As statewide college promise programs continue to develop, emerging equity concerns necessitate interrogating whom programs benefit and how expense funds can be applied. Critical Policy Analysis (CPA) is used in this chapter to understand how statewide promise programs advance or hinder racial equity across eligibility and financial aid support…

In this chapter, we explore statewide tuition-free college programs which encourage students to earn Career and Technical Education (CTE) credentials. To map the current landscape of statewide Promise programs, we conducted a policy discourse analysis of all statewide Promise programs while focusing on policy features relevant to workforce…

It has become increasingly difficult to succeed in the U.S. workforce with only a high school diploma. While 75% of the middle-class workforce had only a high school education in the 1970s, that percentage dropped to below 40% by 2007. An estimated two-thirds of all jobs in 2020 will require some postsecondary training, up from just a quarter of…

This publication provides a summary of data relating to students, programs, subjects and training providers in Australia's government-funded vocational education and training (VET) system, defined as all Commonwealth and state or territory government-funded training delivered by technical and further education (TAFE) institutes, other government…

In this paper, we use longitudinal data to examine the compensation effect when young students decide among different tertiary education options. We begin with an analysis of the transition to higher vocational training programmes or university degree programmes. For those choosing the university option, we then analyse the risk (high or low) of…

Noncredit community college programs provide an important route for workforce development. They offer affordable and accessible short-term training options for individuals seeking access to middle-skills jobs. Absent the burdens of accreditation standards, they can respond nimbly to local labor market needs. However, they can also be varied and…

Today, institutions of higher education enroll rural students, and specifically rural women, at rates lower than their urban counterparts (Flora et al., 2018). Additionally, the disciplines of teaching and home economics continue to dominate the curricular choices of rural women. As higher education scholars continue to explore these phenomena, a…

Today's learners are looking to explore career options that allow them to change their communities and often the language used to communicate careers and skill-building falls short of connecting a career path with a learner's passion. Similarly, while employers are searching for ways to increase dedication and retention among employees while also…

This paper considers the effect on students from attending a university foundation degree programme delivered in partnership with six further education teaching institutions in England. The programme is situated within the early childhood education sector using an instructional design which promotes higher-level learning within the teaching…

This paper reports on a doctoral study that investigated an alternative pedagogical approach in an online VET teacher-education course offered at a mid-sized university in Australia. Students in the course were mature-aged and adding study to their role as in-service VET teachers. Building on previous research, a set of design principles was…

"Proceedings of International Conference on Studies in Education and Social Sciences" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Studies in Education and Social Sciences (IConSES) which took place on October 15-18, 2020 in Chicago, IL. The aim of the conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, to discuss…

With the decline of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs across the nation, there has been an interest in examining the status of these programs, particularly given the increased demand for CTE K-12 teachers. It has been 15 years since Bruening et al. (2001) conducted a similar national investigation. In this descriptive study, we…

In today's world of stiff competition in the labour market, coupled with advanced technology, industries require of students to have job experience before employing them. The challenge here is that the experience being required is not taught in the lecture rooms. The reality is that, it is only gained though hands on the job, thus real world…

Entrepreneurial training programme has to do with acquiring relevant skills in which an individual has to be sensitized, motivated and guided to achieve self-reliance and self employment. The paper examined the relevance of entrepreneurial training programme in the universities to graduates' productivity. Three null hypotheses were formulated. A…

This paper explores a pilot project in which three VET teachers in an Australian dual-sector university trialled a scholarship framework by undertaking a small ethnographic inquiry into current practices in their respective industries. The framework defined a method for engaging with industry while simultaneously developing VET teacher capability…