This study narrates the role of education/training in the career success stories of twelve women on an Irish active labour market programme, Community Employment (CE). All from lower socio-economic groups, having early school-leaving backgrounds, and, prior to CE, were long-term unemployed. CE enhances the employability of the long-term unemployed…

Research investigating the learning and career transitions of those disadvantaged in the labour market has resulted in the development of a four-component model to enable disadvantaged groups to navigate learning and career transitions. The four components of the model include: the self-concept; learning and recognition; career and life planning;…

The Institute for Work, Skills and Training was assigned to evaluate a labor market program aimed at the integration of long-term unemployed individuals aged 50 or older. The integration should have been achieved not only by training and coaching of individuals, but also by building regional networks between labor market stakeholders within a…

One of the challenges facing Australia is the ageing of the population. Of major concern, especially to government, is that the dependency ratio--a measure of the burden that economically active persons carry by supporting dependent persons--will increase significantly unless older people keep working or immigration is used to change the…

Finnish job seekers (n=559) were followed up after 1 year (n=401) after 84.3% participated in guidance courses, subsidized employment, vocational training, or some combination. Guidance courses enhanced reemployment. None of the interventions increased job-seeking activity. Training temporarily decreased psychological distress. Deteriorating…

Although women constitute 44 percent of Great Britain's work force, they are concentrated in a limited number of occupations and have less access to training opportunities. Their training needs are for upgrading skills, preparing for reentry, learning new technologies, and training for occupational change. Their opportunities are notoriously…

Women returners now account for over one-third of the total labor force, but the British labor market remains strongly segregated by gender, with over 85 percent of all employed women in the service industries. A high proportion are employed part time. Despite a majority of women now returning to the labor market after breaks for childbirth and…

This book identifies features of best practice in women's education and training (WET) in Britain, as revealed in a nationwide search that led to the first National Institute of Adult Continuing Education Award for Good Practice in WET. Chapter 1 describes the process for selecting six awardees. Chapter 2 isolates key issues and themes that gave…

Twenty adult education programs being conducted in the Netherlands are described in the case studies in this packet. The courses range from adult basic education to continuing education courses in languages, from basic nursing courses to advanced neurology. The following programs are profiled: (1) open school (Balde); (2) study house for adults…

A 2-year project examined the effectiveness of courses for returning workers in enabling women to make a sustained return to paid employment in the following countries: France; Spain; Ireland; and the United Kingdom. In each country, a short foundation-level program and a longer accredited return-to-work program were selected for evaluation.…

This document reports on a European Training Foundation Advisory Forum study of vocational education and training (VET) and retraining in the regions of the European Union (EU) that synthesized overviews of the general country situations regarding the territorial organization of the VET system and policy and relevant case studies concerning…