Workplace learning research has taken what could be termed a turn to the subjective. This brings the person and agency of workers to the centre of work learning theory. Within sociocultural perspectives that emphasise participative practice as the basis of vocational learning, a key concept that emerges from this subject centred approach is…

This article seeks to provide a school perspective on the nature and quality of the partnerships which schools form with businesses in order to deliver work placements and workplace learning in Australia. It found that the ability of schools to engage with external partners depended on the ability of school leaders to define and communicate the…

Numerous countries suffer from a shortage of technicians and skilled workers, particularly in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), due to a mismatch between the skills and interests of the students graduating from or leaving the current education system and the needs of the labor market. Often, parents and students…

This paper analyses the workplace learning experiences of young male retail employees. Deeming formal education highly unattractive, the pursuit of lifelong learning and continuous development for such people relies on workplace learning. Their experiences, however, over several years and across various retailers painted a grim reality.…

This report, the second installment in Advance CTE's "Connecting the Classroom to Careers," series, explores an issue that is often a stumbling block for K-12 work-based learning--ensuring these experiences are safe and legal for students. This report features New Jersey, Kentucky and California and their approaches to dismantling…

High quality vocational education and training (VET) relevant to labour market needs is a policy priority for the European Union (EU). The economic slowdown has led to worryingly high levels of unemployment and underemployment particularly among young people. Skills, qualifications and employability are central to Europe's economic recovery.…

Purpose: Workplace learning (WL) is a key part of vocational education and training (VET) because it allows students to develop their skills in a work environment, and provides important information about how well VET studies prepare skilled workers. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop and validate an instrument to evaluate WL…

Better links between education and training and the labour market was a main thread of the Greek and Italian European Union (EU) Presidency programmes of 2014. This thread guided Cedefop's work and demand for its expertise throughout the year. With youth unemployment rates at more than 40%, improving young people's employability through more…

In this study, teachers and workplace supervisors in two vocational programmes at a Swedish upper secondary school were interviewed about their experiences of what is important to teach and learn during vocational education. The interviews were analysed thematically by the qualitative method analysis of narratives concerning what the informants…

Most quantitative analyses in workforce education are affected by missing data. Traditional approaches to remedy missing data problems often result in reduced statistical power and biased parameter estimates due to systematic differences between missing and observed values. This article examines the treatment of missing data in pertinent…

This article about workplace learning examines the learning of individuals in becoming a Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) teacher in Brunei. Drawing on research findings from a group of student teachers, it presents case study accounts of three individuals to illustrate the importance of social relationships in learning to become a VTE…

In a longitudinal case study of apprentices, the term proximal participation was coined to describe the entry process of young people, with unclear career destinations, into the trade of baking. This article unravels the significance of proximal participation in the decision-making processes of young people who enter a trade through initial…

This article addresses two research questions concerning nurses' engagement in social learning activities after errors at work. Firstly, we investigated how this engagement relates to nurses' interpretations of the error situation and perceptions of a safe team climate. The results indicate that the individual estimation of an error as relevant to…

This paper is based on research undertaken on the supervised practice of an undergraduate programme of study which leads to both BA (Hons) degree and a professional qualification in youth work in a university in England. Youth work, for those unfamiliar with it, is a form of informal and experiential educational practice with young people often…

Competence-based education refers to the integration of knowledge, skills, attitudes and interactivity as the intended outcomes of learning. It makes use of lifelong learning and lifelike tasks in realistic settings and requires the cooperation of teachers. This research was prompted by the desire to explain why collegial cooperation often seems…