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Investment in vocational education and training is commonly regarded as a prerequisite of competitive success. Training is also seen as a cornerstone of management initiatives designed to enhance employee involvement and co-operation in the production process. Ironically, however, commentators have rarely sought to assess employee attitudes towards, and experiences of, training provision. the claims made by advocates of a high skills strategy with respect to employee commitment and motivation have not been empirically tested. This article seeks to fill the gap through a presentation of findings from a unique survey, undertaken by the authors, designed to examine the link between training and employee attitudes. © 1996 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The move towards courses of professional education being based in the workplace rather than in academic institutions raises a number of concerns relating to the relationship between the validating institution and the workplace organisation. This article identifies some of these concerns. In particular the role of the workplace (or work base) mentor is analysed in the light of empirical evidence of how this role can best be fulfilled in the context of the initial training of teachers and youth workers. Limitations of work-based training are described and a case is argued for the continuing role of academic coursework to provide a necessary conceptual framework for developing both skills and professionalism in the work base. © 1996 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the Danish vocational training scheme from a patient's point of view. This was especially interesting as all young doctors have six months vocational training in general practice after finishing university. During April 1993 junior doctors in twelve general practices in the county of Aarhus, Denmark, distributed a total of 574 questionnaires to consecutive patients after a consultation. The questionnaire was anonymously returned to the research unit. Four hundred and five patients answered the questionnaire. Ninety-three percent were fairly or very satisfied with the consultation, and 87% were sure or fairly sure that they would attend a trainee again. Eighty-five percent said that the trainee was as easy to communicate with as their own doctor. However, 36% said that attending a trainee was their only chance of seeing a doctor on the day preferred, and 47% did not feel fully informed about the trainee system. The data was analyzed with respect to sex, age, and disease related factors, and only minor differences were found. The survey shows that Danish patients were very positive about the GP trainee system, especially compared to previous investigations from other countries. However patients were not sufficiently informed about the aim and contents of the trainee system.

This paper describes the development and structure of a pilot programme of professional development for new graduates initiated by the New Zealand Dental Association, the Dental Council of New Zealand, and the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Otago. The programme consisted of a series of monthly evening seminars, co-ordinated by a facilitator, and led by experienced practitioners. Initially provided in Auckland, the programme subsequently extended to Wellington, Christchurch, and Waikato-Bay of Plenty. The award of a New Zealand Dental Association Travelling Fellowship enabled the author to observe the United Kingdom Vocational Training Scheme, and attendance at the 1994 meeting of the Fédération Dentaire Internationale provided opportunity to study systems used in other countries. The pilot programme has now been replaced by the ongoing Graduate Professional Development Programme Dentistry, a programme which extends beyond the recent graduate, but remaining based on the concepts developed in the pilot programme.

Background and Objectives: The collapse of the Communist regime has required many newly independent countries to reform their health care systems. This article presents the unique experience of Estonia's development of family practice training and the introduction of this specialty to the existing health care system. Family practice training programs began in 1991 and include several pathways to certification in family practice. For physicians currently working as district doctors, pediatricians, gynecologists, or emergency doctors, there is the possibility of part-time retraining while continuing their work as primary care physicians. For new graduates of the medical school, there is an internship and residency in family practice or the option of part-time or in-service vocational training while maintaining u clinical practice. An important aim of the program is to develop the identity of family physicians. The success and the failures of the Estonian experience in launching this project may be useful to other countries facing health care reform.

National skill formation strategies based on competency standards are a recent feature of the Anglo-American economies. These strategies reflect a response to the widespread evidence of market failure in training in these economies. This article explores the similarities and important differences in standards frameworks between Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. © 1995, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

This article argues for an interactive model of competence (Hodkinson, 1992) as a basis for the development and use of competence statements in the context of an initial qualification for lecturers in post-compulsory education and training (PCET). It does this by contrasting competences framed in relatively general terms as used by the author in such a context with those standards established by the Training and Development Lead Body which are increasingly influencing such programmes. It concludes that tutors in such programmes should seek to explore the potential for developing competence statements which, while relating to the occupational role, do not attempt to prescribe its features in precise terms, but rather give space for a dialogue between tutor and learners as to how it is best to interpret the many facets of the lecturer role. © 1995, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

A pilot scheme for a second year of vocational training started in January 1994 in the West Midlands region. The position involved working part time as an associate dental surgeon in an approved general dental practice and part time as a house officer rotating around the various departments at the Birmingham Dental Hospital. Throughout the year there were 15 days termed 'study days' when lectures and courses on topics requested by those involved were arranged. At the end of the year those involved in the scheme were eligible to take the DGDP examination. This paper outlines my own thoughts of the year. © 1995 Nature Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Educators and policymakers in the United States and other Western countries have been reluctant to seriously consider Japanese approaches to work-related education. Consideration and analysis, as opposed to adoption, of Japanese approaches to work-related education can contribute to a better understanding of the basis for workforce development and formulation of policy. Drawing on extensive interviews with Japanese workers and managers in a variety of Japanese companies, this article describes the basis for the relationships between education and work in Japan and policy implications for the role of employers in workforce development. © 1995, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

This article examines the changing basis of South African labour market and skill formation in the late Apartheid reform era of 1979-1993. It does so by arguing for the adoption of a macro-institutional model which focuses on the impact of both macro and micro processes on labour market formation. This is best achieved by combining the contributions of the American segmented labour market school, the British Cambridge labour market school and the more recent labour market insights emanating from the debate on post-Fordism. The article concludes by examining the extent to which Apartheid's labour market policies may constrain social and economic reconstruction in the post-Apartheid era. Affirmative Action strategies and post-Fordist macro-economic policies are specifically examined. The analysis suggests that these post-Apartheid policies carry the great risk of increasing rather than diluting racially discriminatory labour market segmentation. © 1995, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.