The author argues that adult education provision has tended to overlook the needs of young adults. She examines ways in which the 18-25 group could be encouraged to participate more widely in adult continuing education. (CH)

Surveys the need in England for a comprehensive pattern of non-formal educational provision for young adults, indicates the trend and illustrates some recognized inadequacies in existing provision, and emphasizes the need for research and the potential to be achieved by the exploration of alternative sources of provision, particularly in the…

Highlights deficiencies in current British policies on work-based learning for 16-19 year-olds. Discusses problems arising from employers' voluntary participation. Outlines a holistic approach based on the community of practice model. (SK)

Interviews of young adults in England and Germany (n=900) about higher education, unemployment, and work showed that in Germany, ethnicity, gender, and social class had more influence on employment than qualifications did. Failure (e.g, unemployment) was attributed to Germany's highly structured system. In England, the belief that opportunities…

As a result of the "risk society" (in which career and adult transitions are less orderly and predictable), young people have adopted various transition behaviors--strategic, step-by-step, taking chances, and wait-and-see--as they follow different paths: higher education, training for skilled or semiskilled occupations, unskilled…

Examines characteristics and roles of trainers from 25 diverse British companies engaged in on-the-job training programs for young people, particularly dropouts. Discusses management strategies and training for trainers. Compares trainer characteristics and training of trainers in the United Kingdom, France, and Greece. Contains 15 references. (SV)

This article is based on research carried out in an European Union Fifth Framework project on gender and qualification. The research partners, from five European countries, investigated the impact of gender segregation in European labour markets on vocational education and training (VET), with particular regard to competences and qualifications.…

Among 320 young adults in matched German and English labor markets, long-term occupational goals and the behaviors used to achieve them depended not only on past socialization in family and school but also on identity formation related to experiences during transition to employment. Five career patterns are described and linked to transitional…

Worldwide expansion of enrollment in postcompulsory education has contributed to an ambiguous "post-adolescence" life stage as young adults transition into adult citizenship. Possible pathways at the end of compulsory schooling have diversified, particularly in developed countries under the influence of vocationalism. Young adults need…

In eastern Germany, reunification involved economic and political transformations that have resulted in new education, training, and employment structures. A study of young adults in Leipzig and their transition to employment focused on how the interplay between institutional structures and individual actions produced career outcomes. Similarities…

This report is a synthesis of an evaluation of the TRADEC (trades education) system to review its distinctive features and to assess its current effectiveness and future potential as a vehicle for the vocational preparation of young adults. (The TRADEC system comprises a family of schemes for the fusion of education and training into a curriculum…

A survey and group interviews with unemployed young people aged 18-25 in Derby (England), Hannover (western Germany), and Leipzig (eastern Germany) examined the relative importance to their life and work transitions of individual agency and structural factors. Two national job training "schemes" for unemployed youth are compared: the…

A study explored how young adults experience control and exercise personal agency (self-determination) as they pass through periods of transition in education and training, work, unemployment, and in their personal lives. Data were gathered through structured questionnaires administered to at least 100 young adults from universities and companies,…

This document describes the training of in-company trainers of young people in the United Kingdom (UK). Part 1 describes the context, including the focus and method of the UK study, the current situation for in-company training for young people, and the national context for training the trainers. Part 2 focuses on the following: characteristics,…