The author describes problems facing typical adult reentry students and discusses how vocational education programs need to maintain the flexibility to overcome these problems. The benefits of enrolling adult students are also covered. A questionnaire to determine program readiness for reentry students is provided. (CH)

The authors state that liberal education courses help police officers understand and even challenge their own organizational culture. They describe a program for which they are the faculty that aims to expose police officers to views different from their own in order to challenge their perspectives. (CH)

Identifies the economic conditions mandating a strong role for community colleges in economic development. Describes Belmont Technical College's (OH) efforts to revitalize the local economy by expanding its mining technology program, redeveloping abandoned land, and retraining displaced steel workers. Urges colleges to explore nontraditional…

Students resist intellectual work and show an impatience to finish school and begin a career. This is a result of curriculum disputes over vocational policy. A participatory and dialogic method for job training courses, derived from Paulo Freire's ideas, offers an alternative to the current methods of technical instruction. (Author/VM)

A successful transition program for individuals with disabilities uses a "train-place-train" concept, where vocational training is provided in school, followed by job placement, followed by on-the-job-training by a job coach who provides support until the employee can work independently. (JOW)

Presents the highlights of the most comprehensive survey of training ever published, the American Society for Training and Development's two-year study on work-related training in the United States. Research reveals who gets trained, who does the training, and how much training takes place in different industries. (Author)

The Weber Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1988 requires companies with 100 or more workers to provide 60 days' notice of plant closings and mass layoffs. What enforcing and even strengthening this law might mean is discussed. WARN might actually result in lower wages and more temporary workers. (SLD)

Secondary school-industry programs in Australia include the Australian Student Traineeship Foundation and TRAC, a national cooperative vocational program. These programs feature local involvement in curricula, experiential education, criterion-based assessment, and establishment of new paths into higher education. (SK)

A survey of more than 3,000 Japanese corporations received 540 replies indicating that the basic division of roles of formal education and in-house training has not changed. Emphasis on in-company training will continue, and employers' expectations of formal education still focus on basic skills and character building. (SK)

A participatory action research (PAR) project used elements of the levels of use (LoU) of the innovation model to monitor the effects of on-the-job training in a telephone repair service. LoU interviews demonstrated validity, but the PAR method did not fulfill its emancipatory potential for change. Although participants critiqued the instruments…

The terms on which funds are allocated to Britain's Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) offer little financial incentive to support high-cost, high-quality training. As it stands, TECs' performance ratings improve only if they support the cheapest, easiest, and quickest means that match government output measures. (SK)

Describes workplace literacy pilot programs carried out by the National Automotive Language and Literacy Coordination Unit in the Australian automotive industry. Discusses their systematic and integrated approach to language and literacy issues within the context of accredited mainstream training rather than via separate bridging or remedial…

Reports the results of a survey of 23 business organizations regarding the current effectiveness of performance technologists and current preparation of people for the role. Highlights include the desired performance, including designing interventions, and a three-stage model for preparing performance technologists based on the organizations'…

Drawing on interviews with Japanese company managers and workers, describes the basis for the education-work relationship in Japan and the policy implications for employers' role in work-force development. In Japan, work-force development emphasizes employers' active role in promoting internal skill development through extensive within-company…

A synthesis of research findings demonstrates the positive effects of vocational-technical education on skills, abilities, work habits, and employment outcomes such as salaries and employment rate. (SK)