The German dual system, integrating classwork and real work activities, tends to result in high placement rates in training-related jobs and low future unemployment. Graduates working in jobs unrelated to training were substantially less likely ever to have a job using their training. (SK)

Early monitoring of potential dropouts by achievement testing tends to encourage more school leaving. Although noncompleters are directed to vocational training, the certification process tends to defeat its practical aims. The entire culture of school needs to be changed and academic elitism diminished. (Contains 24 references.) (SK)

In recent years there has been significant growth in research that has considered the relationship between worker identity and learning at work. A key part of this relates to discussions of the 'newness' of various types of work manifested in discourses such as post-capitalism, post-bureaucracy and the new work order. On this basis, it is argued…

This paper uses meta-analysis to investigate whether random assignment (or experimental) evaluations of voluntary government-funded training programs for the disadvantaged have produced different conclusions than nonexperimental evaluations. Information includes several hundred estimates from 31 evaluations of 15 programs that operated between…

This article examines the effect of the Massachusetts workforce development system on the earnings of disadvantaged adults using nonexperimental data from the late 1990s. The authors construct a comparison sample for program participants using individuals who apply for and are offered services yet do not participate in a training program. They…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report and discuss research that sought to explore how the individually purposeful nature of new employee workplace learning might be understood through its conception as epistemological agency, that is, the personally mediated construction of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sociocultural…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight some methodological problems concerning the neglect of participants' voices by workplace ethnographers and neglect of the highly interactional and co-constructive nature of research interviewing. The study aims to use discourse analysis, to show the phenomena of workplace learning and expertise to…

Investigates the way in which Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology, UK, is working with Ravenscroft Plastics and the British Polymer Training Authority, to establish a programme that meets the company's specific needs. Describes how the move has ensured that more than 40 of Ravenscroft's 130-strong workforce have achieved National…

While learning is often designed and executed as if it stood alone, it rarely exists in isolation. If more than one learning event is offered, a relationship between units exists and should be defined. This relationship calls for an architecture of curriculum that defines audience, content, and delivery within a context of performance. Curriculum…

In this paper we argue that learning in the workplace can bring considerable benefits for learners and employers. It draws on data from in-depth interviews and secondary sources from eight sites of work-based learning as part of wider research into the effects of five national policy mechanisms within the Learning and Skills Sector. We also have…

Purpose: This paper aims to focus on examples of the perceived tensions of the healthcare work-based learners as they experienced paradigm shifts in both practice and education. Design/methodology/approach: Examples are drawn from a qualitative study to examine work-based learning (WBL) workshops in a Dutch healthcare setting, and a developmental…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to contribute to an understanding of how diverse groups of employees perceive their workplaces as learning environments, and to cast light on the learning processes of these diverse groups of employees. Design/methodology/approach: This study was designed to examine employee perceptions of: the extent to…

The development of a national youth work training package in Australia began over 15 years ago. The current package sits under the umbrella of the general Community Services Industry Training Package. The first stage of a review of this package has been completed and the subsequent report not only confirms the recent trend towards the…

In 1991, the Washington State Board for Community College Education conducted a study to determine the strengths and shortcomings of Washington community colleges' efforts to provide upgrading and retraining for employed workers. Data were derived from four separate studies conducted in 1990, including a survey of 1,151 employed students at eight…

The role of vocational education and training (VET) in the context of the dynamic and changing demands of the world of work is explored through a more comprehensive approach to the overall system of human resources development (HRD). HRD is the concern of both educationists and economists. To an educationist, HRD should first be human and then…