With the ongoing reform of higher education there has been a breaking down of the egalitarianism whereby everyone receives the same rewards for their work regardless of their performance, which has been intrinsic to the disposition of teachers practiced by higher education institutions. Discrepancies have come into being in the wages, allowances…

This briefing paper endeavours to highlight the challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom in accessing education, training and employment. It does not claim to cover all the issues but is intended as a starting point for providers of adult learning and/or advice. It initially sets out the facts about definitions and…

This study of teacher staffing issues in the School District of Philadelphia, the third in a series, outlines the degree to which the district has succeeded in upgrading teachers' professional credentials, recruiting and retaining them, and equitably distributing experienced and credentialed teachers across all types of schools. Since the passage…

This study investigated the professional development needs, preferences, and practices of secondary school counselors in Utah. Participants included 226 secondary school counselors who responded to a 20-question survey instrument. The respondents revealed that most of them exceed minimum licensure requirements for professional development but also…

This paper tests the central tenet of social psychology and the life-course perspective that broader contexts of opportunity and constraint moderate the ability of individuals to act on their plans and ambitions. We use the 1972 National Longitudinal Study to assess the impact of mastery on achieving one's occupational expectations and to…

In this article we examine the economic case for merit or performance-based pay for K-12 teachers. We review several areas of germane research. The direct evaluation literature on these incentive plans is slender; highly diverse in terms of methodology, targeted populations, and programs evaluated; and primarily focused on short-run motivational…

We use a rich administrative dataset from North Carolina to explore questions related to the relationship between teacher characteristics and credentials on the one hand and student achievement on the other. Though the basic questions underlying this research are not new--and, indeed, have been explored in many papers over the years within the…

Historically, lifelong learning (under the name adult education) in Canada had a broad base and covered a wide variety of purposes and activities. Many programs included social, community and social justice visions and worked to strengthen local communities. However, with the advent of the so-called New Economy, this has changed. Canadian…

This bulletin describes the use of new qualifications, the General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ), which have been developed in Great Britain to qualify students for admittance to higher education through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). The first part of the bulletin discusses the suitability of GNVQs as a route…

The Tertiary Lead Group in New Zealand created a national qualifications framework to incorporate all types of degrees given by colleges and universities. This report describes the process undertaken, the principles to be considered and the issues to be addressed, the benefits of such a national system, the features and specifications proposed,…

This document contains four papers from a symposium on professionalizing the field of human resource development (HRD). "Issues in the Professionalization of HRD: Building a Knowledge Base and Credentialing Practitioners" (Robert W. Rowden) discusses indicators of an emerging field as workplace education becomes a major strategic thrust.…

This Spanish-language booklet outlines the requirements of the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential for preschool teachers or caregivers who work in center-based preschool day care programs. Part 1 provides an overview of the CDA credentialing system and the various options, settings, standards, and stages of the CDA assessment system.…

This report contains eight tables describing the use of the General Educational Development Tests (GED) in 1986 as well as comparative trends since 1949. The tables report statistics for the 50 states, U.S. territories, and the provinces of Canada. The tables report the following: (1) testing volumes by jurisdiction; (2) percent tested by age…

National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) practitioner members (N=600), all recent members of the NASP leadership (N=139), and college faculty (N=166) responded to surveys on a variety of topics and issues including current demographic information, NASP priorities, credentialing, job satisfaction, issues related to learning disabilities…

Specific steps for applying the Angoff method are described. In the Angoff method, judges are asked to estimate the probabilities of minimally competent candidates' answering multiple choice test items correctly. Initial information must be obtained for designing the standard-setting process, beginning with the purpose of the examination and any…