This paper examines the role of language policy and needs assessments in the provision of public services to regional minority and immigrant language speakers in the UK and Finland. Semi-structured interviews with service providers in Helsinki, Rovaniemi, Manchester, and Cardiff revealed how language policy and language needs are conceptualised…

Discussed is the need to examine a number of measures of the "level" of state support of postsecondary education (e.g., in terms of a state's population, its students, and the level of state revenues). Described are factors that need to be considered as planners attempt to better understand the specific context surrounding state support decisions.…

Needs assessment is a young and growing field. Needs assessments contribute to effective educational planning and help educators improve services to students. Needs assessment can be used to identify goals and objectives, but probably has the most utility as a problem-focusing strategy that includes the following sequence: (1) identification of…

Using examples from the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (U.K.), the authors investigate the use of special or expert commissions in government policy-making in education. They analyze such commissions' impacts, the criticisms made of them, their role in political legitimation, and some alternative instruments for policy formation.…

The role of research and information in legislative decisionmaking is discussed. It is suggested that planning is of marginal utility to state legislatures. The primary obstacles to planning in the legislative arena are the turnover among state legislators, internal shifts of power, and the legislative tendency to deal with discrete policy issues…

The role of institutional research in postsecondary education in view of the trend toward consortia, regionalism, and other manifestations of "communiversity" or interinstitutional action is evaluated. Attention is also directed to new modes for policy planning and decision-making. Four activities were conducted in order to better…

The paper compares aspects of decision making in health and education in the United States and Great Britain from 1890-1970. The major purpose is to demonstrate variety in the degree of centralization within the two policy areas during this period. Centralization is defined as the degree to which all resources of a given type are controlled by one…

A study assessed the potential development of service sectors in different cities throughout the country and compared the results of growth in these and other sectors with respect to their effects on (1) total employment; (2) the geographic dispersion of metropolitan employment; (3) central city fiscal capacity; (4) metropolitan cyclical…

A study examined curriculum policies and practices within technical and further education (TAFE) in Australia. To isolate and explain differences in patterns of curriculum development (CD) within the TAFE sector, researchers administered a set of three-tiered questionnaire information-gathering sheets to curriculum developers and project managers…

Vocational education for 15- to 19-year-olds in England and Australia was compared. Recent literature was reviewed, and 20 individuals concerned with the planning and delivery of vocational education in England were interviewed to identify local and national practices and policies that are worthy of consideration for adoption in Australia. The…

Data from the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) were used to assess the prospects of California's welfare population versus those of the U.S. welfare population. Welfare recipients were found to have substantially lower basic skills than other adults do. Although 58% of California adults with basic skills and demographic characteristics…

This booklet discusses some consequences of internationalization for national training systems from the standpoint of the following two broad approaches often taken by international organizations: (1) the human capital ideology, which assumes human capital is an appropriate basis for education policy; and (2) the human rights and human development…

A total of 29 representatives of government departments, financial organizations, career guidance organizations, and researchers and career and financial guidance, practitioners from across the United Kingdom discussed the similarities and differences between the fields of career guidance and financial guidance, and explored whether closer links…

Examination of data concerning such topics as enrollment in nontraditional vocational programs and comparative earnings of male and female vocational graduates indicates that efforts to reduce sex bias and sex role stereotyping in Michigan's secondary vocational programs have resulted in increased attention to the issue at the local level. Such…

The opportunities and limitations of a sectoral approach to training research and policy were examined through the commissioning and analysis of reports on trends and issues in five European countries: Belgium; France; Germany; Greece; and the Netherlands. Special attention was paid to the opportunities of sectoral initiatives for small and…