The relationship between the social structure of knowledge systems and knowledge syntheses is explored in order to define the social and cultural requirements for effective linkage. Following an introduction (section 1), analysis is divided into 5 additional sections. Section 2 discusses tools for conceptualizing knowledge systems, including…

Empirical research in education seems to have an international tendency to concentrate on problems that can be grasped adequately. But that approach tends to direct more research to smaller and smaller areas, where results are more precise but more irrelevant for the complex practice of education. To try to bridge this gap between research and…

Vocational education and training (VET) research in Australia has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. In a 1993 report titled "No Small Change," VET research was characterized as a fragmented activity that was underfunded and had little or no relevance to policy or practice in the VET sector. Since that time, increased funding through the…

The world needs a socioeconomic strategy--a set of interrelated policies that recognize that social and institutional changes at all levels of society are necessary to realize fully the technical and economic potential of new technologies. An assessment and dissemination of how different countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and…