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Of various approaches to teaching planning in practice, work-based or integrated learning retains vital relevance in many planning programs. There are strong rationales in pedagogic, professional development, employment, and personal terms. But what of student experiences of work experience? How do student planners approach, experience, and reflect on workplace engagements? This article explores these experiential dimensions through a survey of a cohort of Australian students involved in a yearlong paid placement as part of an accredited undergraduate planning degree. It discusses the changing expectations of students and whether these were realized, their major learning experiences, and an overall evaluation of off-campus learning. The findings have wider relevance for evaluating student assessments of work-based learning in planning education. © 2006 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning.

An infusion of twenty-first century skills into American public education necessitates a plan for research and development to further such reform. While the nation agrees that students must obtain critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills to succeed in the current global marketplace, this chapter puts forth a long-term, proactive agenda to invest in targeted research to propel and sustain this shift in education. The authors examine the impact such an R&D agenda would have on pedagogy and assessment and the implications for institutions of higher education. As the United States struggles to maintain dominance in the international economy, it faces a great challenge in keeping up with European and Asian competitors' strategies for preparing youth for the global marketplace. The authors hope the global reality will help contextualize the debate around American education--the current trend toward basics and accountability needs to be broadened. Building on frameworks created by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, this chapter proposes questions to guide research around teaching, professional development, and assessment significant to twenty-first century skills. Knowing that educational change depends on providing teachers with the tools, support, and training to make fundamental changes in their practice, the authors argue for extensive research around best practices. In addition, if assessments are created to measure the desired outcomes, such measuring tools can drive reform. Furthermore, large-scale changes in teacher preparation programs must take place to allow teachers to adequately employ twenty-first century teaching and assessment strategies.

Aims and objectives. The objective of the study was to identify whether clinical education facilitators made a difference to the learning experiences of nurses in a large teaching hospital. Background. Strategies for enabling continuous professional development are well established in healthcare organizations as key components of approaches to lifelong learning. The benefits of continuous professional development include the maintenance of high standards of care, the improvement and development of services, ensuring the competency of all nursing staff and guaranteeing the accountability of nurses for their actions. The role of clinical education facilitator is relatively new and little evaluation of this role has been undertaken. Conclusions. This study highlights important issues to be considered in developing a 'learning culture' in a hospital organization, through the adoption of such roles as clinical education facilitators. Whilst the roles have had an important function in the active coordination of learning activities in the hospital, there is little evidence of the role directly impacting on the learning culture of clinical settings. Learning mechanisms have been identified. The results of this evaluation can be subjected to further testing through ongoing evaluation of the outcomes arising from the learning mechanisms in place. Given the emphasis on work-based learning and continuing professional development in health care, then this ongoing evaluation can yield important information about future directions for nurse education. Relevance to clinical practice. The study highlights the importance of supported learning in the workplace. However, more importantly, it identifies the need for a culture of professional practice to be developed in order to sustain learning in practice. Classroom-based learning alone, cannot create a culture of development in nursing and there is thus a need for models of work-based learning to be integrated into practice environments. © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

INTRODUCTION: In 1988, the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Health developed the NSW Rural Resident Medical Officer Cadetship Program (Cadetship Program) to help overcome a junior doctor workforce shortage in rural hospitals. A second aim was to increase recruitment to the rural medical workforce on the basis that positive exposure to rural medicine increases the likelihood of choosing to practice in a rural location. The Cadetship Program offers bonded scholarships which provide financial support for residents of NSW studying medicine during the final 2 years of their medical degree. In return, cadets are contracted to complete 2 of their first 3 postgraduate years in the NSW rural hospital network. NSW Rural Doctors Network has managed the Cadetship Program for the NSW Department of Health since 1993, and carried out an evaluation in 2004. The purpose of this evaluation was to track the career choice and practice location of medical students entering the Cadetship Program before 1999, and to comment on the impact of the Program on the rural medical workforce in NSW to date, and its implications for the future workforce. METHODS: The career choice and practice locations of 107 medical students who received cadetships between 1989 and 1998 were tracked. Students who did not graduate from medical school (n = 3) or who did not complete their rural service (13) were excluded from the analysis. Career choice was not available for a further nine former cadets and they were also excluded from the analysis. The NSW Rural Doctors Network was the major source of data on career choice and practice location due to its role in administering the Cadetship Program on behalf of the NSW Department of Health. Two brief questionnaires targeting specific groups of cadets were used to fill knowledge gaps about where cadets grew up, what vocational training they undertook, and where they were working in 2004. Where this information was not obtained from cadets first hand, it was sourced from the CD-ROM version of the Medical Directory of Australia. RESULTS: Forty-three percent of cadets entering the Program before 1999 were working in rural locations in 2004 (compared with 20.5% of medical practitioners nationally), 46% had attended primary school in a rural location and 44% chose to specialize in general practice. Career choice was the major determinant of practice location. Having a rural background did not appear to influence practice location; whereas, those specialising in general practice made up 70% of this cohort of cadets working in rural areas. All general practice trainees were in rural locations compared with only two of the 25 trainee specialists, which reflects the availability of accredited training places in rural Australia. CONCLUSIONS: The Cadetship Program, which ensures junior doctors work for 2 of their first 3 postgraduate years in a rural allocation centre, is an effective link between medical school and rural practice, particularly rural general practice. Providing vocational training opportunities in rural locations is central to this success, and needs to be considered in efforts to expand the rural specialist workforce, and in ensuring rural health capitalises on the increasing number of medical students moving through the education and training system in the next 4-10 years.

Current policies to expand and "flexibilise" labour markets are encapsulated in the drive to ensure "employability". To achieve this "employability", workers and the unemployed are encouraged to participate in "life-long learning". In this context, the traditional understanding of education as instructional pedagogy is increasingly replaced by learner-centred approaches which allow more autonomy and individuality within the actual learning process and demand greater personal (learner) responsibility for progress and success. Such self-dependent learning might seem to provide a promising alternative to traditional schooling - which often proves contradictory in producing a rather passive attitude among the learners by undermining motivation. But the challenges of those "new" forms of learning have turned out to be contradictory as well. This article seeks to clarify how to take account of these contradictions. Theoretically, it proceeds on the basis of a discussion of Klaus HOLZKAMP's "subject science of learning" and Yrjö ENGESTRÖM's activity theory. Both approaches are centred around an idea of "expansive learning", and each stresses the interrelation between individual learning processes and external development as a route towards extending action possibilities and one's power to act. But they differ significantly on the matter of contradictions. For HOLZKAMP contradictions are considered an obstruction or hindrance for learning, while for ENGESTRÖM they are a starting point for problem solving and development. In the blank spaces within and between these theories, however, a slightly different approach to expansive learning is developed. Two case studies, that were part of a larger enquiry on a vocational training program for IT-specialists (LANGEMEYER 2005a), are used to enhance the comprehension of contradictions in relation to learning, and to exemplify an analysis of the current changes in education processes. © 2005 FQS.

The ACGME requires adequate lengths of appointment for both the program director and faculty as being essential to maintaining an appropriate continuity of leadership (1). Although this requirement does not apply to the program coordinator, the ACGME does require that a program have a dedicated coordinator. Any list of coordinator duties is long, but underestimates the true volume of the coordinator's responsibilities. Although the program director is accountable for all aspects of the program, much of the director's work is delegated to the coordinator. The training period for a new coordinator is from months to years, and coordinator turnover can be very disruptive to the program. The coordinator must possess skills in communication, problem solving, decision making, administration, organization, and supervision. He or she must have a broad knowledge of academic medicine and radiology training. The coordinator is generally the first and last person to interact with resident candidates, visiting speakers, and ACGME site reviewers. His or her professional and administrative skills are a reflection of the quality of the program and effectiveness of the program director. The work of a coordinator involves managing many complex tasks at once, while maintaining the flexibility to accommodate changes in work priorities in the face of unexpected events. He or she should be seen as an advocate of both faculty and residents. The coordinator needs to work independently within prescribed guidelines, engage in continuous professional development and suggest initiatives to improve the quality of the program. When done well, the coordinator's work is accomplished effortlessly in the eyes of the program director, faculty, and residents. A highly skilled and experienced coordinator is a valuable asset to the program. Providing the coordinator with adequate support (i.e., clerical assistance, materials, training, and workspace) is a smart investment, the return on which can be substantial. © AUR, 2005.

Purpose - The classical form of dual vocational training in Switzerland is on-the-job training combined with theoretical education in a school. In order to be an attractive educational choice for both enterprises and pupils, the apprenticeship model has to be constantly adapted to the demands of the labour market. As a potential model for future apprenticeship training, large firms started to concentrate their apprenticeship training in one or a few sites. More recently, independent external firms have been set up with the express purpose of training apprentices for other companies. This article aims to discuss these new developments. Design/methodology/approach - This article bases its discussion of the developments on the basis of a unique data set comprising more than 2,300 training companies in Switzerland. Findings - The observations reported in this article suggest that training in a training centre is a viable alternative to the usual in-house apprenticeship system where the apprentice is trained within the company. However, training centres will never be an ideal solution for all occupations or for every company. Training centres are primarily worthwhile for investment-intensive occupations where the main objective is to invest in an apprentice's human capital and thus help ensure a steady supply of highly qualified workers. Originality/value - The article presents useful developments in the use of training centres. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

In the face of the serious problem of lack of access to health care in the United States, with over 45 million uninsured,1 there exist many models of collaborative local programs serving the uninsured. One such approach is the student-run free clinic, small projects managed by health professional students, supervised by licensed health professionals, offering free health services to those without health access. The purpose of this article is to describe the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project, its history, mission, partners, clinical services, curriculum, funding, replicability, outcomes, elements of success, transdisciplinary nature, and hopes for the future.

The 1990s and early 2000s saw the increased development of advanced training, skills standards, and certification exams by private organizations in the United States. Employers began accepting these skill certifications in lieu of traditional on-the-job training, thereby encouraging employees to acquire more credentials. This article examines the increase in the number of skill certifications available, discusses legislative causes of these increases, and notes the current lack of published peer-reviewed analyses of statistical reliability and validity of certification exams. It presents a call for future research to determine the usefulness of certification. Copyright © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Over the last decades educational researchers and politicians have shown a growing interest in the concept of learning in practice, i.e. learning in the workplace. Learning in practice plays an important role in connection with lifelong learning, as the workplace is an obvious setting for realizing this aim. Theories about learning in practice often include a critique of school-based learning by seriously questioning the idea that learning in school can be transferred to action and by emphasizing the context dependence of learning and acting. This article contributes to the debate by pointing out some advantages of combining school-based and workplace-based learning. The results of a study of learning in a vocational education and training (VET) programme for sales assistants show that both the theoretical training in the VET school and the practical training in the workplace are necessary to develop competency. Furthermore, the results indicate that a careful matching of specific parts of the curriculum with the learning setting (the workplace or the school) may improve the trainees' achievements. The matching is not only useful in improving VET programmes but is also generally useful in planning lifelong learning as work-related education. © 2005 Tayior & Francis Ltd.