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Youth Education Centre is a public school in South Australia catering for at risk youth - those young people not accessing traditional schooling options and disconnected from the community. It is part of the federally funded Partnerships Outreach Education Model [POEM] initiative project identifying what works for young people who, for a variety of reasons, are not accessing traditional schooling options. The project has been extended as part of the South Australian government's Social Inclusion reference of School Retention. The hypothesis being tested is that a 'broader connectedness' between government and non-government agencies, industry, church, sporting clubs and community members provides real partnerships, and achievable, supported pathways for disconnected young people. The fabric meshing these interagency partnerships are education and training, based on learning plans, developed and shared by participating agencies.

We have developed a model that increases the retention of disconnected young people by providing positive education, training and life outcomes in partnerships with a range of agencies and strategic alliances. We have identified the critical components of our project as coordination, partnerships, processes, skilled facilitators, responding to young people and structures. Our outcomes to date have included developing a 'Virtual School', maintaining disconnected young peoples' links with education, increasing community capacity, developing very productive and strong partnerships with government and non-government agencies and industries and providing programs complementing service agency strategies. We have identified the barriers to the model as a lack of systems response for multi and cross agency collaboration; barriers to information sharing by professionals; the resource demands of disconnected youth; existing funding guidelines at a personal level and the establishment of specialised funding arrangements for agencies.

Excerpts from published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

The conference website is indexed at TD/TNC 82.161; selected available papers are indexed from TD/TNC 82.351 to TD/TNC 82.371. Show less

This report presents an overview of the higher education system in Syria. It covers: major characteristics of tertiary education in the country; types of tertiary education programmes and qualifications; distribution of responsibilities; governing bodies of the higher education institutions; financing; students' contributions and financial support; licensing, quality assurance and accreditation of institutions and/or programmes; organisation of the academic year; curriculum content; assessment, progression, certification and degree; academic staff; research activities; and university-enterprise cooperation. It also presents information about current challenges and needs and Syria's higher education system in relation to the Bologna Process and participation in European Union programmes (Tempus and Erasmus Mundus).

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Following the publication of ‘A memorandum of lifelong learning’ (indexed at TD/IRD 88.400) in October 2000, the European Commission invited Member States to launch a consultation process to collect together all views on how best to make progress in implementing lifelong learning. Feedback from the Europe-wide consultation was then used to develop the analysis and proposals in the Communication on ‘Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality’ (indexed at TD/IRD 88.264). National reports were submitted by each Member State as well as by candidate countries and Iceland and Norway. This document is the national report from Denmark. It contains general comments and suggestions regarding themes, comments on the six key messages, and contributions on Danish experience concerning lifelong learning within the themes given.

Documents from ‘Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality’ are indexed from TD/TNC 77.521 to TD/TNC 77.539. Show less

This conference paper focuses on training provided by firms. Many empirical studies demonstrate considerable variation across countries and across socio-economic groups in training participation rates, with Nordic countries showing higher participation than Southern European countries, and low-educated and older workers generally participating less than other groups in training activities. To investigate the reasons for this situation, the authors examine both the theoretical underpinnings and the empirical evidence in support of the under-provision of training. Under-provision is used to denote when 'training is below its efficient level, which equalises marginal social benefits to marginal social costs'. The authors argue that, if firms invest in general training, important evidence on under-provision can be gathered by examining the relationship between investment in training and labour turnover. They find evidence of a 'statistically significant and positive relationship between employer-provided training and subsequent turnover' for Denmark, Belgium, France and the UK. In the remaining countries the relationship is either not statistically significant or negative and statistically significant, as in the case of Finland. The evidence that, in no country except Finland, training significantly decreases the quit rate is suggestive of under-provision. The authors suggest that policies which aim at increasing the level of training above the market level should be designed to affect either supply or demand, or both.

Selected papers from the conference are indexed from TD/TNC 87.81 to TD/TNC 87.84. Show less

This report analyses the effects of different models of cost-sharing in higher education (the split between public and private contributions to higher education funding) on students and higher education institutions. The study examines trends in participation and completion in third-level education, as well as factors such as system structure, institutional revenue and strategy over the last 15 years in nine case study higher education systems in order to understand better how different models of funding - and changes to these - affect students and institutions.

Abstract from publisher's website.

The report is presented in two volumes: volume one is a comparative report; and volume two contains the national reports of Austria, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Hungary, South Korea, Poland, and Portugal. Show less

Education and training play a key role for Europe's strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, 'Europe 2020'. To unlock the full potential of education as a driver for growth and jobs, Member States must pursue reforms to boost both the performance and efficiency of their education systems. This report is a new analytical tool that provides the empirical evidence to underpin this reform agenda. It supports the Commission Communication 'Rethinking education', and is part of a package of staff working documents that elaborate on the education dimension of 'Europe 2020'. It is also integral to a larger initiative bringing existing [European Union] EU-level cooperation in education and training ('ET 2020') in line with Europe 2020 objectives. Key findings of the 'Education and training monitor 2012' are: (1) education is part of the solution to tackle the impact of the crisis, but only if investment is efficient; (2) efforts to combat early school leaving must be increased as a matter of urgency; (3) action to widen participation in tertiary education now needs to be more targeted; (4) improving early childhood education and care must continue to be a priority; (5) inequalities in achievement of basic skills must be tackled; (6) providing relevant skills: a new EU benchmark for language competences; (7) embedding ICT and open educational resources (OER) in teaching and learning can combat the digital divide; (8) entrepreneurship education should be prioritised; (9) a recent trend is that the learning mobility of young people is increasing across Europe; (10) participation in adult learning is stagnating and must be urgently addressed; and (11) significant effort is required to reach the employability benchmark by 2020.

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The [European Union] EU is working to reduce youth unemployment and to increase the youth employment rate in line with the wider EU target of achieving a 75 per cent employment rate for the working-age population (20-64 years). This leaflet gives an overview of the latest measures proposed by the EU to help Member States specifically tackle youth unemployment and social exclusion.

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In 2009, the Council endorsed a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018), based on the Communication 'EU Youth Strategy: Investing and Empowering'. By reinforcing cooperation and sharing good practices, the renewed framework's two overall objectives are to: (1) create more and equal opportunities for all young people in education and in the labour market, and (2) promote the active citizenship, social inclusion and solidarity of all young people. This 2012 [European Union] EU youth report summarises the results of the first work cycle of the EU Youth Strategy (2010-2012) and establishes employment, social inclusion and health and well-being as new priorities in the youth field for the next three years. The report presents a comprehensive statistical analysis on the situation of young people in the EU under the eight fields of action of the EU Youth Strategy: education and training; employment entrepreneurship; social inclusion; health and wellbeing; participation; culture and creativity; voluntary activities; and youth and the world. It also summarises the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy at national and EU level 2010-2012 and presents comparative assessments and good practice examples from national reports submitted by all 27 EU Member States plus Croatia, Montenegro, Norway and Switzerland. In addition, it summarises action taken by young people themselves. The report also includes an assessment of the first cycles of the structured dialogue with young people.

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The 'Rethinking education' communication supports the Member States by identifying a range of issues relevant for improving the efficiency of education and training systems. This document highlights the evidence base for the policy proposals outlined in the 'Rethinking education' communication on vocational education and training (VET) and vocational skills. The Bruges Communique of December 2010, which defines the European VET strategy up to 2020, calls for an active policy to enhance the potential of VET to support smart and sustainable growth, and to turn VET across the [European Union] EU into a highly attractive learning choice. This document responds to this demand, helping Member States and other stakeholders put into practice the reforms needed to exploit the potential of VET for growth. Its findings are based on analyses, coordinated by the European Commission in cooperation with Member States, of best policy practice across the EU and beyond, and on comparative data and current research. It summarises key results of exploratory work by the Commission involving experts representing key VET stakeholders. It highlights the unexploited potential of VET to support economic development, notably by better integrating VET in economic growth strategies at local, regional and national levels. Furthermore, it identifies for policy makers concrete steps which can facilitate this kind of development. It also attributes specific attention to issues of sustainable development, which will be one of the key drivers of change to be reflected in VET policies and practices.

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This [document] presents a review of the progress made since September 2007 when the 'Action plan on adult learning: it is always a good time to learn' was adopted by the European Commission. The action plan defined five concrete actions which the European Commission and Member States should seek to implement in order to increase participation in and quality of adult learning and develop efficient systems that reach all adults and involve all relevant stakeholders. Both the action plan and the Council Conclusions that endorsed it focused on disadvantaged groups such as low skilled, early school leavers and migrants. In fact their adult learning needs analysis was very far-sighted and highly relevant for today's Europe 2020 strategy.

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