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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

Building on the assumption that the most important skill for the future is the ability to think, an initial framework for an intellectual processes curriculum theory has been described. While it is acknowledged that the curricular framework is incomplete, it is hoped that a critical examination and elaboration of the framework will be undertaken by technology educators. Many of the programs described in recent issues of 'The technology teacher' and 'TIES magazine' contain aspects of the proposed intellectual processes curriculum and should serve as a testing ground for further refinements of this initial framework. Show less

The author asserts that the conclusion that community colleges provide their graduates with no economic advantage is quite clearly incorrect. Associate degrees, as well as certificates among women (but not men), provide substantial long-term increases in earnings above those that high school graduates receive - increases that result from enhancing access to professional and managerial occupations and to careers with stable employment, on-the-job training and upward mobility. However, some individuals fail to benefit - those who fail to complete courses, those who enter low-paid occupations, and those who fail to find related employment. The implications of these conclusions for community college and technical institute administrators are discussed. Show less

In the United States of America (USA), the school-to-work transition process is often a difficult one for many young people and policy makers have responded to this situation by designing school-to-work systems. Community, junior, and technical colleges have increased the number and range of such programs on offer, supported by a wide variety of cooperative arrangements with organisations in the community. This issue of 'Centerfocus' describes school-to-work programs in two-year colleges which include co-op or work experience, traditional apprenticeship programs, and career counselling and job placement services. The discussion is based on findings from the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) study ‘Research on school-to-work transition programs in the United States’, by David Stern et al. (see TD/TNC 62.309). Show less

This article, reprinted from the May 1990 issue of the ‘Vocational education journal’, v. 65, no. 4, pp. 22-24, looks at the difficulties faced by beginning vocational teachers in schools in the United States. The authors conclude that most of the beginning teacher’s problems come from three sources: the school system itself, the students, and each teacher’s internal struggle. The article briefly outlines these problem areas, and makes suggestions for ways in which vocational administrators can make the life of a beginning vocational teacher easier. Show less

This study reports on the post-school attainment effects of offering courses in typing and keyboarding as part of general education. The analysis was designed to develop models to analyse the effects of keyboarding on employment, earnings, further educational attainment and related data from the federal government's High School and Beyond data set. Results indicate significant positive ramifications on all aspects cited above. Show less

This article was published in the Summer 1991 issue of the ‘Journal of industrial teacher education’, v. 28, no. 4, pp. 7-21. It discusses an investigation which considered the question of effective leadership in vocational education administrators, in view of the need for good leaders in times of change such as the present unstable situation of vocational education in the United States. The study looked at: the criteria used by vocational instructors when judging the leadership effectiveness of their administrators; whether the gender of the instructor related to the criteria; and, whether the educational level at which the instructor practiced (secondary or postsecondary) related to the criteria. Show less

This article first appeared in the July 1991 issue of ‘Performance improvement quarterly’, v. 3, no. 4, p. 42-62. The purpose of this study was to identify the personality traits associated with excellent trainers, as little information exists regarding the psychological and personal makeup of excellent private sector trainers. Four major points were made by the managers from 500 large companies, who were asked to describe the best trainer in their organisation. Show less

During the 1990s, work-based learning, or a planned program of work experience linked to school, emerged as a significant element of school reform in the United States of America (USA). This issue of 'Centerfocus' investigates the characteristics of workplaces as learning environments and discusses the implications for policy and practice. The discussion is based on research undertaken by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) and RAND, into understanding learning at work in three programs, a transportation career academy, a school-based enterprise, and a medical magnet high school. Show less

This issue of ‘Centerfocus’ synthesises the findings of the report entitled ‘Making sense of industry-based skill standards’ by Thomas Bailey and Donna Merritt, published in 1995 and indexed at TD/INT 57.244. In the United States of America (USA), there is general belief that developing a national system of standards will contribute to the nation’s economic success. It is suggested by its advocates that such a system will facilitate flexibility and portability of workers’ skills across occupations, industries and geographic areas, and will assist in matching schooling with workplace needs more accurately. In this paper, the author outlines two models of skill-standards development and skill certification - the professional model and the skill-components model. The models were developed on the results of an analysis of the skill standards movement and 22 Department of Labor and Education pilot projects for developing skill standards for a number of industries in the USA. Show less