This article explores the efficacy and cost effectiveness of New Labour's skills-based policies to help low paid workers adjust to the pressures generated by globalisation, of which the leading example was Train to Gain (T2G). It also analyses the more general issue of how, why and under what circumstances education, training and skills can help…

This article is the first study investigating New Zealand's early legislation in apprenticeship from the perspective of historical institutionalism. It shows that, between 1865 and the 1940s, New Zealand's apprenticeship system was less liberal in character than it is today, because a collective skill formation regime, involving dual training, was…

Vocational education and training (VET) programmes are facing rapid change and intensifying challenges. How can employers and unions be engaged? How can workbased learning be used? How can teachers and trainers be effectively prepared? How should postsecondary programmes be structured? The country reports in this series look at these and other…

Learning always takes place in a particular context and culture, yet educators have tended to focus their attention mainly on the form of learning, its methodology, content and teaching approach. While these can and do affect learning and its results, this paper looks beyond the particulars of the program to explore how the context and culture of…

Central issues of the International Labour Organisation meeting were financing workers' education in Africa, identification and development of special training programs, and the role of trade unions in labor education. (SK)

A consensus that unions must develop coherent and comprehensive policies on new work systems and continuous learning in order to guide local activities, was the central theme of this conference on the interrelated issues of the high performance work organization. These proceedings include the following presentations: "Labor's Stake in High…

Uses "Mother Jones" to explore the link between labor union agitation and use of symbolic motherhood by female labor leaders. Argues that maternal aims such as physical protection helped empower oppressed mining audiences. Suggests that Jones's militant motherhood--realized through nondiscursive maternal practices and a…

This article contains a review of activities and approaches of the International Labour Office's (ILO) Workers' Education Programme, and a discussion of the role of the ILO in promoting wider concepts of workers' education linked to other forms of education and training. (CT)

The Labor Education Achievement Program (LEAP) exceeded its recruitment and enrollment goal for April 1990 to June 1991. The number of union workers receiving services was 697 in 59 classes at 20 sites. Recruitment success was made possible by the use of the communication networks of the Baltimore AFL-CIO Metropolitan Council of Unions and public…

This publication is part of the study materials for the distance education course, The Changing Workplace: Part B, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University. The first part of the document examines current thinking regarding knowledge and control in workplaces emphasizing flexible production systems, flexible technology, and a flexible work…

This book explores how two nations with widely divergent political economies, Germany and the United States (U.S.), embraced change in four contemporary settings. "Mutual Learning with Trade-Offs" (Kirsten Wever) discusses mutual learning and the distinguishing characteristics of the political economies of Germany and the U.S.…

This document describes the AFL-CIO's Upgrading and Career Ladder Program (UCLP), which creates a system of structured, work-based learning integrating on-the-job training with related theoretical instruction. The UCLP has the following objectives: to meet workers' skill upgrading and occupational mobility needs; to encourage unions and employers…

A study examined the affiliations between adult basic education programs and business, industry, and unions in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Of the 47 state directors of adult education who returned the mail questionnaire, 31 reported formal affiliations and 5 reported informal affiliations with businesses and/or unions in their…

The High Skills, Competitive Workforce Act of 1991 is proposed legislation designed to stimulate cooperation by business, labor, schools and colleges, and state and local governments to improve the education and training of the U.S. work force and to develop new systems and strategies for meeting the economic needs of business and workers. The act…

The focus of this conference workplace literacy in the South is the need for cooperation and collaboration among policy-makers, business and industry, labor, and education providers. The document contains nine presentations: "What Frito-Lay Has Done in Workplace Literacy" (Mossberg); "The Need for a Literate Workforce in the…