ERIC Number: ED402460
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1996-Dec
Pages: 75
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
School-to-Work Policy Insights from Recent International Developments.
Stern, David; And Others
In countries where young people have been relatively successful in both achieving high academic standards and making smooth transitions to employment, employers have taken major responsibility for their training. Now the emergence of a more "learning-intensive" economy poses new challenges. In response to the perceived insufficiency of traditional education and training to prepare young people for more learning-intensive work, recent policies in many industrialized countries are converging on four principles. The first and most fundamental principle from the perspective of U.S. policy (because it affects how the others are implemented) is that new curricula should be created that integrate vocational and academic studies. The second principle is that occupational and educational performance standards should be explicitly related to each other. Formal standards and certification procedures that specify what individuals should know and be able to do are important elements of a school-to-work system. Because one hallmark of the emerging economy is the necessity for continual learning in the context of work, the third principle is that schools should give all students some experience in work-based learning. The fourth principle is that employers and educators, including both vocational and academic educators, must share both responsibility and power in new school-to-work systems. (Appendixes contain 97 references and 4 figures.) (YLB)
Descriptors: Competency Based Education, Education Work Relationship, Educational Certificates, Employers, Integrated Curriculum, International Educational Exchange, Job Skills, Postsecondary Education, School Business Relationship, Secondary Education, Standards, Student Certification, Work Experience Programs
NCRVE Materials Distribution Service, Horrabin Hall 46, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455; telephone: 800-637-7652 (order no. MDS-950, $6.50).
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Vocational and Adult Education (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, Berkeley, CA.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A