Discusses one of the difficulties facing journalism educators: how to properly prepare students for the wide range of jobs available to them. Argues it is preferable to teach students the core principles underlying journalism as a discipline and the core skills and methods of journalistic practice. Notes a widespread misunderstanding about the…

Examines British policy for work-based learning in areas: (1) pre-1994 implementation of a national framework of qualifications; (2) the review of National Vocational Qualifications by Dearing and Beaumont; and (3) debate over work-based learning policy in the election campaign of 1996-97. (SK)

Interviews in 17 Australian vocational education and training enterprises found they engaged in 3 models of research intended to shape organizational development: informal, network based; instrumental strategic planning; and internally motivated capacity building. The capacity building model appeared to have the most utility in transforming…

This evaluation of European Community and Union vocational training programs looks at programs implemented before and after the 1994 European Union treaty. It concludes that the political and legal framework has allowed only modest successes and the third generation of programs must take this into account. (SK)

Comparison of core skills efforts in Germany and Sweden shows that both use vocational training to foster core skills and key competencies, but they try to integrate it with existing structures rather than make radical long-term changes. Employers play a crucial role but need substantial incentives. (SK)

A survey of 3,200 employers (67% responded) showed that affirmative action increases the number of recruitment and screening practices and willingness to hire and provide training for women and minorities. Even when the credentials of those hired are somewhat weaker, job performance was not diminished. (SK)

The German dual system, integrating classwork and real work activities, tends to result in high placement rates in training-related jobs and low future unemployment. Graduates working in jobs unrelated to training were substantially less likely ever to have a job using their training. (SK)

Early monitoring of potential dropouts by achievement testing tends to encourage more school leaving. Although noncompleters are directed to vocational training, the certification process tends to defeat its practical aims. The entire culture of school needs to be changed and academic elitism diminished. (Contains 24 references.) (SK)

In recent years there has been significant growth in research that has considered the relationship between worker identity and learning at work. A key part of this relates to discussions of the 'newness' of various types of work manifested in discourses such as post-capitalism, post-bureaucracy and the new work order. On this basis, it is argued…

This paper uses meta-analysis to investigate whether random assignment (or experimental) evaluations of voluntary government-funded training programs for the disadvantaged have produced different conclusions than nonexperimental evaluations. Information includes several hundred estimates from 31 evaluations of 15 programs that operated between…

This article examines the effect of the Massachusetts workforce development system on the earnings of disadvantaged adults using nonexperimental data from the late 1990s. The authors construct a comparison sample for program participants using individuals who apply for and are offered services yet do not participate in a training program. They…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report and discuss research that sought to explore how the individually purposeful nature of new employee workplace learning might be understood through its conception as epistemological agency, that is, the personally mediated construction of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sociocultural…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight some methodological problems concerning the neglect of participants' voices by workplace ethnographers and neglect of the highly interactional and co-constructive nature of research interviewing. The study aims to use discourse analysis, to show the phenomena of workplace learning and expertise to…

Investigates the way in which Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology, UK, is working with Ravenscroft Plastics and the British Polymer Training Authority, to establish a programme that meets the company's specific needs. Describes how the move has ensured that more than 40 of Ravenscroft's 130-strong workforce have achieved National…

While learning is often designed and executed as if it stood alone, it rarely exists in isolation. If more than one learning event is offered, a relationship between units exists and should be defined. This relationship calls for an architecture of curriculum that defines audience, content, and delivery within a context of performance. Curriculum…