Australia's national vocational education and training (VET) system and nationally funded technical and further education colleges were established in the 1970s. In the 1980s, traineeships complementing traditional apprenticeships and competency-based training were instituted. An industry-led training system was established in the 1990s. Total VET…

This booklet, which is part of a series demonstrating the scope of employer involvement in school-to-careers, highlights the efforts of six manufacturing employers and three "intermediary" organizations connecting workplace experiences to classroom learning for secondary education students. The introduction presents a series overview and…

This document reports on how key stakeholders in work force preparedness nationwide are responding to pressures of the skills race. Part 1 presents an overview of the skills challenge and the economic and social consequences of failing to meet the challenge. Part 2 examines the impact of the skills shortage on major stakeholders and explains how…

This document contains 24 papers examining strategies for reforming initial vocational education and training (VET) in Europe. The following papers are included: "Reassessing VET Reform Strategies in a New Context: Implementation of the SPES-NET (Sharpening Post-16 Education Strategies by Horizontal and Vertical Networking) Project"…

This document contains nine papers devoted to the labor market problems faced by out-of-school and other disadvantaged young people in the United States and policy options and strategies for addressing those problems. The papers update the data on out-of-school young adults, review the lessons learned from past youth programs and policies,…

Over the last 3 decades, educators have found an overwhelming relationship between parent education levels, parental involvement, and children's school success. Family literacy affects parents' effectiveness in helping their children learn. These are the four components of comprehensive family literacy: (1) interactive literacy activities between…

This document contains 15 papers from a conference on preparing youth for the 21st century that was organized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The following papers are included: "Giving Young People a Good Start: The Experience of OECD Countries" (Norman Bowers,…

This booklet highlights the efforts of five employers that rely on information technology (IT) workers and one "intermediary" organization connecting workplace experiences to classroom learning for secondary education students. The introduction lists the employers' and organizations' names, locations, and featured practices. The next…

Recent international discussions provide information on various countries' responses to lifelong learning, including the following: (1) existing unmet needs and emerging needs for education and training; (2) funds required compared with what was provided; and (3) methods for acquiring additional funds, among them efficiency measures leading to…

Australia's second National Research and Evaluation Strategy for Vocational Education and Training (VET), which covers the period 2001-2003, builds on the following major themes contained in the first national strategy, which covered 1997-2000: stakeholder orientation, national coordination, and the importance of effective dissemination. The…

The first meeting of the National Literacy Summit 2000 convened 150 leaders from adult education and literacy and other related fields for a 2-day intensive working meeting to begin building a national consensus on how to move adult and family literacy forward in the 21st century. Comments and suggestions offered by summit participants were…

This report reflects ACT's three-decade commitment to assist colleges and universities to better understand the impact of campus practices on college student retention and degree completion. This report focuses only on the data provided by four-year public colleges. (Contains 14 tables.) [For the main report, "What Works in Student Retention? All…

This guidebook is intended as a road map to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Technical Education Act of 1998 (Perkins III) for career-technical education (CTE) practitioners and policymakers in Illinois. The following topics are among those covered: (1) framework for Perkins III (national educational reform, Illinois provisions for quality CTE,…

This report reflects ACT's three-decade commitment to assist colleges and universities to better understand the impact of campus practices on college student retention and degree completion. This report focuses only on the data provided by four-year private colleges, and contains the following sections: (1) Introduction; (2) Executive Summary; (3)…

This is a record of the proceedings of the 30th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA). The theme of the conference is "Mathematics: Essential research, essential practice." The theme draws attention to the importance of developing and maintaining links between research and practice and…