CEDEFOP (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) reviewed vocational education and training trends and innovations to promote "anticipation" in the way, tools, and instruments by which institutions and bodies cope with new challenges to education and training due to changing socioeconomic demands and requirements.…

This study provides an overview of expenditures for education and training by educational institutions in Australia, 1991-2001. The study used newly available data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and administrative data from the main sectors' reports on the size and trends in public and private education expenditures. It analyzed…

A study used data collected under the Australian Vocational Education Training and Management Information System Standard to examine the effectiveness of enabling courses (lower-level preparatory and prevocational) in assisting members from "disadvantaged" backgrounds to progress to other training programs. It also identified factors…

Previous research has shown that the majority of the characteristics of vocational education and training (VET) learners in Australia typically lie in the quadrant of "dependent" and "non-verbal," and preferred to learn from hands-on direct experience rather than through reading or listening. Workplace educational delivery…

The recession has fueled calls in Congress to extend and expand unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Although UI expansion is needed in the short run, the program is also in need of more fundamental and permanent reform to transform it from an industrial era program to one that is better suited for the New Economy. Policymakers must take the…

A study assessed effectiveness of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 performance measures. Data were from a survey of WIA program administrators in 50 states; visits to 5 states; interviews with labor officials and national associations representing state and local workforce development officials; and a document review. Findings indicate…

The factors influencing recruitment and retention of volunteers in community organizations were identified through a literature review. The following were among the key findings: (1) helping others is the main reason people volunteer; (2) personal invitation is the most effective means of recruiting volunteers; (3) individuals who are satisfied…

This resource guide lists materials that could be used for early childhood/early intervention training. Resources are provided for the following areas: (1) assistive technology (6 resources); (2) cultural diversity (36 resources); (3) early care and development (36 resources); (4) evaluation/assessment (17 resources); (5) family-professional…

This document is the report of one phase of a Minnesota study to examine the problem of disproportionate representation in special education of African American, American Indian, Latino, and Asian American students. Phase 3 of the study focused on factors which have led to the underrepresentation, rather than overrepresentation of Asian American…

This study evaluated an innovative curriculum for first-year medical students which was designed to render the undergraduate curriculum more humanistic in socializing students into medicine. The Personal, Professional, and Leadership (PPL) development program provides guided, semi-structured opportunities to create "communities of learning" by…

This paper presents a framework for producing learning environments (LEs) on the World Wide Web that improves productivity and quality at a reduced cost for both designers and learners. The resulting LEs are germane to fractals. Changes in scale are likened to levels in LEs; each level expresses a given viewpoint on knowledge. Self-similarity…

This three-volume report provides a comprehensive picture of the vocational education and training (VET) system in Australia, its key policies, initiatives undertaken, and achievements during 1999. This publication contains volume 3, which presents a detailed statistical report against the key performance measures for the VET system. Volumes 1 and…

This study surveyed 126 school librarians in 18 countries, representing 131 schools serving more than 113,260 students. The survey instrument requested respondents to describe techniques they used to facilitate information literacy, their perceptions of their functions in the development of independent learners, and the training they received that…

This paper documents the methodology, research process, process interventions, and the resulting quality indicators of a technology staff development project. The project was designed to assist the administration at an elementary school in San Diego (California) in developing a capacity building model of staff development that would support the…

Before one can have the freedom to express ideas in open debate, however, one must have freedom of conscience: the right to arrive at one's private beliefs, without being coerced into an artificial unity by those who wield power over him/her. After all, the freedom to speak is a dead letter if one lacks the freedom to think, to believe, or to…