Although the liberal arts curriculum has many defenders, it is seen as needing believers. To make the liberal arts credible for students and others, programs and research that show the concrete value of this education must be actively supported. (Author/MLW)

Traces the development of vocational education programs through the manual training movement of the 1880s, the creation of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education in 1914, and the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917. Discusses five key values intrinsic to the vocational education movement and why current programs have not met their promise.…

Most students participating in experiential programs with career awareness objectives report successful, meaningful experiences. Presents the results of a study of extern participants at Radford University and the growth and changes in their career awareness. (Author)

Literacy is a device that society uses to reproduce itself and adapt to social changes. The literacy of interpretation and understanding emphasized in schools is an effort to align school subjects with new markets, workplace tools, democratic processes, family practices, and personal growth. The standards movement, including English standards,…

Discusses the government role in school-to-work (STW) in England and Wales, youth unemployment and the labor market, effects of deregulation, current research on STW, and the introduction of modern apprenticeship, in which formal training in further education colleges is combined with apprenticeship. (SK)

Discusses life skills instruction in the transition education of adolescents with disabilities. The relationship of life skills instruction to the transition process, curricular issues related to students with special needs, models for teaching life skills, options for covering life skills in the curriculum, and cultural considerations are…

Adult students (25 years old and over) currently constitute 43% of all college students. This paper investigates the importance of college timing in determining earnings. Findings show that those who complete college at a later age receive a significantly smaller initial earning increase than those who acquire their education earlier in life.…

Offers suggestions for enabling and enhancing self-determination skills during the transition planning process for high school students with severe disabilities. Suggestions include an emphasis on student participation in transition planning, student decision making about goals and needed services, and student evaluation of the acceptability of…

Interviews with teachers in 13 British schools in which students participated in the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative showed that learning from work experience is not valued in the formal curriculum. Teachers did consider that it enriched the social development of students of average or below average ability. (SK)

Uses a data set of Portuguese workers to explore whether a discrepancy exists between workers' educational attainment and job skill requirements, with the related impact on earnings functions and returns to education. Apparently, earnings are not uniquely determined on the basis of workers' educational attainment, but also on worker's placement in…

Review of European research on youth transition to employment revealed some methodological difficulties in making cross-national comparisons of educational attainment and employment status. Ways to fine tune the indicators were identified. (Contains 48 references.) (SK)

Reviews major developments in Vietnam over the past decade as it moves from a socialist to a market economy. Examines the labor market, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system and its role in helping returned exiles find employment. Concludes there was limited success in reintegration of returnees. (CAJ)

Discusses challenges facing the legal profession: the increasing importance of a law school's identity as national, regional, or local to graduates' career trajectories; disjunction between the legal academy and the profession; the threat to local and regional law schools' economic viability from online education; and emergence of new types of…

Describes the expectations held by employers for graduates in a world of global competition and rapid change, and discusses why preparation for work and for higher education now require the same academic standards. (EV)

Provides an annotated bibliography of materials from the ERIC system highlighting the role of community colleges in school-to-work (STW) initiatives. Focuses on general information on STW, STW program descriptions, tech prep programs, and program effectiveness. (AJL)