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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 book addresses what is, perhaps, the single most important issue for vocational education; its relatively low standing in an era of high aspiration. The work explores the nature, extent and consequences for an educational sector that whilst having an increasingly important role in contemporary societies is seen to be of low standing across both countries with developed and developing economies. Some of the standing is associated with the occupation it serves and this is highlighted in an era of high aspiration by young people and their parents. The consequences are far-reaching. This includes how governments and community view and support vocational education, parents and familiars advise about participation in it and young people's decision-making associated with their post-school pathways.

More than describing this problem, the focus of this collection is how this issue can be redressed through the actions of supra-government agencies, governments, schools in tertiary education institutions, industry and professional bodies and employers. It sets out the quality and extent of societal sentiments in shaping how vocational education and the occupation it serves are projected, across countries, continents and cultures, and offers a range of perspectives and contributions from scholars on how this issue might be redressed. These contributions are drawn together and synthesised into sets of propositions, practices and approaches directed towards governments, schooling and tertiary education institutions, educators, researchers, industry and professional bodies and employers.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website.

The contents are as follows: Part one, 'The standing of vocational education: perennial issues, emerging concerns and ways forward', contains the following chapters: The standing of vocational education: a global concern with diverse meanings and implications / Barbara E. Stalder, Sarojni Choy, Anh Hai Le; Enhancing the standing and status of vocational education / Stephen Billett, Steven Hodge, Vibe Aarkrog. Part two, 'Issues, sources and consequences of the standing and status of vocational education', contains: Understanding the purpose and standing of technical and vocational education and training / Susan James Relly; Improving the standing of [vocational education and training] VET: perspectives from countries with developing economies / Stephen Billett, Anh Hai Le; The standing of dual apprenticeships in Germany: institutional stability and current challenges / Thomas Deissinger; Shaping young people's decision-making about post-school pathways: institutional and personal factors / Stephen Billett, Darryl Dymock, Steven Hodge, Sarojni Choy, Anh Hai Le.

Part three, 'Country studies of the standing of vocational education and the occupations it serves', contains the following chapters: Alternance training as a way to improve the attractivity of vocational education programmes in France / Laurent Veillard; Promoting the standing of VET in Finland: balancing the different aims of VET / Heta Rintala, Petri Nokelainen; Attractiveness of vocational education and training in India: perspectives of different actors with a special focus on employers / Matthias Pilz, Muthuveeran Ramasamy; The quality and status of school-based Norwegian VET / Hilde Hiim; Perspectives on informing post-school pathways: a Vietnamese case study / Anh Hai Le; Enhancing the standing of VET in Switzerland / Barbara E. Stalder, Fabienne Luthi; The significance of learning environment and decision-making for enrolment in and completion of VET: a Danish case / Vibe Aarkrog; Elevating the standing of vocational education and training in Romania / Maria-Carmen Pantea.

Part four, 'Enhancing the standing and status of vocational education: an Australian study', contains the following chapters: Investigating enhancing the standing of vocational education and the occupation it serves: purposes, processes and phases / Stephen Billett, Sarojni Choy, Steven Hodge, Anh Hai Le; Influences on post-school decision-making: perspectives of school students, parents, teachers (phase 1); Steven Hodge, Stephen Billett, Sarojni Choy; Surveys of students, parents and teachers (phase 2) / Sarojni Choy, Anh Hai Le, Steven Hodge, Stephen Billett; Informing and advising the zones of influence shaping young people's decision-making about post-school pathways (phase 3) / Stephen Billett, Darryl Dymock, Sarojni Choy, Steven Hodge, Anh Hai Le.

Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 148.657 to TD/TNC 148.674. Show less

There is a growing global concern about providing effective continuing education and training (CET) to support and sustain the employability of working-age populations. More than enhancing workplace viability and employability, CET also assists in achieving governments' economic and social goals. Educational institutions organise CET provisions based on intended goals, resources, capacities, and institutional imperatives. However, working-age adults' effective engagement and worthwhile outcomes are likely to be strongest when what is afforded them is aligned with their goals, needs and readiness to participate. Thus, what constitutes effective CET provisions can be best understood by appraising them through how they secure individuals' engagement and meet their needs.

Drawing on an investigation of CET provisions in Singapore, this paper seeks to illuminate and appraise what constitutes qualities of effective CET provisions in relation to addressing issues of relevance, accessibility and quality of engagement with educational experiences. Through analyses of interview and survey data, the motivations for informants' CET participation, their preferences and requirements for effective engagement in CET including desirable qualities of teachers were identified and delineated. Given that adults elect to participate in CET to achieve personal and professional outcomes, the findings provide bases for designing, enacting and evaluating effective CET programmes.

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The purposes and implementation of adults' lifelong education (LLE) has been shaped by two imperatives: i) neoliberal reforms and ii) focuses on employability and economic outcomes. This has led to LLE taking similar pathways across many countries, i.e., away from a focus on personal and cultural betterment, to one associated with promoting individual employability. However, policies and practices in Japan offers a nuanced contrast to the general trend. That is, the overall focus on LLE, particularly for older Japanese is premised on social engagement, personal enrichment and often captured in 'social education'. There is also a focus on sustaining the adult employability, including the re-employment of retirees, in structured ways and tailored to meet their needs and enacted at the local level.

This paper reviews the manifestations of LLE in Japan to examine how its goals and educational provisions are being developed, enacted, engaged with and evaluated. Overall, it is suggested that Japan has not wholly embraced the tight economic focus on promoting and supporting LLE associated with employability imperatives. Perhaps through the electoral power of the aged population, the provision of educational experiences is focused on longevity, cultural betterment, further education and reducing the social isolation of older Japanese.

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Understanding how best to assist mature-aged workers (i.e. those over 45) maintain their employability across extended working lives, and what workplaces, educational institutions and government agencies can do to sustain that employability, is now central to many countries’ national social and economic goals. In most countries with advanced industrial economies and those aspiring to develop such economies, mature age workers are now likely to need to engage in longer productive working lives and, potentially, engage increasingly in more demanding kinds of employment such as professional, managerial, executive, and technical work. As a case study, this paper discusses interviews with mature-aged Singaporean workers, some of whom are also employers, about how sustaining their employability should be realized. First, it describes something of the current circumstances (i.e. constraints and opportunities) for workers aged over 45 in Singapore through accounts of their experiences in workplaces and educational institutions. Second, it advances views that can inform policies and practices to improve workplace practices and also the provision of lifelong learning (e.g. [continuing education and training] CET) in both Singaporean workplaces and educational institutions. In all, it argues that both workplace and educational provisions need to support mature age workers in ways that are commensurate with their skills, confidence, and capacities to progress. Yet, beyond what workplaces and educational institutions can provide, the active and pro-active (i.e. agentic) engagement of these mature aged workers is also essential.

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A key concern for Singapore and a focus for current government policy is maintaining the lifelong employability and productivity of its workforce. An important element of this national policy agenda is the employability of the increasing portion of the workforce aged over 45 years (i.e. mature-age workers). The research project reported here aims to understand more about how best to assist mature-age workers maintain their employability across working life and what Singaporean workplaces and government agencies might do to maintain their employability. The project comprises three components: (1) an analysis of relevant literature; (2) conducting interviews with mature-age workers, some of whom are also employers; and (3) administering a survey to verify and extend ideas advanced in the literature review and interviews. From the findings, it is proposed that to sustain lifelong employability across Singapore's working population, government policies and community practice comprising the following are required: flexible [continuing education and training] CET provisions that articulate into high-level and highly regarded qualifications; workplaces fully utilising and further developing mature-age employees' capacities, including their contributions to others' learning; CET providers effectively engaging Singapore's growing mature-age population through flexible curriculum and pedagogic practices and by providing highly regarded certification; mature-age workers effectively directing their engagement in CET, and investing time and resources in sustaining their lifelong employability; a national charter to ensure workplaces, CETs and workers all fulfil their commitment for Singapore to excel as a community that values and supports lifelong employability; guidance and support to assist and advise mature-age workers, particularly women, in making appropriate CET choices, and in maintaining their sense of self as workers and learners; and clearly articulated education and qualification pathways across the tertiary and higher educational sectors.

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The responsibility for providing [a] conducive environment for forest management primarily rests with [the] Forest Department (FD). Due to the changing nature of forest management practices and policies and also pressures of global/national/local forces, there is a constant need to cope with the changes in order to keep abreast with the development that takes place rapidly. In view of the National Training Policy, the FD is duly engaged in developing their own human resources by sending forest officers for different training/management development programs. In spite of the newly emerging training scenario in the field of forestry, trainers of different institutions are observing that forest officers are not giving due importance to attending the training. In view of [the] above, the need for a systematic study to find out various training perceptions of forest officers and assessment of their current training needs and wants, was realised. Results indicated that there is a need for incorporation of [a] participatory approach in the training process, which should include all the three stakeholders, namely the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), state forest departments and the forest officers. Besides, the synchronisation of [the] broader mandate of MOEF with state forest departments and the forest officers' training needs is also required in this regard.

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Elaborating the relations amongst workers' learning, innovations and well-being is essential for achieving two important and dual goals in contemporary work life. The first is individuals' ongoing learning that underpins their employability and can respond to new challenges and emerging occupational and workplace requirements. The second comprises workers' remaking and transforming workplace practices, processes and outcomes (i.e., workplace innovations) in response to these challenges, and through them sustaining workplaces' productivity and viability. These dual processes of individuals' learning and remaking of practice co-occur and warrant understanding and supporting and promoting to exercise them optimally in achieving these dual goals. We aim to illuminate and elaborate these dual learning and innovations from the results of two studies of small to medium size Singaporean enterprises using interviews and observations. Framed by considerations from cultural psychology, work practice and well-being theorising, the dualities of workplace affordances (i.e., opportunities provided by workplaces) and individual engagement (i.e., how workers elect to engage and learn from these opportunities) are used to propose how workers' worklife learning and workplace innovations can arise reciprocally. In conclusion, sets of curriculum and pedagogic practices that can be exercised in work settings are advanced.

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Purpose: Employers often claim that the lack of employee competence is a limitation in their enterprises' success and viability. Consequently, employers are important stakeholders in considerations for workforce continuing education and training (CET) policies and practices. Hence, the authors undertook an exploratory investigation to understand how employers perceive provisions of CET offered through tertiary education institutions and how they might be improved. Design/methodology/approach: Overall, 40 employers from a range of industry sectors in Singapore were surveyed and interviewed about effective CET for their employees.

Findings: These employers reported preferring one-on-one training in the workplace and being willing to invest in their employees' training so long employees remained committed to their companies. They value online education, but prefer that it is combined with workplace or face-to-face learning experiences. They proposed effective CET trainers as those with relevant industry knowledge and teaching skills and effective CET learners as those who were self-motivated, goal oriented and open-minded. Originality/value: A study of such nature that focusses on the perspectives of employers, as opposed to employees and educators, has not been undertaken before in Singapore. Given Singapore's increasing emphasis on lifelong learning and the workplace as a vital site for that learning, the lessons learnt here transcend national boundaries and may serve as a useful reference for other countries that seek to provide inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all.

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Nation states need effective, accessible, and broadly engaged provisions of continuing education and training (CET) to develop the capacities of their working-age populations. Understanding what constitutes accessible and effective CET provisions, is needed to enable informed decision-making about realising governmental goals of securing a skilled, employable, and adaptive workforce. To understand what comprises that efficacy, it is necessary to capture, analyse, and reconcile the perspectives of stakeholders including government agencies, education institutions, CET educators and, most importantly, working-age adults. Reconciliation of these perspectives is essential for establishing what constitutes an effective CET ecosystem, including what kinds of CET provisions can best meet the needs of working-age Singaporeans and their workplaces.

Drawing on an investigation of CET provisions in the island nation, this paper seeks to illuminate and advance how CET provisions might be enacted through an ecosystem perspective to promote employability.

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