As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate…

The mission of Fashion, Textiles and Design Education is to prepare students for family and community life and careers in the fashion industry by creating opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors needed to: (1) Examine skills needed to effectively manage clothing decisions; (2) Evaluate the use, care and production…

Competency based surgical training uses proficiency of technical skills to quantify surgical competency. We believe this is an over simplification of what is required to be a competent surgeon. This work aims to illuminate the attributes of a mature, competent, thinking surgeon. A bespoke (or custom) tailor is highly trained craftsman who produces…

This article demonstrates how one woman's identity changed as she was empowered through her participation in a sewing cooperative community of practice. A community of practice framework allows examination of participation in ongoing negotiated interactions in which people construct expert and novice identities as they work together. Identity, as…

Just imagine: you live in a time before electricity. There are no sewing machines, no light bulbs, and certainly no television shows to keep you entertained. You spend six days a week working 12-hours each day inside your small home with four teenage girls and your elderly mother. This was the life of Mary Pickersgill, the woman who sewed the…

Embroidery is traditionally regarded as women's work and the teaching of embroidery as a means of preparing young women for domesticity, a view which has been reinforced by historians studying changes in the high school art curriculum that occurred with the introduction of the Wyndham Scheme in New South Wales in the early 1960s. This paper argues…

This article concerns a central issue in education as an institutional activity: instructions and their role in guiding student activities and understanding. In the study, we investigate the tensions between specifics and generalities in the joint production of guided action. This issue is explored in the context of handicraft education--or more…

Risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the need for health education in the female garment workers in Bangladesh have been emphasized in the past. Interventions were more acceptable when considered cost-effective. This preliminary study reported on the cost-effectiveness of a health education program that successfully improved knowledge…

This paper investigates the learning of young people involved in learning a trade in Senegal, West Africa. Fieldwork took place at two contrasting sites, one a workshop where young men were apprenticed to a tailor and the other a vocational training centre where young women were also learning tailoring. The research addresses the relationship…

This paper profiles Faith Ringgold. The opening line of the beloved story "Tar Beach" resonates with the optimism that characterizes author-artist Faith Ringgold's outlook on life. Faith Ringgold has always cherished the inspiration found in stories of overcoming adversity--and her own family history is a revelation of strong women figures.…

This paper draws on Anglican mission archive material to uncover the extent to which girls' schooling in early nineteenth-century West Africa developed as a response to male interests and perceived male needs. The founding of the colony of Sierra Leone in 1787 as a home for freed slaves followed by the arrival of Protestant missionaries in 1804…

This student activity book and reference book, which are part of a family and consumer sciences education series focusing on a broad range of employment opportunities, are intended for use in 1- and 2-year textile and apparel production, management, and services programs for Texas high school students. The reference book provides information…

Quilts are an integral part of the North American culture. Most households in North America have quilts with intricate geometric patterns. These patterns symbolize different things to different groups of people in this part of the world. It is important for students to see how mathematics comes from what is done in day-to-day life, not from the…

This publication contains a series of 12 garment-related bilingual (English and Chinese) television broadcast lessons that were produced to augment an earlier series of 15 lessons. The objective of these television lessons is to teach garment-related English terminology to the garment workers who cannot attend classes in the National Workplace…

The Chinatown Manpower Project continued as the education partner in a Workplace Literacy Program (WLP) for the Chinese garment workers in New York City. Local 23-25, Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, was the union partner; the Greater Blouse, Skirt & Undergarment Association, Inc., and the Continental Garment Manufacturers…