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This fourth volume in the series provides a systematic description of the situation of teachers and trainers in vocational education and training (VET) in five European countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Each country report begins with an outline of the national context--the country's geographical features and the ethnological composition of its population; cultural history and religious considerations are included where they are relevant to VET. A brief description follows of the overall education system of which VET is a part. The next section of each report examines the VET system within which the teachers and trainers who are the subject of this publication serve. The following section describes the teaching and training faculty--in quantitative and qualitative terms to the extent that the relevant information is available--and an account of teachers' and trainers' legal standing, rights, and duties and also those of the teacher unions and other professional organizations that work on their behalf. The final substantive sections explore the inservice and continuing training opportunities open to teachers and trainers in VET and possibilities for career advancement. A separate section lists the addresses of institutes associated in some way with the initial or continuing training of teachers or trainers in VET. Finally, each country report presents a list of acronyms and abbreviations used in the text. (YLB)

This publication consists of 14 selected papers prepared for an international workshop on the problems and relationship between producing vocational competencies for skilled-worker level occupations and controlling and certifying these competencies. Part I outlines the production life and labor market contexts of vocational training and certification and discusses some problems of education/employment match in an age of recession and demands for occupational flexibility. The two papers in part I are as follows: "Working Life Background of Occupations and Certification of Vocational Competence" (Makinen) and "Society, Education, and Vocational Competencies: Towards Flexible Society of Continuous Adult Education" (Rinne, Kivinen). Part II contains descriptions and analyses of the present status and developments of the vocational training and certification systems in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, England and Wales, Scotland, and the United States." The seven papers are: "Producing and Certifying Vocational Competence in Finland at Present and in the Future" (Melametsa); "Defining and Producing Vocational Competence--The UK Experience" (Handley); "Vocational Education and Training in Scotland" (Seddon); "Qualification, Competence, and Certification in the Modular Vocational Education in the Netherlands" (Streumer); "Some Essentials of the Dual System of Vocational Training in Germany" (Reisse); "The German System of Assessment and Certification in Vocational Training" (Reisse); and "Certification of Occupational Skills and Standards: The United States Perspective" (Bunn). In Part III, some general and occupation-specific problems of competence-based examinations and certification of vocational qualifications are discussed in four papers: "Function and Dysfunction of the Certification System: Closed or Open Structures" (Volanen); "Problems of Certification and Examinations in Different Occupations" (Taalas); "Problems of Certification in Some 'Soft' Vocations" (Niikko); and "The Corporate Classroom: Is There a Possibility of Increasing In-service Education in the Sectors of Retail Industry, the Hotel Business, and Catering?" (Puurula). Part IV contains some concluding remarks in Finnish on the topics of the workshop. (YLB)