In the face of changing economic conditions and shifts in skill requirements caused by technology, American corporations must integrate learning as an integral part of their functioning. Businesses must implement learning-intensive production, speed up the process of learning how to improve training, and learn how to assess the results of…

Traditionally, the road to good jobs for young persons in West Germany has been the "dual system" of vocational education and training (VET), similar to apprenticeships in the United States, but practiced on a much wider scale. A large percentage of West German youth usually enter such programs after high school in order to prepare for…

Over the last six years, corporation-community college partnerships have played an increasingly important role in educational and industrial growth. The automotive industry has been at the forefront of this trend and has recognized the contributions that community colleges can make in meeting the educational needs of industry. One example is the…

Three major models of vocational education and training provision for the 16- to 19-year-old age group have been identified: schooling model, which emphasizes full-time schooling until age 18; dual model, which involves mainly work-based apprenticeship training with some school-based general education; and mixed model. Germany is an exemplar of…

The nature, structure, and scope of student teaching in agricultural education as practiced, supervised, and evaluated in the United States today was examined through a survey of all 80 U.S. agricultural teacher education programs. Responses were obtained from 73 (91%) of the programs. The responding teacher education institutions exhibited great…

This paper presents an overview of the findings and implications of an ongoing 5-year collaborative action research project conducted by university faculty and classroom teachers in a large urban school district in the southeastern United States. Based on the premise that participation in research empowers teachers to take action to improve…

The history of the recent development of worker education in Australia and New Zealand shows that, in just the past 15 years or so, very significant improvements have occurred in delivery of trade union education. To a very large degree these developments took place because of the existence of a close relationship between the union movement and…

The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) has made a strong commitment to building partnerships with business and industry. CCRI's first customized training program was developed in 1982 with the National Tooling and Machine Association (NTMA), and was designed to enable apprentice machinists to receive the classroom training required to earn a…

Focus of this speech is on the challenges of providing employment related education and training for young people in England. After briefly outlining the British education system, the author discusses recent and proposed changes designed to help young people (particularly the unemployed, terminal degree student, or those who are working and…

An alliance between apprenticeship and vocational education could accomplish more than either system could achieve on its own. An understanding of the system is important prior to working effectively with apprenticeship programs. They are sponsored by single employers or groups of employers acting singly or jointly with a union. Union interest…

The conference report on cooperative vocational education contains four main sections. The first, background papers, contains three papers: Education in a Changing Society, Carl H. Madden; A Prospectus for Cooperative Vocational Education, William F. Pierce; and Critical Issues in Cooperative Vocational Education, Robert M. Worthington. The second…

The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in Singapore provides skills training to school leavers through the institutional training and apprenticeship modes. The strengths of apprenticeship training are: provision of more occupational choices; greater effectiveness in meeting specific needs of industries; and opportunities for young people to…

A study investigated the feasibility and advisability of restructuring Virginia public vocational education programs to provide blocks of time larger than those traditionally provided for on-the-job, cooperative, and apprenticeship training. Data were collected through a review of research and of education-work models; telephone and personal…

In the Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland), as well as in the rest of the world, it is a constant challenge to match education and training to the rapid pace of change. In order to meet the demands of the future, major changes in both the structure and content of vocational education and training have taken place…

The search for a work force preparation model that could serve as a guide for meeting present and emerging challenges has lead to a focus on the German dual system youth apprenticeship model. In this system, the practice-oriented part is taken over by commercial enterprises and theoretical knowledge is imparted by vocational schools. The trainee…