It has been proposed that situated cognition theory, in which learning is conceptualized as induction into a community of practice through the activity of legitimate peripheral participation, offers an appropriate theoretical perspective for examining issues of gender in science education. This study critically engages with this proposal by means…

Managing and shaping the ascent of one's own career comes through understanding that what goes up must come down and that satisfaction in the experience is determined by recognizing the moment of balance.

It is clear that for many young people the balance between learning, work and leisure has shifted considerably over recent decades. Many students now work throughout the whole of their post-compulsory education, entering the labour market well before any higher education applications have been made, and continue to work throughout their time at…

Overbrook School for the Blind (OSB), a specialized school serving students with blindness and visual impairment, has provided, since the early 1990s, paid summer work experiences as part of the school's Work Experience Program. In this article, the authors discuss how OSB has strengthened its original program as a result of the Workforce…

Intended for those responsible for supervised work experience in all levels in further and higher education, this book debates some issues surrounding placements and outlines a procedure for managing them. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the topic. Chapter 2 discusses the educational purpose of placements. Chapter 3 suggests that some difficulties…

The challenge of preparing young people for employment and facilitating the smooth transition from school to work has spurred the enactment of the federal School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA), in May 1994. The intent of STWOA is to establish a national framework in which states can create work- and school-based learning systems that include…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics examined the characteristics of high school students and full-time college undergraduates who work during the school year. Data were from the October 1994 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). Findings indicated that over one-fourth of high school students and almost one-half of full-time college…

The Business and Education Transition Alliance (BETA) is a model school-to-work transition program that was developed to facilitate the school-to-work transition of at-risk youth in the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado. Among the BETA program's specific goals are the following: increase students' knowledge/understanding of demands of the…

This handbook is designed to assist preceptors/mentors in a local allied health technology program, a school/industry partnership focused on training students for entry-level employment in the health care field by means of a work internship/externship. It draws heavily on the Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS)…

A study assessed the relevance of work-based learning approaches used in school-to-work efforts. Evidence indicated that employers were steadily raising the entry requirements into the low end of the labor market. Despite the serious skill deficiencies of welfare recipients, employers felt no responsibility to people who lacked the basic skills…

This book contains 30 chapters on the tech prep initiative in Texas: "The Identity of Tech Prep in Texas" (Tunstall); "A Snap-Shot of the Impact of the Tech Prep Initiative in the Governor's 24 Planning Regions" (Brown); "The Tech Prep Consortium Directors: The Architects for the Future of Texas" (Hensley et al.);…

The 1994-95 school year was the first year of the MECA (Manufacturing, Engineering, Construction, Automotive) partnership implementation in the Saginaw (Michigan) Public Schools. MECA's purpose was to nurture the potential of youth while placing them in workplace environments that had not been a traditional part of applied learning in secondary…

An evaluation was conducted of the development of those transferable and personal skills which had been given particular prominence by the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) in Scotland. Questionnaires were sent to the following: pupils and TVEI coordinators in 80 secondary schools; 30 school leavers from one further education…

The Summer Training and Education Program (STEP) research demonstration was initiated in 1984 to test the effects of a two-summer remediation, work, and life skills intervention on the lives of 14- and 15-year-olds from poor urban families who were already seriously behind academically. The program provided youth with half-day summer jobs combined…

Outcomes of a longitudinal study of the Earn and Learn program are summarized. Earn and Learn was a work-experience program initiated in 1972 as a school-based, goal-oriented program for at-risk middle school students designed to increase their self-image and school performance. Two evaluation studies were carried out. One study focused on the…