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This paper outlines a study designed to validate competencies for dental vocational training (DVT) and general professional training (GPT) in order to ensure their accuracy and acceptability. A highly inclusive approach is described whereby all trainers in Scotland were invited to participate in the exercise. The 168 individuals recruited were drawn from all branches of the dental services and all regions in Scotland. Using online or paper questionnaires, quantitative and qualitative data were collected for each competency statement over 9 months, after which focus groups discussed and decided which changes should be made. A high response rate was observed and from the 160 competencies originally identified, almost half (47.5%) were redrafted as a direct result of the validation process. Sections of the competency document that required most attention are discussed, as are the nature of changes made to the competencies. As a result of this study, a fully validated competency document for DVT and GPT has been produced and will allow a high degree of standardization of training through the provision of essential consistent information to trainers and VDPs.

The relationship between higher education institutions and their environment has changed markedly during the last two decades. Massification and diversification of the higher education system, economic globalisation, novel modes of knowledge production, new professional requirements and the establishment of new vocational higher education systems in many countries have challenged higher education institutions to develop new forms of collaboration with working life. The new situation also challenges higher education to develop pedagogical and educational thinking and practices. The purpose of this article is to examine the pedagogical aspects of the increasing interaction and collaboration that is taking place between higher education and working life and to outline what kind of challenges it poses for research on higher education. It is emphasised that from the pedagogical viewpoint integration between theory and practice in work-based learning is essential. Our general conclusion is that the relationship between higher education and working life should be examined at least from four different perspectives: (1) from the viewpoint of student learning and the development of expertise, (2) from the viewpoint of educational institutions and staff, (3) from the viewpoint of working life organisations and employers, and (4) from the viewpoint of society and the system of education.

This article evaluates the British system of NVQs, focusing on their capacity to increase skill levels. It reviews the way NVQs were designed and argues that they are ill-equipped to encourage knowledge and skills, partly because they simply replicate the weaknesses which currently exist in the labour market and partly because of the focus on observed workplace behaviours. NVQs were intended to be 'employer-led' and the assumptions underpinning their design are unitarist. In contrast, the German apprenticeship system is developed and implemented by pluralist consortia and results in qualifications that are far better equipped to support skill levels.

Because workers must be prepared to constantly update their skills and reeducate themselves for new skills, lifelong learning must be a goal for every teacher and student. The curriculum provided during educational experiences should pave the way for attainment of this goal. This is particularly true for deaf and hard of hearing students. School-to-work (STW) has become an umbrella term for activities, experiences and opportunities that prepare students for the world of work, such as youth apprenticeships, mentoring, internships, job shadowing, career exploration, and integration of academic and vocational curriculum. This article provides historical background on STW, laws shaping requirements for STW programs, and research supporting STW components. Recommendations are provided for curricular elements of an STW program, and trends in STW are forecast.

Workplace learning has developed as a field both of practice and of research over the past decade. The increase in interest is due in part to heightened awareness that workplace knowledge and skills contribute to enterprise and national competitiveness, but it is also due to an increased focus on the connections to be made between theory and practice as part of an education or training experience. At the same time, new learning technologies have enhanced delivery of instruction and learning materials in workplaces. This article reviews some of the conceptualizations of workplace learning and its cognitive bases. It also examines workplaces as learning environments and considers the special challenges involved in the flexible delivery of training to workplaces.

Medical education has witnessed recently an accelerated and worldwide trend of change. The race is on for curricula that are relevant, appropriate and accountable. One of the consequences of this is the need for a drastic reassessment of how we devise curricula, and of what models, approaches, and strategies to adopt. Outcomes-based education is currently offered as an alternative to the content-based approach, which has been criticized by many educational experts in the past. Although this new approach has its detractors, it holds some promise of being able to improve on a current situation that is in deadlock with itself. There has been a great deal of interest in educational strategies in the last decade. This has been associated with the development of new concepts such as "problem-based learning", " student-centered learning", and "integrated teaching". Each school has to assess each of these strategies and adopt what ever will serve the aims of the curriculum. Similarly, the considerable progress that has taken place in the design and development of instructional materials and instructional technology should be appreciated. This includes, development in computer assisted learning, virtual reality, the use of simulated subjects, e learning, and the new concept of Reusable Learning Objects (RLO's). Finally, it was realized, with the rapid development in medical education that medical education requires professional training. The assumption that any good medical practitioner has the ability to teach no longer holds and professional training is required.

Against a background of 'second-wave' lifelong learning in Aotearoa New Zealand a new framework for post-compulsory national qualifications was introduced. The resulting competency-based system was argued to present a number of benefits for mature women including flexibility in curriculum and delivery and portability across educational sectors. Competency-based education was to include provision for recognition of prior skills and knowledge gained in formal learning environments and the workplace as well as informal learning environments such as the home and the community. Such recognition was a significant factor in gaining support from women's groups given the potential to recognize and value the domestic labour of women and the skills and knowledge that flow from it. This article explores the rhetoric around recognition of prior learning and discusses approaches to realise its potential. It then draws on research undertaken in Aotearoa New Zealand to suggest that the potential of recognition of prior learning is yet to be realised.

Across Europe, contemporary negotiated reforms of economic and social policy are increasingly characterized by a logic of information rather than a logic of exchange. Unlike in neo-corporatist bargaining over incomes policies, states negotiate with the social partners not primarily to secure their acquiescence, but instead to enlist their active assistance in designing and mobilizing support for substantial reforms of public policy. State policy-makers lack the combination of technical, relational, and local information necessary to design successful blueprints for reform, and so they are dependent on the social partners to acquire this information. In systems in which unions and employers' associations can exercise dialogic capacity, policy innovation is more likely to come from the propositions of the social partners than from political parties or bureaucrats. Using this logic, the article undertakes a pairwise comparison of episodes of negotiated reform: pensions in France and Italy, and vocational training in France and Germany.

The 'brain fag' syndrome, which was first reported from West Africa in 1960 among students, has been shown to occur very widely in African students in western educational systems south of the Sahara. This study investigated the distribution of its symptoms in a group of apprentices chosen by convenient sampling from Ile-Ife, a university town about 240 km northeast of Lagos in Nigeria. The subjects who (in contrast) were training under an indigenous form of education - the African apprenticeship system - consisted of 183 (69.8%) males, and 79 (30.2%) females, in the age range of 13-26 years (mean ± SD 18.2 ± 3.0 years). Questionnaires were interview-administered to collect data on the sociodemographic, economic, and family background, English language proficiency, and the degree of the presence of brain fag symptoms. Results indicated a generally low rate of brain fag symptoms among these different types of apprentices. A relationship between proficiency in English, but not socioeconomic status, with brain fag symptoms was found. In the case of the Nigerian apprentices investigated here, brain fag symptoms were not significantly associated with the method of training learning (which is dependent mainly on verbal instructions in the vernacular from their bosses, and vicarious learning by observing the boss at work). The implications of these findings for two of the theories advanced for the pathogenesis of the brain fag syndrome were discussed. Copyright © 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The purpose of this article is to introduce the cross-disciplinary competency standards for work-related assessments, why they are needed and how they have been developed in New South Wales (NSW). Cross-disciplinary competency standards communicate the benchmarks for effective performance of work-related assessments. They outline what is expected of rehabilitation professionals, including the ability to apply and transfer competence across different conditions and workplace contexts. Outcomes in occupational rehabilitation are affected by the efficacy of the work-related assessments performed, which is dependent upon competent, clinical decision-making by rehabilitation professionals. However, in Australia, Work-related assessment practice is not governed by universally accepted competency standards or by any competency-based training/education and assessment system. To enhance professional practice, WorkCover NSW has developed cross-disciplinary competency standards for work-related a ssessments. The competencies provide (i) quality standards for professional workplace training and development, (ii) benchmarks for assessing the competence of rehabilitation professionals, (iii) a framework for evidence-based practice, (iv) benchmarks for measuring service quality and (v) "real world" learning outcomes and assessment criteria for professional education programs.