In the late 1990s, many employers were facing short-term and longer-term human resource challenges. Those challenges have prompted many employers to pursue new strategies for finding and retaining qualified employers. Intermediary organizations have emerged as a valuable resource for helping employers find and keep qualified workers. Whatever…

This document contains the materials for a competency-based course in diesel technology and electrical and electronic systems that is tied to measurable and observable learning outcomes identified and validated by an advisory committee of business and industry representatives and teachers. The competencies addressed align with the medium/heavy…

This book contains 13 papers on transformations in the nature of work that affect the learning and skill requirements of jobs and individuals and ways those requirements can be met. The following papers are included: "The Significance of Workplace Learning for a 'Learning Society'" (Karen Evans, Helen Rainbird); "Learning Careers:…

Data drawn from 3 cycles of data collection for the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) were analyzed to identify the levels and distributions of literacy skills in the adult populations of 20 countries. The following were among the main conclusions: (1) in 14 of the countries, at least 15% of all adults have literacy skills at only the…

This document is a glossary of more than 750 terms, abbreviations, and acronyms that are likely to be found in recent Australian vocational education and training (VET) research and policy documents. The glossary also includes selected commonly found international terms. In those cases where a term has a broader general meaning, the definition…

The generic skills needed for the new economy were identified through a review of research studies. First, the development of sets of key competencies/key skills in Great Britain, the United States, and Australia were examined. The U.S. model, which involves a broader, more flexible, and more holistic set of generic skills, was contrasted with the…

The prospects for managing the tension between accountability and improvement in further and higher education (FHE) were examined through a literature review and a 5-year ethnographic study of a change management project at a higher education college in Wales. Special attention was paid to the following challenges facing FHE: globalization; the…

This paper attempts to raise awareness and stimulate debate about the family as a focus for developing learning in the United Kingdom (U.K.). The discussion focuses on the following aspects of the issue: the nature and scope of family learning; families as a place for learning; context; development of family learning; patterns of provision;…

This handbook is designed to help Maine's citizens and business persons understand why work force development is important in Maine and how Maine's new work force development system will be organized to enable the state to implement the Workforce Investment Act. The following are among the topics discussed throughout the handbook: (1) the…

This document is intended to introduce health occupations educators to the principles of the portable action lab and help them use those principles to create quality learning projects for students preparing for careers in health care. Section 1 outlines the concepts and frameworks of quality project-based learning, which is based on the following…

The licensure requirements for technology teachers vary widely from state to state. The goals of the alternative teacher licensure movement have been to allow more individuals to become certified as teachers more quickly and to attract more people with life experiences into teaching without the necessary completion of traditional undergraduate…

This book contains 16 papers about informing family and consumer sciences educational practice through action research. The following papers are included: "Informing Practice through Classroom Inquiry" (Linda Peterat, M. Gale Smith); "Focusing Praxis Research on Sexism in a Primary Classroom" (Emily Sutherland);…

This guide explains how adult and community education (ACE) providers across Great Britain can engage black learners in ACE by making their learning programs relevant, challenging, and appropriate to adult learners from black and minority groups. The following topics are discussed: (1) the importance of engaging black and minority learners in ACE;…

Online learning covers a wide range of technologies and formal and informal learning methods. A key factor promoting the significant enthusiasm for online learning across all education and training sectors in Great Britain and elsewhere is its potential to overcome many of the barriers of place, pace, and time that socially and economically…

The Garment Industry Development Corporation (GIDC) was founded in 1984 by a 3-member partnership that included the local union, industry associations, and local government. GIDC's goal was to support New York City's garment industry, which had been steadily losing jobs. GIDC exhibits the following characteristics of sectoral initiatives: it…