The role of social partner organizations in vocational education and training (VET) has been compared for Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. In these countries, a system of industrial relations comparable to those existing in western Europe is emerging gradually.…

Pay for performance is a popular public education reform, and millions of dollars are currently being targeted for pay for performance programs. These reforms are popular because economic and management theories suggest that well-designed incentive pay programs could improve teacher effectiveness. There is little evidence about the characteristics…

In looking for examples of districts that were making gains both in assuring teacher quality and in reducing gaps in student achievement, researchers continually came to Clark County, Nevada and Hamilton County, Tennessee. While the road to reform and the specific steps each district took were different, they shared a fundamental element--in both…

The extensive literature on workplace stress, its causes, and the consequences for human health and organizational effectiveness, is being complemented by a growing, alternative emphasis on employees' well-being. However, in education (where well-being is particularly at risk) sustained examples of positive organizational approaches, rather than…

The Roma community of Europe continues to face discrimination in a number of areas, notably education, employment, healthcare, and housing. In an increasingly knowledge-based economy, education provides one of the primary tools for escaping the cycle of poverty that traps many Roma families, and therefore it is one of the most pressing issues that…

This paper examines the role of part-time college faculty in higher education, the job market for prospective faculty, the role of unions in organizing part-time faculty, and possible solutions to the over-reliance on and exploitation of part-time faculty and teaching assistants by American universities. It discusses one part-time faculty member's…

This book describes the structure, operations, and influences of teacher unions, especially the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). There is a belief that an NEA/AFT merger will take place in the 1990s, and that the emergence of strong teacher unions is an important development in education, the…

This dictionary of higher education provides definitions of terms, organizations, abbreviations, and concepts specifically relevant to further and higher education in the United Kingdom. "Further education" is defined as below degree level education for students over age 16 and is often vocational. The dictionary also provides…

One of the most sensitive issues in K-12 education today is that of professional negotiations between administration and teachers. This paper describes the effects of mediation training on negotiation talks between teachers and management. Teams of representatives from a teachers' union and a board of education participated in a 1-week mediation…

During the 1996 electoral season, public schools and teachers' unions have been repeatedly attacked by Republican candidates as the cause of intellectual and moral decline among American youth. The Institute for Wisconsin's Future initiated an updated review of the impact of collective bargaining among teachers on the performance levels of school…

This study sought the opinions of teachers, all members of the American Federation of Teachers, on issues such as student discipline, common academic standards, inclusion, professional development, and school reform. The telephone survey of a sample of 800 teachers from kindergarten through Grade 12 was conducted in Spring, 1995. Findings include…

This book analyzes the history of vocational education for girls in the United States since about 1900. The analysis is developed from the larger issues raised by what turn-of-the-century educators called "the woman question," or "What ought woman to be?" The book analyzes competing ideologies and correlates prescriptions with…

Site-based management has become a popular school reform strategy. However, conflicts can arise when school districts with collective bargaining try to implement site-based management. Site-based management depends on collaboration and cooperation among educators, both of which conflict with collective bargaining's adversarial nature. There is…

Through the use of anecdote, case study, and analysis, this book establishes a theoretical framework for union trainers to use. Part 1 describes union training--the trainers, participants, union culture, and language and methods. It also examines the differences between trade union training and other forms of adult education and training. Part 2…

According to the employees, employers, and service providers who participated in a series of 18 focus groups across the country, companies striving to reinvent themselves to compete successfully are beginning to recognize the benefits of making employees partners in the change process. Companies have only three levers for making changes in…