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U.S. and European models of delivering secondary education were examined to identify ways of improving Latin American and Caribbean secondary schools and easing Latin American and Caribbean students' transition from school to work. The following delivery options were considered: (1) separate job training from formal secondary education; (2) move technical education to the postsecondary level; (3) create tracks within formal secondary education; (4) develop a single national curriculum with electives; (5) build academics into vocational subjects; (6) blend office technology into academics; and (7) maintain a few elite secondary technical schools that are closely linked with industry. The following were among the conclusions that emerged from the analysis: (1) the traditional structure of secondary education is obsolete; (2) because of the diverse situations and cultural traditions existing in the countries of Latin American and the Caribbean, there is no single model of secondary education that can be recommended for all countries in the region; (3) many new alternatives include a progressive separation of vocational preparation from academic streams; (4) regardless of their level and regardless of whether they have ties with academic studies, the most successful technical schools are closely tied to industry; and (5) in all cases, more emphasis must be placed on solving problems rather than on memorizing facts and theories. (Contains 17 references) (MN)

This document contains four reports on technology and further education (FE) that Lynton Gray and Ann-Marie Warrender prepared for the Further Education Funding Council's Learning and Technology Committee. The first report, "Main Themes from Learning & Technology Committee Press Surveys," examines three themes that were identified during a review of British press coverage of the role of information/learning technologies in FE: technological developments, organizational changes and learning applications. "Learning and Technology in American Community Colleges," which is based on materials presented at an American Association of Community Colleges convention, discusses the following topics: technology and teaching, distance learning, technologies and the Internet, and industry and student-centered learning. "Multimedia and Education," which is based on materials presented at an Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education conference, examines the following topics: technology for teachers, breaching the technological barriers, the impact of national initiatives, publishing and multimedia, and Canada's Open Learning Agency. "Learning Technologies in Industrial Training" explains the uses of information and learning technologies by a small sample of British companies in their own training programs. The implications of the four papers for reform of FE are summarized in a final section titled "Evidence for Action." (MN)

The apparently simple question of whether there are commonly accepted "best practices" for infant and toddler care leads to further questions regarding the nature of childhood and the impact of cultural values. This report reviews recent theory, training, and practice in the care of children outside their homes. Section 1 of the report argues that much of current knowledge about infancy is derived from the normative context established in Anglo-North American child development studies. This section considers these predominant assumptions and their implications for practice. The legacy of attachment theory is analyzed, especially the assumption that out-of-home care is less desirable than care by mothers. This section further argues that the child-centered approach and desirability of structured play reinforces individualism. Section 2 of the report explores European traditions of theory and practice. This section describes five parameters of practice, focusing on ideas about: (1) the nature of relationships between adults and very young children; (2) children as learners; (3) health and well-being; (4) training employment for those who work with young children; and (5) ecology and the environment. The report also illustrates the program content in European settings, the importance of language diversity, the concern with the environment and its impact on programming, and the emphasis on developing values of non-aggression and cooperation by promoting interactions between children. (KB)

This study examined the role of faculty participation on strategic change within higher education. An open-ended questionnaire was completed by seven individuals from Singapore and the United States who had had experience with higher education strategic planning and change as both faculty and administrators in Australia, Canada, Singapore, and the United States. It was found that all of the respondents agreed on the necessity of involving stakeholders, particularly the faculty, in strategic change. Many also pointed to the difficulty of getting quality participation from faculty, due to the fact that faculty often have a narrow perspective, that faculty participation involves a large commitment of time, and that faculty are often reluctant to address complex issues or problems. Respondents emphasized the negative impact of overly hierarchical and bureaucratic organizational structures, which were more typical in Singapore than elsewhere. The comments also emphasized the impact that organizational culture, planning processes, reward structures, and institutional mission can have on faculty participation in strategic change. Suggestions for encouraging and improving faculty participation were also offered. (Contains 32 references.) (MDM)

This paper investigates the real living standards and poverty status of U.S. children in the 1990s compared to the children in 17 other nations, including Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, and Australia. The analysis is based on the Luxembourg Income Study database. It was found that American children have lower real spendable income than do comparable children in almost every other nation studied. In contrast, high income U.S. children are far better off than their counterparts in other nations. Persistently high child poverty rates were also found in the United States when compared with other nations. Demographic factors and the effectiveness of tax and transfer policies in reducing child poverty are also explored, and the paper concludes with a discussion of results and their policy implications. An appendix presents two tables of countries studied and poverty figures. (Contains 3 text tables, 8 figures, and 28 references.) (Author/SLD)

This publication contains three papers on college student exchange between Japan and the United States. The first paper, entitled "The University of Massachusetts and Hokkaido University: A Case Study in Educational Cooperation," by Barbara B. Burn, describes the long-standing relationship between these two institutions in order to identify some of the main characteristics that have contributed to this relationship and as a means to explore some of the deterrents or impediments to educational cooperation between universities and colleges in Japan and the United States. The second paper, "Student Exchanges and the Use of Technology" by Jackson H. Bailey, discusses the diverse conflicts and difficulties that arise out of student exchanges between Japan and the United States and argues that these issues must be resolved because effective educational exchange is so important to education and technology in both nations. The third paper, "Morehouse College Offers a New Direction in Japanese African American Relations" by Lee Gallo, describes the in-progress development of a Japan-United States friendship commission and argues for the increased participation of black students in international exchange programs. (JB)

This is an analysis of the findings from three comparable national studies of current change in the provision of initial teacher education. These three studies are: the Mode of Teacher Education (MOTE) survey, covering England and Wales; the Research about Teacher Education (RATE) Project, covering the United States; and the Study of Initial Teacher Education (SITE), covering Australia. Each of the studies examines comparable issues and identifies a range of common policy strategies being pursued by the respective governments. There appears to be a global move toward educational reform. Many countries are dismantling centralized educational structures and replacing them with systems having local institutional autonomy and control. These are often linked to an increased emphasis on parental choice and competition between institutions for students. These changes are leading to a market model of educational services. There is more encouragement of the growth of different types of schools, responsive to local needs and particular communities and interest groups. This trend is also linked to growing notions of cultural pluralism as schools shift from a modern to postmodern model. (Contains 39 references.) (JLS)

The benefits of and issues associated with output-related funding (ORF) were assessed by examining the use of ORF in vocational education and training (VET) in the European Union and the United States. Data were gathered in the following ways: several online bibliographic searches; consultation with 54 experts, including VET researchers, national policymakers, and lobbyists; CEDEFOP requests for information from organizations and individuals; and traditional library searches. ORF was defined as basing funding on outputs produced, which are generally measured in terms of the achievement of qualifications for school-based training and/or job attainment. The emphasis given to ORF in the VET programs examined ranged from 75% (the United Kingdom's Training for Work program) to 5% (Job Training Partnership Act programs). ORF was determined to offer the following benefits: gives training providers more flexibility in the type of provision offered; enhances improvements in performance; increases value for money by providing incentive to fulfill certain achievements and discouraging "time-serving" in training, which does not lead to outcomes; and simplifies administration and clarifies audit requirements. ORF's success in achieving efficiency, reducing administrative costs, and enhancing accountability could not be determined unequivocally because it was rarely used as the sole instrument of performance management. (57 references) (MN)

In 1992 the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) surveyed administrators in member libraries regarding resource strategies of the previous three years. This paper summarizes revenue activities, adaptive tactics, and budgetary practices reported by 87 Canadian, U.S. private, and U.S. public university libraries and establishes a baseline for comparing these factors. The period from 1990 to 1992 has been a difficult one for ARL members, with the largest reductions in public support experienced by public university libraries. All respondents sought outside revenues to supplement their campus allocations. Virtually every responding library had experienced some form of internal restructuring, and three of every five had eliminated positions over the three-year survey period. Administrators valued flexibility in fund reallocation very highly, but few had much control over carrying unspent funds to the next year. While 88% of respondents expected the demand for services to grow, only 32% anticipated budget increases. Greater selectivity in activities and greater library sharing are likely to result from the economic realities. Three appendixes contain the survey summary results, the cover letter, and the questionnaire. (Contains 33 references.) (SLD)

From 1992-94, a working group appointed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO's) European Centre for Higher Education (CEPES) reviewed the perceived and actual recognition of studies completed by students from Europe and the United States at institution on both continents. This report reviews that working group's terms of reference, membership, and proceedings. It frames the issues, describes the European and U.S. educational systems, and discusses the fundamental differences between them. It then examines in more detail three specific issues in recognition across systems, using a classification of European countries by general system type, into four groups (Anglophone countries, Nordic countries, Central and Eastern European countries, and Western European continental countries). The three recognition issues are: (1) access to higher education; (2) intermediate qualifications and partially completed degrees; and (3) access to doctoral studies. In each of these areas, the issues are defined and the recommendations of the working group are presented. General guidelines and recommendations of the working group are summarized in the final section. A list of working group members is appended. (Contains 10 references.) (MSE)

This study developed a classification scheme to critically compare performance assessment projects at higher education universities in North America and Europe. Performance indicators and assessment initiatives were compared using nine basic dimensions: (1) locus of control, (2) degree of governmental involvement, (3) focus of performance indicators, (4) sources of quality variation, (5) data selection, (6) intended audiences, (7) emphasis of use, (8) impact on student learning, and (9) relationship to institutional mission. A sample of six systems of generation performance indicators was examined using the nine criteria; the six systems are: National Education Goals (United States National System); Critical Choices (United States State System); Key Success Indices (United States Institutional System); The Committee for Vice Chancellors and Principals listing of performance indicators (British National System); Queen's University (Canadian Model); and MONEY magazine (United States Media System). Analysis found that performance indicators are mostly variations of input/output mechanistic thinking, that remarkable similarities exist between North American and European initiatives, that most models are unprepared to address conversion or process variables, that most are built on an assumption that outcomes can be attributed to something in the system or institution, and that the absence of linkages back to the learning environment leaves internal decisionmakers without information to correct causes that explain variations in quality. (Contains 92 references.) (JB)

This report examines access to lifelong learning opportunities on Canada's information highway. The report begins with a glossary and a learner-centered model in which the information highway links learners with learning opportunities provided through educational institutions, community organizations, government, and business and industry. Presented next is an overview of the economic, technological, social, and education and training-related factors that have led to recognition in Canada and worldwide of the leading role that lifelong learning must play in preparing individuals for the competitive, information-based global economy of the 21st century. The following three challenges facing Canada as it develops a lifelong learning system are discussed: (1) economic and social restructuring; (2) situational, dispositional, and institutional barriers to lifelong learning; and (3) learning models in response to new learning technologies. Trends and best practices in lifelong learning, the formal education sector, and nonformal education sector are reviewed. Next is a "made in Canada" response to the challenges. Included in the response are a conceptual framework and goals for lifelong learning in Canada. Appended are the following: barriers to learning identified in a 1982 survey; goal summary of a lifelong learning framework; overview of lifelong learning in the formal and nonformal sectors; and selected bibliography. Contains 39 references. (MN)

This paper offers a broad look at accreditation and quality assurance in higher education and how these issues are addressed around the world. Section 1 is an overview of accreditation and addresses the aims and objectives of accreditation, standards, accreditation bodies, stages of the accreditation process, the quality of that process, the role of government in the accreditation process, some critical points of view concerning the process, and present accreditation trends. Section 2 looks at accreditation and quality assurance through brief national case studies. The nations represented are France, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United States, China, India, Hong Kong, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Australia. This section closes with a section comparing accreditation and quality assurance in various regions. Section 3 takes a closer and more detailed look at the accreditation process in Romania, particularly in light of the recent political and educational changes in this nation and the fairly recent decision to introduce accreditation of institutions of higher education. This examination covers accreditation principles and objectives, standards for initial and subsequent accreditation, application rules, structure of the accreditation committee and its functions, and provisions for financing accreditation. Appendixes contain institutional evaluation standards and a glossary. (Contains 27 references.) (JB)

This study explored the readjustment experience of 49 Indians who came to the United States to study and then returned to their home country. Interviews revealed that most experienced some stress or difficulty after their re-entry, with problems ranging from initial anxiety about getting a job or shock at the crowded conditions, pollution, or the frustrations of power and telephone outages, to an intense period of depression and alienation. A few who had been back in India for 4 to 5 years were still having a difficult time, while some students who had been back for less than a year seemed quite comfortable with their lives in India. Twelve interviewees specifically mentioned that they "think about going back" to the United States. Factors in difficult re-entries related to cultural differences, economic differences, changes in values, and having to make adjustments in many aspects of their lives such as changing family roles and changing from student life to work life. Profiles of five returned students are presented to illustrate their very different re-entry experiences. Issues discussed include returning to mutual dependence in the family, marriage and family, the job search, the work environment, national identity, attitudes, and coping strategies. (Contains 14 reference notes.) (JDD)

A study examined the role of employer training in ameliorating skill shortages and enhancing productivity and competitiveness. The study established that formal training by specialized personnel accounts for only 5-10% of the time newly hired workers are engaged in training activities and that existing labor market research instruments fail to measure much of the informal training and on-the-job training (OJT) received by new employees. U.S. employers were found to devote less time and fewer resources to training entry-level blue-collar, clerical, and service employees than do employers in Germany and Japan. The lower U.S. training rate was attributed to the following: higher employee turnover and higher cost of capital in the United States, lower trainability of U.S. youth, lower rates of technological progress, and lack of information about the quality of the general human capital obtained from OJT. Clear evidence that most U.S. employers and workers underinvest in OJT was found. The study further confirmed that, although high-quality occupational training offered by schools ameliorates the problem of underprovision of skill training, school-based training cannot replace some kinds of employer training and is generally less effective than employer-provided training in providing the same skills. (Contains 126 references.) (MN)

This report addresses the sources and remedies for child poverty in the United States through a review of the effects of trends, policies, and changes in social relationships; and an analysis of data concerning poverty and children. An introduction sketches the present condition of children in poverty and the policies and attitudes of the past 30 years. The next section reviews trends in family incomes and poverty, pointing out the antipoverty effects of economic growth and government policies. It also focuses on poverty and income transfer recipiency among children, emphasizing the diversity of the poverty population and analyzing those who are and are not aided by income transfer programs. The third section analyses the effects of changes in family structure and family size on child poverty. The fourth section discusses evidence on persistent poverty and welfare receipt and examines the emergence of an urban underclass. The fifth section analyses some important consequences of poverty for child health and development: adolescent pregnancy and out-of-wedlock childbearing, infant mortality and low birthweight, and others. The paper concludes with an antipoverty agenda for the 1990s. Included are 9 tables, 7 graphs, and an 89-item bibliography. (JB)

This study is a comparative analysis that addresses the question: to what extent has the relationship between parental socioeconomic characteristics and educational opportunities changed over time and why? The document suggests six hypotheses regarding change in the effects of social origins on education transitions: (1) modernization hypothesis: the effects of social origin on all transitions decline; (2) reproduction hypothesis: the effects of social origins decline on earlier transitions but not on later transitions; (3) hypothesis of maximally maintained inequality: the effects will only decline at those transitions for which the attendance rates of the privileged classes are saturated; (4) socialist transformation hypothesis: socialist transformations brought about an initial reduction in the effects, that will then be followed by increased effects; (5) life course hypothesis: the effects decline across transitions but are stable across cohorts; and (6) differential selection hypothesis: the effects decline across cohorts, but the effects on later transitions increase across cohorts. The 13 industrialized countries included in the study may be classified according to their basic cultural and economic systems into three major groups: (1) western capitalistic countries: United States of America, (former) Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Israel; (2) non-Western capitalistic countries: Japan and Taiwan; and (3) western socialistic countries: Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Study results show that educational expansion facilitates the persistence of inequalities in educational opportunity. Tables summarize the major findings with respect to educational expansion and attainment, change in the effects of social origins on highest education attained, and cohort differences. (DK)

The U.S. spends twice as much as the average industrialized country on higher education, but continues to slide relative to other nations in the percentage of young adults with an associate degree or higher. Despite recent reductions in state aid to higher education, state taxpayers continue to be the largest single source of unrestricted funds that colleges need to hire faculty and provide core student services. This means that governors and other state policymakers continue to have significant leverage over the priorities and direction of their public higher education systems. Governors are in a key position to use finance as a lever to promote higher education productivity through their budgeting authority, their annual budget addresses, and other finance-related powers. This paper presents three primary strategies governors can employ to restructure college costs and graduate many more students from high quality programs within existing resources.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 35 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. The Organisation for works with countries to develop skills strategies tailored to specific needs and contexts. The Organisation prepared a global skills strategy outline over the period 2011 to 2013. Each national skills strategy country project offers a tailored approach to focus on the unique skills challenges, context and objectives of each country. Each project leverages OECD comparative data and policy analysis, fosters collaboration across ministerial portfolios and levels of government while engaging all relevant stakeholders--employers, trade unions, and civil society organisations. In its paper "Towards an OECD Skills Strategy" (OECD 2013), the OECD sets out the main issues which must be addressed by efficient and effective policies for skills formation and skills use. The majority of material in each of the 13 case summaries presented here has been lifted mostly verbatim from original sources. These sources are stated at the beginning of each case summary. [This document is an added resource for the report "Identifying Work Skills: International Approaches. Discussion Paper" which can be accessed in ERIC at ED579874.]

"Turn and Face the Strain: Age Demographic Change and the Near Future of American Education" outlines a fierce battle looming between the needs of public health care and education. A crisis is fast approaching that makes comprehensive improvement of America's public schools more important than ever. Faced with rapidly expanding populations of the young and the old, working age taxpayers will experience the growing strain of insufficient tax revenue to fund public services from now until the foreseeable future. One solution to the crisis: an American education system that leads to a college and career-ready generation prepared for high-wage job earnings in a competitive global economy. This two-page policy brief summarizes the primary components of the predicament and choice options for a changing demography. [For the full report, see ED574383.]