A 12-month research project evaluated the effects that competency-based approaches have had on the role of instructors in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia. Specifically, the project investigated the levels of understanding of competency based-training (CBT) by instructors in the VET sector in a variety of settings…

Based on observations of more than 50 Japanese preschool and elementary classrooms over a 14-year period, this book offers a fresh perspective on how children become eager, motivated learners and caring responsible citizens. In a sharp departure from most previous accounts, this book suggests that Japanese education succeeds because all…

This document is part of the World Bank's comprehensive study of post-basic education and training in Sub-Sahara Africa and includes findings from three short field studies conducted in South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbawe in early 2001. Chapter titles are as follows: Executive Summary; Introduction; Conventional Patterns of Financing Training;…

A study focused on the effect of welfare reform legislation on literacy or social service providers and families participating in the programs. Program staff and participants in Wisconsin and California were surveyed and interviewed to determine how welfare reform impacted what they do programmatically or personally. Findings indicated receipt of…

This monograph is part of a series on institutional support for student assessment. This report, which covers the second stage of the study, analyzes the results of a national survey of postsecondary education institutions that examined how institutions approach student assessment, their patterns of organizational and administrative support, and…

This study provides an overview of expenditures for education and training by educational institutions in Australia, 1991-2001. The study used newly available data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and administrative data from the main sectors' reports on the size and trends in public and private education expenditures. It analyzed…

Maintains that issues of religion and the schools have surfaced again in the public forum. Discusses the controversy between public and private education in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in the 1800s. Concludes that public schools can never meet the needs of all and that the Utrecht compromise suggests that alternatives are possible. (CFR)

This booklet describes existing and planned government initiatives to address the long-standing issue of low achievement in basic literacy and numeracy skills in England. The booklet begins with a brief explanation of the economic and social importance of basic functional literacy and numeracy skills. Part 1 is a discussion of English government…

Workplace training strategies in selected foreign countries were examined from the standpoint of their relevance to development of a national training policy in the United States. Case studies of the following were conducted: apprenticeship training in Germany, enterprise-based training in Japan, stimulation of training by training taxes in France…

The National Forum on Effective Urban and Metropolitan Schooling met to discuss building communities and curriculum as part of a larger effort to support an agenda of achievement, competency, and success for urban education. This report of that 1989 meeting is divided into two parts. The first part lists and defines the following 10 themes for the…

This document studies the role of unions, management, and education agencies (the social partners) in vocational education and training in the United Kingdom. Through an analysis of existing and historical structures governing cooperation and coordination between the social partners and the public bodies responsible for vocational education and…

Farming-dependent counties are some of the most economically distressed parts of nonmetropolitan America because their inability to diversify economically has left them vulnerable to changes in natural resource markets, commodity prices, and farm conditions. The Midwest has been hit hardest. The greatest proportion of highly leveraged farms is in…

This report investigates how administrative complexity in funding and personnel of American public school districts varies depending on local, state, and federal funding environments. The analyses are based on a data set integrated from several national data sources describing school districts in the 1970s. As hypothesized in the study, dependence…

There is a crisis in the black family; at its core is the inextricable linkage of low educational achievement, high unemployment levels, and limited opportunities for access to stable jobs at adequate wages. This report is directed at an examination of the causes and the consequences of this essentially economic crisis, providing a brief…

This study focuses on efforts to reform the Czechoslovak educational system through a full integration of scientific and technical subjects into school curricula. Section 1 discusses the future development of the Czechoslovak education system in light of such sociopolitical factors as the establishment in 1976 of a long-term educational…