This manual provides practical advice for voluntary partnerships that, since 1994, are part of the effort to build a voluntary national system of skill standards, assessment, and certification. Intended to be used with guidance from the National Skill Standards Board, it is designed for the voluntary partnerships that have completed the standards…

Many difficult political, administrative, and technical issues must be addressed in developing occupational standards and certification systems in middle income and developing countries. Political issues focus on the clear recognition within the country, particularly by the key stakeholders (government, unions, enterprises), of the following: the…

The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in Singapore provides skills training to school leavers through the institutional training and apprenticeship modes. The strengths of apprenticeship training are: provision of more occupational choices; greater effectiveness in meeting specific needs of industries; and opportunities for young people to…

In an effort to provide nontraditional students with the same opportunity as traditional students to reach the highest level of skills and competencies associated with hi-tech, high-wage employment, the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) offers alternatives to its historically successful full-time day program in chemical technology.…

As is the case in many developing countries, Honduras's vocational training and job placement systems were plagued by high dropout and low job placement rates. After deciding that the issue of relevance was the key to improving the country's job training system, a trade advisory committee set about to develop a series of competency-based…

To address the findings of the Kirby Review (that early school leaving is motivated by a desire for work and lack of interest in school), a new qualification, the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) was introduced on a trial basis in 2002. The Northern Metropolitan Institute of TAFE (NMIT) Youth Unit offers programs at three northern…