The first years of life lay the foundations for a child's future development and learning. Many countries have increased their financial support for provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) over the past years. More recently, the focus of debate has been shifting from expanding access to affordable ECEC to enhancing its quality. A…

This book on issues surrounding the United Kingdom's need to create a high-skill, high-added-value, knowledge-based economy also proposes strategies for providing education and training for employed and unemployed adults. The following chapters are included: "The Unwaged and the Unemployed" (Hunt, Jackson); "Adult Vocational…

A study examined the effect of national culture and institutional tradition on the response of engineering companies and their management to product-technology and market changes in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Data were collected from semistructured interviews of managers at 24 small, medium, and large engineering firms. The introduction of…

Bridging the gap between theory and practice, the author through a case-study approach of industries in the United Kingdom and Europe has identified motivation techniques resulting in job enrichment. The book is written in the belief that work is more efficient when it is enjoyable and that human beings will become obsolete unless allowed to…

This volume presents six lectures on the future of universities in the 21st century, and how they can best meet the future economic and social needs of the United Kingdom. "The Idea of a University?" (Stewart Sutherland) reviews some dominant images of university and concludes that university educated individuals should be better…

This book contains 22 papers on reflective learning in practice. The following papers are included: "Our Purpose" (Ann Brockbank, Ian McGill, Nic Beech); "The Nature and Context of Learning" (Ann Brockbank, Ian McGill, Nic Beech); "Reflective Learning and Organizations" (Ann Brockbank, Ian McGill, Nic Beech);…

This book presents results of a European study into the changing role of human resource development (HRD). Chapter 1, "Introduction," describes the background, objectives, research questions, and underlying research project. Chapter 2, "Learning Organizations and HRD" (Saskia Tjepkema, Hilde ter Horst, Martin Mulder), discusses…

In 10 papers by independent experts, this volume explores the trends in and prospects for research training in member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. "Problems and Prospects of Research Training in the 1990s" (Stuart Blume) looks at trends in national policy toward research training and issues of…

This book, which is intended for individuals responsible for human resource development (HRD) programs, examines a number of issues in turning investments in training and development into human capital and examines ways of making the workplace an arena for development. The following topics are discussed: the nature and role of training and…

This book brings critical analysis from a number of prominent contributors to explore current vocational education provision for the 14-19 age group in the United Kingdom. Section 1, The Evolution of the Work-Related Curriculum, contains three chapters: "The Growth of the Vocational Imperative: Initiatives, Trends, and Language Games"…

The question of whether recent changes in the labor market will likely have an adverse effect on people's expectations of work and their willingness to participate in the labor process was examined in a study of the impact of mass unemployment on expectations of work and productivity. Data regarding employment/unemployment and productivity in the…

This collection of essays, which is arranged in four sections, concerns flexibility in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems of Europe. The first section, "Introduction," includes the following chapter: "Shaping Conditions for a Flexible VET" (Nieuwenhuis et al.). The second section, "Institutional and…

This book examines the impact of the single European market (SEM) on vocational education in the United Kingdom. Part 1 consists of two chapters: "The Single European Market--Its Rationale and Consequences" (Peter Luff) and "The Single European Market--Uncertain Implications and the Vocational Educational Challenge" (Colin…

This book examines workplace learning in the United Kingdom within the context of the changing world of education and training, adult learners/learning, and stakeholder roles in employee development. Discussed in the first three chapters are the following topics: the current debates over vocational education and training and their links to…

This book analyzes the transformation of British higher education from a closed, elite university system into an open, mass post-secondary education system. It sees the changes in British higher education as stemming from: (1) the rapid expansion in the number of students that created pressures for a shift to a mass, open post-secondary education…