The issues facing the following areas of adult education in Ireland in the era of lifelong learning were examined in a white paper: (1) second chance and further education; (2) community education; (3) workplace education; and (4) higher education. The Irish National Association of Adult Education (AONTAS) analyzed the recommendations presented in…

Australia's Aged Care Act of 1997 mandates a number of key reforms aimed at ensuring consistency in the quality of care and well-being for all residents of aged care facilities. The law required residential aged care facilities to provide high-quality care within a framework of continuous improvement which requires aged care workers to perform the…

The relationship between literacy, numeracy, and employability was examined by analyzing data on basic skills that were collected in two of Great Britain's birth cohort studies--the National Child Development Study and the 1970 British Cohort Study. The functional literacy and numeracy skills of samples of 10% of the participants in each study…

The access barriers to distance education faced by inservice and preservice career and technical education (CTE) majors were examined through a survey of 76 students enrolled in undergraduate- and graduate-level CTE education programs. Completed questionnaires were received from 60 students (response rate, 78.9%). Forty respondents worked…

There are three main parts to this report of a study that used case studies to showcase the different approaches used to encourage more continuing training within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the European Union (EU). Section 1 discusses the importance of funding training in SMEs and highlights the various types of funding…

The views of users of e-learning in Europe and elsewhere were examined through seven online surveys that were posted on the interactive World Wide Web site called The European Training Village. The surveys examined e-learning users' views regarding the following topics: technology-supported learning; e-mail in e-learning; trainers' skills for…

The effects of adult education in welfare-to-work programs were examined in a national evaluation of welfare-to-work strategies. The evaluation used a random research design to estimate the overall effects of welfare-to-work programs in the following states: Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, and California. The study focused on the…

This document, which is intended as a guide for workforce preparation program providers, details the Illinois occupational skill standards for programs preparing students for employment in occupations in the beef production cluster. The document begins with a brief overview of the Illinois perspective on occupational skill standards and…

This document, which is intended as a guide for workforce preparation program providers, details the Illinois occupational skill standards for programs preparing students for employment in the meeting professional occupational cluster. It begins with a brief overview of the Illinois perspective on occupational skill standards and credentialing,…

Research indicates that the "college for all" policies encouraged by well-intentioned but misguided educators are preventing many students from getting crucial information about how they are doing, seeing the full range of their desirable options, assessing the appropriateness and likely outcomes of available options, and identifying actions that…

Research examining the impact of arts education on workforce preparation has confirmed that programs incorporating the arts can be educational, developmentally rich, and cost-effective ways of providing students with the skills needed for productive participation in today's economy. Arts education has been shown to help students develop basic,…

The Lansing Area Manufacturing Partnership (LAMP) is an academically rigorous, business/labor-driven school-to-career program in Lansing, Michigan, that includes business, union, school, and parent partners and emphasizes work-based and project-based learning, team teaching, and opportunities for staff and students to establish close and ongoing…

Older teens living in families receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) face serious sociodemographic disadvantages. When combined with the characteristic risk-taking behaviors of adolescence, these disadvantages pose a threat to TANF teens' immediate and future physical, psychological, and emotional health and to their long-term…

The New Approaches to Lifelong Learning (NALL) project is a Canada-wide 5-year research initiative during which more than 70 academic and community members are working collaboratively within a framework of informal learning to address the following issues: informal computer-based learning, recognition of prior learning, informal learning in a…

Of the 477,800 students reported to Australia's national vocational education and training (VET) data collection in 2000, 237,900 were enrolled in a vocational adult and community education (ACE) program. More than 70% of the latter individuals undertook informal training. Vocational ACE programs accounted for 49.8% of all ACE students and nearly…