Includes three brief essays that offer practical pointers for managers who handle training for their organizations. Highlights include a training function checklist for executives; questions executives should ask about training; and the cost of unstructured, informal on-the-job training. (LRW)

Western Australia Department of Training is supporting a Literacy and Numeracy Pilot in which providers identify the literacy and numeracy skills their projects address, how skill needs are assessed, and what strategies are used to deliver instruction. Three industries are targeted for the pilot, which attempts to make literacy and numeracy…

The principal shortage means that many educators, including assistant principals and resource teachers, are moving into the job with little training. Mentor and apprenticeship relationships can aid leadership development. Exemplary leaders' highest calling is to build leadership in others--exemplified in Santa Cruz's Growing Our Own" program.…

Five case studies compared output-related funding (ORF) in Britain's Training for Work program with input-based funding used by the European Social Fund. The nature of incentives in ORF led to creaming and encouraged curtailed training for immediate employment. These perverse incentives make cost-effectiveness data misleading. (SK)

Interviews with 200 training professionals in Australia suggested that the way competence and standards are constituted in competency-based education is not entirely congruent with employer needs. They could be reconsidered in order to represent the nature of vocational knowledge and characteristics of work. (SK)

Studied the likelihood of obtaining employment for job training participants and nonparticipants and the types of jobs women obtained. Results for 150 treatment (job training) and 530 control cases show a differential training effect for full- and part-time workers and little or no effect of job training on a disadvantaged woman's probability of…

Details a pilot customer service training scheme at Paramount Hotels, which leads to a National Vocational Qualification level 3 in customer services. Describes how the training was designed and delivered, and furnishes the views of Paramount Hotels and some of the participants.

"Linking Workforce Development to Economic Development: A Casebook for Community Colleges" is a compilation of best practice examples, which illustrate what it takes for community colleges to achieve their goal of helping people acquire education and skills, helping employers, supporting communities, and building the nation. The book is…

The authors conducted a formal research study to investigate the perceptions of faculty, staff, and community residents regarding town-gown relationships and the sustainability of African American communities as related to educational benefits, home ownership, employment and job training, earning potential, and graduation rates.

The purpose of the United States Department of Education's (the Department) FY 2013 "Agency Financial Report" (AFR) is to assist Congress, the President, and the American people to assess the Department's stewardship over resources with which it is entrusted. This annual report is required by legislation and complies with the…

The use, learning and transfer of workplace numeracy skills, as well as current understandings of the term numeracy, are examined in this study. It also highlights the importance of numeracy as an essential workplace skill. "Thinking Beyond Numbers: Learning Numeracy for the Future Workplace" challenges the training system and training…

This study reports the findings from 68 interviews with parents of disabled children who are users of seven key worker schemes in England and Wales. The interviews which lasted for one hour each, were tape-recorded, transcribed and analysed according to both a priori and emerging themes. The findings from this study have implications for policy…

The role of online learning and distance learning over the Internet in providing post secondary educational opportunities to low-income, working adults who have never attended college is examined. It was found that structured training programs for the staff on topics related to online post secondary study might provide the benefits of online study…

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the influence of a range of contingent factors that moderate the approaches to training in manufacturing SMEs. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a regression analysis of data from a survey of 198 manufacturing SMEs. Findings: The findings suggest that there will be times when formal training…

Small business training can facilitate business growth. The authors show that a "hands-on" approach can have a direct impact on a business owner's current situation. They consider this in relation to the problem of being unable to find the right staff, demonstrating that a program such as the one they describe enables learning and…