Four National Training Systems Compared: Achievements and Issues. Occasional Paper No. 114.

A comparison of the vocational education and training (VET) offered in Japan, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United States revealed that programs in all three nations emphasized the following aims: competence at work, commitment of all to achieve excellence, and capacity to contribute to change. Organizations in all three nations were increasingly looking for, and prepared to help develop, people with the ability to use acquired knowledge and skills effectively in changing circumstances and in an integrated system. Although the United States appeared to be well tuned to a climate of moderate change, it appeared much less reflective about the future and appeared to lack an educational strategy, especially at the secondary level. Germany had systems that work well and in a stable environment; however, change appeared to be slow. Although Japan's VET strategies have given the country a highly educated working population, the downside of its success in corporate organization and individual service for the greater good is probably an underdevelopment in the kind of creativity that flourishes with wayward individual opportunities. Great Britain's imperial past, on the other hand, appears to continue to hamper the country's progress in the area of VET. (MN)