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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the assessment practices reported by Canadian educators and workplace supervisors involved in exemplary work-based education (WBE) programs for high-school students. Design/methodology/approach Six focus groups were conducted, four with teachers and coordinators and two with workplace supervisors from exemplary WBE programs, to identify the features of these exemplary programs that prepare adolescents to participate in WBE, that prepare workplace supervisors to mentor WBE students, and that characterize the day-to-day interactions in the workplace through which adolescents learn. Surprisingly, in the absence of any questions directly focused on assessment, participants spoke at length and with passion about the purpose and nature of assessment in their outstanding WBE programs. Findings Analyses of these interviews revealed six themes that describe the range of assessment practices associated with these three features of exemplary programs: identification of student interests and abilities; student self-assessment; communication of expectations and responsibilities; contextualized assessment; collaboration between school and workplace; and connections between assessment and instruction. Originality/value The findings highlight practical assessment procedures, for teachers and workplace supervisors, which facilitate the meaningful participation and learning of students in WBE programs and of workers in the workplace. © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

One of the aims of Educational Guidance is social development and learning in Sec-ondary Education students who are in multicultural contexts. An increase in socioemotional competencies is promoted through Guidance program interventions. The Guidance Program for Socioemotional Competencies (in Spanish, POCOSE) not only improves students' learn-ing process and academic performance, it also favors their integration socially and at school, thus exercising a preventive function against future school failure and other risk factors, such as absenteeism, school dropout, or violence (bullying). The broad cultural diversity which characterizes our Educational System requires identification of socioemotional competencies that are positively related to optimal learning and better socio-educational adjustment of secondary students who are in multicultural con-texts, as well as identifying existing cultural differences in the process of teaching and learning these competencies. There is also a need for scientifically-validated programs for guidance and training in socio-emotional competencies, since these are an appropriate way to improve learning and socio-educational adjustment of Secondary Education students. © 2007 Universidad de Almeria.

As many, perhaps most, high-school students engage in paid part-time employment, there is available in any Australian senior school classroom a range of work experiences that can be used to assist students to consider and reflect on working life and post-school pathways. Furthermore, these experiences are more readily available and authentic than those provided through school-organised work experience programmes. In order to understand the effectiveness of such experiences, students and teachers in six schools across two Australian states participated in processes of guided reflection on these experiences. Consistently, across cohorts of students in all of these schools, the authentic workplace experiences of paid part-time work were identified as assisting in securing a range of educational purposes associated with students' learning about work, the world of work and post-school options and pathways. Key variables in the likely success of this initiative were the facilitative capacity of teachers, their knowledge and valuing of working life outside schools and students' capacities and readiness to engage in reflection on their paid work.

Soon after the collapse of Apartheid, the new government in South Africa set about restructuring the educational system, which was previously segregated by race, class and language. This paper argues that the deracialisation and integration of schools in South Africa has been difficult to achieve and as a process, uneven in different parts of the country and in types of schools. The paper reports on a study conducted in the Limpopo province of South Africa (formerly, Northern Transvaal), which explores the extent to which schools that formally catered exclusively for the white Afrikaans-speaking community are deracialising and laying the foundations for a new democratic citizenship. It shows that some schools have merely complied with provisions under the constitution that access may not be denied on the grounds of race, status or religion and have created parallel learning streams so that there are virtually two schools within one institution-one 'school' that teaches the curriculum in English to predominantly black students and the other, that teaches virtually the same curriculum to almost exclusively white Afrikaans-speaking students. In other cases, where linguistic and cultural integration appear to have been achieved, the study shows that such 'integration' amounts to little more than assimilation and accommodation and that the true challenge of turning diversity into a productive resource remains. © 2006.

Enrollment at America's community colleges has exploded in recent years, with five times as many entering students today as in 1965. However, most community college students do not graduate; many earn no credits and may leave school with no more advantages in the labor market than if they had never attended. Experts disagree over the reason for community colleges' mixed record. Is it that the students in these schools are under-prepared and ill-equipped for the academic rigors of college? Are the colleges themselves not adapting to keep up with the needs of the new kinds of students they are enrolling? In After Admission, James Rosenbaum, Regina Deil-Amen, and Ann Person weigh in on this debate with a close look at this important trend in American higher education. After Admission compares community colleges with private occupational colleges that offer accredited associates degrees. The authors examine how these different types of institutions reach out to students, teach them social and cultural skills valued in the labor market, and encourage them to complete a degree. Rosenbaum, Deil-Amen, and Person find that community colleges are suffering from a kind of identity crisis as they face the inherent complexities of guiding their students towards four-year colleges or to providing them with vocational skills to support a move directly into the labor market. This confusion creates administrative difficulties and problems allocating resources. However, these contradictions do not have to pose problems for students. After Admission shows that when colleges present students with clear pathways, students can effectively navigate the system in a way that fits their needs. The occupational colleges the authors studied employed close monitoring of student progress, regular meetings with advisors and peer cohorts, and structured plans for helping students meet career goals in a timely fashion. These procedures helped keep students on track and, the authors suggest, could have the same effect if implemented at community colleges. As college access grows in America, institutions must adapt to meet the needs of a new generation of students. After Admission highlights organizational innovations that can help guide students more effectively through higher education. Copyright © 2006 by Russell Sage Foundation. All rights reserved.

This study aims to develop and evaluate competency-based web learning material (CBWLM). The study investigates students' learning effect and measures SDLA before, during and after implementing CBWL for eight weeks to probe the effects of CBWL on SDLA, and discuss variation and changes of SDLAs in the three different stages for CBWL among the students. The sample of this study consists of 38 students from "Microprosessor Laboratory", a sophomore course at a college. The study results reveal that CBWL does not have significant influence on the students' overall SDLA, but enhances their "Fondness for Learning" factor in SDLA. Moveover, SDLAs of the mid-CBWL and post-CBWL do not influence learning effects. Recommendations proposed by the study: Developing more units of CBWLM and extending the duration of CBWL; Post-test of SDLA.is implemented on the current day or several days before CBWL is finished. © 2006 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

In addition to dental hospital clinical activity, dental students at Paris Rene Descartes University have the opportunity in their final year of study to practise clinically in a dental office, as associates. This paper outlines a pilot, experimental study designed to assess student reaction to this Vocational Clinical Activity (VCA) in order to identify relevant weaknesses of the undergraduate programme. Using questionnaires, data were collected for each of the following clinical or management skills: clinical difficulty, therapeutic decision-making, patient/ practitioner relationship, time management, administrative matters and technical problems. students were asked to rank each item in order of difficulty (1, high level to 6, low level). A high response rate was observed (90%) among the 50 undergraduate VCA students. The results pointed out three main difficulties encountered by undergraduate students during the VCA: time management (90% of the students), administrative matters (85% of the students) and clinical decision-making (80% of the students). These preliminary results need further investigation. However, they give us the incentive to carry on with this type of assessment and to extend it to young, qualified colleagues' perceptions and to other French Universities. © Blackwell Munksgaard 2006.

Background. Undertaking term-time employment is increasingly commonplace for university students. Much research suggests that combining 'earning and learning' may be detrimental to university life, generating role conflicts, increasing stress and reducing academic success, participation and overall adjustment to university. Potential positive effects of term-time employment on well-being are often neglected. Aims. This study adopted a balanced perspective, investigating the relationship between role congruence in academic, social and career domains and adjustment, with state and trait psychological factors as mediators/moderators. Methods. A questionnaire measuring perceived role congruence, adjustment to university life and psychological state and trait characteristics was mailed to all undergraduates at a Scottish university during term-time. Sample. Results for a subsample of 625 university students currently in term-time employment were included in this paper. Results. Findings suggested that students generally perceived employment and university roles to be in balance, and there was no difference in adjustment for students whether currently in term-time employment or not. However, psychological factors, particularly positive affectivity and stress were important mediators of the relationship between role congruence and adjustment. Conclusions. Since promoting role congruence may enhance students' adjustment and well-being, the study has implications for universities, student welfare organizations and employers offering term-time employment. © 2006 The British Psychological Society.

The development of concepts of social inequity and the understanding of occupational prestige is a significant aspect of children's and adolescents' economic socialization. This socially transmitted knowledge base is subject to values and norms of the socializing institutions (family, school). It is argued that the perception and judgment of occupational prestige are in part shaped by the social position of the perceiver. The empirical section of this article presents prestige judgments of East and West Berlin adolescents from lower and middle social backgrounds. In line with hypotheses, judgments significantly differ from measures obtained by cross-societal aggregation and vary with different social origin. © 2006 by Verlag Hans Huber, Hogrefe AG.

The development of hospitality and tourism education in Taiwan in the past two decades brought forth various off-school internship systems to meet the needs of educational and business fields. This paper, with methods of literature review, interview, and pragmatic investigation, researched tourism-related students' work performances under different off-school internship systems. The data gathered and analyzed came from interviews and questionnaires with directors of Personnel, Room Service, and Food and Beverage Departments from select international tourist hotels with tourism-related off-school intern programs in Taiwan. The results showed, in correlated recognition of hospitality and tourism education and off-school internship, no matter what the degree of emphasis or satisfaction was, business directors placed higher appraisals on off-school internship systems of Employment Link Intern Program, Old Sandwich Intern Program, and New Sandwich Intern Program. In regard to work performances, interns did better in aspects of interpersonal relationship, work adjustment, service concepts, and interest for learning, while worse in aspects of foreign language proficiency and customer complaint management. In regard to off-school internship systems, interns of Sandwich Intern Programs (both Old and New) performed better than those of other systems. To be specific, interns of New Sandwich Intern Program fared the best, with those of Old Sandwich Intern Program being second, and those of Vocational Intern Program the third. Copyright © by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.