Vocational training (VT) programs in Latin America prepare workers to perform middle-level occupations or jobs. VT in Latin America is characterized by the existence of solid and autonomous national institutes linked to the logic of economic production, funded through a payroll levy grant, counting on a tripartite board, and related to ministries…

Creating stronger links between community colleges and industry is likely to be one of the most important tasks in the creation of new industries in Canada and the development of an internationally competitive economy. Existing relations vary from arms-length to working hand in hand, and several projects have been undertaken to encourage closer…

One focus of a year-long study of West German apprenticeship was the conditions that are most supportive of learning on the job. The study design incorporated two distinctions that the Germans consider critical: manual versus white-collar occupations and size of training firm. Two occupations were studied--auto mechanic and…

Using television as a means of delivery for an educational program in rural areas and looking at the media preferences of young adults, this study was conducted in a non-metropolitan area of northwestern New Mexico to examine the effectiveness of television and videotape to provide basic principles of solar energy to 15 young apprentices in a…

The three-day conference focused on giving clearer direction and visibility to community resources utilization in preparing persons for employment. It sought to clarify the scope of cooperative education as a plan for delivering occupational skills and to examine selected issues which would serve to stimulate expansion, improve practices, and…

Eighteen papers were presented at the conference by practitioners, academic researchers, labor representatives and members of government. Summaries of papers are grouped under the headings: Apprenticeship as a Training Process; Lessons from Followup Studies of Journeymen and Apprentices; Minorities in Apprenticeship; Apprenticeship Training in…

The Education for Careers/Professions (ECP) team at Centennial High School (Champaign, Illinois) is embarking on a plan for the future education of the workforce. Its vision statement and plan are designed to prepare all 1,500 students for life beyond high school into the world of work in the 21st century. The ECP plan addresses the need for…

This paper provides an overview of the IT (Instructional Technology) Clinical graduate course at Virginia Tech and compares the perceived reality of the Clinical experience, in terms of benefits and concerns, with students' initial expectations. The paper begins with a discussion of the IT Clinical plan, the sociology of the learning environment…

In preparation for a conference held in Paris, France, in November 1994, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development launched a 5-year program that involved 20 countries studying the changing role of vocational and technical education and training (VOTEC). A synthesis of national studies on young people's pathways and participation…

As part of a graduate research course, nine students formed a research team to carry out all aspects of a multimethod research study, including design, data collection and analysis, interpretation, and presentation of results in a final evaluation report to a local school corporation. Benefits and challenges were noted by both the instructor and…

The Younger Adult Worker (YAW) study examined the systematic long-term relationship between exposure to vocational education and various indices of educational and employment outcomes. A telephone survey of 1539 young adults between the ages of 20 and 34 supplemented information from the l966-78 National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market…

A study compared developments in size of apprenticeship programs and changes in the distribution of apprentices over occupational categories in Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands during the last 2 decades. Data were from the "time-series" school leavers' surveys database. Findings indicated, toward the late 1990s, Irish…

A study in South Wales developed the insights provided by previous research into further education and job training by exploring the ways in which the determinants of participation in lifetime learning vary systematically over time and from locality to locality. In addition, the study looked at empirical patterns of participation in lifetime…

A research project called Support Services for Flexible Delivery was commissioned by the Australian organization TAFE (technical and further education) Frontiers. Since 1995, the project has been conducted by using a research approach called the Generalizations from Case Studies (GCS) research method. The GCS method was developed, tested, and…

Business is recognizing that the associate degree is a necessity in high technology fields. Innovative practices link businesses with community colleges, allowing apprentices to gain basic job skills and a higher education. A research study explored three industries and their relationship with community colleges: automotive, construction, and…