A General Accounting Office study examined strategies used to prepare youth for employment in the United States and four competitor nations and found that other countries have higher expectations of students, invest heavily in education and training, have national training standards, and have higher literacy rates among young adults. (JOW)

Compares the relationship between level of vocational qualifications in the work force and manufacturing productivity in Great Britain, Germany, and other European countries. Discusses the need for British vocational certification procedures within the education system; such components have raised skill levels and reduced dropout rates in France…

Six evaluations of vocational training (VT) in a territorial context (TC) that were conducted in Italy, France, Portugal, Germany, Great Britain, and Spain were compared for the purposes of constructing a coherent synthesis of the issues developed in them, establishing strategic vectors for the construction of a reference framework for the…

This collection of four articles reflects the suspicions of adult education researchers that politicians are exploiting the positive values attached in Finland to adult education, that is, increasing adult education, while imposing tight restrictions in the form of market mechanisms. "Values and Responsiveness in Adult Higher Education"…

This report assesses the changes occurring in both South Korea and the People's Republic of China regarding educational development. It is noted that with the introduction of advanced technology, both Korea and China have tried to catch up with international developments. Additionally, in order to compete successfully on the world market, both…

This report contains comparative information that has been systematically secured through the evaluation project on secondary vocational education in Tennessee. It presents data that were collected, recorded, and reported from three program review and evaluation instruments for administration, vocational-technical instructional programs, and…

The 15 chapters in this book deal with varying institutional characteristics of educational systems and their effects on occupational outcomes. "The Institutional Embeddedness of the Stratification Process: A Comparative Study of Qualifications and Occupations in Thirteen Countries" (Walter Mueller, Yossi Shavit) discusses results of a comparative…

A study examined the position of Irish women in the following types of human resource development activities cofinanced by the European Social Fund (ESF): basic/foundation skills training; postfoundation skills training; enterprise support schemes; continuing training for the employed; and apprenticeship training. Representatives of 11 state…

Examines general education and vocational education as the main foci of post-compulsory education in the light of curriculum planning. Perspectives (academic, pragmatic, and polytechnical) on general education are shown to be rooted in more elaborately formulated theories than are perspectives (employment-based and school-based) on vocational…

This report brings together a number of principles as to best practice in supporting, through training, growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Central and Eastern Europe. Chapter 2 identifies key principles to be drawn from the West through a literature review. Chapter 3 reviews the "practice" of entrepreneurial training…

Texas is developing a return-on-investment (ROI) measure to assess the cost-effectiveness of work force programs. Emphasis is on issues related to conducting cross-program ROI analysis at the level of the Local Workforce Development Board (LWDB) in career or one-stop centers. To make the most appropriate and effective use of ROI, the following…

This document contains four symposium papers on work force development. "Effects of Two Different Learning Paths on School-to-Work Transition" (Esther Van Der Schoot) discusses a Dutch study documenting that the following items make a difference in the school-to-work transition: learning path, curriculum characteristics, individual…

Theories influencing the development of trends in career and technical education (CTE) in Europe, the United States, and the Republic of China (Taiwan)were examined. The analysis established that, when determining the goals of CTE and areas of focus of efforts to improve CTE curricula and delivery, European countries focus on theories related to…

The Perkins Act and the Workforce Development Act (WIA) brought major changes to the arena of nontraditional employment and training. Perkins eliminated set-asides for displaced homemakers, single parents, and single pregnant women but mandated increased enrollment in high-wage nontraditional training. With the WIA, the Nontraditional Employment…

In July 2000, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 officially replaced the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). WIA requires individual assessment of skill levels and service needs and development of an individual service strategy for each youth participant. WIA requires all youth programs to make 10 program elements available to all…