Purpose: The aim of this article is to explore the influence of precarious (temporary) employment on employability and career development. Design/methodology/approach: The article draws together primary and secondary research material. Findings: Findings indicate that there are both positive and negative perspectives with regard to temporary…

The recession that began in December of 2007 is already 30 months old, but the U.S. economy will not recover its pre-recession employment levels for at least another two years. From there, it will take an additional three years to make up for lost growth and create a job market strong enough to employ both the casualties of the recession and the…

To address key policy and programmatic questions and help improve student and system performance, states must work to link data across the early childhood, postsecondary and workforce (P-20/workforce) spectrum and share this information with appropriate stakeholders. This issue brief highlights current efforts in California, Florida, Indiana, and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on a study into how a three-dimensional (3D) virtual world (Second Life) can facilitate socialisation and team working among students working on a team project at a distance. This models the situation in many commercial sectors where work is increasingly being conducted across time zones and between…

The 2009 proceedings of the Association for Continuing Higher Education represent the professional presentations of the keynote sessions, the concurrent sessions, and the business meeting of the association's 71st annual conference, held at the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel in Philadelphia on November 15-18, 2009. The conference provided an engaging…

This article briefly analyzes the Spellings Commission Report on Higher Education, places it in the context of other American education reforms, and suggests ways for literacy educators to respond to this latest call for accountability in ways that are cognizant of political realities without compromising the integrity of our profession.

The multiple pathways approach holds significant promise for engaging California high school students and improving their ability to achieve their dreams. While hundreds of schools have already adopted the multiple pathways approach, much remains to be done to put more students on the path to success. Pathways must be designed around rigorous…

This report focuses on the 15 states of the West (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming), their ability to educate minorities, and the resulting impact on their workforces and economies. The foundation of the Western U.S. economy rests on…

Workforce projections worldwide show a growing need for people with strong backgrounds in math and science. As the eighth largest economy in the world, California benefits particularly from enterprises in the "STEM" fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). How well California's current public school students are…

Policymakers and educators around the nation are wrestling with an important challenge--how to raise expectations for high school achievement, while increasing relevance and engagement in learning to keep students in school. Career and technical education (CTE) is receiving renewed attention as a strategy for increasing school engagement and rigor…

Employment has long been held to be an important deterrent against poverty, and work is a core component of a range of federal efforts to improve the economic well-being of low-income families. However, recent trends in earnings and research both confirm that work alone is not sufficient to prevent poverty. While there is compelling evidence that…

Since the late 1970s, an increasing number of states have required students to pass statewide high school exit examinations (HSEEs) in order to graduate. States have usually adopted HSEEs in response to the perception that a substantial number of graduates lack skills that are required for success in the modern economy. What do these educational…

Empowering youth through the exploration of their possible futures is a fresh and innovative approach to the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility model (TPSR). The purpose of this study was to examine the combination of TPSR with the theory of possible selves. This combination, called the Career Club, was a program specifically designed to…

This study was conducted to determine the level of Achieved Learning Outcomes of Underprivileged Children provided by some selected NGOs [non-governmental organizations] in Bangladesh. Comparing the achievement among the learners of different NGOs as well as between girls and boys were the objective of the study. The study identified that…

People's life pathways are no longer as predictable as they were in the second half of the 20th century. It is no longer as simple as moving from school to work, probably via tertiary education, to living independently, then getting married and starting a family. Changes in how people combine education with life-course transitions will influence…