Participation in job-related training as part and parcel of lifelong learning is widely advocated. While many empirical research about job-related training of employees are about advanced western economies, little is known about advanced Asian economies. To fill this void in the literature, this study applies the human capital, institutional and…

Since the 1980s, growing globalisation and economic restructuring coupled with expansion of tertiary education contributed to tremendous change in the labour market entry process in Europe. Most previous studies have been quantitative, concentrated on the supply aspect and analysed the role of education as the explanatory variable of youth labour…

School-based vocational training has been organised to support students' boundary crossing between school and work. Such training has the potential to engage students in relevant work-oriented schooling. Drawing on theories of boundary connections and symbolic resources, it is argued that school participants define and attribute quality to…

This article investigates the interplay between learning and economy in the cooperation between participants from different professions on a construction site. From a situated perspective it is claimed that learning and economy are linked in two different ways: Firstly, it is argued that the participants have differing economic interests, which…

Ethnographic research between 2000 and 2005 in the Business Department of a Further Education (FE) college (College X) was designed to uncover the validity of achievement and success rates as proxy measures for the meeting of New Labour's skills and egalitarian agenda. Whilst the general view of senior managers was that improved success rates…

Workforce development partnerships between higher education institutions and employers involve distinctive social and technical dynamics that differ from dominant higher education practices in the UK. The New Labour government encouraged such partnerships in England, including through the use of funding that aimed to stimulate reform to…

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the intersection between institutional requirements for reflection and students' actual reflection initiatives in the social and health care education programmes. A situated perspective makes it possible to illuminate individuals' commitment, curiosity and uncertainty as bases for understanding…

In recent decades, young people's transitions from school to work have undergone substantial changes. As young people make their way from compulsory schooling to employment, they find themselves having to navigate an increasingly complex, technologically innovative and globalised world. These social changes have prompted youth researchers to…

Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour, this study examines the direct and indirect effects of knowledge gained from a formal entrepreneurship education programme on an individual's entrepreneurial intentions (EI). It tracks the changes in students' entrepreneurial knowledge (EK), perceptions of desirability of, and self-efficacy in,…

Data show that educated workers earn higher wages and are unemployed less often. Some researchers believe that education improves a worker's productivity (or "human capital"), making them more desirable on the job market, while others believe that it improves a worker's network (or "social capital"), giving them more…

In this article, we are interested in how employment--or employability--is connected to citizenship, and how the ideal subjectivity of worker-citizens is discursively constructed in curriculum texts. The "worker-citizen" is a social construction that connects closely the notion of worker and the notion of citizen. Our analysis is based…

Students often work in order to meet monetary requirements for college. However, employment reduces the time students can devote to their studies, which can hinder performance. This study examined whether motivation (self-efficacy goal orientation) and self-regulated learning (help-seeking, metacognitive self-regulation, time management and effort…

In order to promote effective pedagogical practices for students' work-based learning, we need to understand better how students' learning at work can be supported. This paper examines the factors explaining students' workplace learning (WPL) outcomes, addressing three aspects: (1) student-related individual factors, (2) social and…

It can be difficult for students to relate theoretical knowledge and practical skills when making the transition from the classroom to professional practice. The concept of coherence has been suggested as an appropriate way to address how the relationships involved (i.e. between theoretical knowledge and practical skills and between classroom…

Despite the development of employability skills being firmly entrenched in higher education's strategic agenda worldwide; recent graduates' standards in certain skills are not meeting industry expectations. This paper presents and tests a model of undergraduate competence in employability skills. It highlights those factors which impact…