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This book explores how technology and vocational education can support education for sustainable development (ESD). Part one looks at various concepts from different areas of knowledge that are used to develop a comprehensive understanding of the ways sustainable development, education for sustainable development and empowerment are related and can be conceptualised. Some practical strategies are suggested along with a model for pre-service teacher training programs. Part two investigates how general issues are reflected in local norms, values and behaviours within the Russian context. The case study demonstrates the importance of understanding the political and sociocultural context of a country so that effective empowerment strategies can be developed for that particular society as they reflect specific local histories, values and traditions. The contents are as follows: Introduction; Technology education as an effective way of providing vocational education within secondary schooling; Conceptualising values in technology education and formulating bases for empowerment strategies; Sustainable development and education; Technology education and ESD; Curriculum development for ESD through technology and vocational education; Teachers' capacity building; Case study: Russia - Modernisation of Russian education; Sustainable development, the Russian way; Education for sustainable development in Russia; Epilogue. Show less

[The authors] focus on high school dropout rate among male and female immigrant children. [They] consider the relationship between the dropout rate and age of arrival of the immigrants. Using repeated cross sectional data from the Israeli Labor Force Surveys of 1996-2011 [the authors] show that the share of high school dropouts among immigrant children who arrived from the Former Soviet Union during 1989-1994 is at least double than among natives in the same age group. Further, [the authors] show that among immigrant youth there is a monotonic negative relation between age at arrival and the share of high school dropouts. To understand [the] results [the authors] present a theoretical framework that links between age at arrival in the host country, language proficiency, quality of education and wages.

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Major factors of competitiveness of national and regional economies increased on the basis of ensuring close interrelation of economy and system of professional education in Russia are considered in the article. One of the directions of the analysis is studying features of various foreign models of professional education management, and detection of their features, merits and demerits. The main directions of modernization of the Russian social economic process, on the basis of the introduction of a bioadequate model in a control system of professional education in Russia, are offered in the article. According to the authors, elements of management to be allocated that will allow the creation of an optimum model which will accurately distribute and coordinate functions and powers, competences and responsibility of various subjects and objects of the management of the system of professional education, are: (1) professional educational institutions and local governments; and (2) regional and federal administrative structures.

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Apprenticeship is increasingly seen as a promising option for policy makers. An apprenticeship offers a chance to find further education and a place in society and the workplace. In an increasing number of countries, apprenticeship is available to mature-aged workers, providing a chance for a career change or re-entry into the workforce. The sixth International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship (INAP) conference was held at the Federation University Australia in Ballarat, Victoria on 1-2 September 2015. The publication contains all the papers presented at the conference. The conference demonstrated the diversity of approaches to apprenticeship in practice. It also highlighted the need to share experiences from country-specific developments and that the learning process and knowledge base of apprenticeship is continuously growing and developing. The most popular themes for papers at the conference were: (1) governance, including stakeholders' roles and responsibilities; (2) vocational education and training (VET) teaching and learning; (3) quality in apprenticeship; and (4) school to work transition and youth employment.

Introductions to the conference were provided by Philipp Gonon, Erica Smith and David Battersby. The keynotes were as follows: Two distinct conceptions of apprenticeship / Stephen Billett; Can traditional apprenticeships in the informal economy of least developed countries be integrated as legitimate pathways in formal skills development systems? [keynote address] / Paul Comyn; Developing T-shaped people: transforming skills into skilfulness to meet the demands of the 21st century workplace / Raymond Patel. Section one, 'Governance and stakeholders', contains the following papers: A history of apprenticeship and trade training in Victoria, Australia / Mike Brown; Exploration and practice of modern apprenticeship training with school-enterprise dual system: a case study of Guangzhou Industry and Trade Technician College / Weiqun Tang; Associations between adaptation of German-style vocational education models and impact on apprenticeship pathways in regional American labour markets / Nicholas M. Wyman and Joanne B. Gedge; Governance and financing of dual VET: foundation of an evaluation framework and findings of a comparative research in five European countries / Ursel Hauschildt and Wolfgang Wittig; Insights in governance of vocational education from a historical perspective / Volker Bank; The governance framework for VET school-enterprise cooperation in China at the local level / Haisheng Pan; Irish apprenticeship system reform 2013 to date / Maurice Doran; Stakeholders in the German and the Swiss VET system and their role in innovating apprenticeships / Thomas Deissinger and Philipp Gonon; Research and practice on 'tripartite collaboration' of innovative apprenticeship / Jinlan Wang and Yuqi Chen; Modern apprenticeship as a supplement to the school based vocational education system in China / Zhiqun Zhao and Junlan Chen; Development and definition of National Occupational Standards (NOS) as the curriculum basis for vocational education and training (VET) / Willi Peterson and Maik Jepsen; Why apprentices drop out in Australia and the policy implications / Phil Loveder. Section two, 'Teaching and learning in apprenticeships', contains: Competence measurement in South Africa: teachers' reactions to feedback on COMET results / Helen Brown; Research on the modern apprenticeship based on the talents training mode of the national skill master studio: the construction of the Lingnan Industrial Art Inheriting Base / Ye Junfeng and Luo Wei; Me siento bien en mi centro de formacion - I feel good at my training institution: results of an international competence assessment in nursing / Ursel Hauschildt; Teaching and learning research in master studio apprenticeship training / Bamei Yang, Kejing Li, Bin Bai and Enmin Zhai; School-based technician training under the framework of modern apprenticeship: experiences from a pilot program in Guangzhou / Donglian Gu; Improving the dynamics of feedback through deploying mobile technology-enhanced learning during pre-apprenticeship / Selena Chan; Skilled trade worker to a teacher of high school youth: a little bit of luck and a lot of courage / Bonnie Watt; Pre-apprenticeships towards apprenticeships using practice-focused learning / James Cannan; Learning as an apprentice: a comparative study on affordances for vocational learning in school and work life apprentice education / Magnus Fjellstrom and Per Kristmansson.

Section three, 'What makes a high quality apprenticeship', contains: Working process knowledge acquiring and working tasks research: a case study of technician apprenticeship training in Guangzhou Technician College / Xiang Geng, Bin Bai, Bamei Yang and Enmin Zhai; On motivations, predicament, and countermeasures of the modern continuation of China's handicraft apprenticeship / Liangcai Xie; Using apprenticeship as a whole-of-workforce training strategy: what are the effects on training quality? / Erica Smith; Efficacy of CBQ (cost benefit and quality) as an advisory tool to optimise cost-effectiveness and quality development of in-company apprenticeship training / Lusanda Bantwini and Tsholo Mungoni. Section four, 'Economic investment and benefit of apprenticeship', contains: A qualitative assessment of the United Services Military Apprenticeship Program (USMAP) / Robert I. Lerman and Devlin Hanson; Concerns, costs and calculation for apprenticeship: who invests? who benefits? how? / Michaela Marterer and Peter Hartel. Section five, 'School to work transition and youth employment', contains: Creating pathways to enhance college to work transition using COMET competence diagnostic model to assess and develop occupational competence and commitment in technical vocational education and training (TVET) / Patricia Jacobs; Application and contrastive analysis of the different apprenticeship training modes for automobile majors: taking Guangzhou Communications Technician Institute as an example / Cai Changwen; Higher apprentices' transition from school to work: case analysis on the education of technicians in Guangzhou Technician College, in China / Zongguo Li and Hao Wu; Working their way to school completion: school-based apprenticeships and traineeships for young Australians / Kira Clarke, Malgorzata Klatt, Nicky Dulfer and Emlyn Cruickshank. Section six, 'Status of apprenticeship as a career path', contains: Apprenticeships should work for women too: supporting meaningful exploration of 'non-traditional careers' for young women / Linda Simon and Kira Clarke. Section seven, 'Apprenticeship's contribution to social justice', contains: The development of skills for sustainability for Australian apprentices and trainees during the UN Decade of Education and Sustainable Development 2005-2014 / Mike Brown and Fabian Sack; A quest for social justice: exploring the possibility of expanding the South African apprenticeship system to provide access to informal apprentices / Ansa Leibenberg. Additional presentations [full papers not submitted] were: Preparing TVET graduates from small Pacific nations for international employment / Antoine Barnaart; Apprenticeship in former Soviet Union countries: the role of employer organisations and intermediary bodies / Didier Gelibert and Helmut Zelloth; Women in the auto trades: views from employers, tradeswomen and apprentices / Hugh Guthrie, Anne Jones and Berwyn Clayton; The role of regional occupational standards and potential for apprenticeships in ASEAN countries / Bob Paton. Show less

The authors begin by looking back at the former USSR republics in terms of their educational programs and narrow job-specific vocational teaching. With the demise of socialism, teachers were facing issues hitherto unheard of, relating to money and globalisation, as well as a much broader curriculum. The previously centralised economy having given way to a market economy has implications for teachers, educational administrators and the community generally. They are facing social problems such as rising crime rates and housing shortages. Bannatyne and Hall comment on the reforms recently begun in vocational schools (teknikums) which enable students to do both general and vocational subjects. They describe the complex system of vocational education reform involving ministry-run training programs and coordinating courses between industry and education, but assert that much is still to be done. They are confident that the reforms will continue but that it will be a slow process involving the restructuring of schools, financial autonomy and more involvement of parents. The authors believe that, for Russia to raise its standard of living and become internationally competitive, it will first of all need to address the serious domestic issues, and concentrating on education should be a fundamental starting point. Show less

Recognising the economic gravity that women represent, [Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation] APEC has been consistently working to advance women's economic empowerment and integration. However, progress in this area was set back by the [Coronavirus Disease-2019] COVID-19 pandemic, which led many women to transition to independent work that offers flexibility and autonomy. One example is the gig economy that could be seen as a non-standard labour market characterised by temporary, short-term or on-demand work arrangements where individuals, often referred to as gig workers, provide services to clients on a project-by-project basis.

The gig economy varies in size across APEC economies, with women constituting about 19 per cent to 56 per cent of economies' total gig workers. Unfortunately, women in online gig work are more inclined to participate in historically feminised occupations, such as clerical and data entry and caregiving. While gig work offers a chance to narrow the gender gap in gainful employment, barriers that affect women disproportionately such as socio-cultural gender biases, discrimination and harassment, unequal pay, and insufficient regulations make this challenging. Indeed, the role of policy should be to reduce the precarity of women working in the gig economy.

Thus, policymakers are urged to address these challenges by promoting behaviour modification to overcome socio-cultural gender biases, playing an active role in regulating gig work, and providing accessible social protection or alternative support mechanisms. These policy initiatives would align with APEC's goal of empowering women in this changing economic landscape.

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The article describes a paradigm shift in the design and development of [technical and vocational education and training] TVET curricula under the influence of developmental changes relating to the transition from the industrial to the postindustrial paradigm (European Commission, 2010). The method resulting from the re-thinking of the role of TVET in the knowledge-based globalized society is called the functional analysis method. It integrates three key components namely: (i) the requirements of the the employment, both current and anticipated; (ii) a flexible curricula structure and content that can be modified to the changing situation; and (iii) the assessment specification that links the first two. The article shows examples of positive changes in the use of this method as observed in Russia.

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In 1999, the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE) initiated an international survey on adult education and indigenous peoples. The survey aimed to provide: a reference document for indigenous peoples to help them identify similarities and differences with regard to adult education policy as well as provision and participation patterns in different regions of the world; recommendations and proposals for policy makers, international agencies and non-government organisations (NGOs) to develop new directions for adult education in cooperation with indigenous peoples; and a theoretical and conceptual framework within which to place the discussion of adult education for indigenous peoples. This document is the country study for Russia, where the issue of adult indigenous education is not widely discussed. The author states that what is needed is 'to study the rights, international experience and the law in this field, and on the basis of this knowledge, to try to influence state policy [and that] the problem of the gap between the declaration and the implementation of the special programmes for the northern aboriginal peoples is the crucial issue which remains to be resolved'. The contents of the report are: Introduction; Legislation and national policies; The current situation in aboriginal adult education; State governmental programmes and organizations; Non-governmental and indigenous organizations; Ecological problems and adult aboriginal education; Conclusion.

Available English language country studies are indexed from TD/TNC 80.674 to TD/TNC 80.677 and at TD/IRD 88.361. Show less

This report aims to provide an overview of international student recruitment and mobility policies by national governments in key recruiting and recruitment countries, and to identify the emerging implications of these developments for the Netherlands. The report is targeted at Dutch early-career policymakers at national and institutional levels, early-career marketing officers and researchers in the area of international student mobility. The report consists of four chapters. Chapter one sets out the focus of this study and gives an overview of the main factors that influence international student mobility. Chapter two analyses national government policies and strategies for international student recruitment in 11 countries that are active in international student recruitment. These countries include the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and China. Chapter three describes national student mobility policies and the local context in recruitment countries that are (or may become) particularly important to the Netherlands. These countries are Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Egypt. Chapter four offers the conclusions of this study.

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As part of a government education reform program in the Russian Federation (RF), the Ministry of General and Professional Education (MGPE) was asked to develop strategies to reduce education costs and increase the relevance of educational output to the demands of a changing market economy. This study was undertaken by the World Bank for the MGPE to identify key issues in general primary and secondary, and vocational secondary education in order to assist government implementation of educational reform. As a result of earlier reforms, responsibility for general education in Russia lies with regional authorities and the study therefore includes analyses at the regional and sub-regional levels. The first chapter presents major issues in Russian education. The discussion is based on primary and secondary data analysis and dialogue with Russian educators. Chapter two analyses budgetary trends in the 89 regions of Russia and addresses the differences across Russia and the increasing inequalities in the allocation and use of funds at regional and sub-regional levels. Chapter three outlines policy options in the areas of resource mobilisation and efficiency, quality and output measurement, market linkages, and equity and access. Annexes provide detailed descriptions of the education situations and reforms already underway in the regions of Samara and Novgorod and data demonstrating the developments in Russia's transition to a market-based education service. Show less