Criteria lists of academic skills are widely used to assess the work readiness of people who are looking to enter or re-enter the apprenticeship market. These instruments represent a particular hurdle in the path to vocational training for low-skilled would-be trainees. We investigate the validity of one such list used in Germany. As different…

As the experience of studying abroad can signal general and transnational human capital, it is considered to be increasingly important for professional careers, particularly in the context of economies' internationalization. However, studies using graduate surveys face problems of self-selection and studies on employers' opinions face problems of…

A central desideratum for the professionalization of qualified teachers is an improved practice of further teacher education. The present work constitutes a course of in-service training, which is built upon both a review of empirical findings concerning the efficacy of in-service training courses for teachers and theoretical assumptions about the…

There are lessons for Australia in the key approaches to the development, approval, maintenance and quality assurance of qualifications adopted in countries overseas. This research takes into account a range of approaches used in selected European Union (EU) member states (Germany, Finland and Sweden), the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland…

This study investigates whether occupational training networks enable the selection of apprentices to be less discriminatory. Training networks are a new organisational form of VET that is becoming increasingly widespread in Switzerland, as well as in Germany and Austria. In the Swiss model, an intermediary lead organisation recruits the…

Using a novel variant of dichotic selective listening, we examined the control of auditory selective attention. In our task, subjects had to respond selectively to one of two simultaneously presented auditory stimuli (number words), always spoken by a female and a male speaker, by performing a numerical size categorization. The gender of the…

The authors investigated the ability of 9- to 11-year-olds and of adults to use similarity-based and rule-based processes as a function of task characteristics in a task that can be considered either a categorization task or a multiple-cue judgment task, depending on the nature of the criterion (binary vs. continuous). Both children and adults…

States that in the debate on quality management the concept of the customer and the issue of social work being considered as part of the services sector play a crucial role. Argues that not enough attention is paid to the dangers inherent in the transfer to the customer concept. (CMK)

Explains that, with the exception of the "classical" textbook, there are no studies addressing the learning materials and media used by secondary school teachers. Presents results concerning the person- or subject-immanent circumstances under which teachers complement or replace the textbook in both planning and performance. (Author/CMK)

This report presents details from an examination of the curricula and diplomas of the Electrical Engineering departments of several major European technical universities (in the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium). The examination, a process involving department representatives of the various schools who came together to…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…