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Based on an explorative study of sectoral training systems, this paper looks at the opportunities and limitations of a sectoral approach to training from the perspective of the knowledge economy. After the definition of the sector concept, the paper presents a theoretical analysis of the main elements and processes of sectoral training systems, considered as dynamic social systems unfolding in time through joint interactions of sectoral agencies and bodies. Four basic elements are described: sectoral agencies and bodies; training agreements between agencies; sectoral training policies and provisions; and training activities at the level of the firms. A discussion of these four basic processes follows: articulation, negotiation, policy creation, and implementation. An overview is given of the actual state of affairs in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, three countries with well-developed sectoral training systems in a number of branches. Discussed next are the opportunities of sectoral training systems in relation to the educational system and in relation to employment and innovation, such as flexibility of the educational system, adaptation of qualifications, reduction of unemployment, and transfer of innovations. The paper concludes with a discussion of the main limitations of a sectoral approach to training. (German, English, and French versions appear in side-by-side columns. (Contains 15 references.) (YLB)

A survey of textbooks used in French elementary schools during the Third Republic illustrates that period's attitudes toward female roles, social class, and religious differences. A sample of 126 public school books and 43 Catholic textbooks reveals that young students were presented the ideal of a woman content to remain inside an orderly household, devoting herself to husband and children. A wife contributed to the social order by keeping her husband happy at home, spending his money wisely, and reminding him, if he was so inclined, that work strikes were harmful to the family. Catholic texts rejected the possibility of divorce which the republic reintroduced in 1884. Both public and Catholic reading texts presented stories about heroes and heroines with whom young people could identify. Girls received messages of social immobility and were warned against trying to improve their status through marrying. Both sexes were taught the desirability of a stable society free from class warfare. The reasons for the emphasis on domestic duties for women lie in the realities of the republic: the rate of industrialization was less rapid than in other countries; working class unrest and militancy existed; and the low birth rate greatly disturbed political leaders. (KC)

A comparative analysis of the process by which conflicting interests are implemented in the higher education systems of the United States, England, Sweden, and France is presented. Attention is also directed to differentiation in these systems, and to the systems' receptiveness to such differentiation (i.e., splitting up existing functions, or adopting new, distinct roles for higher education). Although focus was on the varied roles of the state with respect to differentiation, consideration was given to the power relations of groups and the ways in which particular systems promoted the access of certain groups to the policy-making process. Implementation of the sometimes conflicting interests of social justice, competence, academic freedom, autonomy, or accountability is basically a matter of relations between the higher education system and society. The key to the flexibility of the system, to its receptiveness to differentiation, appears to be the balance of the relationship (or the power differential) between the academic profession and the laity. In addition, the commitment of the academic profession to challenging interest interpretations and emphases introduced from outside the higher education system is important. The contrasting cases of Sweden and France reveal that state intervention is sometimes necessary to ensure the responsiveness of higher education to market demands. A strong legislative branch in government seems to be especially conducive to the openness of the system to access by lay groups, particularly in the policy-making realm. (SW)

Undertrained workers, not dislocated workers, are the real problem in the American economy. The vast majority of the workers affected by structural change in the American economy appear to make employment transitions fairly swiftly and smoothly, with no need for public intervention. Undertrained workers, mostly employed and scattered in all industries, result from underinvestment in training by both employers and the workers themselves. In addition, worker-financed training at the beginning of a career and on-the-job training in midcareer will no longer be adequate. Midcareer formal training will become a necessary part of success, but it will be difficult for workers to finance. Since 1971, the French have operated a national system for financing training that creates an effective public-private partnership to address these problems. The key element is an "obligation to spend" whereby each employer must expend funds to maintain and expand the skill level of the French labor force. A national system should be set up in the United States that embodies a sustained level of investment in all human resources. (YLB)

Papers on art libraries and information services for the arts, which were presented at the 1983 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, include: (1) "'I See All': Information Technology and the Universal Availability of Images" by Philip Pacey (United Kingdom); (2) "Online Databases in the Fine Arts" by Michael Rinehart (United States); (3) "State of Automation in Swiss Art Libraries: The General Situation" by Karl Jost (Switzerland); (4) "Computerisation in Swiss Art Libraries: State of the Art" by Jean-Pierre Dubouloz (Switzerland) (English translation by Morag Morton); (5) "Computer Applications to Slide Collections" by A. Zelda Richardson (United States); (6) "ARLIS/ANZ (Art Libraries Society/Australia New Zealand) and Art Libraries in the Antipodes" by Valerie Richards (New Zealand); (7) "The Art and Architecture Thesaurus Project" by Pat Molholt (United States); (8) "Information Technology & Visual Images: Some Trends & Developments" by Patrick Purcell and Henry Okun (United States); (9) "The Development, Management, and Preservation of Art and Architectural Microform Collections" by Paula Chiarmonte (United States); (10) "Online Databases for Architects and Designers" by Valerie J. Bradfield (United Kingdom); (11) "CeCILE: A Bibliographic Database for Design at the Pompidou Centre" by C. Mihailovic (France) (English translation by Ian Sheridan); (12) "Systeme Descriptif des Representations (A System for Describing Representational Art)" by Francois Garnier (France--paper in French); (13) "Universal Accessibility of Art Images and Information Technology" by Sven Sandstrom (Sweden); (14) "Art Libraries in the Federal Republic of Germany" by Thomas Lersch (West Germany); and (15) "Videodiscs and Art Documentation" by Janice Sorkow (United States). (ESR)

Papers on library statistics, which were presented at the 1983 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, include: (1) "Network Statistics and Library Management," in which Glyn T. Evans (United States) suggests that network statistics can be used to improve internal library decisionmaking, enhance group resource sharing decisions, and provide a common base for national and international information policy decisions; (2) "The Impact of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cutural Organization) Statistics on Nigerian Library Services," by J. A. Dosunmu (Nigeria); (3) "A U.S. (United States) Perspective on Library Statistics--Domestic and International," in which Robert Wedgeworth (United States) outlines activities intended to coordinate the collection and dissemination of American library statistics and the experience of the American Library Association (ALA) in collecting international library statistics; (4) "The Development of Library Statistics in the Caribbean," a description by Carol Collins (Guyana) of data collection activities and the need for further library statistics, particularly performance measurement data; and (5) "Evolution des Couts des Periodiques dans les Bibliotheques Universitaires Francais durant la Periode 1972-1982 (The Evolution of the Costs of Journals in French University Libraries from 1972 to 1982)," in which Gerard Thirion (France) reports a 5% and a 2% annual increase in foreign and French journal subscription costs respectively, based on a study conducted at the University of Nancy (paper in French). (ESR)

Papers on children's services, which were presented at the 1983 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, include: (1) "Education and Training of Children's Librarians: An Investigation" by Eva Glistrup (Denmark), which presents preliminary results from a 1982 survey of institutions in 30 countries (30% response rate) showing a general lack of adequate educational programs for children's librarianship; (2) "Annual Report of the Activities of the Section of Children's Libraries" by Genevieve Patte (France), which focuses on children's reading and library projects sponsored by IFLA in developing nations; (3) "Meet the Future with Video," in which A. M. Kylberg (Sweden) describes the widespread use of video recordings in Sweden and trial projects providing educational video programs for children and adults in public libraries; (4) "Informatique et Education avec le Langage LOGO (Information Technology and Education with the Computer Language LOGO)," in which Fatimata Sylla (Senegal) describes a pilot project conducted by the Senegalese Institute of Research in Mathematics and Applied Information Science to assess the psychological, pedagogical, sociological, and epistemological impact of LOGO and microcomputer usage on primary school children aged 8 to 11 years (paper in French); and (5) "Video and Youth Services in the Public Library," in which Emma Cohn (United States) discusses reasons for and methods of providing video services in public libraries and in educational systems, and describes specific examples from the United States and France. (ESR)

Papers on national library services and activities, which were presented at the 1983 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, include: (1) "The National Library of China in its Gradual Application of Modern Technology," a discussion by Zhu Nan and Zhu Yan (China) of microform usage and library automation; (2) "The Catalogue and Bibliography Hall at the Bibliotheque Nationale: Tradition and Technology," a discussion of online search experimentation by Marie-Louise Bossuat (France); (3) "On the Way to a German National Bibliography of the 16th Century," by Irmgard Bezzel (West Germany); (4) "China's Four Modernizations and Library Service" by Hu Yaohui (China); (5) "Research and Development and Its Contribution to National Library Services," in which B. J. Perry (United Kingdom) reviews forms of government support for library/information science research and development in Great Britain; (6) "Die Bibliotheken des Goethe-Instituts im Ausland und die Bibliotheksarbeit im Ausland als Teil des Kulturpolitischen Auftrags des Goethe-Institut" (The Libraries of the Goethe Institute in Foreign Countries and Library Activities in Foreign Countries as Part of the Cultural Mission of the Goethe Institute) by Dieter Vollprecht (West Germany--paper in German); (7) "Publishing by National Libraries: Results of the (7) "Publishing by National Libraries: Results of the Pilot Questionnaire" by Stephen Green (United Kingdom), with a sample of the 1983 questionnaire provided; and (8) "The Management of Change," in which Guy Sylvestre (Canada) advocates a pragmatic approach to managing technological change in libraries. (ESR)

Papers on school and children's libraries which were presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference include: (1) "Learning to Learn in the Street," a description by B. Lang (France) of "street libraries" and other institutions designed to introduce economically disadvantaged children to books and other sources of knowledge; (2) a report on recent activities of IFLA's Children's Libraries Section; (3) "Library Services for the Disadvantaged Children in the United States of America," an overview of these services by Nita Vegamora Norman (United States) based on a 1982 survey of 652 randomly selected public libraries and information published in library literature from 1975 on; (4) "The Centralized Automation of National Centres to Networking in School Libraries," a discussion by D. Reumer (Netherlands) of the benefits and services of national institutions which provide central services to school libraries such as publication acquisition, storage, retrieval, processing, and loan; (5) "Orientation and Extension of a Programme of Mini-Libraries in Venezuela," a description by Bruno Renaud (Venezuela) of Venezuelan cultural aims and the development of the fledgling mini-library program which provides library services for Venezuelan children and adults; and (6) "School Libraries and Networking in North America: Principles and Problems of Participation," an overview by Donald C. Adcock (United States) of factors which inhibit school participation in networks. (ESR)

Papers on hospital and health libraries and library services to the blind and deaf which were presented at the 1982 International Federation of Library Associations conference include: (1) "Leisure Pursuits of the Blind" by Antun Lastric (Yugoslavia); (2) "Library Services for the Handicapped in Canada: An Overview" by Francoise Hebert (Canada); (3) "International Exchange," a description by Peter Ditz (South Africa) of a proposed international library cooperative acquisition and exchange program for talking books; (4) "The Deaf Patron and the Library" by Karen Ann Hopkins (United States); (5) "Public Library Services for the Blind and Weak-Sighted from a Central Library Point of View" by Winnie Vitzansky (Denmark); (6) "Work on Bio-Bibliographical Index 'The Blind in Life and Work'," a progress report by D. S. Zharkov (USSR) on the production of an international reference work; (7) "Recent Advances in Library Service for the Print-Handicapped in Japan" by Hiroshi Kawamura (Japan); (8) "Patient Education and Health Outcomes: Implications for Library Service" by J. G. Marshall and R. B. Haynes (Canada); (9) "Hospital Library Networks in Paris: Organisation and Future Prospects" by Mme Rappaport (France); and (10) "From Hospital to Home: Perspectives in Healthy Living," a discussion by M. A. Flower (Canada) of the role of health libraries in health education. (ESR)

Six papers on information technology, the development of information systems for Third World countries, handling of sound recordings, and library automation were presented at the 1984 IFLA conference. They include: (1) "Handling, Storage and Preservation of Sound Recordings under Tropical and Subtropical Climatic Conditions" (Dietrich Scholler, Austria); (2) "UNIMARC Version of MINISIS ('little' Integrated Set of Information Systems)" (Henriette D. Avram, United States) which describes two phases of the enhancement of the International Development Research Center's MINISIS system by extending it to create and accept records in the IFLA developed UNIMARC format; (3) "The Possibility of a Conflict Between Functional Librarianship and the Needs or Necessity of Advanced Information Technology" (Peter W. Chateh, France); (4) "United We Stand; Divided We Fall: The Benefits to Libraries of International Standardization in Videotex" (Geoff Andrew, United Kingdom); (5) "Minisis/UNIMARC Interface--Its Impact on Libraries" (Charles A. Godfrey, Michael Sherwood, and Garth Graham, Canada); and (6) "L'Informatisation de la Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris: Methode de Conduite du Projet; Participation et Formation du Personnel" (The Automation of the National Library in Paris: Project Management; Personnel Participation and Training) (Christian Lerin and Annick Bernard, France). (THC)

The effects of differing and often opposing language policies on the sociolinguistic position of the Alsatian language are discussed. An attempt is made to show how the function and scope of Alsatian have been reduced, and how borrowings from French have created a dialect with unique characteristics. It has survived despite its lack of official status and has become a symbol of Alsatian ethnic identity. The primary area of focus is the dialect variety spoken in the city of Strasbourg. Alsatian, a German dialect spoken in Eastern France, is thought to have been influenced by alternating French and German dominance and concomitant differing language policies. Subjected to policies aimed at producing linguistic assimilation and uniformity, Alsatian has survived as an unwritten speech. Through intensive and prolonged exposure to French, it has incorporated numerous French borrowings that underwent characteristic phonological and morphological changes. More recently, a general trend toward regionalism in France and an upsurge of protest movements, aimed at defending the rights of minorities, have generated a revival of the dialect. (SW)

Major public policies for institutional governance in France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom over the past two decades are reviewed, and factors that may account for differences in policy developments in the three countries are considered. In France and (although only recently) in Sweden, politics have aimed at increasing institutional autonomy in higher education. British universities are considerably more independent from central government than are their counterparts in either France or Sweden. It is suggested that both demands and policies directed at increasing participation and autonomy in higher education are manifestations of broad social and policy trends in these countries. The concept of political culture is proposed to aid in understanding the variable feasibility of comprehensive reform in the three countries. It is also suggested that the contents of policy proposals may be attributed at least partially to the variations in participation by specific interest groups in policy formulation. The diverse efforts in each country to evaluate and explain reform implementation regarding institutional governance are also examined. An attempt is made to show that the transformation of institutional governance has been linked both to the development of systems of higher education from elite to mass systems and with broad social and policy trends toward participation and decentralization. (SW)

This document consists of a consultation paper on extending opportunities and raising standards in the 14-19 phase of England's educational system and the Learning Skills Development Agency's (LSDA's) response to the consultation paper. The consultation argues that the existing 14-19 system fails large numbers of young people and values only a limited range of achievement. A comprehensive vision for reform grounded in the following principles is proposed: (1) all young people and parents must have confidence in the system; (2) every young person must have the chance for a decent education; (3) the education system must match the needs of a knowledge economy; and (4) education with character must be promoted. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the proposed vision, and Chapter 2 explains how the beginning, middle, and end of the 14-19 phase will be marked. Chapters 3-9 discuss the following aspects of the envisioned system: curriculum content; recognizing achievement; pace and progression; advice, guidance, and support for young people; drivers for support and change; implementation; and next steps. An illustrative timetable and key facts are appended. The LSDA response paper expresses the LSDA's overall support for the vision outlined in the consultation paper and answers 49 questions regarding specific passages in that paper. (MN)

The participants in the Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education (TVE), which was devoted to the theme of lifelong learning and training as a bridge to the future, formulated 48 recommendations to the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The recommendations pertained to six broad themes: changing demands of the 21st Century and challenges to TVE; improving systems providing education and training throughout life; innovating the education and training process; TVE for all; changing roles of government and other stakeholders in TVE; and enhancing international cooperation in TVE. The recommendations call for the following: (1) ensuring that TVE be designed to provide skills for all and remain an accessible basic human right; (2) reforming TVE systems to achieve flexibility, innovation, and productivity; (3) forming a new partnership between education and the world of work and fostering development of generic competencies, the work ethic, technological and entrepreneurial skills, and imparting human values and standards for responsible citizenship; (4) designing TVE experiences as developmental life experiences with cultural and environmental aspects in addition to economic dimensions; and (5) reorienting the TVE curriculum to take account of new subjects and issues of importance. (MN)