The United Kingdom higher education system is being encouraged to provide opportunities for students to acquire key skills/employability skills and to become better learners with a greater awareness of their individual learning needs, including the need to develop habits that will lead to lifelong learning. A number of issues need to be resolved…

This project is building on site-specific qualitative data to develop a profile of adult learning activity now largely unrecognized by education providers. It explores the various learning strategies used by adults in these three locations: unionized factory, community-based training program, and literacy program. At a half-way point in a two-year…

In an effort to secure some public funding, Great Britain's Trades Union Congress (TUC) obtained accreditation of its programs through the National Open College Network (NOCN). Tutor and union representative expectations and perceptions of the accreditation were examined in a study that included group and individual interviews and surveys of union…

Discusses substantive and procedural restraints, including legal pitfalls, due process, and no-layoff clauses, within which public employers must decide questions of reduction in workforce (RIF). Describes elements of a sound RIF policy and considers ways of using the collective bargaining process to facilitate the RIF process. (JBM)

This paper examines and assesses the behavioral content of industrial relations research in a variety of social science disciplines. The authors compare economic research on the wage and productivity consequences of unionism with psychological research on worker attitudes toward unions, sociological research on the negotiation process and conflict…

Describes the organization and planning by labor unions, government agencies, and vocational educators from schools, colleges, institutes, and skill centers in Mansfield, Ohio to provide vocational counseling and retraining for more than 900 unemployed rubber workers. Includes information on other retraining programs and reflections on the need…

Summarizes the events surrounding the "on-to-Ottawa trek," a Depression-era labor protest that culminated in the Regina Riot. Presents a series of instructional activities built around analyzing primary source documents. Documents include an official notice from the Canadian National Railways and a flyer advertising a union meeting. (MJP)

Provides a concise rationale for teaching labor history, placing the labor movement squarely in the 20th century move towards a more inclusive democracy and expanded definitions of citizens' rights and citizen participation. Briefly discusses current problems of downsizing and the proliferation of low-paying jobs. (MJP)

Profiles activities and exhibits at the Tsongas Industrial History Center and Lowell National Historical Park. Follows a group of students as they participate in a situation simulating 19th-century working conditions and subsequent union organizing. Includes two documents from a resource kit illustrating worker's lives. (MJP)

Presents a 22-item annotated bibliography on labor history, comprised mostly of book-length studies covering the subjects of colonial history, slavery and race, 19th century industrialism, gender, 20th century/ new labor history, and theoretical perspectives. The works include new perspectives along with established classics. (MJP)

Argues for the importance of high school principals taking charge of their schools. Examines the following obstacles to effective leadership: historical developments in education in the last decades, union influence, legal problems, paperwork burdens, and lack of community and parent support. Also discusses the symbolic role of principals. (JB)

Interviews with three CEOs--UMI (University Microfilms International), OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), and Gale Research--focus on outlooks for information and libraries. Discusses expanded educational Web services/courseware, library role in delivery, electronic dissertation publishing, digital data conversion, thesauri/indexing, union…

In the three years that the Pinellas County, Florida, district has offered its more than 7,800 teachers a performance bonus as mandated by the state, exactly two have qualified and taken home the money. To get a paycheck topped up by 5 percent, Pinellas teachers are required to have had a hand in helping students raise their test scores by 120…

The paper discusses the process whereby a system of teacher evaluation was established in Chile through a lengthy and complicated process of negotiations between the three main institutions concerned: the Teachers' Union, the Association of Chilean Municipalities (managers of the public school system) and the Ministry of Education. The process is…

This is the second annual report from the National Charter School Research Project (NCSRP) at the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education. Like last year's debut edition of Hopes, Fears, & Reality, the 2006 volume explores some of the most current and controversial issues facing the charter school movement. This…