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"Article"

Background and Objective. Occupational skin diseases (OSD) rank at the top of occupational diseases in Germany. We studied the cases with initial medical report of an OSD reported to our Register of OSD in North Bavaria (BKH-N). Patients/Methods. From 1990-99 5.285 cases were closed and recorded. Since the number of employees in the different occupations was known, a population-based study was performed to investigate incidences and demographic characteristics in occupations classified into 24 groups. Results. In the occupational groups in 3.097 cases a work-related skin disease was stated. The estimated overall incidence was 6.7 cases per 10,000 workers per year. The highest incidence was in hairdressers (97.4), bakers (33.2), and florists (23.9), while the largest number of cases was in hairdressers (856), health services (481), and metal-surface workers (260). The median age of all cases was 25 years. In 1.611 cases (52%) a delayed-type sensitisation with occupational relevance was perceived. Conclusions. The descriptive data of the BKH-N highlight occupational groups being at risk for OSD. The results assist in working out prevention measures aiming on lowering the incidence of OSD.

The concepts of mutuality, learning and change are embedded in the ideas surrounding employee led development (ELD) schemes. This paper explores the extent to which these concepts are an accurate reflection of the way such schemes are organised in practice. The article is based on qualitative research carried out in two small to medium sized enterprises in the north of England. We will show that while ELD can be beneficial to employees, attempts to apply the concepts of mutuality, learning and change require caution. © 2001, MCB UP Limited

Allied dental healthcare providers have been an integral part of the dental team since the turn of the 19th century. Like dental education, allied dental education's history includes a transition from apprenticeships and proprietary school settings to dental schools and community and technical colleges. There are currently 258 dental assisting programs, 255 dental hygiene programs, and 28 dental laboratory technology programs according to the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation. First-year enrollment increased 9.5 percent in dental hygiene education from 1994/95 to 1998/99, while enrollment in dental assisting programs declined 7 percent and declined 31 percent in dental laboratory technology programs during the same period. Program capacity exceeds enrollment in all three areas of allied dental education. Challenges facing allied dental education include addressing the dental practicing community's perception of a shortage of dental assistants and dental hygienists and increasing pressure for career tracks that do not require education in ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation accredited programs. The allied dental workforce may also be called upon for innovative approaches to improve access to oral health care and reduce oral health care disparities. In addition, allied dental education programs may face challenges in recruiting faculty with the desired academic credentials. ADEA is currently pursuing initiatives in these and other areas to address the current and emerging needs of allied dental education.

In these post-Cartesian times, adult educators are retrieving the body as a significant site of learning. In this article we explore this in two linked ways: conceptually, in the light of broader perspectives in the social sciences, in policy analysis, and in philosophy; and also through empirical evidence, from adults' workplace learning experiences, and from adult literacy classrooms. We conclude that from practical embodied actions (that is, from ontology), significant epistemological claims can be generated, such as could shape adults' learning for, and in, the workplace. © 2001, © 2001 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Aim of the study. This phenomenological study is aimed at illuminating nurses' lived experience of the process of preceptoring and the meaning of preceptorship in a Swedish context. Methods. Seventeen nurses from the North of Sweden with varied previous experience of preceptorship volunteered to participate. Their narratives, describing their experience of being a personal preceptor for a student nurse during practical training on a hospital ward in the third year of a 3-year diploma programme within a university college of nursing in Sweden, were transcribed verbatim. A phenomenological-hermeneutic interpretation disclosed the themes 'sheltering the students when learning' and 'facilitating the students' learning', together with eight sub-themes, which created an understanding of the meaning of preceptorship. Findings and discussion. The meaning of preceptorship was understood as reducing the risk of the students learning helplessness and empowering the students when learning in practice. The meaning of preceptorship highlighted the need for further preceptor support and development of the role of the preceptor. On the basis of the findings, suggestions were made to increase the preceptors' awareness of values in nursing practice and use of pedagogical strategies in the process of preceptoring. Through such strategies a reciprocal development of the preceptors' and the faculty's knowledge may take place, to the best advantage of the students' learning and the development of the profession.

This article explores communal constructivism as a unifying theory that encapsulates the ways in which information and communications technology (ICT) enables learners to collaboratively create knowledge. The authors review the research outcomes from several international ICT projects in the light of communal constructivist learning theory, which provides a rationale and explanations for some of their findings exploring the effectiveness of new pedagogical practices emerging in ICT-rich innovative learning environments. They argue that the term ‘communal constructivism’ conveys a meaning that captures specific elements of the additional value that various forms of ICT bring to learning environments, specifically the different forms of virtual and real community building, as well as the different ways in which knowledge is constructed, shared and reconstructed, published and republished by both teachers and learners alike. The aim of the article is to start the debate about communal constructivism as a unifying theory for aspects of ICT pedagogy, and to identify some of the characteristics of ICT- rich learning environments where the authors suggest communal constructivist pedagogy is in operation. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

It is commonly argued that firms in the advanced industrial economies are experiencing incentives to refashion the organisation of production in the face of technological change and the intensification of product market competition. It is claimed that rigid Taylorist systems of work reorganisation are being replaced by ‘high-performance’ production systems involving functionally flexible, multi-skilled workers. The chemicals industry is frequently portrayed as being at the leading edge of such developments. However, little is known about the consequences of multiskilling for workers in the industry. This article explores the interconnections between organisational change, skill acquisition and workplace industrial relations within a chemical plant. Workers’ experiences of and attitudes towards multi-skilling are examined. The study demonstrates the need for a historically informed analysis of skill formation that is sensitive to continuities in the organisation of production and the political dimension of training activity. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Although the flexible delivery of training in the workplace has become a favoured policy position for training authorities in both Britain and Australia, this article reviews research that indicates neither learners nor their workplaces are well prepared. Drawing on the author’s own research and that from the broader literature, the article develops a model for the preparation of learners and workplaces for flexible delivery of training. Deriving from the proposed model, the article suggests a wide range of strategies that may be used in preparing learners and workplaces for successful engagement with the flexible delivery of training. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article discusses the results of a qualitative research study that examined clerical workers’ experiences of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in two retail banks, which were piloting Level 2 NVQs in Customer Services and Banking. The research suggests that the implementation of NVQs within the two banks did not bring about the kind of changes in work-based learning envisaged by advocates of the qualification framework. NVQ candidates conceptualised the process of doing an NVQ as ‘writing stories’ about routine work tasks in order to accredit existing skills. The potential for learning new skills and developing greater flexibility in the workplace was found to be very limited. On a more encouraging note, the research also identified a number of positive outcomes of doing an NVQ. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Apprenticeship systems have come under scrutiny in a number of European countries since the 1970s. The article describes the introduction of a standards-based approach to apprenticeship in the Republic of Ireland in 1994 and provides an assessment of its achievements in its first 5 years. Although the standards-based approach shows a number of similarities to new apprenticeship systems elsewhere, the Irish system was unusual in arising from the social dialogue between unions and employers, rather than from government initiatives, and it has continued to operate and evolve on the basis of social partnership. Drawing on a smallscale survey of employers and apprentices in the North-Eastern Region of the Republic, it is suggested that there are a number of strengths and weaknesses in the new system. It has been widely adopted, and it has commanded considerable respect from apprentices, employers, fellow workers and young peoples’ families from the outset. Yet there are also problems: quality assurance is not yet secured, and recruitment has been restricted to the traditional sources, rather than embracing previously excluded groups. Both the strengths and weaknesses are related to the social partnership approach adopted in Ireland. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.