A profile of 150 out-of-school rural Botswana youth revealed most were ages 16-18, 55% female, 52% with only primary education, and 60% unemployed. The majority chose farm occupations. Problems of rural areas included lack of educational and recreational facilities, employment security, health education, and access to land. Youth clubs, vocational…

NewLink helps adults at risk through quasi-autonomous local community organizations that provide training and employment opportunities within a learning organization framework. The concept derives from an extensive range of metaphors drawn from religious, humanist, and scientific thought. (Author/SK)

A community restaurant begun in Montreal by 12 welfare recipients has provided jobs and inexpensive meals and served community interests. It attempts to integrate social and economic development, operating not primarily as a job training program but as a community-based, socially useful business. (SK)

Includes "Skills Training for Women" (Dabney), a description of a program for displaced homemakers and single parents in Oklahoma that provides job training and support to reentry women; and "Celebrating Women's Technological Contributions" (Pierce), a unit to encourage students to look at women's technological accomplishments.…

Although women have achieved more participation and higher qualifications, the education and training systems are reinforcing highly rigid patterns of gender segregation in the Welsh labor force. Wales is thus consolidating its status as a low-wage, low-skill economy. (SK)

Learning for work is the focus of public policy in Australia, New Zealand, and Britain. However, meaningful public debate about the presumed benefits of training and lifelong learning has been stifled by rhetoric about competitiveness and economic survival. (SK)

Explores the relationship between resident assistant (R.A.) training and improvement of job performance. Results indicate that while even short-term interventions can bring about favorable outcomes in R.A.s' behavior on the job, these benefits may be limited to the promotion of sound work practices, as opposed to the elimination of problematic…

Analysis of approaches to funding continuing vocational training in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom reveals a trend away from government-led funding toward demand-side initiatives. There is likely to be an even greater increase in distribution of training costs among government,…

A Winnipeg (Manitoba) school teacher started a nonprofit job skills training program for at-risk youth. Police donated equipment confiscated from marijuana cultivators to the program, which trains youth aged 15-29 in hydroponics, horticulture, and greenhouse operations. More than 75 percent of its graduates are employed in greenhouse or related…

Discusses one of the difficulties facing journalism educators: how to properly prepare students for the wide range of jobs available to them. Argues it is preferable to teach students the core principles underlying journalism as a discipline and the core skills and methods of journalistic practice. Notes a widespread misunderstanding about the…

Examines British policy for work-based learning in areas: (1) pre-1994 implementation of a national framework of qualifications; (2) the review of National Vocational Qualifications by Dearing and Beaumont; and (3) debate over work-based learning policy in the election campaign of 1996-97. (SK)

Interviews in 17 Australian vocational education and training enterprises found they engaged in 3 models of research intended to shape organizational development: informal, network based; instrumental strategic planning; and internally motivated capacity building. The capacity building model appeared to have the most utility in transforming…

This evaluation of European Community and Union vocational training programs looks at programs implemented before and after the 1994 European Union treaty. It concludes that the political and legal framework has allowed only modest successes and the third generation of programs must take this into account. (SK)

Comparison of core skills efforts in Germany and Sweden shows that both use vocational training to foster core skills and key competencies, but they try to integrate it with existing structures rather than make radical long-term changes. Employers play a crucial role but need substantial incentives. (SK)

A survey of 3,200 employers (67% responded) showed that affirmative action increases the number of recruitment and screening practices and willingness to hire and provide training for women and minorities. Even when the credentials of those hired are somewhat weaker, job performance was not diminished. (SK)