Employment survey data show that, although training intensity in the first three months of employment is similar for men and women, women are employed in positions with shorter training and less capital. These differences and lower market valuation for women's work experience account for much of the wage gap. (SK)

The Center for Adaptive Computer Education, a vocational training program for adults with disabilities, uses such strategies as extended training time, individualization, tutoring, stress management, behavior management, supportive counseling, and promotion in the workplace to help clients prepare for employment. (SK)

A Ruskin College course for unemployed persons contains a range of cultural activities that include critical reflection on work, leisure, employment, and unemployment. The course challenges both narrow, market-oriented training and narrow liberal education focused exclusively on individual development. (SK)

In a survey of 4,635 training professionals (49% response), 49% were opposed to federally mandated minimum training expenditures; 68% thought tax incentives would increase amount companies spend on training; one-third of companies spend less than 1.5% of payroll on training. Technical assistance and tax credits were most popular roles for…

The classroom of the future and the future work force will be composed of more and more nontraditional students and employees including those with special needs. The nation's ability to succeed in a globally competitive economy depends upon how well all populations are educated and trained for the world of work--to his or her own abilities. (JOW)

Using the example of France, Bishop recommends a U.S. training mandate involving a training tax and incentives. Lynch argues that a broader array of options is needed to meet the training needs of new workers, displaced workers, and the unemployed. (SK)

American schools are working to adopt school-to-work programs, spurred by the 1990 Vocational and Applied Technology Act, the 1992 Workforce Readiness Act, and President Bill Clinton's proposed School-to-Work Opportunities Act. Currently, non-college-bound high school graduates are ill-prepared. Like other industrialized countries, the United…

Comparison of continuing training in France and Germany finds that, in France, more talented workers are selected for training but training does not produce significant wage effects. In Germany, selection operates differently: continuing training is given to a greater number of employees and has an effect on career advancement. (SK)

The German Central Office for Continuing Training in the Crafts Sector develops continuing training for small businesses and works on teacher training. The focus is on quality assurance through continuing updates of concepts and development of new instructional media. (SK)

Demands for workforce flexibility and lifelong learning can endanger or marginalize older workers, whose access to training and promotion opportunities may be limited. A marked change in employer attitudes toward older workers is needed. (SK)

Work-integrated learning has the advantages of greater efficiency, lower costs, just-in-time utility, and improved access. Taylorist work structures hinder its realization, and unemployed people are excluded. Informal learning-by-doing is achieving prominence alongside traditional formal training methods. (SK)

Interviews with 15 participants in New Deal, a British training program for unemployed 18-24 year-olds, revealed overall skepticism about government training programs, distrust and disillusionment, little support for what the government identified as different about New Deal, and low expectations of long-term employment outcomes of the program.…

Competency-based training is not a singular model; it embeds radically different conceptions of competence, depending on whether delivery and assessment of training incorporate industry standards. Models that maintain a tension between the outcomes and processes of education and training, rather than a focus solely on outcomes, are most…

German, British, and European Commission models of vocational training were compared with the situation in France. Rethinking of the link between training and employment may be necessary in a context in which occupational mobility is less clear cut than it used to be. (SK)

Reform of the Spanish vocational-training system under 1990 legislation has created a flexible, responsive initial training subsystem. The continuing-training subsystem has only begun to operate and may be hindered by employer suspicion of certification. (SK)