Swiss Vocational Education and Training (VET) is based on national legislation which was introduced in the 1930s and renewed in the 1960s (as well as in the 1970s and in 2002). At first, the goal of the national VET legislation was to further Vocational Education and Training in order to support small and medium enterprises; however, later, it…

Vocational education is formal education about work, and vocational programs of study typically target a narrow subset of middle-income occupations. In this chapter, we trace vocational education from competing 20th century education philosophies to its varied structures throughout the 21st century world. We then review the body of economic…

Career pathways (CP) has gained prominence as a strategy to ensure that high school students and displaced workers acquire the college and career readiness skills needed in a fast-changing, globalized economy. In an effort to ensure future success for CP, Stephen F. Hamilton examines the School-to-Work (STW) movement of the 1980s and 1990s and…

This paper offers a broad overview of vocational education in Singapore. Looking at vocational education from Independence, it argues that the development of a skilled labour force was not only crucial in the age of globalisation and the dominance of multinational companies, but also an empirical litmus test of the newly elected post-colonial…

The objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the total system of technological education in Singapore. The educational system, its history, and its response to technological needs are first briefly described. A discussion follows of the evolution of the various infrastructures, including the National University of Singapore,…

England has failed to create a stratum of technical school education in the 20th century. It is increasingly being recognized that educational defects have contributed to England's relative decline and laggard economic performance compared with European competitors. Although junior technical schools were founded in the early 1900s and secondary…

This monograph describes and analyzes recent developments in national tertiary education institutions in the seven countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS): Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Monserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Following prefatory materials, chapter 1 asks if…

In Taiwan, human resource development (HRD) is defined as the systematic education, training, and development employers provide for their employees as well as organizational development for corporations. A history of HRD development indicates that in the 1960s, the government began to implement planning measures for HRD in business and industry;…

The California Postsecondary Education Commission is currently producing a series of policy briefs examining the nexus between workforce development and postsecondary education. The research question "How does California's postsecondary education system contribute to the needs of the state's economy and its future?" will serve as the…

Over the past 20 years, the increasing level of Commonwealth Government intervention in Technical and Further Education (TAFE) policies and programs has had a tremendous impact. The focus of these policies and interrelationships between the Commonwealth and states has changed from a humanistic to an economic and industrial relations approach. The…

The relationship between education and work are addressed by a vice provost of Northeastern University in testimony to the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Attention is directed to the philosophical and social bases of cooperative education, its impact on learning, as well as its strengths and weaknesses. At Northeastern, the…

After its independence in 1969, Indonesia studied and analyzed its previous colonial system of technical and vocational education (TVE) and took steps to overcome the shortcomings. TVE was required to provide expansion of work opportunities and industrial development to promote national development. Until 1989, attention was given to further…

Three centuries ago only religious schools and apprenticeship controlled by the guilds existed to provide training. Regular academic schools originated in religions that needed a well-educated clergy, and these schools offered the model for the universal basic and secondary schools that exist today in nearly all countries. The European guilds gave…

In New Zealand the most important institutions that are responsible for the delivery of vocational education and training programs are the government owned and operated tertiary education institutions known as polytechnics. The New Zealand polytechnics deliver programs at the certificate, diploma and degree level. During the course of the 1990s,…

Examination of the history and present structure of Soviet education reveals a number of potential lessons for educational planners in developing countries, according to the authors. This report traces the course of Soviet educational reforms from the 1910s to the 1970s in four areas: general (elementary and some secondary) education, vocational…