Search Results for
"learning"

There is broad consensus on the range of benefits accruing to the undergraduate from work placement, but to date there has been little published on its impact on academic achievement. This article describes changes that were introduced into the architecture of a placement programme for business undergraduates. A statistical investigation examines the academic performance of students under the different architectures. Prior to the reconfiguration of the placement, there was no significant difference in academic performance between students who had undertaken placement and their non-placement peers. Undergraduates who took placement under the new architecture performed significantly better than their non-placement peers. Under both architectures there were indications of self-selection. The results are discussed in the context of learning transfer, and policy implications are considered. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The twin pillars supporting contemporary lifelong learning theory in Britain–and also to some extent in the USA, Europe and Australasia (Field & Leicester, 2000)–are the development of vocational skills for economic competitiveness, and the fostering of social inclusion and cohesion. Clear and direct links are made between inclusion and economic prosperity in the ‘vision of a society where high skills, high rewards and access to education and training are open to everyone’ (DfEE, 2001, p. 6). However, although this policy does, to some degree, represent a break with the rampant neo-liberalism of the 1980s and 1990s in Britain (Hyland, 2002)–underpinned by (third way) values, which emphasise ‘economic efficiency and social cohesion’ (Giddens, 2000, p. 78)–the concept of economic capital always takes pride of place and there is a real danger that the social capital objectives of contemporary British vocational education and training (VET) may be neglected in the obsession with economic competitiveness. Since work-based learning (WBL) is now a central element in all current VET policy initiatives, it is suggested that attention to the systematic management and support of learning on WBL programmes can go some way towards achieving the important social objectives of lifelong learning. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Using data from the NIACE 2002 Adult Learners Survey and the ESRC learning Society Programme, this article considers the prevalence and socio-economic determinants of work-based learning. The focus area is industrial South Wales, where the growth and sudden demise of the coal and steel industries provides a useful case study of the purported link between skill and economic success. The article is not able to present much clear evidence in favour of the economic strand of the learning society. Successive policies have not actually been conducive to real increases in training opportunities. Work-based training is not rising, is not being funded by employers in the main, and is predictable to a large extent from long-term social and family characteristics of each individual. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

[No abstract available]

The relationship between higher education institutions and their environment has changed markedly during the last two decades. Massification and diversification of the higher education system, economic globalisation, novel modes of knowledge production, new professional requirements and the establishment of new vocational higher education systems in many countries have challenged higher education institutions to develop new forms of collaboration with working life. The new situation also challenges higher education to develop pedagogical and educational thinking and practices. The purpose of this article is to examine the pedagogical aspects of the increasing interaction and collaboration that is taking place between higher education and working life and to outline what kind of challenges it poses for research on higher education. It is emphasised that from the pedagogical viewpoint integration between theory and practice in work-based learning is essential. Our general conclusion is that the relationship between higher education and working life should be examined at least from four different perspectives: (1) from the viewpoint of student learning and the development of expertise, (2) from the viewpoint of educational institutions and staff, (3) from the viewpoint of working life organisations and employers, and (4) from the viewpoint of society and the system of education.

Government policy aims at a 'seamless web' of learning provision. This is exemplified in a local learning and Skills Council supported by work on widening participation to higher education (HE) in another London sub-region. The emerging system described is comprehended as a whole from 'Foundation learning' in compulsory schooling to post-compulsory 'Lifelong learning' in further, higher and continuing education and training thereafter.

A study of key phases in apprenticeship (such as the choice of a trade, the learning of occupational know-how or the opportunities open during and after apprenticeship) and a comparison between young people with different types of schooling (in five "trades" in Bamako, Mali) serve as the basis for analyzing how what is learned at school relates to apprenticeship. The knowledge gleaned in school is a cultural capital helping these young people to advance faster and farther in apprenticeship, a social capital making them less dependent on family networks and, above all, a symbolic capital authorizing them to imagine setting up business or benefiting from further training. It thus serves as a selection process that is all the more insidious in that actors in this system never present it as such.

Because workers must be prepared to constantly update their skills and reeducate themselves for new skills, lifelong learning must be a goal for every teacher and student. The curriculum provided during educational experiences should pave the way for attainment of this goal. This is particularly true for deaf and hard of hearing students. School-to-work (STW) has become an umbrella term for activities, experiences and opportunities that prepare students for the world of work, such as youth apprenticeships, mentoring, internships, job shadowing, career exploration, and integration of academic and vocational curriculum. This article provides historical background on STW, laws shaping requirements for STW programs, and research supporting STW components. Recommendations are provided for curricular elements of an STW program, and trends in STW are forecast.

Workplace learning has developed as a field both of practice and of research over the past decade. The increase in interest is due in part to heightened awareness that workplace knowledge and skills contribute to enterprise and national competitiveness, but it is also due to an increased focus on the connections to be made between theory and practice as part of an education or training experience. At the same time, new learning technologies have enhanced delivery of instruction and learning materials in workplaces. This article reviews some of the conceptualizations of workplace learning and its cognitive bases. It also examines workplaces as learning environments and considers the special challenges involved in the flexible delivery of training to workplaces.

In this paper, the authors present an overview of proposals to revise educational provision for the public health/health improvement workforce in Scotland. Debates and tensions engendered by these proposals are outlined. The authors suggest that work-based approaches to learning are ideally suited to equipping practitioners to work within the complex arena of public health. They conclude that this approach is congruent with a value base that incorporates empowerment, participation and partnership. In order to translate the new proposals into action however a 'change of hearts ands minds' of practitioners and academics must be effected. Employers must also demonstrate a greater commitment to providing quality placements and learning experiences.