Search Results

Policymakers, higher education associations, blue-ribbon commissions, and researchers are calling for a greater focus on institutional accountability. Thus, the American Association of Community Colleges and the Association of Community College Trustees, in partnership with the College Board, have launched an effort to develop a Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA) for Community Colleges to ensure that the effectiveness and contributions of these colleges are properly measured. To facilitate the development of the VFA, the College Board commissioned the Community College Research Center (CCRC) to undertake a study that would identify the performance measures that states are already using for their community colleges, explore how well those measures articulate with the data demanded by [Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System] IPEDS and the regional accrediting associations, and shed light on the experiences of state higher education officials and local community college leaders with the collection and use of state performance data. CCRC researchers therefore conducted a survey of state higher education officials and local community college leaders in 10 states and also reviewed publications by state agencies and national higher education policy organizations. This report discusses the study's findings and implications.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This report from the Eurostat technical group on measuring skills provides a thorough and critical review of data sources in this domain, both within and outside the European Statistical System (ESS), in a European context. It starts by introducing the concept of skills as an aspect of human capital and describes the main approaches to capturing skills in data: indirect measurement (mainly through qualifications and occupations), direct measurement (testing and job vacancy data) and self reporting. It then sets the scene for the policy discussion, explores policy makers' main requirements as regards the development of statistics on skills and reviews the statistical data sources for measuring skills within the four dimensions identified: skills supply, skills demand, skills mismatch and skills development. Gaps in the data on skills are discussed in the last section.

Published abstract. Show less

In 'English Apprenticeships: our 2020 Vision' [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 122.1166] the government set out its ambition to increase the quality and quantity of apprenticeships through a transformational programme of change. By delivering benefits for individuals, businesses and the economy, the Apprenticeship Reform Programme (the Programme) will also help address growing skills shortages: by ensuring significant numbers of higher quality apprenticeships that meet employers' needs. This paper defines the objectives the Programme will seek to achieve. It articulates our approach to benefits realisation and defines success for the Programme, proposing a range of high level indicators which will capture positive outcomes for stakeholders.

Excerpt from publication.

The benefits realisation quarterly reports detail: (1) update on growth; (2) starts from black, asian and minority ethnic groups; (3) learning disabilities; (4) Disadvantaged; and (5) future reporting. The annual progress reports present updates on targets including those relating to: (1) apprenticeship starts; (2) widening participation; and (3) public sector apprenticeships. Show less

It is well-known that the quality of vocational education and training (VET) depends on how well a given programme aligns with the values and interests of its stakeholders, but it is less well-known what these values and interests are and to what extent they are shared across different groups of stakeholders. [The authors] use vignettes to quantify the values that four groups of stakeholders assign to nine attributes relating to VET quality. The four stakeholders are students, teachers, workplace training supervisors, and policymakers. The nine attributes are employers' appreciation of students, graduation rate, obtained language skills of students, mentoring hours in workplace learning, challenge, structure, students' appreciation of teachers, schooling hours, and attention to civic education. Five hundred thirty-one Dutch respondents were repeatedly asked to rank a set of four hypothetical programmes, each with a specific value on the nine quality indicators. Through conjoint analysis [the authors] obtain the values that the stakeholders assigned to the nine attributes when evaluating the quality of VET programmes. The values assigned to the attributes 'a challenging curriculum' and 'employers' satisfaction' were similar across the four groups of stakeholders, yet the values assigned to the remaining attributes differed substantially across stakeholders. This illustrates the diversity in values and interests of different stakeholders, and points to a need to quantify these values, for use by both the Dutch government and VET colleges, to improve the overall quality of education and the match between vocational programmes and their stakeholders.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This study aimed to investigate the construction management graduates soft skills required by the Malaysian Construction Industry in performing the entry-level construction managers' role and task. A questionnaire survey method/design using a 5 Likert scale was employed for data collection process. The research instrument adopted 33 items from soft skills development model developed by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia to measure industry requirement in seven different dimensions and questionnaire items were analyzed using the Rasch Measurement Model. A total of 72 construction practitioners represent the contractors (grade 5 to 7) in Klang Valley participating in this study. The Rasch Measurement Model was used to analyze the items and respondents' reliability, the items and respondents' separation index, the items' fit, the levels of items' agreement and the respondents' ability. The findings revealed that the items' reliability index was .75, and the respondents' reliability index was .86. Items' strata index was 2.65, which explains that there are three different levels of items' agreement in this study. Meanwhile, the respondents' strata index was 3.64, which explains that there are three tiers of respondents' requirement in this study. The results also found that two items were misfits with the Rasch Measurement Model based on the values of outfit/Infit MNSQ and the z-standardized index. Rasch Measurement Model identify most of the contractors requires construction management graduates to practice the soft skills in performing entry-level construction managers roles and tasks.

Published abstract. Show less

This report systematically reviews and evaluates studies of research and innovation (R and I) to determine criteria that might be used to measure R and I in post-secondary environments. This review applies thorough and transparent procedures to the collection and analysis of evidence from research-oriented articles obtained from a variety of academic and fugitive sources disseminated between 1985 and the present.

Excerpt from publication. Show less

This report sets out to assess the initial impact of the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis on employment in Europe (up to [quarter two] Q2 2020), including its effects across sectors and on different categories of workers. It also looks at measures implemented by policymakers in a bid to limit the negative effects of the crisis. It first provides an overview of policy approaches adopted to mitigate the impact of the crisis on businesses, workers and citizens. The main focus is on the development, content and impact of short-time working schemes, income support measures for self-employed people, hardship funds and rent and mortgage deferrals. Finally, it explores the involvement of social partners in the development and implementation of such measures and the role of European funding in supporting these schemes.

Published abstract. Show less

This is the final report from a one-year project undertaken by Matapuna Training Centre across 2018-2019 to explore the link between developing students soft skills and educational outcomes. Matapuna Trust was specifically focused on trying to establish if there was a measurable link between focusing on improving students soft skills and the Educational Performance Indicators (EPIs) used by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to measure outcomes for Youth Guarantee. The project's main purposes were: (1) to measure and evaluate the progress that students make over time in the soft skills, and at the same time, record the correlation between course achievement and students' soft skills improvement; (2) identify and describe a set of descriptors that Matapuna staff know students need to develop in order to achieve at level 1 and 2; the descriptors will be in student-friendly language and will allow students to evaluate where they are and the areas they need to develop; (3) the descriptors will allow students, and tutors to measure soft skills improvement over time and co-construct next step goals; tutors will be more informed about their students and be able to tailor their approach accordingly; and (4) management will be able to develop a method of capturing groups of students' development in soft skills over time and evidence the links between soft skill improvement and successful student achievement outcomes.

Edited excerpts from publication and publisher's website. Show less

This paper analyses the relationship between formal education and the formal employment sector in Nepal. The analysis of several individual-level surveys between 1995 and 2014 shows that completed tertiary education increases the probability to be wage-employed in the non-agricultural sector, while primary and secondary education has little relationship with wage-employment. However, primary, secondary and tertiary education all increase an extended measure of formal sector employment that accounts for company registration and size. This highlights the relevance of choosing the appropriate measure of formal sector employment. The strength of the relationship between completed primary and secondary education and formal sector employment has decreased over time. This decrease provides suggestive evidence that the relative returns to formal education in the informal sector have increased, implying that the informal employment sector provides relatively more opportunities in 2014 than 20 years earlier. The relationship between tertiary education and wage-employment has also decreased but the relationship between tertiary education and the extended measure of formal sector employment has remained stable. This might reflect the large share of tertiary educated working in government related sectors.

Published abstract. Show less

The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) commissioned the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) to undertake a study investigating the contributions of minerals operators to training. The study was commissioned to address the wide-spread belief within the mining sector that the number of apprentices and trainees is underreported. This may be due to some on-site activity being classified under industries other than mining (for example, apprentice chefs under hospitality, site remediation under horticulture). Secondly, mining companies themselves may undertake a substantial amount of training outside of the publicly funded [vocational education and training] VET system and as such, there is an absence of reliable publicly available data on the level of training being undertaken by the mining industry. The study found that the minerals sector spent just over AUD1.1 billion on training during the financial year ending 30 June 2012, equivalent to almost 5.5 per cent of total payroll. Almost 98 per cent of this training expenditure is industry-funded, with only two per cent coming from government subsidies. The approach used in this study was to undertake a survey of on-site training activity conducted by mining companies and associated contractors. Contractors included full service all-in contract miners, as well as on-site contractors (such as those providing above and below-ground extraction, accommodation, catering or construction services to mining operators) and sub-contractors. The survey captured training activity in the areas of apprentices and traineeships, nationally recognised training and study (including skill sets), structured training (including safety), and other skill development activities. Around 40 per cent of all mining operators (excluding contractors) were captured in the survey (as measured by market capitalisation). Two-thirds of iron ore operators and around 50 per cent of all coal and gold operators were captured. However, only a quarter of the remaining commodities were captured in the survey. Oil and gas operators were excluded, as were small companies whose activities were primarily involved in exploration. Throughout the report, the term 'total mining' will be used to refer to all mining operators and contractors working on site. However, the contractors' responses are not representative of the entire population of mining contractors.

Published executive summary. Show less