Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive description and analysis of quality levels with regard to dual Vocational Education and Training (VET) at companies participating in this programme in Spain, with a specific focus on company size. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a quantitative cross-sectional…

This study aims to investigate the Swiss initial vocational education and training (IVET) partnership from the perspective of several stakeholders on the ground. Collaboration between stakeholders is essential in dual IVET to connect school- and workplace-based learning and to ensure the quality of the entire system. However, such collaboration…

This study examines how recently graduated journeymen, vocational teachers, and workplace trainers view the integration between learning at school and at work in a dual vocational education and training (VET) system, and how these views might be influenced by the duration and the sequencing of school- and work-based learning periods. Research…

Purpose: This paper explores the implications for higher education of the rapid development in technology used by the manufacturing sector. Higher education programmes change or new courses are introduced in attempts to match labour market demands. However, the pace of change in the manufacturing industry challenges the authors to reconceive how…

"Research Messages 2020" highlights the diverse range of research activities undertaken over the past year by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). Research published during 2019 encompasses a range of themes and topics categorised according to three broad areas: (1) structures and systems for skilling and…

Australia entered the COVID-19 pandemic with a youth (15 to 24-year-old) unemployment rate of 11.6% in December 2019, three times higher than the 25 to 64-year-old unemployment rate of 3.6%. The strategies taken by governments to minimise the spread of COVID-19 have had widespread economic impacts. By July 2020, youth unemployment had risen to…

This paper focuses on changes necessary for apprenticeship to meet society's current needs in terms of: providing an educational environment, meeting the needs of the European economies, and matching the aspirations of young people. Section 1 provides a narrative account of an apprentice working as a coach finisher in the Great Western Railway…

One focus of a year-long study of West German apprenticeship was the conditions that are most supportive of learning on the job. The study design incorporated two distinctions that the Germans consider critical: manual versus white-collar occupations and size of training firm. Two occupations were studied--auto mechanic and…

Work-based learning (WBL) includes a range of activities that extend beyond traditional cooperative education, such as job shadowing, service learning, internships, and apprenticeships--all of which provide career and technical education (CTE) students with valuable experience in the world of work. Several issues are involved in developing…

A 1991 study tour to Germany, Denmark, and Sweden investigated youth education and training policies, systems, methods of financing, and programs. Concerns were integration of academic and practical skills training, assessment of student competencies for employment, expectations and outcomes of employment preparation for all youth, and system…

An apprenticeship preparation program was conducted at Arctic College, Eskimo Point, Northwest Territories, Canada, to overcome young people's educational limitations by offering professional training in a vocational area followed by a combination of work experience and academic upgrading. The academic upgrading stressed computer-assisted…

An evaluation of work experience programs in Queensland state secondary schools had three goals. It examined current practices and identified effective practices to guide program planning and development; based on expected student benefits, it provided a categorization of the types of experience that students encounter during work experience…

A project was conducted in Idaho to develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate a cooperative construction and mining training program to provide preapprenticeship training in construction trades, equipment operation and construction truck driving, apprenticeship-related instruction, and classes in more technical areas for journeyworker…

A research study in Australia examined the nature, extent, and methods of workplace learning for school students. Following a literature review that found that the proportion of school students who work part-time is increasing but that there is relatively little research on the learning outcomes of either work experience or work placements,…

The chronic scarcity of career jobs and increased demands for mental ability in the workplace have necessitated school-to-work (STW) transition programs that prepare noncollege-bound youths not only for their first full-time job but also for continued learning and career transitions throughout their working lives. Among the main ideas advanced for…