Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss Irelands national apprenticeship programme, introduced in 1993, in the context of the country's evolving economic and social policies. Design/methodology/approach: A critical analysis is undertaken of the industrial climate in Ireland, which prevented the introduction of a national apprenticeship…

The hidden curriculum of industrial education is the culture of the industrial workplace. Socialization into unions and accepted workplace behaviors are a product of racial, class-bound, and gendered assumptions in a male culture of work and must be taken into account by industrial educators. (SK)

Industry-based skill assessment and certification should (1) be independent of training providers; (2) use variety of instruments; (3) recognize multiple levels of mastery; (4) promote broad training and continuous learning; (5) be geared to high-performance work organizations; (6) be voluntary; and (7) be flexible to keep pace with technology.…

The British government's Modern Apprenticeship initiative has the following features: adoption of the best aspects of traditional apprenticeship, links with National Vocational Qualifications, breadth, and industry ownership. Key issues in the design of learning include holistic approaches to the attainment of occupational competence; effective…

These proceedings contain 10 presentations and a panel discussion from a conference to acquaint the Northeast with a structure for developing and implementing solutions to improve the Northeast economically. A statement of purpose for the conference is followed by introductory remarks. The 10 presentations concern these topics: improvement in the…

The problem of determining whether to award credit for training offered through the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program and what credentials to offer is addressed as part of the American Council on Education's Higher Education/CETA Project, which was supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. In…

Evidence gathered through interviews with members of trade associations, unions, professional societies, business, and industry as well as data obtained from the Department of Labor, congressional testimony, and publications of the commerical and trade press reveals that the shortage of skilled workers in America is reaching crisis proportions.…

On-the-job training (OJT) is the most frequently used training method in industry. This OJT is mostly unstructured. While off-job-site training (OJST) should prepare for or supplement OJT, coordination between OJT and OJST is often poor. Advantages of OJT include its low cost, realistic nature, and motivating force. However, it is usually…