The digital revolution is rapidly transforming the world of work and the skills profiles of many occupations. The pace of change necessitates continuous skilling and reskilling, through lifelong learning. Traditional models of TVET which view formal training as terminal will not prepare workers for the constantly evolving world of work in an age…

Technological acceleration, increased global engagement, and national aspirations to restructure its economy and promote innovation have persuaded China to intensify an emphasis on skills acquisition through technical-vocational education and training (TVET). After a background of China's experience, this paper examines the case of Gansu, the…

This study focused on trainers' professional knowledge and skills. Forty-one aspects of trainer knowledge were identified from the empirical research literature and presented in an online questionnaire to 200 trainers, 253 trainees and 93 human resource development practitioners. The respondents rated the importance of each knowledge aspect for…

Diversity training has been greatly expanded in recent years in order to help people deal with the challenges of increased social diversity. However, little is known about the systematic evaluation of diversity training. The present research surveyed 172 diversity trainers concerning their evaluation practices with regard to diversity training.…

The provision of workplace support is central to how and what is and can be learnt at work. Hence, the distribution of those experiences is an important factor in the quality of workplace learning experiences. The study reported and discussed here aims to identify differences in levels of support and opportunities for applying knowledge in…

Pedagogic approaches to TVET offer a limited range of teaching strategies which make use of experimental learning. Thus experiments were developed for teachers of structural engineering and timber processing technologies and were subject to empirical evaluation by a researcher at the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg and Kassel University.…

In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), one of the German states, catchment areas for part-time vocational schools were abolished in 2008. With the intention to foster competition between schools in order to improve school quality, training companies now may freely choose the school of their choice. NRW is the first German state to take this step. In the…

The paper picks up "matching problems" related to current European education policy moves by referring to the German, the French and the Austrian VET system respectively. As we here refer to "dual systems" or "school-based systems" respectively, the pre-conditions for transforming European policy into national…

In this era of global competition, human resources will play a decisive role in the battle for efficiency and competitive advantage, where nations and organisations with superior and quality-oriented human capital will soon outperform those with inefficient and quantity-oriented labour force. Rate of human capital formation will be more important…

Competency-based training (CBT) is inherent in Anglophone vocational education and training (VET) systems. Respective attributes such as outcome-orientation, flexible delivery as well as an individualised and modular culture of learning are characteristic especially of the Australian VET system. Opposed to that, the German VET system is marked by…

This article explores some different ways of providing vocational qualifications, specifically for young people who do not go directly to university from school. The examples of Germany and Australia are discussed and show that historical, political, economic and social factors influence the preferred modes of training and their relative perceived…

20 years of Sino-German cooperation in vocational training and education (VET) have produced a great many mutual benefits. This article outlines the stages underwent during the development of Sino-German cooperation in VET, describing certain experiences, in particular highlighting practices such as labour market oriented curricula, action based…

The German education system has recently come under fire with the publication of various international studies on student performance (OECD 2000; 2003). And in the first national "Education Report" (Bildungsbericht) published in October 2003 (Avenarius et al. 2003), the German ministers of education point out serious deficiencies in the…