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Tumultuous changes in the world's economic and social orders and technological advances are transforming the world from an industrial society to a knowledge society. The globalization of markets and rise of high-performance companies are altering the workplace dramatically and changing the roles and responsibilities of vocational-technical institutions and educators as they prepare the work force of the 21st century. Historically, emphasis has been directed toward identifying very small units of work (duties/tasks) and then equipping workers with the essential hand skills to perform those duties/tasks repetitively. In the future, however, work will be organized into larger units of production, and workers will be expected to assume greater decision-making responsibilities in planning and performing the work to be done. Skills standards will become increasingly important as a tool for improving work force education. Ohio's vocational education community illustrates the increased emphasis on standards, quality, and lifelong learning necessary to prepare and sustain the work force of the 21st century. Among the essential characteristics of 21st century vocational-technical education and training are the following: career clusters accommodating a wider range of occupations; clearly articulated performance standards that are set by business, industry, and organized labor; varied, embedded, and authentic assessment strategies; problem-centered curriculum; and a worksite learning component. (Contains 11 references.) (MN)

Focusing on vocational education as a facilitator of rural economic development, the author of this paper discusses how to develop a rural community that will attract new jobs. His discussion includes the following key points: the role of local development corporations; concerns about quality of living for employees; encouragement of home-grown industries to expand; and the importance of agriculture. Implications for research are summarized. Finally, the author presents a case study based on the experiences of the rural community of Staples, Minnesota. (BM)

The United States is facing two major ongoing structural economic changes. First, the United States has helped create a world of open trade, and it is competing with underdeveloped countries who have an opportunity to industrialize very rapidly. Second, technological development is proceeding at a fast pace. High-wage industries in the United States, the Western industrial nations, and Japan will have to find profitable enterprises other than manufacturing because of the low-wage workers in the developing world. Economic opportunities need to be found in which American companies can do well enough to sustain present wage levels. The United States must cultivate or develop enough industries that are so technically advanced that they create near monopolies. Technical competence must first be enhanced greatly at the highest scientific level in the universities. Then, vocational and technical education must be delivered early, in the grade schools, high schools, and two-year postsecondary institutions. This recommendation requires finding funds to acquire expensive equipment, to change the curriculum, and to hire people who can deliver technical instruction. (Questions and answers about vocational education and economic change are appended.) (YLB)

Reindustrialization problems in the United States (U.S.) include unemployment, low productivity, inflation, and inadequate economic growth. To determine how to improve economic performance, a careful, rational evaluation must be made of such factors as tax policy, spirit of risk, managerial effectiveness, rates of innovation, research and development, and human resource training and education as they apply to industry. Unlike Japan and countries in Western Europe, the U.S. does not understand the need to invest in major training and education efforts to service the skill needs of private and public sectors. Neither is there evidence of an awareness of the key relationship between the inadequate investment in human resources and problems of inflation and productivity. The Japanese human resource investment approach--life-long employment with continuous retraining of all employees--has major implications for some U.S. labor force problems. To move toward a really modern labor force, the U.S. should rethink the decision to change the definition of acceptable levels of unemployment and consider the experiences of other major industrial countries. Vocational education researchers should evaluate the human resources-capital investment programs in Japan and West Germany and determine how such approaches can be adapted in U.S. industry. (YLB)

This paper questions whether public concerns about educational quality and slow economic development in Appalachia are being addressed adequately and suggests that the problem of lagging educational performance is rooted in the social and economic environment within which schools operate. Recent high unemployment in south central Kentucky and its relationship to low educational attainment in the region is examined and research is cited which suggests that opinion-shaping leaders and power brokers who enter the region as a socioeconomic elite are very important to progressive, modernizing educational change. Thus, the significance of change to the community, such as a new industrial plant, is linked to whether it brings a significant component of educated, administrative personnel with aspirations congruent with the requirements of a modernized society. These people exert influence by way of example (before parents and children), and through participation in school-support activities, educational administration, and political action. The paper recommends reconsideration of development policies that welcome labor-intensive businesses with large numbers of unskilled jobs. Instead, it is suggested that a new emphasis on education--not on working to establish seniority in low-skill jobs--should be seen as the way out of poverty, and that policies should welcome industries that employ more educated people. It is concluded that there is a need "progressive" firms to the community. Five references, three tables, and one map are included. (TES)

Originally presented at a forum on participatory research, these theoretical papers and case studies represent an effort to place the overall work of participatory research within the larger theoretical context of research methods, education, and structural change. In the first paper Orlando Fals Borda explores the relationship between science and the masses. Covered in a paper by Ted Jackson, Greg Conchelos, and Al Vigoda are the dynamics of participation in participatory research. Also included in the collection are the following papers: "The Socio-political Implications of Participatory Research," by Francisco Vio Grossi; "Science as Human Behavior: On the Epistemology of the Participatory Research Approach," by Jan de Vries; and "The Methodology of the Participatory Research Approach," by Deborah Bryceson and others. Five case studies are presented. Their titles are "The Struggle in Dhulia: A Women's Movement in India," by Vijay P. Kanhare; "Land Ownership in Appalachia, USA: A Citizens' Research Project," by John Gaventa; "Rural Training in Traditional Communities of Peru," by Ton de Wit and Vera Gianotten; "The Role of Culture in Development: Jipemoyo Project Tanzania," by Kemal Mustafa; and "A Trade Union and the Case of Automation (Norway)," by Morten Levin. (MN)

Four papers consider the growth of telecommunications in developing countries: (1) "Telecommunications Investment in Developing Countries and the Generation of Foreign Exchange: The Impact of Electronic Funds Transfer" (Heather E. Hudson and Lynn C. York); (2) "The Effect of Information Sector Growth on Telecommunications Development Policies: A Comparative Case Study of Ireland and South Korea" (Christopher Sullivan) (58 references); (3) "Trends in International Telecommunications Development in the Third World" (Joseph N. Pelton) (abstract only); and (4) "The Rural Communication Services Project" (John K. Mayo) (abstract only). (EW)

There is no present consensus regarding long-term consequences of rural industrialization on society. Since 1950, smaller rural communities in the South and Southwestern United States have gained in industrialization due to their generally low-wage non-union labor supply and lower tax structure, both attractive to industry seeking greater profits. The aggressive state and promotional leadership in the South along with federal, state, and local subsidies have proven that even very small communities can attract industry if they are eager to do so and prepared enough to deal positively with the mixed social and economic consequences. Positive economic results such as increased per capita income and more people escaping poverty are offset by more dubious social consequences including unimproved community services, psychological readjustments for workers, weakened horizontal community ties, and outside leadership. The solution to the question of a changing rural social structure lies not in unguided rural industrialization but in a purposive set of policy alternatives based on community values and goals, and in locally-designed means of achieving those goals (including the creation of new capital structures to keep capital working and multiplying at the local level). (SB)

Demographic and economic conditions in the Caribbean region combine with social and historical factors to create a structural migration situation: direction and magnitude of the flow might shift, pressures pushing Caribbean Islanders toward migration are constant. Five structural "pull" features encourage migration: (2) the self-contained geographical space of the Caribbean; (2) the tendency of movement to the United States to be preceded by earlier moves, very often to sites of American-financed or managed job opportunities; (3) successful assimilation of Caribbeans into United States society; (4) the continuing role in international relations of ethnicity; and (5) Federal immigration law and national sentiment that support the principle of family reunification. Structural"push" factors, such as overpopulation, land hunger and land scarcity, also encourages migration. Caribbean nations' own efforts to industrialize and regulate migration (such as those made in Trinidad and Haiti) have not managed to solve the problems created by the large-scale migration of poor and unskilled workers, and the emigration to the United States of professionals and skilled workers. While measures such as the Caribbean Basin Initiative cannot cure the pressures of migration, they can help to alleviate internal economic problems and, therefore, they should be supported. Given the overall level of concern among all Caribbean governments, however, it appears that a Caribbean-wide approach to migration is overdue. (KH)

Socioeconomic life is the theme of this third of four volumes on the history of compulsory education among the nations of Europe and the western hemisphere. Of the document's 18 articles, 15 are written in English and 3 are written in French. Most selections offer summaries; one of the three articles written in French provides a resume in English. Bibliographies accompany many articles. Titles and authors are as follows: "Mentalites et Experiences Sociales: Les Conditions Socio-Historiques de la Scolarisation Obligatoire en Europe" (Wolfgang Schmale); "Compulsory Schooling and Ethnic Acculturation in Alberta: A Case Study--1890s-1920s" (Nick Kach and Kasper Mazurek); "Attitudes to the Elementary Schools System among Copenhagen Working-Class Parents (1870-c.1900). Description of a Research Project" (Ning de Coninck-Smith); "The Introducation and Enforcement of Compulsory School Attendance in 19th Century Prussia" (Hans-Jurgen Apel); "Compulsory Education for German Immigrant Children in the United States of America during the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century: The Case of Rural Wisconsin" (Juliane Jacobi-Dittrich); "Le Recensement des Conscrits, le Reglement du Travail dans l'Industrie du Tabac et la Scolarite Obligatoire dans la Ville Hanseatique de Breme de 1841 a 1844" (Wiltrud Ulrich Drechsel and Franck Neumann); "A Social-Historical Approach Toward Mass Education in the Early 19th Century" (Klaus Wiese); "The Diminished Role of Formal Education in National Socialist Germany" (Geoffrey J. Giles); "Policy in Practice: Families and the Introduction of Compulsory Schooling in Essex Textile Districts" (Grace Belfiore); "Notes for a Pattern of Analysis of Compulsory Education in Latin America during the Nineteenth Century" (Gabriela Ossenbach-Sauter); "The Compulsory Education and the Mexican Revolution (1910-1924)" (Renate Marsiske); "Historical Context of Compulsory Education in Poland" (Jan Hellwig); "Social and Economic Aspects of Introducing Compulsory Education in the Czech Lands" (Dagmar Capkova); "The Political, Social and Economic Situation of Poland and Compulsory Education (to 1918)" (Lech Mokrzecki); "L'Obligation Scolaire au Portugal pendant la Premiere Moitie du XXe Siecle" (Aurea Adao); "Compulsory Schooling and Social Revolution in Spain 1936-1937: Considerations Concerning the Libertarian Position" (Pere Sola);"Compulsory Education and Child Labor in Spain in the Early 20th Century (Madrid, 1900-1920)" (Alejandro Tiana Ferrer); and "The Compulsory Curriculum in Industrial America: Connections Between Past and Present" (Thomas A. Mulkeen). (CJH)

This first of four volumes on the history of compulsory education among the nations of Europe and the Western hemisphere deals with historical antecedents and early development. Of the 29 total articles, 18 are in English and 2 have English summaries. Many selections include bibliographies. Titles and authors are as follows: "The Political Institutionalization of Compulsory Education" (Francisco O. Ramirez and John Boli); "L'Obbligo Scolastico e la Scuola di Base Nello Scritto d'un Pedagogista Cileno" (Alessandro Leonarduzzi); "Beginnings of Compulsory Education in the Republic of Columbia" (O. Negrin Fajardo and D. Soto Arango); "L'Obligation Educative en France des Origines a Nos Jours" (Paul Gerbod); "L'Introduction de l'Obligation Scolaire dans l'Allemagne Protestante du XVIe au XVIIIe Siecle" (Jean-Luc Le Cam); "Karl August Zeller (1774-1846). Aide-Camps pour la Prusse, Pays en Voie de Developpement en Matiere d'Education Nationale, dans le Contexte du Decalage Sud-Nord des Pays Germanophones" (Rudolf Koschnitzke); "The Historical Development of Compulsory Schooling in Germany" (Gabriele Weigand); "The History of Compulsory Education in Germany" (Karl-Heinz Guenther and Gert Geissler); "The Advent of Universal Compulsory Elementary Education in England and Wales" (D. K. Jones); "Gradual Regulation of Schooling Age and School Attendance in Hungary since 1777 up to Now" (Otto Vag); "The Debate about the Introduction of Compulsory Elementary Education of 1848 in Hungary" (Sandor Komlosi); "Compulsory Education in the Twenty Years after Italian Unification (1860-1880)" (Enzo Catarsi); "Chiesa e Obbligo Scolastico Nell'Italia Post-Unitaria (1860-1900)" (Carmela Covato); "Compulsory Education in The Netherlands" (J. F. A. Braster and N. L. Dodde); "School and Literacy. Introduction of the Elementary School in Norway in the 1730's and 1740's" (Knut Tveit); "The Idea of Unbroken Primary School in Norway" (Knut Jordheim); "L'Introduction de l'Obligation Scolaire dans la Pologne, la Prusse et l'Autriche" (Marianna Krupa); "Legal Foundation and Accomplishment of Compulsory Education in Poland in 1918-1939" (Jozef Zerko and Romuald Grzybowski); "L'Introduction et la Prolongation de la Scolarite Obligatoire au Portugal" (Joaquim Ferreira Gomes); "L'Enseignement Obligatoire dans les Constitutions Espagnoles due XIXe Siecle" (Federico Gomez Rodriguez de Castro); "Le Chemin Vers l'Enseignement Obligatoire en Espagne Avant 1857" (Anastasio Martinez Navarro); "Apport des Municipalites Constitutionnelles a l'Introduction de l'Enseignement Obligatoire en Espagne" (Julio Ruiz Berrio); "Compulsory Education in the Swiss Canton of Zurich from 1798 to 1859" (Fritz-Peter Hager); "La Reproclamation de l'Instruction Obligatoire, a Geneve, au XIXe Siecle: Du Refus de 1842 a l'Acceptation de 1872" (Charles Magnin); "Towards Compulsory Education: The School Revival Movement in the United States" (Jurgen Herbst); "The Roots of Compulsory Education in America" (L. Glenn Smith); "Compulsory Education in Utopia: Owen and Neef" (Dieter Jedan); "Compulsory Education in the Waldorf Schools in America" (Joseph A. Baust); and "Compulsory Education in Chicago" (Joan K. Smith). (CJH)

We currently find ourselves in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, a time when everything around us is evolving at an exponential pace, which is disrupting virtually every industry around the globe. With today's transformations and changes in the workplace, there are skills needed to remain employed. As we continue along this path, workplaces will require adaptable people whose jobs are reimagined, enriched, or facilitated by the technology they work alongside. This paper will begin with skillsets that will be needed by workers, followed by current descriptions of two of these crucial skills, and finally discuss how the two opposed skills can be brought together for learners. [For the complete proceedings, see ED597786.]