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This report from the 91st session of the International Labor Organization (ILO) conference examines recent legislation, policies, and practices reflecting new approaches to learning and training. The document was intended to foster discussion regarding a revision of the ILO standard on human resources training and development. Chapter I examines economic and social benefits of learning, education, and training in production of goods and services and the goal of full employment. It reviews the use of education and training to enhance productivity and competitiveness in knowledge and skill-based economies. Chapter II gives an overview of five principles that underlie contemporary human resources development and training policies, laws, and practices. Chapter III defines basic education and training concepts and reviews recent basic education and initial training reform in developing and developed countries. Chapter IV examines policies, legal developments and practices aimed at encouraging learning and training opportunities for workers with a focus on the maintenance and improvement of an individual's employability. Chapter V provides examples of current and emerging priorities and practices in international cooperation in human resources development and training. The document contains concluding remarks; an extensive bibliography; a questionnaire regarding the need for, and content of the new standard; and three appendixes. (SLR)

Expanding upon a report presented to the International Labor Organization (ILO), this book documents the current world employment situation, including how it has fallen short, how current economic policies interact with world employment, and how improvements can be made. Chapter one, "The Commitment to Full Employment," describes how the ILO measures and defines employment and unemployment and discusses the concept of creating a universal employment strategy in developing, industrialized and transition countries. Chapter two, "The Current Employment Picture" looks at broad trends in employment globally and regionally and the characteristics of employment quality, including freedom of association and equal opportunity. Chapter three, "The Employment Effects of Current Policies," discusses the recent experiences of developing countries in East and Southeast Asia and Latin America, as well as the older Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members. Chapter four presents conclusions, including discussions of poverty, income distribution and economic growth, full employment policies, and how the ILO helps promote full employment in a global context and at the national level. Extensive bibliographic notes follow each chapter. The document contains data tables and an index. (SLR)

This document presents five papers, each describing different experiences in the introduction, promotion and implementation of innovative adult training approaches aimed at achieving more flexibility in skill development. An introduction (Anatoli Tchaban) presents background information and a synthesis of the studies covering definitions, concepts and approaches, government policies and institutional frameworks, major issues discussed, and a listing of appropriate strategies to adopt. The following papers are included: "Improving the Relevance of Vocational Training and Delivery Approaches: Recent Developments in Australia's Vocational Education and Training System" (Roland McMillan); "Open and Flexible Learning: Experience in the United Kingdom and in the Moscow Region of the Russian Federation" (John Twining); "Open System for Individualized Training: A French Training Scheme for Adults (Cyrille Salort); "More Flexibility through Modules: Scotland's Vocational Training Reform" (Rob van Krieken); and "Quick Start: Company Specific/Job Specific Training Programmes in the United States" (Clarence Burdette). The first two papers contain extensive bibliographies and the fourth has an appendix describing a vocational certification program in the travel and tourism area. (SLR)

The impact of globalization of the world economy on employment throughout the world was examined by determining the causes and effects of the reduction in economic growth that has occurred in most developed and developing countries since 1973. The following were among the factors considered: international inequality; new technologies; effects of globalization on labor demand and labor standards; and policy responses to globalization (trade and industrialization; foreign direct investment, adjustment measures, labor market regulation). The effects of reduced economic growth on a given country's employment patterns/levels were found to depend on that country's way of responding to inadequate growth. The view that labor market rigidity is the main cause of poor employment performance was refuted. It was concluded that, although globalization generates real employment problems (unemployment, declining relative wages, and reduced job prospects), its potential benefits far outweigh its costs. The optimal strategy for encouraging economic development in a global economy was said to be to reap the considerable gains of continued globalization in terms of higher output and efficiency while developing appropriate national and international policies to deal with the social problems engendered by globalization. Contains 42 tables/figures and 216 endnotes.) (MN)

This book is the second in a series aiming to promote international exchange of ideas, experiences, and studies relating to technical and vocational education. Information provided is designed to help educators and trainers plan for an intelligent use of new training technologies (NTTs) to improve the access to basic and advanced lifelong learning that will make it easier to get a job and continue to find employment. Chapter 1 discusses the reasons why NTTs may be used in education and training. Chapter 2 presents information on how NTTs can be used in group and individual learning. Chapter 3 suggests a methodology to select the most appropriate NTT for a particular curriculum or course. Chapter 4 offers practical hints for introducing NTTs in a training institution. Chapter 5 mentions trends for the next few years to help make the best possible investment in NTTs. Eight appendixes present technical aspects of NTTs' descriptions: (1) compatibility (personal computer buses/architecture; microprocessors; operating systems; graphic modes; digital images, sound, and video files; color standards; and videotape formats); (2) suggested PC configurations; (3) laser technology; (4) digital versus analog; (5) digitizing; (6) telecommunications and training; (7) more technologies for training; and (8) training the disabled. Contains a glossary. (YLB)

The federal government's experience with adult retraining programs began in 1962 with the passage of the Manpower Development and Training Act and creation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. When the 1973 Comprehensive Employment and Training Act expired in 1982, Congress enacted the Job Training Partnership Act. During the 1980s, states developed programs to fill the market gap between perceived need and federally funded services. Evaluation evidence was available for five government-sponsored programs targeted to displaced workers and one program for disadvantaged workers that distinguished the impact of classroom training from that of on-the-job training. Private sector employers made more substantial investments in training programs as shown by private sector retraining programs primarily directed to workers at risk of being displaced from their jobs. Evidence provided by the displaced worker demonstration projects indicated clearly that job search assistance speeded up the reemployment of displaced workers. Results were less favorable for classroom training in vocational skills. Reasonably favorable results for classroom training were obtained. OJT had a more immediate and sustained positive impact on the earnings of both adult women and men than classroom training. Women were usually found to benefit from retraining and other reemployment services at least to the same extent as men. (Appendixes include 17 endnotes and 5 tables. Contains 21 references.) (YLB)

Approaches to decentralization of public vocational education and training in New Zealand, New South Wales (NSW), and Victoria (Australia) were compared. The national training reform agenda and establishment of the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) provided the national context for and influenced the direction of developments within NSW and Victoria. New Zealand's policy approaches were broadly similar in thrust and direction. In each jurisdiction, decentralization of management of inputs into public vocational education and training was combined with new forms of accountability. Technical and Further Education (TAFE) in NSW and Victoria had substantial networking arrangements for curriculum development. In New Zealand, curriculum development was fully devolved to the institutional level but had fewer resources compared with Australia. New Zealand, NSW, and Victoria had three different approaches to the structural forms of decentralization. New Zealand's Equivalent Full-Time Student funding system was a market-based bureaucratic mechanism that created incentives for polytechnics to attract students. Funding for TAFE in Australia was coordinated by ANTA and channeled through state and territory bodies. Both countries experienced quality differences due to market-determined prices. Decentralization contributed to responsiveness to the labor market. NSW's approach--organized structural changes--appeared most adaptable. (Appendixes include notes on Australia's vocational education and training system. Contains 57 references. (YLB)

The transformation of Singapore from a stagnating colonial port city in the late 1950s into a newly industrialized city-state in the early 1990s was the outcome of planned adjustments to changing internal and external conditions. Training and retraining programs played a role in these adjustments. Although full employment prevailed in 1979, the government was concerned about the labor displacement impact of its restructuring program. Beginning in 1980, both the Institute of Technical Education and the National Productivity Board developed a variety of adult education programs to meet the diverse education and training needs of workers. Six were of particular importance to the industrial restructuring strategy: Basic Education for Skills Training, Worker Improvement through Secondary Education, Modular Skills Training, Core Skills for Effectiveness and Change, Training Initiative for Mature Employees, and FAST FORWARD. Their positive contributions were a shift to a more highly skilled work force, rise in average wages, full employment, and alternative employment for workers affected by structural change. Lessons from Singapore's experience include the following: a flexible, responsive training system that facilitates skill acquisition; the development of effective institutions to guide the establishment of an employer-based training system as part of a total human resource development strategy; and Singapore's approach to problems which combines a strong belief in state action and a belief in market forces and competition. (Appendixes include 25 notes and 4 tables. Contains 19 references.) (YLB)

From 1976 to 1983 major reforms were enacted in Chile in the vocational training systems, based on four principles: decentralization, integration, diversification, and participation. The vocational training system in Chile is a legally established, market-oriented system in which many private training agencies compete to sell their services to private firms and government-sponsored public training programs. Private firms decide the amount and kind of training they want to buy; government subsidizes firm-based training programs through tax rebates and finances public training programs for workers without access to training in private firms. Enacted in 1976, the Vocational Training and Employment Statute stresses market forces in the delivery of vocational training services. Five types of public training programs are offered under the training and employment statute: vocational training grants, adult workers retraining programs, training program for low-income female workers, youth training program, and apprenticeship program. Evaluation of the training system performance provides evidence that decentralization of demand decisions to the level of individual firms has brought training supply much nearer to local labor market demand; enhanced the capability of the system to respond flexibly to local needs. Efficiency in terms of unit cost reduction and local relevance have not yet been fully achieved. (YLB)

This report describes environmental training in the Federal Republic of Germany, confined to that provided in vocational schools and industrial establishments. It also covers the further training of environmental trainers in such establishments. Following an introduction (Chapter I), Chapter II outlines the politico-educational background of job-related environmental studies. The next four chapters (Chapters III-VI), examine the integration of environmental protection into four training sectors by means of examples or case studies, referring also to the organizational context in each case. These chapters focus on environmental studies in on-the-job training, environmental studies in the further training of training personnel, environmental training in technical colleges, and environmental training in further training for teachers. Chapter VII maps out perspectives for the improvement of environmental training in the sectors examined, on the basis of the programs described and of the current debate on environmental training. (Sixty endnotes are appended.) (YLB)

This document reports on financing vocational education and training (VET) in developing countries. It focuses on different ways that programs are financed, the link between financing and educational practice, and the conditions that govern the effective use of resources. Chapter I examines the use of public tax revenues to finance VET. It identifies some adverse consequences of public financing; highlights the potential for extending use of public revenues through alternatives to block grants; discusses three major issues--locus of control, equity, and vertical and horizontal imbalance; and describes some policy implications. Chapter II examines these approaches to enterprise financing of training: earmarked payroll tax; tax rebate and credit schemes; and the German dual system. Chapter III reviews alternatives to government-financed VET, including training fees, fellowships and loans, and vouchers and tuition tax credits. Chapter IV discusses production for profit and its policy implications. Chapter V examines how international donor assistance is used to finance VET. It addresses characteristics of assistance, limitations accompanying assistance, and policy implications. Chapter VI focuses on diversifying financing. The discussion of limitations and opportunities covers making better use of resources, broadening financial support, and expanding opportunity. Contains 75 references. (YLB)

In January 1991 the Federal Minister of Employment and Immigration announced the establishment of the Canadian Labour Force Development Board (CLFDB) as Canada's national training board. Training boards at the provincial and local levels are still in the developmental stage. The lack of a national coordinating mechanism for all aspects of training in Canada until only recently is a reflection of Canada's unique historical context. Both the CLFDB and Canada's first provincial board in Ontario have taken elements from the national training boards of Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere and adapted them to the Canadian context. The following topics pertaining to the CLFDB are discussed in this report: enabling legislation, training board composition, training board structure and functions, finance, delivery of training, institutional planning and operations, testing and certification, and perceptions of training and training boards. Even though the reform of the Canadian training infrastructure and establishment of the CLFDB are too recent to permit any definitive assessment of their success, there is reason to hope that changing employer, government, labor union, and education/training institution attitudes will foster the development of a "training culture" such as exists in Germany, Japan, and elsewhere and will thus make it possible for the CLFDB to succeed. (Contains 26 references.) (MN)

Pertinent research studies, legislative documents, labor market agreements, official reports, and governmental decisions on issues concerning vocational education and training (VET) in Sweden were analyzed in an effort to evaluate the state of coordination of VET in Sweden and the effectiveness of its National Training Board. The findings of the analysis are presented in the nine chapters of this report, which cover the following topics: current trends and analysis of the issues involved (reference materials, current trends, enabling legislation, and new resolutions in 1990); training board structure and composition (including labor market councils and committees); present and planned national training frameworks; finance and financial sources; delivery of training; institutional planning and operation (decentralization, the curriculum in 1991, and supply and demand); administration of private/industrial training; continuing education and training (including education for progression and labor market training), and student testing and certification. A brief history of the development of vocational education in Sweden from 1846 through the 1980s, the results of an evaluation of the vocational value of upper secondary schooling, sample curricula for four integrated upper secondary school programs, and information on the finances and training policy of Sweden's national training board are appended. (MN)

Apprenticeship is the main avenue to self-employment in micro-enterprises and thus a cornerstone of informal sector development in West Africa. Survey results for Ibadan, Lome, Dakar, Niamey, and other cities demonstrate that apprenticeship as practiced by informal sector artisans is often very similar from one country to the next. Dropout rates are estimated at 20-25%. Micro-enterprises involved in apprenticeable trades produce, on average, one "graduate" per year. Apprenticeship is not only for young men. Females apprentice in female-dominated trades. Survey data confirm that apprentices tend to be better educated than their masters. A majority select their trade because it was something they had always wanted to do. Masters are often selected because they are relatives or family acquaintances. Costs of apprenticeship vary considerably among and within trades and from one country to another depending on demand and whether the master is a relative. Apprenticeship usually takes 3 or 4 years, and working hours are long. Apprentices learn primarily by watching their master and being "corrected" when they err. Usually, masters follow a training plan. Apprentices learn technical skills as well as management and organization skills. Three of four apprentices state they want to create their own establishment; many seek wage employment at first. Intervention options should include measures aimed at apprentices or at masters. (Appendixes include 10 statistical tables.) (YLB)

In 1988, the Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA) in collaboration with the International Labour Organization established a pilot project to address the issue of underrepresentation of women in technical education and training. The Women in Technical Education and Training Project (WITED) was based on six key strategic elements necessary to increase and maintain women's participation. The elements were as follows: (1) contact and cooperation with an international and regional network of institutions; (2) institutional involvement in project design and implementation; (3) pilot action research phase; (4) training and awareness raising for the project staff; (5) policy seminar; and (6) information dissemination. Research explored women's participation in technical training and employment and the main obstacles. Findings indicated that the number of women enrolling in polytechnics had increased gradually, but women were only 24 percent of the students. The average participation rate in technical programs was 12 percent. Fifteen percent of polytechnic teachers were women. Women represented 4 percent of all technical workers. Barriers were grouped under three main headings: those found in education and training systems and policies, in employment, and in society. Changes were recommended in four main target areas: national level, primary and secondary school systems, technical and vocational training systems, and formal sector employment. (Appendixes include a 16-item bibliography and 6 tables.) (YLB)

Three centuries ago only religious schools and apprenticeship controlled by the guilds existed to provide training. Regular academic schools originated in religions that needed a well-educated clergy, and these schools offered the model for the universal basic and secondary schools that exist today in nearly all countries. The European guilds gave structure and substance to learning through the opportunity to study with a master. Apprenticeship has survived the centuries. At its most sophisticated, it has become very complex and structured, as in the German dual system. Three types of training have roots in the regular schools: arts and crafts schools, vocational and technical schools, and comprehensive high schools. Although France offers many other forms of skill training, the typical French system provides for the simultaneous delivery of skills and the regular school curricula. A system that has greatly influenced other countries is the U.S. comprehensive high school. Its main characteristic is to keep all students together until the end of the secondary level. Three systems are descendants of the apprenticeship tradition: the dual system from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland; enterprise-based training centers in Latin American countries; and the Japanese system in which vocational training is offered by large corporations. These systems cannot simply be transplanted from one society to another. They must be adapted to local conditions. In addition, their shortcomings in the country of origin tend to be exaggerated. (Contains 19 references.) (YLB)

This paper focuses on training policy issues related to the development of maintenance practices in middle- and low-income developing countries. Chapter 1 provides a definition and discusses various approaches to maintenance. It shows the major trends in maintenance skill changes, such as increased problem-solving and information technology components and growing specialization geared to the type of technology and modes of maintenance applied. Chapter 2 shows the particular mix of technologies used by developing countries and the extent to which the maintenance practices correspond to their needs. It argues that as developing countries install simpler machines, on average they need less sophisticated maintenance. However, since many developing countries have imported modern equipment, they need policies to develop maintenance of corresponding sophistication. The chapter also illustrates how foreign maintenance practices are applied in some developing countries. The last chapter presents the ways vocational training for maintenance is conducted in developing countries. It notes that maintenance skills are usually learned through apprenticeship and that technical education and training in maintenance is still rare. However, transfer of maintenance knowledge has been more active through technical assistance and technology transfer projects. The report suggests some implications for training policies aimed at enhancing maintenance awareness in developing countries. (KC)

In Brazil, electronic technicians are increasingly being asked to perform a number of technical and nontechnical tasks, for which they need complex education and training or multiskilling. The typical tasks faced by electronic technicians require a relatively high level of abstraction and symbolic learning. Required skills cover a broad range of intellectual and technical abilities. Electronics is expected to keep changing, and technicians should be able to keep up with these developments and to learn how to learn. Employers value technicians with general abilities and knowledge subsumed under the general term of trainability. They are also concerned with two major categories of theoretical knowledge: the basic principles behind the functioning of electronic systems and equipment and the specific disciplines that impart knowledge, information, and technical skills in electronics, automation, pneumatics, and mechanics. Both employers and students expect electronics to be a lifelong experience. An analysis of 30 years of curriculum change in the electronics school of Santa Rita do Sapucai shows that pure theory in the 1960s became applied in the 1970s. The critical challenge of multiskilling is to overcome the tension between the employer's demand for increasingly highly qualified technicians and the immediate realities of the workplace where repetitive jobs predominate and limit the extent to which higher skills can be used and developed. (YLB)

A research project in the Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Tanzania evaluated the cost effectiveness of management training seminars for women entrepreneurs in the informal sector. Women, a large and growing part of entrepreneurs, had less access to needed resources, skills, and information than men. Reasons for failure to study the cost effectiveness and efficiency of development assistance included lack of clear concepts, methodologies, and standards. Grassroots management training seminars were conducted for businesswomen operating established informal sector businesses. In each country, 40 businesswomen were selected; some were assigned to a control group. A set of indicators was developed to measure benefits. Levels of criteria considered in evaluating outcomes were reaction, learning, behavioral, and result. Impact of the training program was assessed by applying this set of indicators and comparing pre- and postseminar values. Findings indicated that participants appreciated acquisition of management skills, had a more favorable attitude toward learning and the importance of management know-how to improve business, and acquired cognitive skills. Behavioral changes were reflected in the application of acquired skills and knowledge through business expansion by at least one-third of participants in each country. They improved or stabilized their businesses. Benefits to participants exceeded costs in all three countries. (Appendixes include 29 references, a summary of seminar content, and data tables.) (YLB)

The need for broad cooperative effort directed toward the enhancement of science and mathematics education, including environmental science and technology, has been recognized as a national priority in the United States by government, industry, and the academic community. In an effort to address this need, the Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE) has been established in the five western states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. PETE's overall objectives are to link the technical resources of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA laboratories and facilities, and private industry with participating community colleges to assist in the development and presentation of curricula for training environmental hazardous materials technicians and to encourage more transfer students to pursue studies in environmental science and engineering at four-year institutions. Preliminary results of a national assessment of the demand for these two-year-level technicians indicate the demand. Standing working groups have been formed to develop teaching materials and standards and an appropriate certification process. The PETE methodology is now being extended nationally through highly leveraged cooperation between participating federal agencies, private industry, and the academic community. (YLB)

Recent educational reforms in Singapore have essentially been motivated by economic and industrial concerns. Six specific training policies and practices are being implemented to respond to the perceived requirements of new work technologies: (1) development of an increasingly flexible training system, including introduction of a dual system; (2) reorganization of the supply of vocational training by reducing the supply of training as more students go to the polytechnics and as workplace apprenticeship replaces training; provision of most training at the postsecondary level, and absorbing excess faculty; (3) retraining of older workers to increase the aggregate level of qualified workers and to avoid unemployment; (4) provision of basic skills training in the workplace; (5) creation and use of vocational training institutions that provide training in the organizational habits, culture, language, and working styles of potential multinational investors; and (6) training for new occupations through multiskilling. Rapid technological change requires more technical education--but a technical education based on a higher, not a lower or watered-down level of academic preparation. The crux of the matter is that no amount of pre-service education or training will suffice to deal with the changing needs of the workplace brought about by technological development. Signs of the merging of education and training are the expanding catalogues of continuing education courses and provision of technical services to industries by training institutions which are discovering that in order to teach they may also have to learn. Firms in Singapore have been recruiting all graduates of the education and training system, but some still invest in training. They have also discovered that organizational learning through participation of all those involved in production is a condition for survival. (Contains 10 references.) (YLB)

This paper discusses innovative schemes for environmental protection training in Italy. Section I lists elements contained in well-organized environment protection activity. Section II provides an example of environmental training for Italian trade union leaders that helps them understand the complexity of environmental systems and negotiate the necessary measures to protect the environment. An analysis of a seminar for the trade union leaders discusses training strategy, content, and the seminar's organization around the concept of "territory." Section III contains materials on training for environmental monitoring, including information on monitoring environmental variables and monitoring the mountain environment. Sections IV, V, and VI analyze three examples of training for monitoring the environment in Italy: two in the Valtellina Region, a mountain area where there was a major flood in 1987, and another in the Lake Trasimeno Region in Umbria. Section IV describes International Geophysical Center training designed to complement a university degree. Section V addresses training activities of the organization Cooperativa Rilancio Valtellina in Sondrio for mountain territory technicians. Section VI describes a training course for environmental control technicians offered by the National Center for Professional Training about New Technology for Integrated Projection and Environment. Appendixes include information on content of the training activities. (YLB)

The levy-grant system that operated under Britain's 1964 Industrial Training Act was the most effective incentive mechanism for increasing the volume and improving the quality of training. Strengths of the act's Industrial Training Boards (ITBs) were employer-funded training, collection of data on training in companies to guide planning, and improvement of traditional areas of training. However, the ITBs were relatively independent of central government interventions, resulting in the perception of interest groups represented on them that they controlled the boards; ITBs also failed to fulfill a national labor force planning function. The 1973 Employment and Training Act attempted to overcome shortcomings of the 1964 act by introducing central coordination and planning of national labor force policy. It weakened instruments for its implementation by amending the levy system and exempting small firms. Introduction of state funding made ITBs dependent on government needs and vulnerable to changes in policy, and it subordinated industrial requirements to those of the central government. After 1979, the ideological thrust of the government's policy toward nonintervention and public expenditure cuts resulted in abolition of most ITBs and reliance on firms to identify and meet their own training needs. However, the voluntary arrangements that replaced ITBs had no powers to raise a levy, no incentive or control mechanisms over training, and no information on training carried out in companies for planning. (Contains 12 references.) (YLB)

Brazilian environmental education and training experience is recent but has a concrete base of generating awareness among all levels of the population and also aims to train people to protect, control and manage the use of environmental resources. Several visits were made by the author to organizations, enterprises and institutions from federal, state and municipal governments that are directly and indirectly involved with environmental affairs. Contacts were also made with non governmental organizations (NGOs) and private environmental initiatives to analyze and compare alternative paths in the Brazilian environmental education and training process. This study surveyed the institutions dealing directly or indirectly with environmental concerns of the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais, Parana, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, and Sao Paulois including the Federal District of Brasilia. The institutions were mainly environmental agencies, federal universities, state or federally-owned enterprises, research and scientific financing agencies, schools, research centers, and alternative initiatives. The report is organized in seven chapters containing a description of activities developed by the organizations including illustrative schemes and drawings, statistical data and concluding remarks. (Author/MDH)

A survey on education and training for work in micro-enterprises was conducted in Lome, Togo in 1989. Data were collected through a number of sample surveys, structured interviews with owner-operators of enterprises, from apprentices, and through "cameo" studies by local collaborators for each activity covered in the study. Results of the research show that the informal sector is a vigorous part of the economy in Lome. It is largely the outcome of training from within, usually in the form of traditional apprenticeship. Micro-entrepreneurs follow different paths to self-employment, but education and apprenticeship are increasingly the first two steps in their careers. These business people possess a wide variety of technical and other skills not usually acquired in schools. Educational levels of entrepreneurs and apprentices have steadily increased over the years. Length of schooling, itself determined by sex, year of birth, and family background, explains to some extent choice of trade, use of technology, relative success, and interest in further training. About 15 percent of the Lome labor force receive apprenticeship training. Women in the system have fewer educational and training opportunities and fewer trades from which to choose. The study concluded that intervention to improve the apprenticeship system should be approached cautiously, if at all, making sure that help is wanted and that it improves a relatively successful system. (Fifteen tables and 11 charts are included in the report. Appendixes include the survey methodology, activity reports and statistics, the research team and their responsibilities, and 10 references.) (KC)

Two innovations have developed in response to economic and educational concerns--the demand for workers who will be able to contribute productively in the workplaces of the coming decade and the pedagogical movement toward a closer integration of clasroom and work-based learning. One such innovation, called Tech Prep, has been incorporated into the 1990 Carl Perkins Act. This initiative, promoted by the U.S. Department of Education, links the last 2 years of high school with the first 2 years of postsecondary learning in a sequence that is coordinated with and leads to either an associate degree or certification of occupational skills in a specific career area. The second innovative program, called youth apprenticeship or work-based learning, was influenced by European apprenticeship systems. Youth apprenticeship programs meld Tech Prep-style coordination of secondary and postsecondary learning with paid work experience beginning in the last 2 years of high school, providing the context for both classroom and work-based learning. These two models are seen as competing solutions to the same problem: one is driven by labor market concerns, the other by educational concerns. The differences between the two will narrow in the coming years. (NLA)

The first part of this report examines the relationship of technological change to employment and work. After a brief introduction, chapter 1 discusses new technology and labor productivity versus employment, emphasizing the effects of labor-saving machinery and changes in specific sectors of employment, such as electrical machinery, communications services, financial services, printing and publishing, and textiles and clothing. Chapter 2 looks at the effects of technological change on occupational structure and skills. Chapter 3 concerns coping with the effects of technological change on employment. The second part of the report looks at training for new technology. After an introduction, chapter 4 examines the issues involved in training under conditions of change and uncertainty. Chapter 5 discusses apprenticeship, project work, and "sandwich" courses that combine school-based programs with hands-on training. Chapter 6 gives a brief overview of four in-house training programs at Avionics, Corning Glass, Motorola, and Siemens. Chapter 7 gives an overview of technology training institutions that provide similar services for small and medium-sized companies in Switzerland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Chapter 8 summarizes the issues involved in technological change and employment and discusses special consideration with respect to Eastern Europe. Several points for further discussion are offered. (CML)