Context: Most education systems equip graduates with the professional knowledge and cognitive skills needed to enter the world of work. However, there are other competencies also important for young graduates to become successful employees. Due to the growing uncertainty that characterizes the labour market, the demand for non-cognitive skills…

Purpose: Community and technical college student employability is a pressing concern in the United States and China. Policy makers focus on developing students' human capital in the form of credentials and cognitive skills. However, the focus on completion overlooks the role that noncognitive skills and contextual factors may play in student…

The provision of, and participation in, workplace training and development has received significant recent attention in Australia in the face of rapid technological change, an ageing labour force and a growing skill shortage. Accordingly, many organisations have put in place policies and practices that ostensibly aim to encourage and support…

Adult education must become popular education in both communal and personal terms to survive funding agencies' special power-interest hegemonies, traditional higher education models, and rampant economic materialism. This article discusses six modernist constructions of adult education, highlighting professionalization and specialization, and…

This document contains a symposium paper on human resource development (HRD). "Human Resource Development Research: Is Anyone Listening?" (Gary N. McLean), discusses the following: discrepancies between HRD "best practices" described in the HRD research and those found in business; the causes of the "disconnect" that exists between researchers and…

A team of three organizers and a panel of five experts representing scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines participated in an innovative session that explored performance at multiple levels in organizations. The session objectives were as follows: (1) raise participants' awareness of multilevel approaches to the study of…

Over the past few decades, the economic prospects for workers possessing relatively few skills have worsened as the demand for skills in the labor market has increased. Even in jobs that might be categorized as low-skilled, workers require a diverse set of skills to succeed. Many of these skills can only be obtained through schooling or job…

The two-track system that divides academic education from vocational education no longer supports students' interests. This book describes a practical approach to integrating academic and vocational education, focusing on achieving a seamlessly integrated curriculum. Chapter 1 describes the rationale of a high school program--the Cocoa Academy for…

Across the globe, it is no secret to people involved with career and technical education (CTE) that the German apprenticeship system is looked upon as the "gold standard" of workforce development training. In this article, the author compares the responses of subject matter experts (SMEs) in Germany and the United States, two of the…

This document contains four symposium papers on linking human resource development (HRD) theory and practice. "Reorienting the Theoretical Foundations of Human Resource Development: Building a Sustainable Profession and Society" (Tim Hatcher) examines the theoretical disciplines of economics, general systems, sociology, psychology, and ethics in…

This book contains 22 papers on reflective learning in practice. The following papers are included: "Our Purpose" (Ann Brockbank, Ian McGill, Nic Beech); "The Nature and Context of Learning" (Ann Brockbank, Ian McGill, Nic Beech); "Reflective Learning and Organizations" (Ann Brockbank, Ian McGill, Nic Beech);…

Research and development help employers work better with schools to the extent that there is connectivity from one to the other. Project SCANS (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) Integration has been implemented by the Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Germany. These U.S. schools, teachers, and students are situated in…

Incidental learning is unintentional or unplanned learning that results from other activities. It occurs often in the workplace, during the use of computers, and in the process of completing tasks. Incidental learning occurs in many ways, including the following: through observation, repetition, social interaction, and problem solving; from…

Although evidence for the existence of multiple careers is limited, the literature of career development, training, and human resource development has predicted that individuals will have many careers as well as jobs across the lifespan, and small-scale studies and trend analysis suggest that individuals may need to plan and prepare for different…

This document contains outlines of 14 presentations at a roundtable discussion on theory, policy, and practice in lifelong learning that was held during a conference on human resource development (HRD) research and practice across Europe. Outlines of the following presentations and discussions are included: "Discourses on HRD and Lifelong…