During the 1980s and 1990s the elaboration of a reformed system of vocational qualifications was perhaps the most controversial of all the governments efforts to improve the provision of vocational education and training. Based largely on interviews with nearly 100 individuals who were closely involved with these reforms, this book provides an in-depth account of the origins, development and implementation of NVQ and GNVQ policies. In accounting for the progress of vocational qualifications policy three main areas are covered by the book. Firstly the authors look at the origins of the reformed system, then examine the initial implementation of the NVQ and GNVQ policies in the late 1980s and early 1990s and identify the considerable problems that accompanied the reform process. Thirdly, the book focuses on the ways in which the reformed policy was sustained during the 1990s.

This book examines the experiences of adult learners in times of austerity. The power of adult education to transform lives is well known, and it is especially powerful for those who missed out on educational opportunities earlier in life. Those who have been successful learners in the past are more likely to continue their education and training, making extra support and funding ever-more important: however, in the current economic and political climate, support for adult learning is significantly decreasing. This book sheds light on the experiences of adult learners, despite the difficulties facing the sector: interweaving empirical discussions with theoretical debates, the editors and contributors demonstrate the challenges and struggles of adult learners in higher, further and community education. This enlightening edited collection will be of interest to all those involved in adult education as well as policy makers and funders.

Addresses the question of how to provide for your employees' needs in training and education when they are located on the other side of the globe. This book suggests a systematic process model for transcultural customization of training programs that reduces delivery cycle, and enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of existing programs. Theories of culture and instructional systems design models have been reviewed and a case study was conducted to locate transcultural customizations needs and to develop the new model. The book explains why and how to provide culturally adequate training programs using only existing training courses. In addition, it offers specific guidelines on how to utilize the model in order to meet the individual needs of a global organization's headquarters.

Work now invariably requires a continual focus on learning: to improve productivity, to enhance the flexibility of employees and to develop and transform organizations. This volume brings together leading experts from the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand to critically evaluate the current debates on workplace learning and to propose directions for future developments in both research and practice. Topics covered include:

* expectations of learning at work into the twenty-first century
* learning theories, practice and performance implications
* the relationship between workplace learning and other forms of lifelong learning
* the international developments in competency-based approaches to learning and assessment
* the influence of language, power, culture and gender upon the 'construction' of learning.
Topical and informative, this volume will be an invaluable resource for students and researchers of training, HRD, continuing and adult education.

The East Asian miracle, or its putative demise, is always news. The four Tiger economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have experienced some of the fastest rates of economic growth ever achieved. This work provides an analysis of the development of education and training systems in Asia, and the relationship with the process of economic growth. The authors focus on how these systems facilitated their transition from labour intensive to capital intensive forms of production and explores the crucial role of government in managing this relationship. The hallmark of policymaking in these economies is that governments have been able to gear the output of their education and training systems to the requirements of any particular stage of growth, often by anticipating future skill demands. However, the book also considers to what extent this model of skill formation is being undermined by processes of economic liberalization and democratization. The text provides policy makers with a model of the skill formation process. It has practical implications for all those concerned with facilitating the process of economic development: from policy makers or sociologists to those

Work now invariably requires a continual focus on learning: to improve productivity, to enhance the flexibility of employees and to develop and transform organisations. The volume brings together leading experts from the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand to critically evaluate the current debates on workplace learning and propose directions for future developments in both research and practice.
Topics covered include:
* expectations about learning at work into the twenty-first century
* learning theories, practice and performance implications
* the relationship between workplace learning and other forms of lifelong learning
* the international developments in competency-based approaches to learning and assessment
* the influence of language, power, culture and gender upon the 'construction' of learning.

Most prisoners in the UK are required to work. Yet prison work is a relatively neglected subject in the existing literature on imprisonment and few studies have focused on the nature of prison work, prisoners' experience of it, and the extent to which it meets the need of rehabilitating prisoners.
Prisoners' Work and Vocational Training sheds new light on this crucial area in the work of prisons and examines:
*the nature of training received by prisoners
*the actual work they undertake
*how this relates to the world or work outside
*the role it plays in helping to secure employment on release.
Frances Simon employs a balance of qualitative and quantitative data, including first hand accounts from UK prisons, gathered during field research. Her book will be essential reading for all those studying criminology and prison studies and all professionals working with prisoners, including probation officers and social workers.

Most prisoners in the UK are required to work. Yet prison work is a relatively neglected subject in the existing literature on imprisonment and few studies have focused on the nature of prison work, prisoners' experience of it, and the extent to which it meets the need of rehabilitating prisoners.
Prisoners' Work and Vocational Training sheds new light on this crucial area in the work of prisons and examines:
*the nature of training received by prisoners
*the actual work they undertake
*how this relates to the world or work outside
*the role it plays in helping to secure employment on release.
Frances Simon employs a balance of qualitative and quantitative data, including first hand accounts from UK prisons, gathered during field research. Her book will be essential reading for all those studying criminology and prison studies and all professionals working with prisoners, including probation officers and social workers.

In the light of changes the government has launched as part of its welfare to work initiatives, this text explores apprenticeship. The authors set the historical context and discuss the theoretical and practical aspects of acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills for competence. The Dearing Report has proposed a work related route for some students and this book focuses on a number of academic and professional perspectives on apprenticeship and its revival. The book concludes with a look at the future of apprenticeship.

Those responsible for professional development in public and private-sector organizations have long had to deal with an uncomfortable reality. Billions of dollars are spent on formal education and training directed toward the development of job incumbents, yet the recipients of this training spend all but a fraction of their working life outside the training room--in meetings, on the shop floor, on the road, or in their offices. Faced with the need to promote "continuous learning" in a cost-effective manner, trainers, consultants, and educators have sought to develop ways to enrich the instructional and developmental potential of job assignments--to understand and facilitate the "lessons of experience."
Not surprisingly, social and behavioral scientists have weighed in on the subject of on-the-job learning, and one message of their research is quite clear. This message is that much of the knowledge people use to succeed on the job is acquired implicitly--without intention to learn or awareness of having learned. The common language of the workplace reflects an awareness of this fact as people speak of learning "by doing" or "by osmosis" and of professional "instinct" or "intuition." Psychologists, more careful if not clearer in their choice of words, refer to learning without intention or awareness as "implicit learning" and refer to the knowledge that results from this learning as "tacit knowledge."
Tacit Knowledge in Professional Practice explores implicit learning and tacit knowledge as they manifest themselves in the practice of six knowledge-intensive professions, and considers the implications of a tacit-knowledge approach for increasing the instructional and developmental impact of work experiences. This volume brings together distinguished practitioners and researchers in each of the six disciplines to discuss their own research and/or professional experience and to engage each other's views. It addresses professional practice in its totality -- from the technical to the interpersonal to the crassly commercial -- not simply a few aspects of practice that lend themselves to controlled study. Finally, this edited volume seeks to go beyond the enumeration of critical experiences to an understanding of the psychological mechanisms that underlie learning from experience in professional disciplines and, in so doing, to lay a foundation for innovations in professional education and training.

A central claim of this volume is that public policy in education and training can only be properly understood if it is seen in relation to prevailing economic and employment conditions. It has become increaslingly apparent that the neo-liberal economic policies pursued by Western governments during the 1980s and 1990s have led to a growing world-wide 'work crisis'. Unemployment levels, particularly in Europe, remain persistently high, and for those in employment, job insecurity and long working hours have become the norm. The response of UK governments has been to promote 'flexibility' in employment practices while proclaiming the importance of improving skill levels through education and training.
This volume challenges the adequacy of such an approach, and asks whether reliance on education and training reforms without additional political intervention in economic processes is capable of reversing current trends.
Issues covered in this reader include:
* the impact of globalization on employment trends
* neo-liberal and neo-Keynesian approaches to employment policy
* political reforms in education and training institutions
* the impact of flexibilization on private life and the family.
The two volumes in this series are readers for the Open University course Education, Training and the Future of Work, E837, a module of the MA in Education. The companion volume is Education, Training and the Future of Work II: Developments in Vocational Education and Training.
John Ahier is Lecturer in Education at the Open University. Geoff Esland is Director of the Centre for Sociology and Social Research at the Open University and Course team Chair of E837.

A central claim of this volume is that public policy in education and training can only be properly understood if it is seen in relation to prevailing economic and employment conditions. It has become increaslingly apparent that the neo-liberal economic policies pursued by Western governments during the 1980s and 1990s have led to a growing world-wide 'work crisis'. Unemployment levels, particularly in Europe, remain persistently high, and for those in employment, job insecurity and long working hours have become the norm. The response of UK governments has been to promote 'flexibility' in employment practices while proclaiming the importance of improving skill levels through education and training.
This volume challenges the adequacy of such an approach, and asks whether reliance on education and training reforms without additional political intervention in economic processes is capable of reversing current trends.
Issues covered in this reader include:
* the impact of globalization on employment trends
* neo-liberal and neo-Keynesian approaches to employment policy
* political reforms in education and training institutions
* the impact of flexibilization on private life and the family.
The two volumes in this series are readers for the Open University course Education, Training and the Future of Work, E837, a module of the MA in Education. The companion volume is Education, Training and the Future of Work II: Developments in Vocational Education and Training.
John Ahier is Lecturer in Education at the Open University. Geoff Esland is Director of the Centre for Sociology and Social Research at the Open University and Course team Chair of E837.

This volume focuses on the recent changes in education and training policy, mainly in the UK. The considerable developments of past years and the ways in which they have affected both education and training are examined. The contributors analyse the methods by which we educate our workforce, and look closely at the kind of training now offered to those in work.
The chapters in this reader cover:
* the role of the state
* how economic factors influence education
* national education and training policy
* the political factor.
Other countries including Germany are looked at, and there is reflection on the ways in which the 'new' industry led qualifications such as NVQs have fared. There is careful analysis as to how much the political climate of the time influenced developments.
There is thorough research to back up claims made throughout the book, and many practical examples are referred to. What emerges is an incisive examination of current trends in education and the workplace.

Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This book is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is--complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human. Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, the stakes are high, yet decisions must be made. He investigates such enduring mysteries as the nature of pain, the inability to cure nausea, even the little-understood biology of blushing. He explores how deadly mistakes happen, and why good doctors go bad. He also gives us privileged entry into the inspiring world of ambitious operations, remarkable experiments, and unexpected intuitions. And through it all, we find Gawande's deep concern with the actual experiences of patients and doctors as they negotiate the paradoxes and imperfections inherent in caring for human lives. At once unsentimental and humane, Complications is a new kind of medical writing, nuanced and lucid, unafraid to confront the conflicts and uncertainties that lie at the heart of modern medicine, yet always alive to the possibilities of wisdom in this extraordinary endeavor. From Complications: I had just finished examining someone in the ER when one of the physicians stopped me with yet another patient: twenty-three-year-old Eleanor Bratton had a red and swollen leg. "It's probably only a cellulitis" --a skin infection--"but it's bad," he said. He had prescribed intravenous antibiotics, but he wanted me to make sure there wasn't anything "surgical" going on. The patient looked fit and athletic. There did not seem anything seriously ill about her. I glanced at her chart--she had good vital signs, no fever, and no past medical problems. I asked Eleanor if she had had any pus or drainage from her leg. No. Any ulcers? No. A foul smell or blackening of her skin? No. I le

Managers and supervisors need to sharpen their coaching skills if they want their employees to achieve high performance. This guidebook details what those in charge can do to develop their staff and help them meet, and even exceed, organizational expectations.

Management Education and Humanities argues that management teachers and researchers seem to be increasingly dissatisfied with the way managers are usually educated in western countries. It claims that educational practices and methods would greatly benefit from reflection on the implicit assumptions and paradigms behind those practices, and debates the role that humanism and humanities might play in the formation of new managerial elites. The book examines three themes that have emerged as central to the contemporary debate on management education: the profession of management; humanism as a philosophy and worldview; and the humanities as an academic field where management schools could find new inspirations for curricula. All three themes are scrutinized in a frame of reference extended between two different points of view: the traditional view, with its tendency to idealize (and even sometimes romanticize) humanism, the humanities and management as a social function; and the 'past-modern' view, which is inclined to skepticism and to the deconstruction of social and cultural phenomena. Providing a lively account of this ongoing debate and exploring new trends and experiences in management education, this book will be invaluable reading for teachers, students and researchers of management, management strategy, and organizational behaviour.

Those responsible for professional development in public and private-sector organizations have long had to deal with an uncomfortable reality. Billions of dollars are spent on formal education and training directed toward the development of job incumbents, yet the recipients of this training spend all but a fraction of their working life outside the training room--in meetings, on the shop floor, on the road, or in their offices. Faced with the need to promote "continuous learning" in a cost-effective manner, trainers, consultants, and educators have sought to develop ways to enrich the instructional and developmental potential of job assignments--to understand and facilitate the "lessons of experience."
Not surprisingly, social and behavioral scientists have weighed in on the subject of on-the-job learning, and one message of their research is quite clear. This message is that much of the knowledge people use to succeed on the job is acquired implicitly--without intention to learn or awareness of having learned. The common language of the workplace reflects an awareness of this fact as people speak of learning "by doing" or "by osmosis" and of professional "instinct" or "intuition." Psychologists, more careful if not clearer in their choice of words, refer to learning without intention or awareness as "implicit learning" and refer to the knowledge that results from this learning as "tacit knowledge."
Tacit Knowledge in Professional Practice explores implicit learning and tacit knowledge as they manifest themselves in the practice of six knowledge-intensive professions, and considers the implications of a tacit-knowledge approach for increasing the instructional and developmental impact of work experiences. This volume brings together distinguished practitioners and researchers in each of the six disciplines to discuss their own research and/or professional experience and to engage each other's views. It addresses professional practice in its totality -- from the technical to the interpersonal to the crassly commercial -- not simply a few aspects of practice that lend themselves to controlled study. Finally, this edited volume seeks to go beyond the enumeration of critical experiences to an understanding of the psychological mechanisms that underlie learning from experience in professional disciplines and, in so doing, to lay a foundation for innovations in professional education and training.

For many organisations, training and development remain an aspiration rather than fundamental to their business, and the consequent investment is subject to reductions or reallocations when times get tough. Yet increasing pressures from business globalisation mean that organisations are absolutely dependent on the skills of their workforce if they are to remain competitive. John Talbot's Training in Organisations: A Cost-Benefit Analysis, provides the basis for measuring and analysing the cost and value associated with training. It looks both at manual skills and management training analysis to explore the various approaches for costing training, controlling those costs and applying value analyses to the investment that is being made. Also included is a series of international comparisons across a variety of industry sizes and types which provide organisations with an important benchmark for their own spending.

Back cover
Language in Social Life Series
General Editor: Christopher N. Candlin, Chair Professor of Applied Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Language in Social Life Series is a major series which highlights the importance of language to an understanding of issues of social and professional concern. It will be of practical relevance to all those wanting to understand how the ways we communicate both influence and are influenced by the structures and forces of contemporary social institutions.
Just as workers are confronting the rapidly changing practices of the restructured, technological workplace and the increasing convergence of working and learning, so those involved in any form of workplace education or training are also restructuring their focus, teaching methods and approaches. This book examines the conceptual and practical challenges facing education and training professionals in redefining their contribution to improving communication and learning at work.
Interweaving theory and commentary with actual case-studies, the book explores a multifaceted approach to workplace education which aims to develop individual workersA skills as well as integrating learning, language and cross-cultural issues into work, communication and management practices. It is a strategic, practical approach which draws on a range of applied linguistic and educational traditions and is informed by related disciplines such as cognitive and social psychology and organisational behaviour.
The book does not present formulae for success; rather it illustrates the complexities and challenges faced by educators as they learn to balance different, and oftenconflicting priorities.
Language and Literacy in Workplace Education: Learning at Work has been written with a wide audience in mind, from language and literacy professionals, Human Resources staff, vocational trainers, managers, as well as students of education and linguistics. The book is clearly presented, and takes care to explain specific educational or organisational terminology making the study accessible to newcomers to the field.
Giselle Mawer is a researcher and consultant in workplace education and training and has worked with a number of tertiary institutions, government departments and leading Australian and international enterprises.

This volume critically examines definitions of informal learning, focusing on its application in a variety of workplace contexts. Informal learning has become an important issue as post-industrial workplaces seek to harness its productive potential. The book features: theories of informal learning; the unmasking of contemporary corporate rhetoric; the implications for accounts of workplace learning of poststructuralist and postmodern perspectives; case studies based on interviews with practising managers and HRM practitioners; and a glossary of key concepts and issues.

Accounting and finance have a reputation for complexity and dullness. Financial Games for Training aims to change these perceptions! It is an original collection of more than 65 brainteasers, crosswords, puzzles and quizzes plus all the solutions. They've been specially designed to bring a light-hearted but rigorous approach to the study and teaching of an otherwise 'boring' subject. Whether you're a student or executive, participant or tutor, here's the treasure chest you need to improve your grasp of finance for business. You won't think about the subject in quite the same way ever again!

First published in 1999, this book analyzes the process involved in implementing Technical and Vocational Education and Training policies in the countries of Jamaica and The Gambia. A critical approach was used to analyse the role played by different actors in this process, both at public and private sector institutions. The study documented a variety of projects and programmes, ranging from those that promoted entrepreneurship or self-employment amongst young people, to those that were more concerned with providing the skills needed for export-led growth. Overall it highlighted the complexities surrounding implementation and of the importance of donor agencies in financing TVET developments in both countries. Furthermore, it also illustrated how the use of foreign technical assistance and components obtained from the developed world, combined with the influence of the physical and political infrastructure, were the major reasons why projects or programmes failed to achieve their stated objectives. The study concludes by suggesting a model which can be used by policy makers to help ensure that programmes or projects are more successful at meeting local labour market needs, rather than those of aid agencies or actors within the state apparatus.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the "Special Publications Series."

Whether you are a science undergraduate or graduate student, post-doc or senior scientist, you need practical career development advice. "Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide" for Scientists can help you explore all your options and develop dynamite strategies for landing the job of your dreams. Completely revised and updated from the best-selling "To Boldly Go: A Practical Career Guide for Scientists," this second edition offers expert help from networking to negotiating a job offer. This is the book you need to start moving your career in the right direction.

Japan is regarded as a world leader in the field of education and training for improved economic performance. Yet success in Japan is often achieved by going against what is regarded as ideal practice elsewhere. This book offers the most comprehensive review available in English, fully updated from the first edition, of the many facets of Japanese vocational education and training. It covers the system from primary education through to in-job training offered by companies and provides a detailed study of current practice. This gives equal emphasis to formal training in explicitly vocational courses and informal training in factories, shops and offices.
The authors are also concerned to analyse the difference between substantive 'person-changing' training and mere 'ability-labelling'. They raise important issues such as: to what extent does the need to package skills to provide convenient qualifications distort the actual training given? How efficient is it to rely on professional trainers to certify the acquisition of skills, rather than run separate testing systems? In Japanese companies the authors have discovered that pride in doing the job well is often the strongest motivation, and that much company training is carried out by colleagues.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203015754

In this book, counsellors, trainers and supervisors discuss the tensions, conflicts and complexities involved in many of the aspects of being a trainer, being a trainee and the elements of counselling training itself. Through innovative research and lively first-hand accounts, "Balancing Acts" explores both individual trainer development and course design and management in counselling and other training contexts in the helping professions.
The first section of the book examines the balancing acts involved in being a trainer: managing the content of the training program, being responsive to the needs of groups and individuals and being accountable for the ethical protection of clients with whom trainees might work. Contributors go on to consider the various settings in which training takes place and the differences between training professionals and volunteers. The book concludes with the relayed experiences of three counsellors, and the personal growth and satisfaction that help themto survive as trainees.