Workplace literacy programs have been viewed as the way to raise workers' basic skills so they could perform more effectively in increasingly complex work environments. As these programs have proliferated, so have the number of issues associated with workplace literacy. Some issues are related to assumptions underlying the need for workplace…

Kirkwood Community College's (KCC's) economic development efforts in Iowa provide a full-service, regional delivery system for customized job training, retraining, and economic development services and programs. The mission of Kirkwood Economic Development Services (KEDS) is to assist the region's business and industry in becoming more productive,…

Trends in the workplace and legislative mandates have forced community colleges to consider how to integrate general education with vocational training successfully. The technological base of American industry has changed dramatically in the direction of greater complexity and interdependence, requiring workers to possess not only higher levels of…

This second of three volumes of the 1992 Australian Council for Adult Literacy (ACAL) Conference Papers includes 12 papers from workshops, with a national focus. The "Welcome Speech" (Marie Perrson) is followed by "Literacy: An Ecological View" (David Sless) that shares a view of literacy as an interdependent component in a much larger…

An economic theory of training holds that training in technical skills and training in employment relations (namely, information reliability or the ability to quickly and reliably disseminate information among the members of the firm) reinforce each other. This theory is an organizing framework for understanding some practices at Japanese firms in…

The extension of the 1989 Institute of Employment Research (IAB)/Prognos projection of the sectoral and job-specific labor force demand by levels of qualification shows that the previous trends toward higher qualification requirements of jobs is expected to continue in Germany. The main reasons are the significant shift in favor of secondary…

These 16 papers provide as complete a picture as possible of the current efforts in self-directed learning (SDL) application and research. The papers are: "Challenging Some Myths about Self-Directed Learning Research" (Long); "Childhood Experiences as Origins of Self-Directed Learning Experiences" (Long, Stubblefield);…

The military is the largest educational and training institution in the United States and perhaps the world. Tangible benefits tied to military service include competitive pay, health care, paid vacation, and other perquisites. Compared to the civilian sector, the military has relatively more technicians, operators, mechanics, repairers, and…

Although returns to military service may have been positive prior to Vietnam, since Vietnam the average veteran has neither benefited nor suffered economically from military service. Educational attainment is the primary reason veterans have earned more than nonveterans. Because the population as a whole has become more educated, military service…

The focus of this conference workplace literacy in the South is the need for cooperation and collaboration among policy-makers, business and industry, labor, and education providers. The document contains nine presentations: "What Frito-Lay Has Done in Workplace Literacy" (Mossberg); "The Need for a Literate Workforce in the…

This report describes innovative partnerships forged in recent years between U.S. businesses and public schools and between businesses and private, nonprofit employment and training programs for youth. Intended for businesses and youth service providers in school systems and private agencies, this report responds to questions from businesses about…

In the Netherlands, 15 to 17.5 percent of the working age population participated in further education and training for adults in 1985-88. Enterprises, state ministries, and private institutions supply adult education; enterprises, ministries, and sectoral institutions finance it. The Ministry of Education and Sciences provides basic education,…

Training measures in the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Young Men, the National Child Development Study for Britain, and the Australian Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to study determinants and labor market outcomes of postschool training received by young men. Twelve percent of U.S. youth reported getting formal training in the first…

This publication describes the work of the Servol program in Trinidad and Tobago. The Servol organization was started in Port of Spain in 1970 by Gerry Pantin. Servol's approach to helping disadvantaged people implies that one should never presume to know the needs of people; rather, one should ask them what their needs are. This approach produces…

This paper provides an overview of the transition process for students with severe handicaps. For secondary age youths with severe handicaps, explicit and intensive transition planning is necessary to bridge the gap between school experiences and adult life. The transition planning process is designed to build the skills necessary for an…