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This document consists of six reports that each provide essential basic information on the organization of the education system of one of the following countries as of 1995-1996: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Each report includes information on some or all of the following aspects of the given country's initial training system: responsibilities and administration (background, basic principles, distribution of responsibilities, legal framework and administration, legislative process, reforms, provision, curricular regulation, inspection, advisory/consultative bodies, financing, private schools, vocational orientation/guidance); preschool education (historical background, administration, curriculum and assessment, teachers, statistics); compulsory education; compulsory education and/or basic education (primary education, presecondary education, institutional separation at the lower secondary level, basic school curriculum, textbooks, assessment, teachers, statistics); secondary education (aims, curriculum, upper and lower secondary school education, secondary vocational and technical schools, integrated secondary vocational-technical schools, vocational training centers, assessment, teachers, statistics); vocational education (vocational schools, secondary vocational-technical schools and technical schools, special vocational training schools); teachers (teacher training, inservice teacher training, teachers' working hours); and higher education (admission requirements, tuition fees, types and lengths of courses, qualifications, academic year, universities and equivalent, nonuniversity higher education). (Forty-nine tables/figures are included.) (MN)

If Europe is to remain at the driving edge, economic and political progress must be complemented by offering a "European vision" to Europe's young people. All young Europeans must be guaranteed access to education and training culminating in acquisition of a foundation of recognized basic knowledge and skills and access to guidance and counseling at critical moments of transition. Maintaining Europe's social cohesion hinges on the following actions being taken at the European Union level: affirm the need for intercultural schools to transmit the common values on which European civilization is founded and help devise and disseminate ways of enabling Europe's young people to play a fuller role as European citizens; set as a goal the acquisition of a foundation of essential basic knowledge at the end of compulsory education for all young Europeans; promote the definition and acquisition of new occupational profiles in which new information technologies play a major part; anchor in some legal foundation a general European aim that serves as a guide for the different member states' education and training systems; and secure the financial means to make Europe's educational standards among the best in the world. (Contains 26 figures) (MN)

Continuous vocational training (CVT) in the road freight and passenger transport sectors in the member states of the European Community (EC) was examined to identify exemplary and significant practices across the EC and determine the extent of the transferability of the identified exemplary training between and among the member states. In all, case studies of CVT at 50 firms in 11 countries were conducted. Special attention was paid to the following: the nature of the road freight and passenger transport sectors in the EC (structure of the sectors, forces of change, emerging business strategies, factors influencing each sectors' development); the employment environments of both sectors (legislation, employment trends, recruitment practices and entrants' education level, productivity, demographics, working conditions, and role of the social partners); and CVT in both sectors across the EC (initial training, developments in CVT, bottlenecks in the CVT system, training budgets and costs, and future training requirements). Specific recommendations for improving CVT in small and large companies were presented. (Contains 63 tables/figures. Appended are a framework for analysis of the economic return of company training in road transport and 45 references.) (MN)

Nine European Community Member States (Belgium, Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, and United Kingdom) conducted national studies that involved case studies of quality assurance in continuing education. Analysis of findings indicated that many firms regarded continuing training as a central instrument for achieving economic goals and as an investment. Two different forms of cooperation between firms and training providers were identified. Large enterprises systematically planned, designed, implemented, and evaluated their personnel advancement and continuing training procedures as an integral part of corporate strategy. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were dependent for their planning and quality assurance needs on external help. The burden of quality control was increasingly passing from the customers to the suppliers of continuing training. Training institutions had to be able to verify the quality of their offerings credibly. Quality assurance methods would contribute to improved continuing training if the formal training requirements were given a teaching-related content and SMEs received external help from training providers. In addition, self-assessment should be encouraged, and the technical side of learning and teaching should be evaluated. (An appendix contains summaries of the status and future prospects of quality assurance in continuing training in the countries studied.) (YLB)

Strategies to improve disadvantaged young people's access to and progression within initial vocational training (VT) were identified through a study of relevant experiences within the European Union's member states. The study, which was based on national reports from each country, focused on the following topics: identifying the challenges and problems in compulsory schools and initial VT; improving compulsory education (the need to tackle failure at its roots; curriculum variation; vocational guidance through the curriculum; area-based interventions; Denmark's successful synthesis of guidance and vocational education); increasing readiness for VT (preparatory measures, youth guarantees and outreach measures, alternative institutions as "stepping stones" to training); improving initial VT; implications of training and/or retraining teachers and trainers; and improving cooperation between training providers. Fifteen themes for future cooperation were identified. (Appended are the following: target group definitions; the Netherlands' 1993 plan for reducing early school leaving; "individual programs" in upper secondary school in Sweden; external and internal school "units" in Norway; the "Mission Nouvelles Qualifications" in France; a study of "hard core" disadvantaged young people; discussion of the United Kingdom's "Youth Training" as a model for training of disadvantaged young people in a market system; and labor market measures.) (MN)

This paper examines the goals, architecture, and means of lifelong learning. The following are among the topics discussed: economic and social dimensions of the forces pushing Europe toward a learning society (investing in people; promoting employment in an era of structural change; making firms key partners in the learning society; overcoming the fragmentation of life into education, work, and retirement; forging new routes to equal opportunities; diversifying education and training opportunities in Europe); clarification of goals and purposes (reconciling cultural, social, and economic goals; building on past achievements; devising a new "systemic" logic); movement toward a flexible architecture of institutions and opportunities (a learner-centered, consumer-led process of change; learning outcomes as a rallying point; redistribution of life chances); strategic changes in institutional frameworks (schools as foundations for lifelong learning up to age 16; initial vocational training and new pathways from school to work; development and renewal of the adult population's human capital through continuing education; creation of a frontier-knowledge and advanced-skills base through higher education and research); and new ways and means for lifelong learning (new methodologies and networks, more flexible systems of qualifications). (MN)

The EUROTECNET program has been refocused to concentrate more on continuing vocational education as the area of greatest need across the European Community. Four priority fields or domains of innovative activity have been defined for the final 2 years of EUROTECNET. Priority domain 1 is innovative training needs analysis with a special focus on core competencies. A Europe-wide proposed classification categorizes technical, methodological, social, and behavioristic core competencies. Priority domain 2 is transfer of innovative methodologies for the planning and management of training in the framework of human resources development. The company as a learning organization is proposed, with changing roles of managers and workers and an increased role of the social partners in supporting the learning organization. Priority domain 3 is training providers as innovative service centers for enterprises. Requirements are systematic continuing training of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and a new "training consultancy" approach between training institutions and SMEs. Priority domain 4 is innovative pedagogical methodologies and approaches. Trends in this area are as follows: learning situations closely related to work situations; independence and responsibility of individuals; involvement of all actors in training; and a continuous learning process. Training systems must include partnerships with industry, paradigmatic changes, and a lifelong learning continuum. (Appendices list EUROTECNET national strategic conferences and 49 publications.) (YLB)

This volume contains three studies that address important and complementary aspects of youth work as it is developing in the Member States of the European Union. Chapter 1, Youth Structures and Policies at National Level, has two parts. The first describes the specific nature of youth policies carried out by the various governments and the underlying concepts and the terminology used. The second part is an overview of the type and direction of youth policies in the Member States, stressing some aspects of convergence and divergence. Chapter 2, Youth Structures and Policies at Regional and Local Level, analyzes the regional and local dimension of youth policies. Part 1 describes regional and local structures and the corresponding youth policies implemented by the Member States. It pinpoints the particular features of each Member State and highlights common features, convergences, and areas suitable for the development of cooperation at European level. Part 2 highlights the objectives of youth policies and the social problems they attempt to resolve. Chapter 3, Youth Worker Training, is divided into two parts. The first consists of tables and brief commentaries that present the training systems for youth workers set up by the different Member States. The second describes those aspects in common and identifies converging trends that are determining the current situation in youth work. (YLB)