This article reports results of an ethnographic study of how girls are positioned, and position themselves, in relation to gender regimes in three vocational programmes in Swedish upper secondary education: Restaurant Management & Food, Health & Social Care, and Vehicle & Transport. The comparison shows that there are different…

Purpose: This paper presents a qualitative systematic review of Swedish research on vocational education and training (VET) at the upper secondary school level over the past 20 years. The review is based on a theoretical model on curriculum making as social practice that may serve as model for comparative studies between countries. By introducing…

Context: This study is about vocational education and training for adults within municipal adult education (MAE). Sweden has a long tradition of adult education, and has one of the world's highest proportions of participants in adult education. The Swedish education system is characterised by extensive marketisation with many private actors,…

This article examines cross-country variations in adult skills inequality and asks why skills in Anglophone countries are so unequal. Drawing on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's recent Survey of Adult Skills and other surveys, it investigates the differences across countries and country groups in inequality in both…

Adult education is often defined to emphasise cultural and societal development. This paper proposes that the concept should be more inclusive and that vocational education and training for adults has played a bigger role than is usually recognised. This has not been subject to much research and basic facts are often virtually unknown. In this…

A strong VET system is increasingly seen as essential to overcoming the current economic crisis in Europe. VET is seen as a powerful tool to assist in balancing labour market inefficiencies, increasing youth employment possibilities, and reducing skills mismatch. Its inherent flexibility and closeness to the labour market place VET in a good…

Youth unemployment is hardly new, but in the 1980s it poses unprecedented problems because economic growth no longer seems to provide the necessary jobs. Youth labor markets are being stripped of entry-level jobs by new technologies, changes in the global division of labor, and the upgrading of occupational structures. This paper describes…

This volume contains the following presentations: "An Overview of Policy Issues," by Donald Galvin; "Policies for the Employment of Disabled People,' by Norman Acton; "A Corporate Perspective," by Jane Belau; "The Future of Work for People with Disabilities--A View from Great Britain," by Paul Cornes; "A…

Three 7-year follow-up studies compared Swedish young adults without further education to those who had 2 years of vocational education. Employment rates decreased for all groups. The gap in employment opportunities increased between women with and without vocational training. Vocational graduates had increasing difficulty finding jobs for which…

This report reviews adult education policies within the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). It asserts that human resources and their impact on the economy depend on the kind of education and training the labor force receives. The main features of governance and finance, participation patterns, and present concerns are discussed. An appendix…

The article presents a comparative analysis of educational policy and provision in Sweden and Australia, with particular emphasis on the relative investment in continuing and further education in both countries. The authors investigate the extent to which further education opportunities provide a "second chance" at learning for adults…

Reasons why so few (approximately 16%) of former students from Swedish schools for the mentally retarded find employment without government subsidy are explored through interviews with 12 teachers, 2 parents, 11 vocational instructors, and 14 employer representatives. Problems with placement of the retarded are considered. (SLD)

Based on a three-month visit by the author in mid-1987, this paper examines the experience of women in technical and vocational education in England, Sweden, and the Federal Republic of Germany. The observations are often compared to women's experience in Australia. Following an overview, the report summarizes general approaches to vocational…

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEADERS IN THE FIELDS OF ECONOMICS, EDUCATION, PUBLIC AND WORLD AFFAIRS, GOVERNMENT, MANPOWER UTILIZATION, LABOR, AND INDUSTRY PARTICIPATED IN A CONFERENCE ON MANPOWER UTILIZATION AND TRAINING TO REVIEW TRAINING NEEDS AND PROPOSALS FOR MEETING THEM AT ALL SKILL LEVELS, FROM THE DISADVANTAGED GROUPS TO THE PROFESSIONALLY…

This paper presents the state of current Swedish educational reform policy by describing the current state of Swedish education in compulsory comprehensive school (grades 1-9) and in higher education. The volume begins with a chapter on the external social factors affecting education. This is followed by chapters offering a general description of…