The heritage and history of the United States have influenced its consistent tendency toward voluntary adoption of standards achieved by consensus and toward guidelines rather than regulations. Major initiatives have continued to move toward a systematic, if not a centralized or standardized, approach. Over the past 20 years, varying degrees of…

The Indiana Workforce Proficiency Panel was established to work with the business, labor, and education sectors to identify a common set of essential skills and technical proficiencies for major occupational areas. The process used by the Panel for setting state standards employs five steps, involving three meetings of a State Technical Committee…

This publication contains materials from a conference to discuss modular approaches to curriculum design. The materials from the United States and five other countries address both national skills standards and modular systems of training delivery. An introduction provides brief summaries of the conference materials and the agenda. "National…

Since the early 1990s, China's government has followed a socialist market economy system. Accordingly, the technical and vocational education (TVE) should be restructured to meet its needs. Reform of the TVE system has four aspects. First, reform of the planning system includes a move from a central plan of enrollment to planning according to…

This interim report presents the framework for classifying competency-based initiatives developed by the NPEC (National Postsecondary Education Cooperative) Working Group. Section 1 presents a structure for classifying competency initiatives based upon student progression into, within, and from postsecondary education. Key applications of…

The changes in teaching, learning, and assessment brought about by the introduction of the National Certificate in Scotland were assessed. Data were collected through interviews with and a survey of 511 teaching staff (398 responses) and 1,646 students (1,277 responses) in a number of colleges throughout Scotland and a survey of 344 employers (68…

This book contains the following chapters: "The Demarcation Issue: Introduction" (Wim J. Nijhof, Jan N. Streumer); "Qualifying for the Future" (Wim J. Nijhof); "The Many Meanings of Occupational Competence and Qualification" (Per-Erik Ellstroem); "Qualification and Labour Markets: Institutionalisation and…

The Framework of Work Based Foundation Skills Project was undertaken to facilitate development of Pennsylvania's new workforce investment system Team PA CareerLink by identifying and developing common definitions of the foundation skills all workers need to function effectively in any workplace. A framework of 19 work-based foundation skills and…

Korea's labor market was analyzed to inform efforts to develop a scheme to improve the utilization of vocational qualifications. The study examined the different meanings of qualifications in South Korea's labor market and how utilization of qualifications is influenced by factors such as types of human resource management, vocational training…

This document, which is intended to serve as a guide for work force preparation program providers, details the Illinois occupational skill standards for programs preparing students for employment in occupations in the in-store retailing cluster. The document begins with a brief overview of the Illinois perspective on occupational skill standards…

This document, which is intended as a guide for workforce preparation program providers, details the Illinois occupational skill standards for programs preparing students for employment in the meeting professional occupational cluster. It begins with a brief overview of the Illinois perspective on occupational skill standards and credentialing,…

This document, which is intended to serve as a guide for workforce preparation program providers, details the Illinois Occupational Skill Standards for programs preparing students for employment as entry-level truck drivers. The document begins with a brief overview of the Illinois perspective on occupational skill standards and credentialing, the…

This document, which is intended to serve as a guide for workforce preparation program providers, details the Illinois Occupational Skill Standards for occupational education in the floristry cluster. The document begins with a brief overview of the Illinois perspective on occupational skill standards and credentialing, the process used to develop…

This document, which is intended to serve as a guide for work force preparation program providers, details the Illinois occupational skill standards for programs preparing students for employment in jobs in agricultural sales and marketing. Agency partners involved in this project include: the Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Community…

This document, which is intended as a guide for work force preparation program providers, details the Illinois occupational skill standards for programs preparing students for employment in occupations in the row crop production cluster. The document begins with a brief overview of the Illinois perspective on occupational skill standards and…