and textbooks. The article focuses, rather, on functional dimensions of VET that are relevant to achieve development goals and makes some recommendations for international cooperation. Given the complexity of multi-stakeholder-driven VET systems, cooperation needs to build on existing VET structures. Moreover, cooperation must contribute to an effective reform implementation. [source] The integration of work process knowledge into human resources developmentHUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 4 2005Martin Fischer In this contribution the relationship between work process knowledge and human resources development is discussed. The concept of work process knowledge is described as it evolved as an outcome of a research network involving research institutions from 10 European countries (N. C. Boreham, R. Samurçay, & M. Fischer, 2002). Historical origins of the concept are mentioned and different dimensions of work process knowledge are depicted as a topic of ongoing research. How work process knowledge is considered within current research activities focusing on measures of organizational learning is also defined. In this respect, research results from the European research project OrgLearn ("Ways of Organisational Learning in the Chemical Industry and Their Impact on Vocational Education and Training," funded under the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Union and coordinated by the author) are reported. Finally, the implications of the concept of work process knowledge are discussed, which have become apparent in recent developments within vocational education and training in Germany. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 15: 369,384, 2005. [source] Vocational education and training and employer engagement: an industry-led sectoral system in the NetherlandsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2010Johnny Sung The overall objective of this paper is to determine, through a qualitative case study of the Dutch sectoral training system, factors associated with successful employer engagement. As well as examining the key features of the Dutch approach to vocational education and training (VET), the article makes a number of specific arguments: (1) employer ,buy-in' is crucial to the success of the sectoral approach to VET; (2) simply establishing a system of sector-based training bodies (e.g. skills councils) does not guarantee effective employer engagement; and (3) to make sectoral training work, especially in countries where a ,supply-led' system dominates, a fundamental reform is required in areas such as funding, qualification structure, leadership and system support. [source] Unlocking the potential to influence government skills policy: a case study of the UK construction industryINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2008Arthur Morgan Despite a series of national policy initiatives aimed at addressing skills shortages in a number of sectors, little evidence of longer-term change is apparent. This paper examines concerns expressed by small businesses that their local views are not sought or considered when national training policies and initiatives are either being developed or being implemented, and that the investment in skills development does not appear to adequately represent their skills needs. The research was carried out on the UK construction industry, which is characterized by a small number of large contractors who employ mainly managerial and professional staff, and a large number of small, micro- and self-employed firms that provide, on a subcontract basis, the majority of the industry's demand for a skilled manual workforce. The identification and delivery of vocational education and training at an industry level rests firmly on addressing the skills needs of the small and micro-type organizations and not those of the large construction firms, although it is the voice of the larger firms that appears to dominate the skills and training development agenda. The public policy model that articulates the requirements for training and skills development in the UK is based on sector-specific skills councils. This model is examined in relation to the construction sector by drawing upon the experiences of the South Wales region as a case study. Findings indicate that the current construction skills framework, upon which public policy is formulated and delivered, fails to adequately reflect the structure, skills and training priorities of the industry. The tensions that exist in this system are highlighted and the implications for reform of public policy articulation with regard to sector skills councils are discussed. [source] Exploring the mismatch between skills and jobs for women in Saudi Arabia in technical and vocational areas: the views of Saudi Arabian private sector business managersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2002John R. Calvert Saudi Arabia's rapid development has highlighted the shortage of national technical manpower and the subsequent need to recruit non-Saudi technical workers, on the one hand, and the difficulty of replacing these workers with qualified Saudis, on the other. Therefore successive Development Plans have tried to raise the quality and quantity of technical and vocational education for both men and women. In 1995/96 only 5 per cent of Technical and Vocational Education (TEVT) enrolled students were female. This compares with an average of 29 per cent in other Islamic countries and 45 per cent in Japan (UNESCO, 1997, 1999). Part of this may be due to the preferences of female students in education, part due to the structure of TEVT in Saudi Arabia, part due to the availability of technical and vocational jobs available for women after completing their training and part due to the natural place of women in Saudi society. The Seventh Development Plan (2000,2004) assumes that the private sector will play a very significant role in employing a Saudi labour force including both men and women. As part of a comprehensive study concerning the factors affecting women's employment in the Saudi private sector private sector business managers in four large cities were surveyed to see what factors they felt were important. The main factors affecting employment of women in technical and vocational education were seen by the managers as those relating to the structure of TEVT education in Saudi Arabia rather than preferences of women or pressures from society. [source] Types of drinks consumed by infants at 4 and 8 months of age: sociodemographic variationsJOURNAL OF HUMAN NUTRITION & DIETETICS, Issue 2 2000K. North Aim To investigate the variations in sociodemographic characteristics of mothers in relation to the types of milk and supplementary drinks consumed by their infants at 4 and 8 months of age. Study design The carers of a randomly chosen population sample of over 1000 infants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ALSPAC) were asked to record all foods and drinks consumed by the child in a 24-h period at both 4 and 8 months of age. Self-completion postal questionnaires were used to ascertain sociodemographic characteristics of the mothers and their infants. Methods Significant differences in the types of milks and supplementary drinks consumed within sociodemographic groups were identified. Infants were also grouped according to the types of milks they were receiving at each age and further differences in sociodemographic characteristics were investigated. Results Highly significant differences existed among various sociodemographic characteristics with regard to the types of drinks used at both ages. Maternal educational level was the most influential of the sociodemographic variables in explaining the differences in consumption of all types of drinks given at 4 months, in particular for breast milk use. Maternal age was also significantly associated with breast feeding. The use of fruit drinks was significantly associated with the presence of older siblings in the family and the use of herbal drinks with the duration of breast feeding. At 8 months of age maternal educational level was again the most highly associated of the sociodemographic variables, being significantly associated with the use of most of the drinks. The presence of older siblings also had a significant independent effect as did duration of breast feeding. The feeding of cows' (or animal) milk as a main drink at 8 months, contrary to recommendation, was most likely in the group of mothers with vocational education, those in council accommodation, those with two or more children and those with difficulty affording food. Conclusion We have identified certain characteristics of mothers who were more likely than others not to follow current recommendations on infant feeding. The educational level of mothers appears to be of major significance in the choices made about the types of drinks given to infants. It may be possible to target information about infant feeding to certain groups of mothers thus improving weaning patterns. [source] Burnout among nursing staff in two Finnish hospitalsJOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2000Koivula RN, MNSC Aim To describe burnout and factors affecting it in nursing staff. Background Burnout is a common phenomenon in nursing staff. We need knowledge of phenomena related to burnout in order to be able to properly direct measures decreasing burnout. Methods A questionnaire measuring burnout was answered by 723 nurses. The data were analysed by means of descriptive statistics and anova. Results Half of the staff had scores which indicated they were frustrated or burnt out. Personal resource variables having an influence on staff burnout were age, vocational education and years of practice. Burnout increases with age, and staff with short work experience in nursing practice experience lower levels of burnout. Staff with a secondary level education working on psychiatric wards experience especially high levels of burnout. Continuous professional education is related to lower levels of burnout if it lasts for more than 10 days over a period of 2 years. Conclusions The results of the study can be generalized only to these two Finnish hospitals. The results indicate that education, both vocational basic education and professional further education, are key factors in preventing burnout among nursing staff. [source] Towards a Richer Conception of Vocational PreparationJOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, Issue 1 2003Gerard Lum This paper identifies the key assumptions underpinning current arrangements in vocational education and training (VET) in the UK. These assumptions, and the idea of vocational capability they denote, are rejected in favour of a more coherent conception,a conception centred not on the traditional dichotomy of ,knowing how-knowing that' but on what I refer to as the ,constitutive understandings' from which both practical and theoretical capabilities can be seen to derive. It is argued that an account of vocational capability in these terms suggests a far richer conception of vocational preparation than current arrangements are able to admit. [source] From isolation to integration: Postsecondary vocational education and emerging systems of workforce developmentNEW DIRECTIONS FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES, Issue 115 2001W. Norton Grubb This chapter offers a new vision for vocational education and systems of workforce development covering both education and training to address duplication, waste, and ineffectiveness. By targeting programs on the most promising employment opportunities, education providers can develop integrated systems that yield positive outcomes for students and employers. [source] | |||||||||||||