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The article explores leftist ethnography and its relation to educative research. It sees educative research as tied to understandings of the reflective practitioner, and explores models of research that validate and prioritise teacherpractice. It points towards a number of tensions surrounding such a strategy. The paper suggests that whilst dialogic forms of research may connect to an interest in empowerment and social justice, such a stance is limited and needs to be accompanied by a political economy of post-compulsory education which draws upon leftist ethnography. Such a practice can connect with wider structures of inequality and diverse social movements. © 1997 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

1996 marked the tenth anniversary of the Review of Vocational Qualifications undertaken by Oscar de Ville (now Sir Oscar) and the setting-up of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ), of which he was the first Chairman. National Vocational Qualifications and Scottish Vocational Qualifications (NVQs/SVQs) have exerted a major influence on training and education in Britain. Despite widespread criticism from a number of quarters, NVQs have, until recently, appeared to enjoy a charmed existence, bolstered by official approval and supportive financial arrangements. The publication of the Beaumont Report, A Review of 100 NVQs and SVQs, in December 1995, may have marked a decisive turning point in the history of the NCVQ movement. This article outlines the development of competence-based education and training (CBET), and traces the influence of the 1981 New Training Initiative, including the transformation of its original ideas in the period leading to the publication of the 1986 Review. It considers some of the recent critiques of CBET. The article argues that the critics have misinterpreted the original ideas, and questions the conspiracy theory of CBET as a vehicle designed to take over education and training. © 1997 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article provides a detailed and accessible account of the contemporary structure of the German system for vocational education and training and of some of the main issues and concerns causing current stresses within it. First, we outline the so-called dual system for initial vocational training and the manner in which it is underpinned by the general education system. A number of difficulties threaten the continuation of the dual system in its present form, the most important of which are increasing pressures for the differentiation of, and for greater flexibility in, training provision, and also for restructuring of the system’s costs and funding. Secondly, this article describes the much less regulated and discussed field of provision for continuing vocational training and identifies further current troubles affecting this sphere, such as imperfect knowledge and quality, access problems, and – again – the funding of such training. © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Changes being made to vocational education and training (VET) in Australia to enable industry to be more internationally competitive include making training more responsive to industry and client needs, delivering work skills to specific industry standards, making entry level training more flexible and developing a nationally recognised training framework. Organisations across many industries are adopting a marketing relationship approach in their interactions with customers, recognising the importance of creating value for their current customer base, alongside the need to create new business opportunities. Reports from Britain have described the building of enterprise-specific training programmes, with local partnerships between technical colleges and industry forming the basis of successful British VET delivery. This article first describes theoretical aspects of relationship marketing which support the building of business relationships, then examines the various interactions between industry and VET providers in a non-metropolitan setting to determine whether these constructs are reflected through the interactions. Interviews with industry and training providers identified several different approaches to industry training that are currently adopted, and indicate varying levels of integration between and within industries and training providers. This research identifies and describes one particular training delivery model that exhibits relationship marketing constructs of trust and commitment, investment by relationship partners, knowledge exchange and the development of new processes for training delivery, all supporting relationship longevity. © 1997 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The global economy is a reality. The challenge facing international human resource management (IHRM) is not whether to use widely recognized HR concepts and techniques hut rather how to effectively adapt and fit them across cultures. The purpose of this article is to suggest and demonstrate a contingency matrix approach to IHRM. After first explaining what is meant by the contingency matrix approach, the remainder of the article uses a sampling of the HR research literature from Japan, Germany, Mexico, and China to show how a contingency matrix could be used for effective IHRM. © 1997 John Wiley & Sows, Inc.

As more teachers move into new areas such as enterprise-based workplace education, concerns have been expressed regarding the deprofessionalisation of their work. This article explores an approach to workplace education, within a manufacturing environment, which not only re-defines the work of teachers In ways which utilise, enhance and extend their skills, but also values the role of professional educators in advising industry personnel on matters relating to learning and assisting in the development of learning frameworks. It is argued that when competence is contextualised and viewed holistically, and the subsequent training program is based on the complex reality of the particular workplace, all the professional skills of teachers are required to design effective learning strategies. If the resultant educational program is also to be responsive to the needs of the learners and sufficiently flexible to encompass changes in the workplace as they occur, its development and implementation will pose a unique challenge to teachers.

Proponents of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) reason that if the disability-related barriers to employment are removed, the goal of full employment for the population with disabilities can be reached. However, some researchers have suggested that the ADA will not be the panacea hoped for by its most ardent supporters. In particular, concerns have been raised about the ability of the ADA to promote employment among the doubly disadvantaged—those with a poor education and poor job skills, on the one hand, and a disability, on the other. This article uses the experiences of the doubly disadvantaged in Germany, a nation that pursues a disability policy that includes direct intervention in the labor market on behalf of workers with disabilities, to gauge the impact of the ADA on this group. The patterns observed in Germany suggest that while the ADA may have an impact on the ability and willingness of the doubly disadvantaged to remain in the labor market, it is not likely to guarantee their long-term economic well-being. © 1997, SAGE Periodicals Press. All rights reserved.

This article is based on interviews with informed participants and on case studies of companies in Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes, Lombardy, and Catalonia. It discusses the new trends in firms' demand for human resources and the different mechanisms for the social production of a skilled labour supply. The research findings throw light on three major points. First, they show how the training mechanisms that have developed in the regions studied may be grouped into two very distinct types: a 'redundancy-oriented' system on the one hand, and an 'appropriateness-oriented' system on the other, each of them producing a type of labour supply that yields different advantages and disadvantages for the companies based in the region. Second, they highlight the new features of companies' demand for human resources. On this basis, the article argues that three trends identified in all the companies surveyed seriously challenge the training systems of all these regions. The last section discusses the different ways in which the regional institutions respond to this challenge, by trying to cope with especially those aspects which are regionally specific. Hence, although the persistent myth of the 'one best way' to organize training occasionally drives attempts at institutional imitation, the basic solutions with which regional institutions are now experimenting tend to vary cross-regionally.

In 1987 the English National Board (1987) made it clear that it supported a move towards an andragogical approach to nurse education. Recently such moves have been questioned as has the validity of andragogy (Darbyshire 1993). In response to such challenges this paper extends some of the arguments made in the article 'In defence of andragogy' (Milligan 1995). It is argued that andragogy provides a framework within which care and other crucial aspects of the nurse-patient/client relationship can be mirrored and thereby facilitated in future practitioners. In the socialization processes inherent in nurse education, care is surely difficult to teach or facilitate unless the philosophy and methods are consistent with such ends. Furthermore, it is frequently argued that as educationalists we need to be consistent in our approach to students with that which we hope to see in their future practice (Bevis & Murray 1990). Andragogy offers a medium through which this can be facilitated. It is essentially a humanistic educational process that values the individual. The power relationship between the educator and student is much more horizontal than is found in the historically common hierarchical educational relationship. An educational process based upon andragogy therefore mirrors important parts of the nurse-patient/client relationship. It offers a theory of education consistent with the aims of modern day nursing practice. We should seek to improve our understanding of andragogy and no longer conceptualize it as one end of a false dichotomy with pedagogy. © Harcourt Brace & Co Ltd 1997.

Due to inadequate preparation for employment and lack of assistance in making the transition to work, many youth struggle entering the labor market, are unemployed, or flounder in jobs without opportunities for advancement. The school-to-work transition movement, exemplified by the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, is designed to address the career development needs of non-college-bound youth. However, despite the fact that counseling psychology has been intimately involved with career development since its inception, attempts to link counseling psychology and the school-to-work movement are almost nonexistent. Given that the school-to-work movement will directly affect the vocational outcomes of potentially 75% or more of youth, it is imperative that counseling psychologists begin to take an active role in the movement. This article attempts to provide an impetus for counseling psychologists to become involved in the school-to-work movement through theory building, research, training, and practice. © 1997, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.