This article features a "Triad" partnership of a group of Snohomish County organizations representing education, government and industry. Recognizing the need for a training and workforce development effort to address the aerospace manufacturing employers' needs, Triad views themselves as the pivotal cornerstone for deployment of complex…

Five trends are emerging that will not only change the role of human capital in the United States but will also challenge the legacy system of workforce development, skills and competency-focused institutions, and assuredly, community colleges. Workforce investment boards, for example, are currently geographically constrained in environments that…

This article reports the findings of a Danish research council-funded project aimed at exploring a comprehensive package of management reforms in higher education instituted in Denmark since 2003. The reforms attempt to change not only the way institutions are governed but the very notion of democracy and engagement in higher education. In short,…

The purpose of this paper is to compare burnout between prison caseworkers and correctional officers and examine reasons for the high turnover of caseworkers. The study was conducted through surveys at a maximum/medium men's prison and at an all security level women's prison in the Midwest. By using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, it was found that…

Attracting and retaining highly qualified school leaders is becoming increasingly important in our nation. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that motivate or inhibit practicing teachers from seeking administrative positions. Using exploratory factor analysis, survey responses of 329 students enrolled in Master of School…

This paper analyses the nature of, and relationship between, a quality service initiative and the concept of strategic human resource development. Hilton International is the case study used for this analysis. The principal finding is that the quality initiative is acting as a catalyst for a strategic approach to human resource development to…

What does a high school diploma do for new graduates? For decades, Americans have come to expect a diploma to do at least two things: (1) offer a chance at jobs that support a family; and (2) qualify its holder for entrance into the military. But today, most young people and their parents also expect it to open the door to postsecondary education,…

If one "googles" the term "professional development" on the Web, he/she gets definitions such as "the development of skills both tangential and essential to one's current occupation." Digging a little deeper does not yield a common definition, just distinctions among education, training, and credentialing. Despite the…

Globalization is a product of urbanization and economic intensification which has escalated since the 1970s. Globalized markets have created many of the features of modern life including consumerism, increased cultural homogeneity, increased social polarization, erosion of the sovereignty of nation states, and delocalization of daily life. The…

The present secondary education system in Kiribati is little changed from its establishment and growth through the colonial years when the island group was known as the Gilbert Islands. It is marked by a heavy emphasis on English language and a curriculum geared to place students in a limited labour market. It is also marked by an uneven…

This article offers an introduction to the central concepts and principles of the Systemic-Structural Theory of Activity (SSTA), an activity-theoretical approach specifically tailored to the analysis and design of human work. In activity theory, cognition is understood both as a process and as a structured system of actions. Building on the…

This paper offers a scenario of workplace learning as practiced in Malaysia. Based on survey research, the article describes learner profiles, learning provision and pattern. The analysis shows that Malaysians participate in formal workplace learning as part of their employment activities. Workplace learning in Malaysia is contextual, promoted by…

Community colleges traditionally have been a nexus for transitions to and from the workforce. This article examines horizontal and vertical workforce transitions and how a global economy and the need to train new subpopulations of future workers will cause community colleges to approach their roles in workforce training differently. There are too…

As people embark on a new globalized world, the old formal system of education in the Arab world is facing challenges and dilemmas. How can the new system preserve their Islamic and Arabic culture, while incorporating strategies for a new globalized world? This article tries to answer some of these questions by focusing on Morocco as a case study.…

Union Learning Representatives (ULRs) are a relatively recent phenomenon and are a new category of lay representation within the workplace in the United Kingdom. They are part of the present New Labour administration's drive to expand and improve lifelong learning and create the new "learning society"--in this case, particularly amongst…