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This was a Vocational Education, Employment and Training Advisory Committee (VEETAC) project managed by Department of Employment, Vocational Education, Training & Industrial Relations (DEVETIR) Queensland. This volume of keynote papers by overseas consultants contains: 'Alternative delivery of training in the UK 1981-91 & open learning centres in the UK' by Aldwyn Cooper; 'Training and educational technology in Canada' by Mike Reddington; 'Technical/vocational training delivery in Canada' by Mike Reddington.

The project report is indexed at TD/TNC 87.1796 and the issues papers are indexed at TD/TNC 87.1789. Show less

Previous studies have found a strong association between source-country female labour force participation rates and immigrant women's labour market activity in the host country. This association has been interpreted as the lasting influence of source-country gender role attitudes. These studies, however, do not measure gender-role attitudes directly and examine labour market activities only in terms of labour force participation in the host country. Employing data from the 2006-to-2012 Labour Force Survey and the 1994-2007 World Values Survey, this analysis includes both source-country female labour force participation rates and an explicit measure of source-country gender role attitudes to account for group differences in immigrant women's labour market outcomes in Canada across several measures. The results indicate that the effect of source-country gender role attitudes on immigrant women's labour market participation in Canada works through its relationship with source-country female labour force participation rates. Moreover, source-country female labour force participation rates are positively correlated with immigrant women's wages in Canada independent of source-country gender role attitudes. This is mostly accounted for by occupational and industry differences, as immigrant women from countries with high female labour force participation rates are more concentrated in higher-paying industries and occupations in Canada than immigrant women from countries with low levels of female labour force participation.

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This exploratory case study sought to determine the learning styles of Ontario college electrical engineering students using the Barsch Learning Style Inventory (VAK) and Kolb 3.1 learning style instruments. The findings are compared to previously conducted university studies. In addition to learning style, basic demographic data as well as Internet-based communication preferences in academic pursuits were obtained from six participants. The results indicate that this convenience sample of technical college electrical engineering students have kinesthetic and accommodator styles, which differ from their university counterparts who tend to have visual, assimilator, or converger preferences. These findings support the long standing instructional traditions found in electrical engineering community college programs where hands-on laboratory and project activities focus on application. These findings can aid college faculty in the development and delivery of engineering courses in online, blended, and distance education formats, as well as guide additional research on such programs.

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Over half of all migrants to Canada are under 29 years of age and one quarter arrive as refugees. Studies on occupational achievements and labour market status have been largely ignored in favour of studies on adult migrants rather than on youth. This paper uses data collected from two sources: a national study of newly-arrived newcomer youth living in Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg and Vancouver using qualitative interviews, and a quantitative analysis of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC). The focus of this paper is to use these datasets to better understand the high school trajectory of recently arrived newcomer youth and compare their experiences. [The authors] are particularly interested in the influence of education attained in Canada compared to education attained outside of Canada and the differences, if any, in labour market outcomes. The findings reveal distinctly slower trajectories through high school among those arriving as refugees, those lacking English or French language instruction prior to arrival, and issues with grade placement. These are identified as significant barriers to entering post-secondary education and to subsequent labour market success.

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Currently, there is great interest across Ontario in the expansion of pathway programs between colleges and universities. Through strategic partnerships, two Ontario-based postsecondary institutions (a college and a university) have developed innovative and effective pathway programs that facilitate the transition of students between institutions for the completion of degrees, diplomas, and certificates. These programs support the training of highly qualified, market-ready graduates. This paper reports on a mixed-methods study of the successes and challenges of a particular Ontario college and university pathway program, with a focus on the Bachelor of Commerce Pathway program.

Preliminary results indicate that pathway students were more academically successful than their traditional university student counterparts but did experience a number of challenges in transitioning from college into university. Principal challenges included inefficient communication between program administrators, academic advisors, and students; lack of orientation activities for pathway students; lack of college student preparedness in communication and critical thinking skills; and difficulties experienced by college students integrating into the social-cultural life of the university.

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The Advisory Committee for Online Learning was formed in June 2000 to advise governments, universities and colleges in Canada on a coordinated approach to online post-secondary learning. This document is the action plan for expanding online learning in post-secondary education and lifelong learning to meet the learning needs of all Canadians. It is in response to the globalised knowledge society of the 21st century where the success of individuals and the social and economic health of communities and countries are largely determined by people’s skills and knowledge. Its three key goals are to expand online learning so as to: enhance the quality of post-secondary learning experience; improve the accessibility and flexibility of post-secondary education; and create pan-Canadian synergies and critical mass with post-secondary education. The contents are: Executive summary; A new paradigm; Opportunities and challenges; A framework for action; Enhancing quality; Improving accessibility and flexibility; Creating pan-Canadian synergies and critical mass; Conclusion. Show less

The 13th conference of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training (JVET) was held at Keble College, Oxford, 28th-30th June 2019. The keynote speakers were Professor Stephanie Matseleng Allais, Director of the Centre for Researching Education and Labour, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Professor Alison Wolf Baroness Wolf of Dulwich, Sir Roy Griffiths, Professor of Public Sector Management, King's College, London, UK. Papers presented at the conference are listed below.

Day 1: TVET in African countries: why is systematic reform so hard? / Stephanie Allais; 'The conduct of conduct' of vocational teachers: governmentality and teacher professionalism in VET / Hannes Hautz; Understanding English FE professionalism as a strategic action field / Norman Crowther and Diane Dalby; 'Anti-intellectualism' in the VET sector in Australia: manifestations and explanations / Erica Smith and Andy Smith; Can human capital be supplied as a club good?: an analysis of apprenticeship under-investment in advanced manufacturing, England / Elena-Carmen Nicoara; The 'truth' behind dual apprenticeship: looking at its cultural foundations / Thomas Deissinger and Philipp Gonon; Apprenticeship practice in England: new roles and professional formation / Bill Esmond; Researching characteristics of outstanding leadership and governance in vocational education using Q-method: findings from England, India and South Africa / Jaswinder Dhillon; Governing for quality and social justice: the processes and practices of governing in UK further education colleges / Ann-Marie Bathmaker and Jodie Pennacchia; Learning outcomes for credit transfer in VET and higher education: international policy considerations and conflictions / Christine Arnold, Mary Wilson, Jean Bridge and Mary Catharine Lennon; Learning to think alike: using Sociocultural Discourse Analysis to explore examiners' standardised professional discourse / Martin Johnson and Neil Mercer; Setting and maintaining standards in Applied General and Tech Level qualifications in England: what can we learn from empirical evidence? / Nadir Zanini and Tim Stratton; Embodied learning in vocational education and training / Terry Hyland; The story of distrust in Further Education: the role of narrative identity, positionality and metamorphosis in the construction of an authentic self / Christina Donovan; Digital poverty and vocational education / Cheryl Reynolds; Transition from lower secondary school to vocational education / Ann Karin Sandal; How do vocational qualifications fit into students' programmes of study following recent governmental reforms to 14–18 education? / Sylvia Vitello and Carmen Vidal Rodeiro; 'Jumping through hoops': UCAS, BTEC and barriers to university entry and success / Susan McGrath; Learning for work: a survey among engineering associate professionals in the construction industry / Marloes de Munnik; Training strategies of German companies in India, China and Mexico: a qualitative analysis involving 103 subsidiaries / Matthias Pilz; Task composition and vocational education and training: a firm level perspective / Anett Friedrich; Amateurs, apprenticeships and college education: the teaching and learning of classical guitar makers in post-war Britain / Joss Winn; Vocational teachers in Sweden and Finland: a comparative study on their educational pathways / Franz Kaiser; Development of an innovative programme: 'Master of Education for Vocational Education and Training' / Maria Gruber, Alfred Riedl and Katharina Kronsfoth; Video-based competence assessment in the vocational teacher training course in metal technology / Andrea Faath-Becker and Felix Walker; The impact of digital innovation on education, training and skills: some initial thoughts / Ewart Keep; The Fourth Industrial Revolution: implications for VET / James Avis; How digitization affects professions: a closer look at two different occupations / Stephanie Conein and Markus Bretschneider; Assembling apprenticeship in Aotearoa / Annelies Kamp; Understanding apprenticeships in Europe: a new conceptual framework for the changing notion of apprenticeship / Jorg Markowitsch and Wolfgang Wittig; The social status of apprenticeships: retail and bricklaying apprentices' construction of valuable occupational identities / Kerstin Duemmler, Isabelle Caprani and Alexandra Felder; The social status of apprenticeships: retail and bricklaying apprentices' construction of valuable occupational identities / Kerstin Duemmler, Isabelle Caprani and Alexandra Felder; The effects of neoliberalism on the agency of vocational students in China / Lesley Doyle and Geng Wang; VET, democracy and philanthropy: exercising ministerial responsibility / Don Zoellner; Sustaining the neoliberal ideology: modes of regulation, control and evaluation in FE inspection policy / Zahid Naz; Typical education histories and career paths: competition and complementarity between vocationally and academically qualified employees / Hannelore Mottweiler and Anita Milolaza; Agency versus structure: TVET college students talking about their career choices / Lucky Maluleke and Lesley Powell; How rational is occupational choice? - or: Do market conditions contribute to expectancy beliefs? / Verena Eberhard and Joachim Gerd Ulrich; Shifting perspectives: a realistic approach to integrate work-based learning and college-based learning / Adeline Yuen Sze Goh; Developing technical/disciplinary knowledge: the case of project-based learning in engineering / Ann Lahiff, Janet Broad, Emanuela Tilley, Kate Roach and Andrea Detmer; Teacher team development in the VET sector: towards team-oriented HRM in VET institutions / Piety Runhaar and Marianne van Woerkom; A socio-technical approach to dealing with heterogeneity in the vocational classroom: the Teachers' Diagnostic Support System (TDSS) / Tobias Karner, Julia Warwas and Stephan Schumann; Developing competencies in VET teachers in Vietnam / Huyen Tran, Shelley Gillis and Cuc Nguyen; Vocational education and training (VET) policy in four European countries / Jane Pither; Differences in getting access to the field as an expression of different VET cultures in England and Germany: results from an ethnographic comparative study / Erika Gericke; Pedagogical convergence across borders: an analysis of the impact of international standardisation and regulation on aircraft apprenticeships in England and Germany / Junmin Li, Ann Lahiff, Matthias Pilz and Lorna Unwin.

Day 2 morning: Praxis and phronesis in further education: uncovering the scholarship of further education lecturers / Samantha Jones and Catherine Lloyd; Conditions for instructor professional learning in vocational and professional education in Western Canada / Annemarieke Hoekstra; Is the whole more than the sum of its parts?: interrogating the reductionist approach to find new ways of conceptualising 'good' VET teaching / Teressa Schmidt; Inclusion in Germany's dual system of VET / Gabriela Hohns; Increasing female participation in IT apprenticeships in Ireland / Justin Rami and Siobhan Keating; Apprentice to artisan: trials and tribulations of apprentices in a dual system apprenticeship programme in South Africa / Darryn von Maltitz; Exploring internal assessment in national technical and vocational qualifications / Charlotte Lockyer and Stuart Cadwallader; Empirical comparability study of paper and computer vocational examinations / Zeeshan Rahman; Work-based assessment for catalysing continuous professional learning of aspiring freelance adult educators / Poi Shan Lai; Policy waves in mathematics for vocational education and training / Diane Dalby and Andrew Noyes; Educating for dynamic vocations: designing responsive VET / Loek Fm Nieuwenhuis, Haske Van Vlokhoven and Aimee Hoeve; Identifying the vocational curriculum via knowledgeable practice / Jim Hordern; Bridge for those who were left behind: success and limitations of a Hungarian VET program / Balazs Benkei-Kovacs; Networks and support in low-threshold Swiss VET programs' premature interruptions / Isabelle Bosset, Barbara Duc and Nadia Lamamra; Responsibility, initiative and trust: VET in the Swiss telecommunication industry / Antje Barabasch; Vocational education and training: diversion or safety net?: a comparative study of four vocational education systems in central Europe / Sabine Hoidn and Vit Stastny; Great expectations: the effect of future returns and opportunity costs on separations in dual VET in Germany / Caroline Neuber-Pohl; Is there a need for a 'third route' in post-16 education in England? / Hayley Dalton; Neo-corporatism in a voluntaristic system: vocational education and training and the Swiss organisations of the world of work / Alexandra Strebel, Patrick Emmenegger and Lukas Graf; The expansion of apprenticeship systems in the G20 countries: what is happening and will it be successful? / Erica Smith and Jacqueline Tuck; Bringing the apprentice voice into debates on policy and practice: a recent doctoral research project using qualitative methods / Tanya Lawes; The contribution of vocational skills development to inclusive industrial growth and transformation: an analysis of the South African clothing, textile footwear and leather industry / Nduvho Ramulongo; Examining the contribution of vocational programmes to inclusive industrial growth and transformation: a case study of automotive sector in South Africa / Anthony Tolika Sibiya; Vocational education and training and African development: towards VET Africa 4.0 / Simon McGrath, Presha Ramsarup, Jacques Zeelen, Stephanie Allais, Heila Lotz-Sisitka, Emphraim Nuwagaba, George Openjuru, Jo-Anna Russon and Volker Wedekind; VET in an age of mass higher education / Alison Wolf.

Day 2 afternoon: Learning to mediate: the role of the employer in shaping the development of recently qualified in-service teachers in English VET / Rachel Terry; The second apprenticeship: learning and identity in the transition from tradesperson to teacher / Barbara Gustafson; A role for colleges in higher level vocational?: the impact of different policy contexts in England and Scotland / Jim Gallacher and Fiona Reeve; Using the capabilities approach to think about public vocational education institutions / Leesa Wheelahan, Gavin Moodie and Eric Lavigne; A role for colleges in restructuring occupational knowledge / Gavin Moodie; An innovative approach in higher education: Preparation for employment at the National Software Academy, Wales / Katherine Emms and Andrea Laczik; The value of sub-bachelor degree qualifications in vocational institutions in the UK and Australia / Kate Lavender and Lizzie Knight; Higher vocational education: what does it mean for vocational education? / Sue Webb, Elizabeth Knight, Steven Hodge and Shaun Rawolle; Investigating goals, achievements, resources, and challenges of TVET in Australia, England, and Taiwan: a quantitative analysis / Leping Mou, Ashley Rostamian, Gavin Moodie and Leesa Wheelahan; Ten years of training markets in Australia: what has been the impact on young peoples' opportunities? / Justin Brown; Aligning vocational curriculum with current industry practices: how this differs for regulated, accredited and unregulated programs in Ontario, Canada / Sharon Scollard; Should the market coordinate the supply and demand of skills?: a realist evaluation of the market model of skill formation in Chile / Oscar Valiente, Adrian Zancajo and Judith Jacovkis; 'El baile de los que sobran': Chilean vocational education and the reproduction of neoliberal identities / Cristian Martin Lincovil Belmar; Critical analysis of vocational education policy in Israel / Avihu Shoshana; VET, expertise and work: from a retrospective to prospective perspective / David Guile and Lorna Unwin; 'Signs of the times': reviewing a decade of postgraduate TVET research in South Africa / Joy Papier; Reimagining the institutionalization of technical and vocational education in Australia / John Pardy; Missing the target?: predicting NEET status and the risks of early intervention for vulnerable young people / Ronald Thompson and Lisa Russell; Digital technology and the development of professional identity by VET teachers in training / Roy Halpin; How to professionalize teachers and trainers in the context of 'Vocational Education and Training for Sustainable Development (VET-ESD)'? / Wilko Reichwein and Soeren Schuett-Sayed; Subject-specialist pedagogy and the failure of policy in English Further Education / Kevin Orr, Pam Hanley and Ronald Thompson; The role of 'tacit pedagogy' in practice-based learning and innovation in one FE college workplace: the importance of informal interactions within and beyond specialist teaching teams / Jay Derrick; The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area's integrated development of vocational education?: challenges and opportunities / Chen Wei, He Dong, Li Yaling and Leesa Wheelahan; The Brazilian Federal VET network: building the first steps towards internationalization / Claudia Schiedeck; Developing competencies in VET teachers of Vietnam / Huyen Tran; A political economy of TVET professionalisation: a case study of chefs at a Canadian polytechnic / Tim Loblaw; Using cultural-historical activity theory to study the professionalisation of policing: towards a framework for professional practice / Janice Mokanski; How can VET close the gender gap and address other inequalities? / Randa Hilal; Indigenous education and reconciliation in Canada / Lena Balata; Inclusive vocational education and situation definition / Jens Reissland, Tim Thonagel, Patrick Schaar and Matthias Vonken; Spatial stories of im/possibility: undergraduate experiences of college-based higher education / Holly Henderson; Female participation in vocational and higher education programs for software engineering: much room for improvement / Juliette Sweeney; Insights, risks and limitations: using an ideographic data collection technique to understand non-normative, vocational career routes in education / Jane Wormald; Occupational qualifications for trades in South Africa: the elusive quest to connect education and work / Naomi Alphonsus; Recontextualizing fields in vocational and professional education / Mike Klassen; Exploring the complexities of workplace knowledge: the case of RPL (APEL) / Colette Tennison; The effects of praise for intelligence on students at risk in vocational education / Jaap Glerum, Sofie Loyens and Remy Rikers; Understanding the experience of international community-college graduates seeking employment and residency in Canada: a Bourdieusian approach / Oleg Legusov; 'Achieving skills'?: discourses of employability and exclusion on an employability programme for pre-vocational learners / Carlene Cornish; The role of education and training in the development of technical elites / Bill Esmond and Liz Atkins; 'You just do what you want to do': archives of experience and selecting higher vocational education in Australia / Stephen Parker, Elizabeth Knight, Trevor Gale and Susan Webb.

Day 3: VET-teachers' professional development in assessment for learning / Ann Karin Sandal; Reflection of teachers and in-company trainers in vocational education and training / Baerbel Fuerstenau, Mandy Hommel and Regina Mulder; Lived livelihoods: vocational education advancing entrepreneurial livelihoods / Lesley Powell; Viewing pathways through bifocals: the link between educational and occupational levels in selected fields in Canada / Gavin Moodie, Eric Lavigne and Leesa Wheelahan; Careers Colleges and the strategy of vocational enhancement: emergent curriculum models / Lynne Rogers, Hilary McQueen and Ken Spours; Factors influencing life and career skills development among young people studying vocational education and training (VET) at school / Shelley Gillis, Anne Suryani and John Polesel; Paths in education: choices made between vocational and academic courses among 16-19 year olds / Zoe Lewis; Learning from life: VET student 'voices' towards a humanising vocational pedagogy / Kathija Yassim; General Studies in Technical Colleges (Ministry of Education: 1962) / Bill Bailey; The experiences of teachers of Liberal Studies and General Studies in English technical and further education colleges / Colin Waugh; A strong structurational approach to understanding the marginalisation of informal apprentices in Ghana's VET system / Joyceline Alla-Mensah; Pride and prospects: promoting more sustainable and socially just transitions through vocational education for low-attaining young people / Liz Atkins and Louise Misselke; Through the aspirations window: a capabilities-social justice lens for framing TVET learners' aspirations / Rebecca Suart; The impact of the apprenticeship levy / Peter Dickinson; Why is the employment outcome of vocationally training youths so poor in Punjab and Haryana, India? / Satinder Singh, Jajati Keshari Parida and Shiba Shankar Pattayat; Framing a sustainability lens on VET: an absence and emergence laminated system analysis / Presha Ramsarup, Heila Lotz-Sisitka and Volker Wedekind; Former YTS trainees' historical experiences of the Youth Training Scheme / Robin Simmons; Policies, values and Offa's Dyke: a relational approach to FE and skills in Wales / David James.

Edited excerpts from publisher's website. Show less

This comparative report is the result of an OECD thematic review of adult learning policies and practices in 17 OECD countries, undertaken between 1999 and 2004. The main focus of the review was on clarifying access to, and participation in, education and training by adults and on providing ideas for enhancing policies and approaches to increase incentives for adults to undertake learning in these countries. It also aimed to provide ideas on how to improve learning opportunities for low skilled adults and facilitate employability. The report examines potential barriers to learning as well as the policies designed to overcome them. These policies include those aimed at increasing and promoting the benefits of adult learning to make them transparent and easily recognised. Others include economic incentives and co-financing approaches that can improve the efficiency of adult learning provision, while still providing quality learning suited to the needs of adult learners. Finally, the report suggests that policy making can be improved through coordination and coherence in an area of education that is populated by a wide variety of stakeholders, including ministries of education and ministries of labour. The chapters are: Introduction; Participation in adult learning: the figures and the problems; Increasing and promoting the benefits of adult learning; Financing adult learning; Improving delivery and quality control; Ensuring policy co-ordination and coherence.

This report follows up the 2003 OECD report, 'Beyond rhetoric: adult learning policies and practices', (indexed at TD/TNC 73.63), that covered adult learning policy-making in nine OECD countries. Show less

The author was awarded an International Specialised Skills Institute (ISSI) fellowship to investigate best practice models of professional development (PD) for teachers of EAL/Literacy learners. The study tour included attending the TESOL 2017 conference in Seattle, visiting Bow Valley College in Calgary, and meeting with practitioners, teacher trainers and Education Department personnel in Minneapolis/St Paul. This article summarises the relevant issues, the approach, the fellowship, learnings, models of PD, and where to from here.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

In response to rapidly changing technologies, schools are often exhorted to redirect their energies to teaching '21st century skills', but these skills are hardly new. This report investigates the evidence for 21st century skills and how they might be best taught and assessed. Nine skills are common to most 21st century skills frameworks and the report examines the evidence for the transferability of these skills: critical thinking, creativity, metacognition, problem solving, collaboration, motivation, self-efficacy, conscientiousness and perseverance. The evidence is limited for how and where these skills are best developed, as it is for causal links with academic achievement. There are gaps in policy and practice across jurisdictions that have adopted these frameworks. Case studies from seven jurisdictions highlight significant variations in the level of teacher professional development, innovative practice, evaluation of projects and assessment of skills. There are few rigorous studies of successful implementation of 21st century skills frameworks and greater focus is needed on research and evaluation running in tandem with policy reform. No single form of assessment is applied. Assessing these skills can be particularly challenging, with many jurisdictions using a combination of assessments including self-reports, direct assessments and teacher judgement. With each of these forms of assessment having strengths and weaknesses, it is likely that a combination of assessment types will provide the most robust approach to reflect the complexity of these skills.

Edited excerpts from publisher's website. Show less