Context: Faced with deep challenges with access to formal education, many West African countries are increasingly taking steps to reform their informal apprenticeship systems to make them a quality skills development alternative for their teeming youth. A review of the literature shows that although different countries in the region are deploying…

The purpose of this study is to identify the local impacts of national advanced technological education (ATE) centers on their host institutions. A sample of three mature, national ATE centers are chosen, with each center serving as a case for a mixed-methods, collective case study research design. Results, drawn from interviews and surveys,…

The purpose of this statewide study is to assess the perceived improvements made to programs that are offered at Career and Technical Education Centers from the perspective of vocational administrators and teachers following the Bureau of Career and Technical Education conduction of an Approved Program Evaluation. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Career…

Located differentially (and to its detriment) within a status hierarchy of knowledge, vocational education has been called upon to satisfy an increasing range of political and social needs, including meeting the needs of industry and government and catering for increasing pupil diversity. Faced with stubbornly immobile rates of school completion…

In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), one of the German states, catchment areas for part-time vocational schools were abolished in 2008. With the intention to foster competition between schools in order to improve school quality, training companies now may freely choose the school of their choice. NRW is the first German state to take this step. In the…

This paper investigates the learning of young people involved in learning a trade in Senegal, West Africa. Fieldwork took place at two contrasting sites, one a workshop where young men were apprenticed to a tailor and the other a vocational training centre where young women were also learning tailoring. The research addresses the relationship…

This paper asks whether the integrated training provision currently offered through the different Spanish Second Chance Programmes (SCPs) constitutes a valid response to the educational needs and deficits known to exist among those young people who do not satisfactorily complete the Compulsory Secondary Education stage (ESO). The objectives of the…

Discusses problems and issues related to the achievement of objectives in four output categories: organizational effectiveness, professional staff effectiveness, continuing education specialist development, and institutional linkage of continuing education. (Editor)

The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) was launched in 2000 with a remit to supervise and further enhance educational leadership development initiatives in England and Wales and now supervises the delivery of a wide range of programmes for school leadership development for teachers at various stages in their career development. Small…

This study used case closure data to investigate the demographic and disability characteristics, service, and outcomes of 36,497 consumers who are blind or visually impaired served in state-federal vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs. By contrasting key measures reported by separate blindness agencies and general agencies, findings indicate:…

To determine the effectiveness, feasibility, and desirability of providing rehabilitation services to the adult deaf in a residential facility for handicapped hearing persons, 131 deaf clients were studied during 3 years. Forty were multiply handicapped while the majority were underachievers. The program was viewed as only desirable to a degree…

Because of a lack of acceptance of area vocational schools in the State, the California legislature passed broader legislation providing for regional occupational centers and regional occupational programs, with the responsibility for planning, operating, and financing the programs delegated to the county school superintendents in conjunction with…

A one-year project was conducted by the Training, Enterprise, and Education Directorate to evaluate the effectiveness of a learning program at a northwest England Skillcenter for developing nonmanual skills in unemployed adults. Interviews with 30 trainees and training workplace observations identify strengths and weaknesses of this continually…

Mahoning Valley Vocational School (MVVS) is the only resident occupational training program in Ohio under the Manpower Development and Training Act (MDTA). For this reason and because it is an innovation in youth training in the United States, the school was evaluated for its efficiency and its effectiveness in preparing youth for the world of…

The proceedings of the hearing on the General Accounting Office's (GAO) report on the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSER) management include an opening policy statement by Major R. Owens, chairman of the Subcommittee on Select Education, and the expert testimony of two witnesses: William Gainer, the director of education…