Search

In 2009 Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system, in common with so many other areas of public policy and the economy, was preoccupied by the effects of the global economic downturn and, like other sectors, sought to reposition itself to deal with the economic fallout, while anticipating its role in the recovery. Yet, as individuals look back over the year and review the National Centre for Vocational Education Research's (NCVER's) publications, many written before the financial crisis, they can see that the dominant issues are tenacious, whatever the economic climate. Fundamentally, they revolve around the role of VET in meeting skill needs, the quality of training and the costs of providing it, as well as the connection between skills, productivity and social wellbeing. Highlights from the work produced by NCVER staff or commissioned from external researchers are presented. This essay is structured around the five themes NCVER uses to organise its work, although using these themes for this purpose does not constitute a perfect classification tool, since much of the research tackles more than one theme. Where this is the case, the location of the report summary in this compilation is cross-referenced. In all, there were 42 reports and eight conference papers published. An author index is included. [For the "Research Messages, 2008", see ED504322.]

This bibliography was compiled for the 2006 Summer Institute at The Centre for Literacy-"Accountability and Public Trust: Restoring the Balance." The selections include lectures, research studies, policy papers, and government documents that describe and analyze recent concepts of accountability in the context of government funding in the non-profit sector in several countries. They look at issues of assessment and accountability in the broad field of education and more narrowly in the fields of adult literacy and adult basic education. Each section has been arranged in chronological order to reflect the evolution of ideas over the past two decades. Although far from exhaustive, the selected entries offer a set of essential readings on the topic and a point of entry for further research. The references, from Canada and a number of other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, show the experience of accountability in the different countries to be remarkably similar. Put together, the references and annotations also form a narrative. Research for this bibliography included thorough searches of: the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD); the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL); the Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) database; National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL); the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC); The Centre for Literacy resource collection; and the web sites of numerous national/international agencies with an acknowledged stake in literacy and lifelong learning. Further recommendations were contributed by participants at the Summer Institute. An Author/Editor Index and a Title Index are included.

This bibliography was compiled for The Centre for Literacy's 2004 Summer Institute: "Adult Basic Education: Impact of Policy on Practice: International Perspectives". The references and annotations point to relevant research studies, advocacy papers, and government documents that describe and discuss the role that policy plays in shaping program-level structures and practices in the adult literacy and basic education sector in Canada, and internationally. This list is not exhaustive, but represents a core set of essential readings on the topic and offers a solid starting point for more in-depth research. Research for this bibliography involved thorough searches of: The Centre for Literacy resource collection; the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC); the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD); the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) "LINCS" database; and numerous national and provincial government and organizational web sites. All sources of information appear in the annotated list of web sites. Search terms included: adult basic education; adult education; adult literacy; educational policy; lifelong learning; literacy policy; policy formation. The annotations are abridged or edited versions of existing author or ERIC abstracts, though where no abstract was available, one was written. The original source of all annotations is identified in square brackets.

This paper discusses the career of Henry Evelyn Bliss, founder of the Bibliographic Classification, which is currently being revised. Dissatisfied with the current classification systems, Bliss devised his own, which was based on a main class order that provided for collocation of related classes. Although not currently used in the United States, the Bibliographic Classification continues to be utilized by approximately 50 libraries in the United Kingdom. Advantages and criticisms are presented for Bliss's system, which is often praised in library science textbooks, yet seldom used as the trend in libraries has been to either the Dewey Decimal or the Library of Congress classification systems. (Contains 24 references.) (Author)

The race between Mary Decker and Zola Budd, a head to head confrontation in the 1985 Olympic Games, is examined within the broader context of the transformation taking place in sports as a result of the combined efforts of television and the economic forces of sponsorship. Athletics is going through this process of transformation both economically and culturally, with a complex connection between the two levels. Athletics has always had a star system, undercover payments, and promoters anxious to organize head-to-head clashes to attract crowds. Now the television audience has to be attracted with a form of entertainment different from live spectator entertainment. The matchmaking role, which has become crucial between the economic and cultural levels, is linked most closely to the emergence of stars and the establishment around them of rivalries, dramas, and narratives. More promoters and more sponsors will continue to pressure the small number of global stars available as television continues the attempt to reproduce audience-attracting uncertainty, while ensuring a high and consistent quality of entertainment. The athletic authorities will continue the struggle to manage the free market forces they have unleashed, and more head-to-head confrontations will have to happen. A glossary is appended. (62 notes and references) (CGD)

Volume 1 begins with the Commissioner of Education's introduction and includes state school-system statistics. Chapter I covers education in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Chapter II presents children's growth statistics collected in Worcester, Mass., Toronto, Ontario, and Milwaukee. Chapter III addresses German university pension and insurance beneficiary regulations. Chapter IV presents a digest of school laws on governance, teachers, and schools for each state except Florida, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Chapter V discusses the University of Paris during the Middle Ages. Chapter VI presents the proceedings of an Armstrong Association meeting on the work and influence of Hampton Institute, including a letter from former U.S. president Grover Cleveland and addresses by Andrew Carnegie, Harvard president Charles W. Eliot, Hampton principal H.B. Frissell, and Booker T. Washington. Chapter VII addresses public school temperance instruction and the liquor question, with reports from Connecticut, New York State, and Massachusetts, as well as information on Prussian temperance instruction. Chapter VIII presents early English writers' notices on education from 1578 to 1603. Subsequent chapters address German juvenile criminality; Southeastern Alaska's Hlingit language grammar and vocabulary; the Swedish education system; British and Irish education in 1903; and English higher education, i.e., secondary, technical, and evening schools, and the 1902 law requiring councils to support schools higher than elementary schools. Chapters XIV and XV cover education at the St. Louis Exposition, including state and territorial and educational institution exhibits. Chapter XVI discusses the final establishment of the American common school system in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia between 1863 and 1900. Chapter XVII reprints the Alaskan-education general agent's 1890 preliminary report and 1892 report on introducing domestic reindeer into Alaska. Chapter XVIII offers "A Definition of Civilization," the Indian Industrial School commencement address by W.T. Harris, and papers by Harris on "Art Education the True Industrial Education" and "The Intellectual Value of Tool Work." Chapter XIX is a list of U.S. education periodicals. Chapter XX is a directory of chief state school officers, city superintendents, college presidents, pedagogy professors and university and college pedagogy department heads, and normal-school principals. [For Volume 2, see ED620501.]

This is Volume 1 of the Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1892-93, containing Parts I and II. This volume begins with the Commissioner of Education's Introduction. Part I covers the topics: (1) Statistical Summaries; (2) Illiteracy in the United States; (3) System of Public Education in Belgium; (4) Elementary Education in Great Britain; (5) Education in France; (6) Education in Ontario, New Zealand, and India; (7) Recent Developments in the Teaching of Geography in Central Europe; (8) The Common School System of Bavaria; (9) Education in Uruguay; (10) Child Study; (11) Bibliography of Herbartianism; and (12) Name Register. Part II, Education and the World's Columbian Exposition, covers the topics: (1) Programme of the International Congress of Education and Addresses of Welcome; (2) American Views and Comments on the Educational Exhibits; (3) German Criticism on American Education and the Educational Exhibits; (4) French Views upon American Education and the Educational Exhibits; (5) Medical Instruction in the United States as presented by French Specialists; (6) Notes and Observations on American Education and the Educational Exhibits, by Italian, Swedish, Danish, and Russian Delegates; (7) American Technological Schools; (8) Higher Education of Women in Russia; (9) Papers Prepared for the World's Library Congress; and (10) Notes on Education at the Columbian Exposition. [For "Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1892-93. Volume 2. Containing Parts III and IV," see ED622070.]

The educational movements that have been taking place in Great Britain during the past two or three years have aroused widespread interest among teachers and publicists in this country. This report is an attempt to analyze these movements and to indicate their significance in the broader movement for reconstruction. The educational reforms that have already been introduced and the developments that are promised for the future are not merely the result of an emotional reaction induced by the war. Their meaning will be entirely lost unless their position in the wider program is realized. The present report aims accordingly to give in broad outline the general features of the developments of the past few years. It makes no attempt to deal exhaustively with the course of educational spotlight or progress during this time. In many cases, this would be impossible. The influences of the war on education have not yet spent themselves and to that extent it has not been deemed wise to deal with certain topics that will bear fruitful study at a later date. This paper deals with the course of education and school medical inspection during the past few years, with the proposals for the reform of secondary education, with the various Government reports on different branches of education, and finally with the developments that led up to the passage of the education act in England and the significance of the act itself. A similar but briefer account is given of educational conditions in Scotland. Ireland is included although her educational system is unlike those of England and Wales or Scotland. Contents include: (1) Introduction; (2) England: The schools during the war; (3) Medical inspection of schools; (4) Education of working boys and girls; (5) Secondary education during the war; (6) The position of science in the educational system; (7) Position of modern languages; (8) Tendencies in secondary education; (9) Salaries and pensions; (10) Adult education; (11) Educational reconstruction and public opinion; (12) Education Act, 1918; (13) Scotland: The schools during the war; (14) Teacher's salaries; (15) The reform of education; and (16) The Scottish education bill. [Best copy available has been provided.]

Contains 18 articles published in International Labour Review from 1921-1975 that discuss the International Labour Organisation, international labor movement and law, economics and the labor market, family security, full employment, population growth, industrial welfare, trade policy and employment growth, and income expectations and rural-urban migration. The last article gives a retrospective and a future view. (SK)