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…

This brief presents the results of a national study designed to inventory state agency approval policies and procedures for postsecondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs (Merkley & Johnston, forthcoming). The study was limited to the states' approval of CTE programs implemented by public, two-year degree-granting institutions and did…

In this essay, Alexander Sidorkin offers a conceptual critique of the human capital theory that makes erroneous assumptions about the nature of student work and the private cost of schooling. Specifically, human capital theorists underestimate the private cost of schooling by taking low-level manual labor as the basis for estimating students'…

This paper sets the scene for a collection of papers based on "The impact of policy on learning and inclusion in the learning and skills sector," a research project funded from January 2004 until July 2007 by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of their Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP). We raise some…

In a misplaced rush for economic prosperity through vocational training, adults are in danger of elbowing aside their potential as learning and civic communities. In this article, the author argues that a skills strategy must be integrated within a broader learning-for-life vision which ranges over every aspect of learning in health, in social…

Guiding deaf and hard of hearing students in making important decisions about their adult careers can be a difficult task. Twenty years after its inception, the TCB, as adapted for deaf and hard of hearing students, may help. The TCB is a unique assessment tool designed to measure the transition skills of deaf high school adolescents and young…

In this article, the author provides a response to Scott Caspell's article "Exploring the Influence of the ROC Integrated High School Program." The author states that Caspell picked an excellent time frame to interview former students as they had participated in the integrated program between 10 and 13 years ago. Ideally, then,…

Early-career music teachers are well placed to comment on the effectiveness of pre-service teacher education. Their perceptions are particularly relevant in determining why music teachers are "burning out" at an early stage of their career. This article explores how 15 early-career Australian music teachers perceive their job and their…

In Russia there is a system of two advanced academic degrees: candidate of sciences and doctor of sciences. Historically, in imperial Russia there was a system of academic regulations and degrees based on European, mostly German patterns. Then in the Soviet period from 1918, the degrees of master's and doctor of sciences, which had existed for…

As Technical education strains to find a niche in the educational market place, are teachers suffering from a crisis of confidence? How comfortable are they with the ever-changing curriculum, with the subjects they are teaching and the reasons why they are teaching them? The broadening of the Technical curriculum in secondary schools to include…

Previous work shows that higher levels of education quality (as measured by international student achievement tests) increase growth rates of national income. This paper begins by confirming those findings in an analysis involving more countries over more time with additional controls. We then use the panel structure of our data to assess whether…

The rapidly growing aging population highlights the need for social workers trained in gerontological practice and interested in work with older adults. This study, conducted in two southern states, examined recent social work graduates' perceptions of aging-related work and identified factors influencing their employment in aging related jobs.…

A trend in master of business administration (MBA) programs has been to offer more specializations beyond the traditional broad MBA. In this article, the authors explore the recruitment practices of business and the curricula of MBA programs comparing general MBA degrees with MBA degrees with specialization. The authors empirically examine whether…

Work-based learning (WBL) is undertaken in a wide variety of higher education contexts and is increasingly viewed as a valuable, and increasingly essential, component of both the undergraduate and postgraduate student learning experience. However, the development of rigorous pedagogies to underpin WBL and its assessment is still embryonic. This…

"Quality Counts 2007" begins to track state efforts to create seamless education systems from early childhood to the world of work. This special issue of "Education Week" includes the following articles: (1) Improving Children's Chances (Lynn Olson); (2) Spanning a Lifetime (Christopher B. Swanson); (3) Breaking the Cycle of Poverty (Lynn Olson);…