Analysis of Australia's Key Competencies discourse around issues of access, equity, and social justice reveals the danger of economic rationalist interpretations. However, progressive possibilities emerge when vocationalism links work, learning, and life. (SK)

A network of Best Practice Centers located throughout Virginia provides convenient resources, support, technical assistance, and professional development for schools working to achieve higher standards. The most common needs for assistance were in curriculum alignment, test data use to improve instruction, content-area teaching strategies, and…

Comparison of a survey of 39 regular secondary educators to similar data previously collected from special educators indicated that, while most educators had received some inservice training on transition, there were a number of competency areas in which the majority of regular educators received no training. Regular and special educators…

Provides brief overview of the history and development of community colleges in Indiana and describes their present organization. Presents issues and challenges that publicly controlled two-year colleges in Indiana face in the coming decade. Examines the influence of Indiana University, Purdue University, and the Indiana Farm Bureau on the present…

This article discusses the role of Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) in the vocational-technical education of students with disabilities or other special needs. CTSOs emphasize self-determination of adolescents while providing opportunities, information, support, and skill development services. (Contains references.) (DB)

Interviews with 29 incarcerated youth revealed significant differences in their knowledge of their Individualized Education Program transition plans. Those who took career classes had more knowledge about job searching, application, and interviewing. (Contains 19 references.) (SK)

Previous research shows that secondary students with moderate working hours perform better academically than those with no work or longer hours. Essays by working students reveal that many value both school and work as preparation for the future. These attitudes may explain why working does not detract from their school performance. (Contains 22…

Investigates whether firms incorporated educated workers as a quasi-fixed production factor during the 1980s, when nonwage costs became more crucial. U.S. statistics show educated workers did not enjoy a relatively more stable relationship with employers. Their employment levels were adjusted in tandem with those of less-educated workers.…

This paper reports on a qualitative research project that explored the influence of basic skills on the school-to-work transitions of young adults. Large numbers of young people have poor skills yet it is a neglected area of study. We document how skill competencies act as barriers to learning and labour market opportunities, illustrating that…

Liberal Education and America's Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College (LEAP), the decade-long campaign launched earlier this year by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), rests on two fundamental premises. The first holds that there is an emerging, if hidden, consensus among business and civic…

This paper assesses the importance of the credential requirements used by employers to attract graduates who will use their education on the job. The framework of this study is embedded within the theoretical debates between proponents of the credentialist and human capital theories of education. Past research related to these debates has focused…

Connecting education and careers through professional development experiences can benefit academic teachers as well as career tech teachers. At the Upper Rio Grande College Tech-Prep Youth Consortium in El Paso, Texas, there is a professional development program that helps academic teachers see the connection between learning and earning. A…

Since 2000, I have been working towards a professional doctorate at Middlesex University, and I am also working to introduce a work-based doctorate at Coventry University. This paper looks at the issues of supervision and assessment for work-based doctorates, which, I believe, are key to the design of such a programme and affect both the output…

This article is based upon research which examined the youth labour market in Cumbria, a predominantly rural labour market located in north-west England. It argues that individual and structural considerations must be extended to incorporate employer behaviour and attitudes towards young men and women. Employers' assessment of young people's…

Traditional structures and processes as well as norms and beliefs in the field of research training across Europe are challenged by four recent trends. They encompass the implications of the expansion and diversification of the student body in higher education, the changing functioning and role of research in the knowledge economy, the…