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"Article"

This article reports an exploration of the experiences and perceptions of apprentices, workplace host employers and off-the-job teachers engaged in an apprenticeship programme regarding the nature and contributions of on and off-the-job environments to apprentices’ learning. An interpretive (expressive) approach was taken, using individual interviews and focus groups. Learning on-the-job was perceived to be more real life and focused on the ‘how’. Learning off-the-job was less pressured, broader in scope, more theoretical and concerned with ‘why’. The findings indicate that these two environments make valuable, but different contributions to apprentices’ learning and supports the need for both. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

There are number of advantages to be gained from work experience programmes. For the enterprise they provide a cost effective source of skilled or semi-skilled labour and a means of screening potential employees. Whilst for the education institution they offer a ready source of practical experience for young people, enabling institutions to develop employability skills. Traditionally, work experience programmes formed part of a sandwich course in which a young person would spend a year in industry obtaining relevant work experience. However, the nature of these programmes are beginning to change in response to policy reforms in the education system and due to the demands of the workplace. This article presents the findings of a study that investigated how work experience programmes are coping with these pressures. Using a series of case studies it identifies how programmes in the field of engineering at the Further and Higher Education level are responding to the varied needs of industry. Overall, the study finds that these programmes are undergoing changes and the traditional year-long sandwich programme, involving a year placement in industry, is not always the typical route followed by engineering students in the United Kingdom today. On a theoretical level the article argues that the market orientated reforms introduced into country’s education and training system over the past two decades, has done little to encourage industry-education links at FE or HE institutions. Moreover, when such links do occur they are a result of the innovative approaches adopted by individual departments, as well as the commitment of staff working in these institutes. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

It is often argued that training and development offer the potential for trade unions to develop modern, cooperative bargaining strategies, far removed from the traditional adversarial agenda of the past. The article explores such concerns through a case study of training policies and practices in the United Kingdom printing industry. Until very recently, training standards and provision in printing were underpinned by a national agreement for recruitment, training and retraining. Whilst this agreement was relatively innovative it proved unable to maintain training levels within the industry and, in late 1998, it was replaced by a ‘training charter’. The analysis reveals the way that training and development issues are often highly contested. © 2001 Journal of Vocational Education and Training All rights reserved.

Since their inception, community colleges have carried out a number of complex and often competing programs or foci. The transfer, vocational, developmental, and continuing and community service foci have become increasingly important as the mission of community colleges has evolved. During their early history, operating primarily as transfer institutions, the student population of junior colleges was not especially diverse—traditional age, male, White, college-bound students filled most classrooms. As times passed and as enrollments grew, community colleges became increasingly diverse in the students they serve and in their purposes for being. Today, community colleges fulfill a multiplicity of roles within their communities, offering a myriad of educational programs and services with a broad and sometimes contradictory set of intended outcomes. This article summarizes pertinent literature related to community college access, mission, and outcomes, exploring the complex intersections between these important constructs. It concludes that meeting the needs and goals of students should be paramount in conceptualizing outcomes, otherwise community colleges will continue to be criticized by populists who observe that they are not reaching enough students and elitists who believe they do not meet traditional outcomes linked to educational and economic attainment. © 2001, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

[No abstract available]

The article focusses on the system of further vocational education for Japanese teachers which is to the greater part based on a network of cooperation among colleagues. It is shown in what way the Japanese conception of teaching as a craft determines the professional career of teachers in the field of primary and secondary schooling. In Japan, the highly developed form of further education accompanying the professional practice has led to a professional culture in which knowledge relating to pedagogical action is continuously submitted to a process of reformulation and change. This dynamism has to be balanced against the disadvantageous fact that further professional education for teachers is only possible within the framework of the existing culture of instruction and draws not enough on either the universities or educational research on teaching.

The role of competencies in postgraduate dental education and training has been a major topic of interest in recent years. Concerns have been voiced from all sides of the profession about how the competence of trainees and the quality of training can be assured so that high standards of patient care can be maintained. A three year project which seeks to develop a competency-based assessment system for general professional training is underway which hopes to answer some of the concerns and provide an evidence-based system of assessment for the early postgraduate years. This paper looks at the reasoning behind the project, its aims, and the progress made to date. © British Dental Journal 2000;.

Presents the findings of the second phase of a research study carried out in the summer of 1999 and commissioned by CAPPE/ACPEP, and The Churches' Council on Theological Education in Canada. Reports the results of a survey of students who completed a basic unit in Supervised Pastoral Education to identity the self-perceived effects of the unit on their pastoral functioning. Notes that the results of both the first and second phase of the research affirm the use of experiential learning and the success of basic SPE in increasing self-awareness.

The final year of medical education in Germany (practical year) is hardly systematized. In order to improve student learning during dermatology internship we introduced a portfolio to clarify which components are considered important within dermatology: 25 qualifications were divided into "general-basics", "dermatology-basics" and "special-dermatology" and were listed in a student's portfolio with a theory-, supervision- and clinical practice/hospitation part. The individual achievements were documented in the portfolio by the supervising residents. Since November 1999, 15 students participated at the portfolio-program. They absolved at the rate of 70% (in the mean) of listed activities. General basics were fully completed by all students, 75% of dermatology basics were absolved and 46% of special dermatology were absolved. There was a remarkable increase in achievement compared with a historical control group, especially concerning special aspects in dermatology. The students welcomed the portfolio because it provided a useful overview of learning opportunities and achievements. They strongly requested implementation of portfolio-based learning in other faculties.

This study addresses the question "Do school-to-workprograms, as embodied by career academies, facilitate postsecondary education?" The author conceptualizes postsecondary education as a series of steps through the university and examines the high school career academy's influence on entrance into, route through, and outcomes from a 4-year university. Data are drawn from applicant and student records at a comprehensive, urban university for all individuals originating from a single district's high schools. The findings suggest that students from career academies have higher academic achievement upon leaving high school, less need for remediation in English at the university, and a 4-percentage-point increase in graduation from the university than students who are not from academies. These findings suggest that school-to-work programs could facilitate positive outcomes in postsecondary education. However, the continued high rates of remediation and the low rates of graduation, even for students from career academics, suggest that their influence might not be enough to ensure success in postsecondary education. This analysis therefore suggests that further research should identify program components that increase postsecondary education and determine how these components can be institutionalized and built on in subsequent reforms.