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As greater numbers of vocational teachers are asked to integrate academic skills into their vocational education subject areas, consideration must be given to the preparation these teachers need as they assume this new teaching role. This research addressed the above concern by focusing on the coursework vocational education teachers complete during their teacher preparation studies. Show less

This chapter discusses the changing and emerging characteristics of work, work practice and work requirements, and their consequences for vocational education. Changing patterns in work and working life are proposed as comprising: (1) the kind of work available; (ii) how individuals participate in work; (iii) what constitutes competence within that work; and (iv) those participating in work. The consequences for vocational education are systemic in terms of the kinds of occupations that need to be developed, variations in and complexity of work requirements, shifts in employer/employee relations, and the demographic shifts in those who will need to be supported by vocational education. The chapter examines these patterns of change to work and working life, and discusses policy and curriculum practice associated with each. Overall, it argues that the changes to work make it more demanding, and the frequency of change in work and how work is carried out demands careful, comprehensive and targeted preparation and on-going development. Moreover, with broader participation in the work force and longer working lives, the arrangement for this preparation and on-going development will need to be targeted, differentiated and sustained.

Published introduction.

The book from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 100.51. Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 100.52 to TD/TNC 100.244. Show less

A complex set of relational factors shape adult students' transition to higher education. Through accounts provided by adult vocational education students, a set of related interdependencies between what the university and other forms of support (e.g. family, friends) afforded these students and their agency, capacities and engagement were identified as shaping their transition to higher education. Bases for these students' engagement in their studies were found in their intentions and previous experiences that together shaped how they construed what is afforded by the university and other sources of support. Consequently, beyond what universities provide to support these transitions, considerations for promoting successful student transition into higher education necessarily require accounting for students' experiences, access to different kinds of support outside the university and their previous experiences. Therefore, rather than proposing general prescriptions about what universities need to do to promote successful transitions, [these] complex factors likely [play] out in quite person-particular ways. All of this reinforces the view that successful transitions to higher education are quite individual processes, and not just wholly dependent upon what educational institutions provide, and those affordances need to be [informed] by and aligned with different kinds of student needs.

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This paper discusses theorising and empirical work which proposes that the dispositions underpinning cognitive activity need to become more central to deliberations about how individuals think about and engage in skilful vocational practice. Such activity has consequences for how and what is learnt, as well as individuals’ ongoing development. Having reviewed ideas about the dispositional underpinnings of skilful knowledge, the paper reports a study examining how individuals construct knowledge associated with their vocational practice. This study provides tentative findings about the source of dispositions and their role in vocational activity. The paper concludes by advancing some implications for instruction. Show less

This study focused on the development and preliminary validation of a framework for effective vocational education programs serving students with special needs. The results suggest that overall the framework has broad utility based on the information sources used herein to verify and refine its content. Eight components, outlined in the document, emerged as the core structure for the programs and services that serve special population students effectively. Show less

There are growing expectations that tertiary education graduates will be ready for working life, that is, possessing the capacities to participate effectively in an occupational practice in a specific work situation. Yet, graduates are often unprepared to fulfil this expectation. In response, tertiary education increasingly includes workplace experiences (i.e., practicums, internships, and work placements). It is necessary to understand these experiences' efficacy and their optimisation to promote work-life readiness. Drawing on students' experiences of internships, this paper discusses what constitutes the value of internships in post-secondary diploma courses in Singapore.

A quantitative analysis of interview data identified the contributions afforded through these experiences in workplaces - students' intentional engagement, and their readiness for working life. Central here is how these contributions promote the development of the adaptability required for effective participation in contemporary working life. The analysis identifies challenges including students' adapting to new work environments, navigating workplace practices, and developing occupational capacities. Workplace supervisors' and host educational institutions' support suggests interns' adaptability can be enhanced by promoting the relations between the support they received, on the one hand, and their engagement with challenges during internships, on the other. These findings offer an understanding about the experiences and outcomes of interns' learning through workplaces and offer implications for supporting and augmenting transitions into working life.

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This issue of ‘Centerfocus’ argues that arts education, encompassing dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts, should be included in the vocational curriculum in secondary school. The authors suggest that study of the arts in addition to skills training is a valuable strategy for educating young people for further study and work. The paper documents the relationship between vocational education and arts education over the course of the 20th century. The discussion then examines the relationship between the changing employee characteristics required of the emerging economy of the new century and the implications of these changes for better collaboration between vocational and arts education. In conclusion, the authors look at circumstances favouring cooperation between vocational and arts education teachers, and recommend strategies to facilitate this relationship. Show less

The origins and focuses of adult education across Western countries are often about meeting adults' needs, and for purposes they have nominated, not those compelled by others. Unlike other sectors (e.g. schools, vocational colleges and universities) that were mainly initiated and sustained by church or state, adult education has long been grounded in communities and provided through hybrid institutions. Across Western countries, the term 'movement', is often associated with adult education's origins, and it is sometimes regarded as a 'fourth sector' of education, apart from schools, vocational education and training and university studies. In recent times, the concept has expanded and diversified, however, making it more amorphous and less distinctive as an educational 'sector'. Nevertheless, one of the continuing features of 'adult education' has been its concern for adults' learning needs and preferences.

This paper proposes that the formation and continuity of adult education have been based particularly on three key premises: (i) meeting adults' specific but heterogeneous learning needs; (ii) educational purposes and purposes being understood in the local context; and (iii) the enactment of adult education being shaped by local considerations. Furthermore, the values underpinning 'traditional' adult education have not only been sustained in what is now more commonly known as Adult and Community Education (ACE) but have expanded into other educational contexts. Informed by considerations of selected research projects the authors have been involved with in recent years, this paper identifies how the three premises have emerged as features of other educational provisions for adults.

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Successful implementation of work-related education reforms requires that educators understand both reform principles and the ways in which work-based and school-based learning can be used to enhance curriculum and instruction. This document contains four educational briefs and five case studies, and describes innovative teacher education and professional development programs that support school-to-work and related reforms. A product of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education's (NCRVE's) Teacher Education Initiative, these studies are based on a national search for promising professional development programs, interviews, case studies, and literature reviews. The educational briefs are as follows: Changing work, changing learning: the imperative for teacher learning in workplaces and communities / L. Allen Phelps; Innovative professional development opportunities: key elements for successful development / Victor Hernandez-Gantes; Educator internship programs: providing a quality learning experience / Thomas Sargent and Judy Ettinger; The use of professional development schools to inform educators about the school-to-work initiative / Christine Maidl Pribbenow. The case studies are: Professional development in support of school-to-work: Jackson-Hillsdale Counties, Michigan / Christine Maidl Pribbenow and Thomas Sargent; Montpelier High School: restructuring the educational experience: Montpelier, Vermont / Christine Maidl Pribbenow and Thomas Sargent; Bringing the world into the classroom: business-education compact: Portland, Oregon / Christine Maidl Pribbenow and Thomas Sargent; The advanced technology environmental education center: a global effort: Bettendorf, Iowa / Thomas Sargent, Christine Maidl Pribbenow and Francisco Castelan; Building and sustaining a commitment to improving learning through staff development: the Miami-Dade Community College journey: Miami, Florida / George H. Copa. Show less

This review and synthesis of research in business and office education is based on doctoral dissertations and some independent studies completed between 1968 and 1980. Approximately 1200 studies are reviewed. It has been organised according to the major content areas comprising business and office education such as: accounting/bookkeeping; basic business/economics; business communications; business data processing; business math; shorthand; and typewriting and word processing. Research related to the philosophy and general objectives of business education, the educational environment of business programs, and the social and business environment affecting business education is reviewed in separate sections. Career education, and student professional organisations are also treated separately. All content areas are broken down into various sub-areas, such as objectives, curriculum, technology, teaching methods, and evaluation. A comprehensive bibliography of the studies reviewed is included. Show less