This document contains a symposium paper and a conference paper. "Equal Opportunities and European Educational and Vocational Policy" explores the symposium theme of concepts of difference as it relates directly to the European discourse of equal opportunities and its influence on European educational and vocational policy. It outlines…

The European Social Fund's (ESF's) emphasis on new technology training increased throughout the 1980s, but in the 1990s this emphasis disappears from policies toward "socially excluded" groups, including long-term unemployed women. Women are segregated into certain occupations and then further segregated by a hierarchical division that…

Loosely structured interviews were designed to discover the perceptions of workers involved in a European Social Fund (ESF) training project for unemployed British women regarding the intentions and results of the training scheme. A process of inductive coding for the transcript analysis was followed. The coding scheme developed from the…

To determine the feasibility of developing skills training programs for women interested in skilled labor employment, a year-long study examined the problems surrounding the influx of women into skilled labor occupations and the elements which define success in gaining employment. The study was conducted in two phases: an exploratory phase and a…

This publication is comprised of 12 position papers from the National Equity Workshop held at the University of Technology Sidney (Australia) at which participants summarized their positions on the way equity should be understood, their views on the strengths and weaknesses of current vocational education and training (VET) policy, and what they…

Differences in the earnings of male and female graduates of technical and further education (TAFE) programs in Australia were examined in a study that focused primarily on graduates working full-time. Data were collected from the 1997 Graduate Destination Survey and from a series of focus groups and interviews with women TAFE graduates working in…

The participation of women in vocational education and training (VET) in Australia in 1996-1999 was examined. Data for the analysis were obtained from annual national VET data collections and relevant reports. The analysis focused on the following areas: general trends, fields of study, qualifications, areas of learning, module outcomes,…

Findings from the 1992 Generation survey carried out by Creq in 1997 among young people exiting the French school system indicates that work-related disparities encountered by young labor market entrants in France can be characterized according to the worker's gender. Obstacles facing women include the following: (1) risk of unemployment or…