This paper is based on an empirical study of assessment practices currently being undertaken in a post-1992 university in the UK. Our broad interest is in examining assessment practices in context in order to explore why lecturers assess in the ways that they do. The Assessment Environments and Cultures project aims to illuminate some of the…

In President Obama's inaugural address to Congress, he spoke about the role the workforce and education systems and Registered Apprenticeship will play in preparing U.S. workers to succeed in today's global market. The president issued the following challenge to all Americans: "And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one…

The graduate of the Automotive Service Technician apprenticeship program is a certified journeyperson who will be able to: (1) repair, maintain and overhaul or modify a motor vehicle; (2) comprehend work orders, technical bulletins and estimates, and relate the information to the job at hand; (3) interpret warranty policy in terms of service…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to re-examine the unique political economy of Germany's dual apprenticeship training model and its underlying philosophy of corporatist governance. It responds to recent arguments suggesting that Germany's collectivist skill regime is under threat, increasingly giving way to the introduction of…

This paper adds to the considerable literature on low completion rates for apprenticeships and traineeships by looking at whether the reasons given for not completing vary by how far the individual is into their contract of training. The approach the authors take is to calculate the probability of apprentices and trainees giving a particular…

In this Research Connections column, Editor David Moore interviews Cynthia Greenleaf, Gayle Cribb, and Heather Howlett. Greenleaf codirects the Strategic Literacy Initiative and leads professional development projects in its Reading Apprenticeship instructional framework. Her approach to disciplinary literacy instruction is based on her findings…

Purpose: In Germany structural change and aggravated international competition have been accompanied by a declining willingness of enterprises to offer apprenticeships. Young people with low levels of qualification increasingly end up in courses at vocational schools that offer few transitions to regular VET or the labour market. This paper aims…

This study developed a theoretical model of the school-to-work transition and evaluated the effects of a transition support program designed to prepare compulsory school graduates to enter the Swiss dual vocational education and training system. A 13-session program was designed to improve teenagers' views toward the world of work and enable them…

How does education affect economic and social outcomes, and how can it inform public policy? Volume 3 of the Handbooks in the Economics of Education uses newly available high quality data from around the world to address these and other core questions. With the help of new methodological approaches, contributors cover econometric methods and…

Attrition in apprenticeships and traineeships is an ongoing concern for employers and government alike, with completion standing at around 50% on average. One possible explanation for this high attrition rate is that there is a mismatch between the respective expectations of apprentices/trainees and employers. This research uses the concept of the…

The way of teaching and learning traditional crafts have always used traditional apprenticeship learning methods where the expert facilitates transfer of practice skill sets to novices. As a craft has been taught in conventional approach, the students and experts have been facing several problems especially when expert needs to teach a group of…

This is a support document to the "Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) 2009 Cohort User Guide" report. Developed for users of LSAY, the user guide consolidates information about the LSAY 2009 cohort into one document. This support document provides post-school information for the guide. [For the main report,…

This paper was a keynote address at the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) conference held in Canberra in April 2012. The author notes that industry is arguably the key stakeholder in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector, but is not a single actor nor a disinterested consumer of…

This pocket guide presents statistics about: (1) the public vocational education and training (VET) system, which includes activity undertaken at technical and further education (TAFE) institutes, other government providers, community education providers and publicly funded delivery by private providers; (2) apprentices and trainees, who are…

The aim of this article is to exemplify the value of using a phenomenological approach when investigating graduates' lived experiences of vocational learning. For this study, qualitative data was obtained during a series of email interviews with 35 participants. As a group they are highly aspirational and, during their graduate studies, were…