In the United States, three levels of government (federal, state, and local) influence the nature, structure, and delivery of career guidance and counseling. Career guidance and programs are available to individuals of all ages and circumstances. Due to the different sets of guidelines at the different levels of government, the diffuse nature of…

This packet contains three papers from a symposium on developing employee competence. The first paper, "Coaching in Organizations: Self-Assessment of Competence" (Gary N. McLean, Min-Hsun [Christine] Kuo), reports on development and pilot-testing of an instrument to identify the developmental needs of managers and peers to function more…

This book provides new insights and innovative ideas that may aid governments and educational institutions in developing programs and policy frameworks for their education and training enterprises. It consists of an opening synthesis, followed by papers presented at the December 1998 "learning.now/Skills for an Information Economy" symposium. Part…

This study compared occupational projections for Alabama with graduation rates in corresponding academic programs to provide a context for state and institutional policy decisions on new program initiatives and to comply with recent program viability legislation. The study examined number of degrees conferred, employment projections, and…

This report presents a review and analysis of research on the internationalization of vocational education and training (VET) and provides an assessment of other research that needs to be conducted in this area. Globalization is the integration of economies worldwide through trade, trade agreements, finance, information networks, and movement of…

This report, presented by the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education, proposes suggestions to the governor and legislature that would enhance the possibility of achieving proposed goals for improving workforce education and training services for the people of Alabama. The plan contains three main parts. First, that Alabama's two-year…

Until very recently, with the exception of adult religious education, spirituality has been given little attention in mainstream academic adult education. This may be because spirituality is difficult to define and can be confused with religion. The subject of spirituality is currently a theme in workplace and human resource development…

By the early 1900s, many Americans were calling child labor child slavery and were demanding an end to it. Lewis Hine, a New York City schoolteacher and photographer, believed that a picture could tell a powerful story. He felt so strongly about the abuse of children as workers that he quit his teaching job and became an investigative photographer…

This document presents the comments of the president of the North Carolina Community College System regarding economic and workforce development issues facing the community colleges. He states that North Carolina is a leading manufacturing state today in an economy that is increasingly being refocused on information-based services. From an…

This paper examines the transition of young adults from school to work over time and the role of education in facilitating the entry of individuals into high quality jobs in the primary labor market. A dual labor market perspective argues that the labor market is structured into primary and secondary sectors ("good" and "bad"…

This report card provides information to parents, students, faculty, staff, state policymakers, and the general public as to the quality and performance of public higher education in West Virginia. The report responds to six statutory goals that emerged from the Higher Education Advocacy Team meetings in 1992: (1) better preparing students to…

The paper discusses some policy issues facing community colleges in the 21st century: remedial education, K-16 initiatives, and workforce preparation. Identifying social needs and then determining appropriate policies to address them happens within an historical and cultural context. Within our capitalistic and democratic society, four cultural or…

The European Training Foundation EU European (ETF) Peer Review is an initiative that was launched in the South Eastern European countries in 2002. It combines policy advice to individual countries with a regional dimension. The key objectives for the peer reviews are to: (1) provide an external assessment of VET (vocational education and training)…

The formulation of effective compulsory attendance laws has been one of the problems confronting legislators and school officials for the past 70 years. The most marked advance in enacting such laws has been made since 1890. Prior to that date only 27 States and the District of Columbia had compulsory laws, and many of these were inoperative. Now…

This review of child poverty in rich countries finds that the proportion of children living in poverty in the developed world has risen in 17 out of the 24 OECD nations for which data are available. No matter which of the commonly-used poverty measures is applied, the situation of children is seen to have deteriorated over the last decade. UNICEF…