Case studies of young women with learning disabilities showed they increased practical living skills at a day center but had little autonomy in long-term life decisions and little opportunity for productive activity and social interaction. Low expectations of others and the segregated day center program hampered their ability to reach adult status…

Analysis of Australia's Key Competencies discourse around issues of access, equity, and social justice reveals the danger of economic rationalist interpretations. However, progressive possibilities emerge when vocationalism links work, learning, and life. (SK)

A review of good human resource management practice outside higher education provides a framework for the academic use of computer-based training in teaching and learning. The framework acknowledges academic freedom and autonomy and builds on a platform of academic research. (SK)

Comparison of commonalities and differences in research on school-to-work transition in Australia and Norway suggests a need for a more critical approach to the outcomes of new continuing education policy. Research should also reappraise the influence of structural factors and students' own attitudes toward change. (SK)

Analysis of responses to a British government report on higher education addresses the issue of explicit inclusion of lifelong learning in higher education goals. Examination of the meaning of lifelong learning and the learning society as culture show that the report supports traditional full-time higher education and does not envisage the…

Comparison of governance structures in English further education colleges and U.S. community colleges concludes that the U.S. experience of trusteeship is the more successful model. Examination of six myths about educational trusteeship provides useful lessons for change in governing bodies. (SK)

Explores the role of research-related activity in further education institutions as knowledge-based organizations. Discusses issues of organizational strategy, design, and leadership that must be addressed in order to develop a supportive culture for research. (SK)

Examination of the implementation of General National Vocational Qualifications in Britain highlights the limitations of criterion-referenced assessment practices. Analysis leads to the establishment of assessment principles: (1) continuous assessment should allow for learner development; (2) better ways of assessing "soft" skills are needed; and…

Rapid expansion of General National Vocational Qualifications into British secondary schools may owe more to market forces than educational principles. Their low status deters high-ability students. Raising their status requires resources and management support as well as an examination of the language used in discourse about parity. (SK)

Examined the effects of job attributes and student characteristics on graduate professional students' job attraction using two theoretical models. Dental students evaluated content-validated descriptions of three professional job options. Results indicated that significant predictors were job attributes, job attributes-by-gender interactions, and…

Investigated gender differences in economics education and achievement, using data from a study of Australian secondary school students that collected data on student background and economics achievement (via the Test of Economic Literacy). Results showed few gender differences related to item bias, total performance, and student background…

Used a national sample to examine the influences of parent involvement in students' education on students' postsecondary educational expectations, assessing parent involvement during eighth grade and educational expectations 6 years later. Student-reported home-based parental involvement most strongly predicted high educational expectations.…

Examined four urban elementary student teachers' use of sense-making in analyzing one teacher's work within a specific instructional ecology. Student teachers viewed a videotape of an elementary science lesson. Data from lesson plans, viewing notes, and interviews highlighted what their sense-making included, how they described an instructional…

Analyzed the scientific-inquiry studies of 22 high school physics students for operational rules as they physically and mentally manipulated materials over 9 weeks. The study found six operational rules and determined that scientific activity could be described in terms of structural transformational rules and in terms of behavior, information,…

Used classification and seriation games over 4 months to teach the oddity principle and insertion into a series to Head Start 4-year-olds during free play. A comparison group participated in free play without the teacher-directed classification and seriation games. At the conclusion, intervention students were significantly better than comparison…