Intermediaries play a complex and critical role in the growing work-based learning ecosystem, but little is known about the funding models that support them or how their funding approaches might vary depending on the programs they lead, where they sit within an ecosystem, or the nature of their relationships with other partners. To begin building…

What do state policies say about how to fund postsecondary education? This 50-State Comparison answers this question by searching state statutes, state rules and regulations, enacted state budget bills, and state postsecondary education agency policies that address postsecondary education budgeting and funding. According to the content of the…

Investment of time in internship and in-school learning or study are two ways to accumulate human capital for college students. The authors take I&S input as two impacting factors for graduates' starting salaries to construct an I&S input allocation model minimizing "psychological cost." The model inference indicates that the…

This study explored the lived experiences of 20 Australian early childhood preservice teachers while on practical experience placement and examined the factors that informed their pedagogical experiences when working across both prior-to-school and school settings. Transcripts from interviews were analysed using grounded theory-informed…

The higher skills policy of the UK New Labour Government emerged from the recommendations of the Leitch Review of Skills, and was implemented in England between 2007 and 2010. The policy aimed to encourage higher education (HE) institutions to engage with employers and employer representative bodies to design and deliver HE provision that…

Acting as the lead agency for the "National STEM Consortium" (NSC), Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) engaged Hezel Associates to provide an independent program and impact evaluation of the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL)-funded STEM certificate initiative. This report is comprehensive and covers the findings from all 4 years of the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate the extent of "over-qualification" (i.e. holding a qualification which is above that required to gain entry to the job being done) and "skills under-utilisation" (i.e. being in a job which does not make use of the knowledge and skills possessed) in the United Kingdom and to…

This article describes the role that schools are playing in supporting career development for young people. It examines the history of career-related programming in schools, including school-to-work programs, career and technical education, the college and career readiness movement, and current school reform initiatives. This understanding of…

Critical thinking, viewed as rational and analytic thinking, is crucial for participation in a knowledge economy and society. This article provides a brief presentation of the importance of teaching critical thinking in a knowledge economy; suggests a conceptual model for teaching thinking; examines research on the historical role of teachers in…

Educational policy is asked to support young people in their successful transition from education to employment. In Switzerland, a two-year apprenticeship with Federal VET Certificate was established in 2002 aimed at increasing the employability of low-achieving school leavers. It is a low-threshold VET programme offering standardised vocational…

The apprenticeship training system in Germany, where training takes place in both private companies and vocational schools, has traditionally played an outstanding role in the development of young skilled workers. However, particularly since the start of the new millennium, the chances of smooth transition from secondary school to an…

Innovation is the key to productivity growth and prosperity. Most empirical cross-country analysis of the determinants of innovation focus mainly on developed countries. The objective of this study is to fill this gap in the research and analyze the determinants of innovation in transition countries of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.…

Access to higher education in the United States is increasingly on the public policy agenda as funding constraints affect the realization of college attendance for many middle and low-income students. We use the Pell Grant as a proxy for low-income participation, and the percent of undergraduate students receiving a Pell Grant (Pell Prevalence…

This analysis of education policy constitutes an attempt to outline the problem of youth unemployment. Building on a recognition that structural change in the "society of labourers" has also affected the social entity "young people", it shows the problems inherent in our concept of linear transitions to working life and the…

In Europe a very intensive discussion is in full swing as to whether vocational schools should in future be guided and monitored by the state or whether they should be freed from state dependency. Within the framework of a number of pilot projects in German-speaking countries, vocational school centers are currently testing their autonomy. This…