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"Teaching"

Science-Based Technology School (SBTS) is a pilot project which was established under a co-operative agreement between the National Science and Technology Development (NSTDA) and The Vocational Education Commission (VEC) in 2008. The main purpose of the project is to provide information to new inventors or new technologists in order to support the growth of the domestic economy and industries. Project Based learning (PBL) and teaching is an approach for classroom activity and is integrated within the basic science curriculum and vocational training for the students in the school. The aim of this paper is to study the current state and existing problems in educational management of the Science-Based Technology School project and provide possible improvements. The teaching and learning process were examined and efficient mechanisms to support and improve academic knowledge for new inventors were considered. Results from this study will be applied to future designs and used to develop the educational management model for the Science-Based Technology School. © 2011 IEEE.

This article examines the nature of employability skills in the context of broader notions of generic skills, and the ways in which employability skills can be developed, assessed, and reported. The issues, which are similar in all developed countries, are illustrated primarily with examples from Australia. The article concludes with some issues for future consideration. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vocational teacher education is explored and distinguished from other forms of teacher education. The many varieties of vocational education, ranging from state controlled to market oriented, are deeply intertwined with national traditions and culture. Different admission requirements and a complex steering system set it apart from conventional teacher education because of its origin in a work context, whereas subject-specialist teaching emerges from a scientific knowledge area. This factor, which affects learning material and place of training, requires vocational teacher education to be multidisciplinary, activity- and problem-oriented, while posing unique challenges in grading and quality control. A hidden work-cultural transfer also occurs. Two trends are indicated: an increasing academization and a resurgence of the apprenticeship model. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

School-enterprise cooperation is the direction of reform and development of China's vocational education. This paper, taking Zhejiang College of Construction as an example, first surmises the way how train high vocational talents of civil engineering with school-enterprise cooperation. Then, some suggestions on school-enterprise cooperation are made. It is recommended that vocational colleges and enterprises should conduct all round cooperation, including design of talent cultivation program, establishment of courses system, selection of teaching content, construction of training base, organization of practical teaching, training of qualified worker and teacher, and Problem-solving of technological difficulties enterprise encountered etc. Second, Policies should be made to initiate the enthusiasm of enterprises. Long-term mechanism of cooperation should be established and financial support should be given to promote the efficiency cooperation. © 2010 IEEE.

This study was undertaken to determine the elements of Sustainable Development in Technical and Vocational subjects and to develop the framework of sustainable Technical and Vocational subjects in secondary school in Malaysia. This research was carried out using a qualitative research method that involved participation from 12 experts purposively chosen according to their positions. Interviews guided by interview protocol were employed in data gathering. The findings revealed 16 elements that contributed to the framework. These elements are creativity, innovation, networks and partnerships, staff development programme, teaching methods, generic skills, industrial relations and internships, counseling, entrepreneurship, ICT skills, interest, recognition, knowledge, competency based training, articulation, and commitment of management. © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

This paper reports the deployment of a group of students to several SME in an Industrial Attachment Program (IAP). The students were all engineering students who have previously attended courses conducted by Cisco Networking Academy and have passed certain computer networking certifications. The participating SME were those who are doing business in furniture and garment in the area of Jawa Tengah and Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The primary goal of the IAP is to bridge the gap between students' technical ICT ability and SME' specific ICT needs. Through the IAP program, students got the opportunity to build the capacity through real time projects that integrate practical "IT essentials" skills into SME. The main students' activities were categorized into three areas, namely operational, business and technology, and strategic. These aspects were tailored according to the individual SME's needs. Each student had to prepare a work plan he/she started working at the assigned SME respectively. Before the end of the internship, each student had to produce a road map that shows the development of SME ICT utilization for 2 years to come. The complete road map was eligible to be submitted for a competition that the winner would be presented with a special prize. © 2010 IEEE.

Background: Surgical trainees' operating theatre (OT) experiences significantly influence their ability to attain key professional competencies. A measure of trainees' satisfaction with this learning environment would allow recognition of characteristics of highly successful teaching venues and threats to trainee development. Our study aimed to validate the Surgical Theatre Educational Environment Measure (STEEM) and use it to explore Australasian surgical trainees' satisfaction with OT learning.Methods: In a cross-sectional study, the STEEM was distributed electronically to all 1500 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons trainees in Australia and New Zealand. Trainee satisfaction was gauged using Likert-type items, an overall satisfaction measure and content analysis of free-text comments. The STEEM's psychometric properties were evaluated using exploratory factor analysis.Results: Three hundred fifty-six responses were received. The STEEM's original subscales were not supported by the data; empirically grounded subscales were identified for further analysis. Most trainees were satisfied with their OT environment and satisfaction was higher in senior than junior trainees. Trainees' relationship with their supervisor correlated most strongly with overall satisfaction. Less positively, only half of trainees report discussing their operative role with their supervisor prior to surgery.Conclusions: The a priori STEEM subscales could not be replicated by factor analysis. We developed an empirically grounded instrument capable of identifying areas of trainee concern. The majority of trainees reported high levels of satisfaction. The revised instrument has potential to complement other sources of information to facilitate surgical supervisors' difficult task of optimizing trainees' compatibility with their OT learning environments. © 2010 The Authors. ANZ Journal of Surgery © 2010 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Modern societies demand high levels of literacy. The written word is pervasive; individuals with poor literacy skills are deeply disadvantaged; and governments are increasingly pre-occupied with the contribution that skills can make to economic growth. As a result, the basic skills of adult workers are of concern as never before, a focus for workplace and education policy and practice. While Improving Literacy at Work builds on detailed research from the UK, the issue is a universal one and rising skill requirements mean the conclusions drawn will be of equal interest elsewhere in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The research findings have very direct implications and practical relevance for teaching and learning, as this valuable book demonstrates, providing clear advice on how to develop effective provision and how best to support learners at work. Throughout the study, the authors address the following fundamental questions: How do adults' literacy skills impact on their working lives, and on the enterprises where they work? How can we develop these essential skills in the workforce? When and how can literacy instruction change individuals' employability and engagement with further learning? Essential reading for trainers and managers in industry, teachers, researchers and lecturers in adult and further education and stakeholders implementing evidence-based policy, this book maps the fundamental changes taking place in workplace literacy. © 2011 Alison Wolf and Karen Evans. All rights reserved.

Since 1998, the Flanders' educational government in Belgium has been urging teacher education institutions by decree to implement competences in teacher training programs. Since then, years have gone by, and institutions have acted in order to achieve the competence-based goals. However, have they succeeded in implementing them? This is the research question that is central to the current study. An online survey inquiry was set up in eight elementary teacher education institutions using two questionnaires; one for final year elementary institution pre-service teachers, who were about to graduate at the time of completing the questionnaire (N = 218), the other for teacher trainers throughout the elementary teacher training program (N = 51). Ten years after the decree was issued, results show that competence-based education has become a reality in terms of its implementation. However, the process has not yet come to an end. Whereas some competences are clearly present in the institutions' policies and practices (e.g. teacher as guide to learning and development, teacher as subject expert), others are poorly represented (e.g. teacher as partner of parents, external parties and as a member of the educational community). Moreover, teacher trainers tend to take four different approaches to the implementation of competences (1) during internship, (2) through the institution's policy and program planning, (3) by means of their integration in both theoretical and practical components of the curriculum and finally, (4) a lack of implementation because the competences are considered insufficiently applicable by the teacher trainers. In particular, more experienced and subject expert teacher trainers tend to adopt the final approach more often than do younger colleagues and pedagogues. Student teachers' results, on the other hand, suggest important differences between institutions concerning their understanding of competences and the integration of these competences in the curriculum; suggesting different paces of adaptation between teacher education institutions. Moreover, even within schools, the trajectory towards implementation is not always clear for all members of the teaching team, nor for the students of most teacher education institutions. Consequently, there is still important work to be done in order for successful competence-based change to occur. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

The doctorate in educational administration is a relatively new degree at many small colleges, including some historically Black universities and colleges. The advent of such a program has allowed for innovations in higher education for the predominantly minority populations who attend these universities; furthermore, using problem-based learning as a pedagogical approach for the yearlong administrative internship has proven to be a sound method for this clientele. The elements and characteristics of problem-based learning provide the context that suited candidates in the program of focus here. These candidates had established the practice of working together in the classroom such that it was a natural progression to the field internship as a problem-solving activity that gave them autonomy and control, as well as the chance to practice the collaborative skills garnered during the classroom activities with fellow students. This article presents examples of three case studies drawn from projects identified by practicing administrators who served as mentors for students. © The Author(s) 2010.