The IT industry is dynamic and quickly evolving. As a surge of diverse training models across subsectors and occupations is becoming available, this is a unique opportunity to enhance training practices and better align them to meet industry and employer needs. This brief offers recommendations for IT training providers to strengthen their work…

The main purpose of this guide is to provide some ideas for employers of apprentices to provide an environment in which strong informal bases of support can succeed. Formal mentoring is an important aspect of apprenticeships; however, it is also informal mentoring--practices that are difficult to formally nurture--that plays a significant and…

The report provides an overview of Aboriginal learners (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples) in British Columbia, Canada. Section 1 examines the data on transitions from K-12 to the post-secondary system. Section 2 discusses recent trends in the B.C. public post-secondary system including headcount, full-time equivalents and credentials.…

Every spring, millions of 18-year-olds graduate from high school and start on one of three paths: (1) college; (2) the military; or (3) work. College is the choice encouraged most often by high-school guidance counselors, and for good reason. By 2020, two out of every three jobs will require some sort of higher education, according to the Center…

In Germany, a remarkable number of young people leave school with the qualification required for entrance to higher education ("Abitur") but do not actually go on to university. Instead, these young people--known in German as "Abiturienten"--start an apprenticeship within what is known in Germany as the "Dual-System".…

In Germany, the group of young people with the most extended transition from school to work are those achieving higher education entrance qualifications ("Abitur"), then serving an apprenticeship in the German "dual system" and later pursuing higher education. On the basis of three Anglo-German comparative studies, this article…

The federal career and technical legislation reauthorized in 2006 required the recipients of its funding to offer at least one Program of Study (POS). All states have developed some components of POS through earlier initiatives, primarily Tech Prep, career pathways, and youth apprenticeship, that attempted to ease the transition of students from…

Responding to local businesses' negative comments about area graduates' capabilities, White Plains (New York) Public Schools initiated a pilot work-based-learning program that clearly specified connections between high-school and workplace learning. Five case studies illustrate program goals achieved via individualized apprenticeship plans…

The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) has developed five sets of measures to respond to the problems of the transition from school to working life. These are (1) Arbeitslehre (learning about the world of work); (2) vocational guidance, involving multimedia, open-access vocational information centers and close coordination with the Arbeitslehre…

Youth apprenticeship is the ultimate school-business partnership. The article explains youth apprenticeship, then describes the Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project, which created a school-to-work transition system. The program combines two years of high school and two years of postsecondary technical education to students who probably would…

Compares American and German educational system structures, emphasizing organizational and curricular features of school- and work-based preparation for the labor market. The countries have fundamentally different school to work transition models which significantly affect their students. The article makes recommendations for improving both…

This paper explores the challenges of partnership through an examination of a high school apprenticeship program in carpentry in Ontario, Canada. Focusing on the relationships between schools, trainers, employers and government, challenges relate to the ability to coordinate the program across institutions, achieve agreement on goals, gain…

This booklet, based on the Transition Through the Arts project developed by Very Special Arts, describes the successes that project instructors have achieved in using the arts to assist individuals with developmental disabilities reach employment. The project uses the arts as a vehicle to teach and reinforce the social and personal skill…

One strategy to increase participation in vocational education and training (VET) by Australians with a disability involves intervention at the secondary school level to reduce early school leaving by providing structured VET learning and work placement opportunities. The Enterprise Career Education Foundation's Lighthouse initiative, which was…