The Swedish government has overall responsibility for the education system and sets the policy framework at all education levels. National goals and learning outcomes are defined centrally but with decentralised implementation. Swedish vocational education and training (VET) starts after compulsory education at age 16 and includes programmes at…

Completing an apprenticeship has been shown to be critical to an individual's future employment, earnings and career development when compared with apprentices who do not complete. International research, notably in England, Australia and Germany, has identified factors specific to the apprentice, employer and training provision that are…

Formal vocational education and training (VET) in Slovenia starts at upper secondary level and is provided mainly by public schools that are founded and financed by the State. The education and labour ministries share responsibility for preparing legislation, financing, and adopting VET programmes and qualifications. While the education ministry…

This publication provides a summary of the outcomes of students who completed their vocational education and training (VET) in Australia during 2017. The outcomes are reported for students who undertook government-subsidised training and those who undertook training on a fee-for-service basis. The figures are derived from the National Student…

The concept "not in education, employment or training" (NEET) has only recently been deployed in academic analyses and policy documents in South Africa. This article uses the concept to highlight the acute levels of youth unemployment experienced in that country. It discusses the causal factors, and adopts the concept of "social…

This annual publication provides a summary of training activity in apprenticeships and traineeships in Australia, from the period 1998 to 2008, including information on training rates, attrition rates, completion rates, training within the trades and duration of training. The figures in this publication are derived from the National Apprentice and…

Concern exists that youth leaving the kibbutz have no occupation skills needed to secure work in the outside world. In a survey, two opposing hypotheses were examined: (1) kibbutz-born persons will be unable to adapt to outside life because of educational limitations; and (2) because of their education, kibbutz-born persons will display…

Changes in occupational structure, demographics, and social values are affecting the career development of young workers, reentry women, and older adults in Japan. Counseling must adjust to meet new needs, such as increased high school dropout and joblessness. (SK)

Using longitudinal analysis, discusses observed differences among unemployed adults, older youth, and early school-leavers (N=104). Focuses on issues surrounding self-esteem and the identification of mediators and moderators for specific populations. Evidence suggests that good psychological health contributed to gaining employment. (RJM)

An analysis of unemployment rates, wages, and policy initiatives for school "early leavers" in Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom suggests that early withdrawal from school represents a substantial, transnational problem attributable to basic policy problems. It is noted that no policy initiatives directly address…

Data were obtained from the National Child Development Study (NCDS), a large-scale longitudinal study in the United Kingdom following up a sample of people born in a single week in 1958 through to adult life, to demonstrate that poor numeracy skills have a major impact. At age 37, a 10 percent sample of 1,714 cohort members were interviewed and…

Investigated the causation hypothesis (unemployment leads to poor mental health), and the selection hypothesis (poor mental health reduces employment) in a longitudinal study of 635 college graduates and 767 school leavers. Results confirmed the causation hypothesis for school-leavers but not college graduates. Employment and further education…

The first stage of research into the impact of part-time employment on young people in full-time education analyzed questionnaires from 555 young people aged 14-19 in 7 secondary schools and in 7 further education sector colleges in Britain. A literature review focused on issues involved in combining part-time employment and full-time education.…

As a means of obtaining information on educational outcomes and quality, Vancouver Community College (VCC) conducts annual follow-up surveys of former students, using one instrument for program completers and another for discontinuants (dropouts). For the 1990-91 survey, 3,685 graduates were surveyed 9 months after program completion, and 1,007…

A study compared developments in size of apprenticeship programs and changes in the distribution of apprentices over occupational categories in Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands during the last 2 decades. Data were from the "time-series" school leavers' surveys database. Findings indicated, toward the late 1990s, Irish…