Following substantial investments in battery production and fossil-free steel, a few select places in northern Sweden are currently undergoing rapid economic and cultural changes. The aim of this article is to explore the role language education plays for three different groups of (im)mobile subjects - refugees, labor migrants, and cosmopolitan…

Correctional education is a prevalent form of rehabilitation programming for prisoners in the United States. There is limited evidence, however, about the labor market returns to credentials received while incarcerated. Using incarceration, educational, and labor market data in Washington State, we study the labor market returns to GEDs and…

As research of benefits and detriments of pesticides and biocides progresses, people's knowledge needs to be updated. This study takes an audience perspective on how practitioners may improve communication. Through online focus group discussions of how and why Danes acquire knowledge of pesticides and biocides, we find that focusing on improving…

Small manufacturing plants nowadays need to consider Industry 4.0 to stay competitive in the market. Among the challenges regarding the transformation towards Industry 4.0 are requirements to re-skill the staff for the new work environment. The staff have to either adapt to the workplace transformation brought by digitalisation, automation and…

This chapter describes how Clark State Community College used its TAACCCT grant in manufacturing to help drive organizational changes in the college to better serve local workforce needs.

This article describes the organization of a one-day ChemEd Summit that brought together 73 participants from academic, industrial, government, and nonprofit chemical sciences organizations with the aim to guide future initiatives and collaborative strategies to enhance student readiness for the workforce. Registered participants were asked to…

American jobs are undergoing massive technological transformation, with even entry-level workers now expected to use all manner of digital devices and equipment. Nowhere is this more true than in the manufacturing sector, which directly employs more than one in ten U.S. workers and indirectly supports millions more. To succeed in this rapidly…

This paper examines the practical experience and research background of one private training provider with over 10 years' experience reskilling and upskilling mid-career workers with academic qualifications for employment in a growing technical and highly regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. This paper offers insights into how to…

This study examines manufacturing employer perceptions of postsecondary credentials, the ways in which they find them valuable, and explores the barriers employers identify which prevent employees from enrolling in employer sponsored continuing education programs. In total, 14 staff members were interviewed representing five manufacturing…

In the competitive world of recruiting, the better an applicant can apply what has already been learned to a new environment, the greater the career opportunity. This study captured the transformative learning experience of students, guided by their instructors and industry partners, related to learning and executing Lean Six Sigma principles in a…

Workforce pipelines are essential to sustain a productive workforce in an increasingly competitive, high-tech environment. Advanced automation, sensors, materials and data analytics will increase the need for highly skilled workers in the manufacturing (and manufactured construction) sector. Attracting and developing the next-generation workforce…

Many have argued for increased continuing education for working engineers, but relatively little research has been done on how to most effectively teach that group. Many have also recommended using learner characteristics to enhance learning, but relatively little is known about the learner characteristics of working engineers. In the study…

Purpose: Training alone is not sufficient to enhance organizational effectiveness to a greater level because not all knowledge obtained from the training is properly transferred and applied to the organization. This study aims to investigate whether efforts invested by Malaysian manufacturers in employee training and knowledge transfer affect…

This research paper is one in a series produced as part of the Cedefop project The changing nature and role of VET (2016-18). The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of how CVET is conceptualised in various international level policy documents and how it is referred to across countries. It discusses national conceptions of CVET, the…

Public policy discourses claim that there is a "crisis" in the literacy and numeracy levels of the Australian workforce. In this paper, we propose a methodology for examining this "crisis" from a critical perspective. We draw on findings from an ongoing research project by the authors which investigates production workers'…