Search Results for
"human"

The article examines how the probability of obtaining an apprenticeship as a part of upper secondary education varies between ethnic Norwegians and minority groups. The analyses show considerable differences between the ethnic majority and the minority groups of non-western origin. Although grades and school attendance record have a marked effect on the probability of obtaining an apprenticeship, there are ethnic differences that are not due to such human capital factors. Furthermore, good grades are more important for the minority than for majority applicants. Overall the results suggest that the ethnic minority applicants of non-western origin have to outperform their majority peers in order to have the same chance of obtaining an apprenticeship.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the statistical evidence for the extent of employer training in Australia and analyse this information in the light of three major qualitative projects that have been undertaken into employer training since the mid-1990s. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reports an analysis of the major statistical databases on employer training in Australia and also draws evidence from three major projects that used a case study method in their qualitative phases. Findings - The paper finds that assumptions about low levels of employer training expenditure in Australia are not supported by the available statistical data. The three qualitative projects examined also support the conclusion that Australian enterprises are increasing both the quality and quality of the training they provide to their employees. Research limitations/implications - The research projects reported in this paper were completed during the period 1994-2004. Practical implications - The paper concludes that the research evidence supports an increasing quality and quantity of training in Australian enterprises. In recent years this increase in training activity has been partly driven by government policies aimed at making nationally recognised training more available to employers and employees. Originality/value - The paper counters the prevailing assumptions about the quality and quality of training provided by Australian employers and shows that carefully framed government policy can have a major effect on the level of employer investment in training. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

In the Netherlands auditors can be trained in a part-time educational track in which students combine working and studying or in a full-time educational track. The former training is relatively firm-specific whereas the latter training is relatively general. Applying human capital theory, we expect higher wage growth for full-time educated auditors than for dual-educated auditors. Furthermore, full-time educated auditors may have better outside options than part-time educated auditors. This may make it easier for them to switch employers than for the part-time educated auditors. The predictions on tenure and wages of differently educated auditors are supported by the estimation results in this paper. The part-time, dual track appears an important route for students from a lower socioeconomic background. © 2006 Taylor & Francis.

The UK construction labour process rests on casual self-employment, output-based pay, rigid trade divisions, low levels of training, and a sharp divide between operative and professional/technical skills. Skill shortages beset the industry and their solution focuses not on employment regulation and a comprehensive industry-wide training scheme, but on importing the necessary skilled labour. It is demonstrated how qualitatively differently construction labour is valued in the UK compared with other leading European countries. These rely on higher skill levels, based on knowledge gained through the training process and on a more stable and collectively negotiated structure of training provision and employment. In the UK, in contrast, labour is not valued according to the knowledge it incorporates but according to an individual's ability to fulfil the task in hand. Training is geared to meeting individual employers' immediate needs; qualifications are not a prerequisite for entry; and labour is rewarded for its product not for its potential. The key features of the UK system that give rise to concern are identified. The ways the UK system needs to change are outlined in order to accommodate sustainable development of the construction process.

This paper analyzes a simple game-theoretic model of curriculum integration decision-making in a high school with academic and vocational tracks. The model is based on a formal theory of how curriculum integration affects learning. Teachers choose to include a curriculum integration unit in their classes only when it increases learning relative to the next best alternative. The analysis shows that (1) curriculum integration is not invariably the right choice for schools; (2) teachers may independently choose curriculum integration under certain circumstances; (3) teachers' independent choices about curriculum integration may or may not be optimal from a school-wide perspective; and (4) school leadership is called for when teacher choices are suboptimal. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aim: Published studies in the international dental literature illustrate that the quality of prescription and fabrication of cobalt-chromium removable partial dentures (CCRPDs) by general dental practitioners frequently fail to comply with ethical and legal requirements. The reasons cited for this in the past have broadly related to either financial or educational issues. The aim of this investigation is to determine the effect of financial and educational factors on the quality of CCRPD design and fabrication by general dental practitioners. Materials and methods: This investigation was completed in two parts. (1) A pre-piloted pro-forma was distributed to a number of dental laboratories throughout the UK and Ireland. These sought information relating to the quality of written instructions for CCRPDs received by these laboratories, and details of the remunerative scheme under which they were being provided. Three categories of remunerative scheme were considered, private CCRPDs in Ireland, private CCRPDs in the UK, and CCRPDs being provided by salaried NHS practitioners. (2) A pre-piloted questionnaire was distributed to vocational dental practitioners in the UK and Ireland. This sought information relating to their attitudes, opinions, and educational and clinical experiences of CCRPD design and fabrication. Results: (1) Three hundred completed pro-formas were returned from dental laboratories, 100 of which related to each of the three remunerative schemes. Poor or no written instructions were provided in 47% (n = 47) of CCRPD cases funded privately in the UK, 46% (n = 46) of CCRPD cases funded privately in Ireland, and 50% (n = 50) of CCRPDs being provided by salaried NHS practitioners. (2) One hundred and seven completed questionnaires were returned from vocational trainees. Vocational dental practitioners had completed fewer CCRPDs during VT than in dental school (dental school: median = 4, inter-quartile range = 3 to 5; VT: median = 2, inter-quartile range = 1 to 4). One-fifth of respondents (n = 22) had not completed any CCRPDs during VT. Nine per cent of VT practices (n = 10) had a surveyor on their premises. Only 15% (n = 16) of respondents felt the time they had spent in VT had increased their confidence in the design of CCRPDs. Conclusion: Financial factors did not have as significant an effect on the quality of prescription and fabrication of CCRPDs as did educational factors. Serious deficiencies in the teaching of CCRPDs during vocational training were identified. © British Dental Journal 2006.

Background: The British medical student population has undergone rapid diversification over the last decades. This study focuses on medical students' views about their experiences in relation to ethnicity and gender during their undergraduate training within the context of the hidden curriculum in one British medical school as part of a wider qualitative research project into undergraduate medical education. Method: We interviewed 36 undergraduate medical students in one British Medical School, across all five years of training using a semi-structured interview schedule. We selected them by random and quota sampling, stratified by sex and ethnicity and used the whole medical school population as a sampling frame. Data analyses involved the identification of common themes, reported by means of illustrative quotations and simple counts. Results: The students provided information about variations patterned by gender in their motivation and influences when deciding to study medicine. Issues in relation to ethnicity were: gaining independence from parents, perceived limitations to career prospects, incompatibility of some religious beliefs with some medical practices and acquired open-mindedness towards students and patients from different ethnic backgrounds. Despite claiming no experiences of gender difference during medical training, female and male students expressed gender stereotypes, e.g. that women bring particularly caring and sympathetic attitudes to medicine, or that surgery requires the physical strength and competitiveness stereotypically associated with men that are likely to support the continuation of gender differentiation in medical careers. Conclusion: The key themes identified in this paper in relation to ethnicity and to gender have important implications for medical educators and for those concerned with professional development. The results suggest a need to open up aspects of these relatively covert elements of student culture to scrutiny and debate and to take an explicitly wider view of the influence of what has sometimes been called the hidden curriculum upon the training of medical professionals and the practice of medicine. © 2006Lempp and Seale; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Background. Research on individual learning approaches (or learning styles) is split in two traditions, one of which is biased towards academic learning, and the other towards learning from direct experience. Aims. In the reported study, the two traditions are linked by investigating the relationships between school-based (academic) and work-based (experiential) learning approaches of students in vocational education programs. Samples. Participants were 899 students of a Dutch school for secondary vocational education; 758 provided data on school-based learning, and 407 provided data on work-based learning, resulting in an overlap of 266 students from whom data were obtained on learning in both settings. Methods. Learning approaches in school and work settings were measured with questionnaires. Using factor analysis and cluster analysis, items and students were grouped, both with respect to school- and work-based learning. Results. The study identified two academic learning dimensions (constructive learning and reproductive learning), and three experiential learning dimensions (analysis, initiative, and immersion). Construction and analysis were correlated positively, and reproduction and initiative negatively. Cluster analysis resulted in the identification of three school-based learning orientations and three work-based learning orientations. The relation between the two types of learning orientations, expressed in Cramér's V, appeared to be weak. Conclusions. It is concluded that learning approaches are relatively context specific, which implies that neither theoretical tradition can claim general applicability. © 2006 The British Psychological Society.

This article examines the philosophical principles underlying police training in England and Wales. An explanation for the documented lack of progress in changing police culture is proposed. It is suggested the current vogue for “National Standards” and “Competence Frameworks” is based on a discredited technical rationality that models human systems using “machine” metaphors. Such approaches are intellectually impoverished in relation to both educational thought and the wider history of ideas. They permit a dislocation of training methods from the purposes of policing and support unhelpful binaries such as theory/practice and fact/value. The unintended consequences or “hidden curriculum” of this approach to police training reinforces traditional cultural prejudices and inhibits major change programmes (e.g., problem-solving, diversity, community-focus). It is concluded that progress demands the development of an ethical foundation for a policing practice rather than a technical one, and that police managers must learn to collaborate with others in constructing cultural understanding. © 2006, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

In this paper we propose to study the dynamics of human capital accumulation by means of a Markov chain. We identify the conditions for the emergence of ergodic and nonergodic dynamics, and relate them to various characteristics of an economic system. The model may generate high-skill and low-skill equilibria as well as intermediate situations. Policy implications are also discussed. © 2017 Wiley. All rights reserved.