Book Review:The Economic Evaluation of Vocational Training Programs. Manuel Zymelman

A search on the Internet shows the renewed importance given to competency-based approaches in Education and Administration. Ministries of education, school boards, and teacher training institutes use competency profiles to define school programs or required qualities from the teachers, especially in the use of technologies in education. Consulting companies present their expertise by enumerating competencies, marketing their services in this way. Other companies offer services or computerized tools to help their prospective customers define or manage the competence of their staff, looked upon as the main asset of an organization in a knowledge management perspective. Governmental agencies or professional associations use competency-based approaches to define conditions to the exercise of a profession and to orient their vocational training programs.

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Mutual Benefit: How Vocational Training Programs Utilize Employer Engagement and Refugee Strengths to Facilitate Integration

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci8050145 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 145

Author(s):

Audrey Lumley-Sapanski ◽

Nancy Joyce Callahan

Keyword(s):

Best Practices ◽

Training Program ◽

Vocational Training ◽

Training Programs ◽

Mutual Benefit ◽

Bhutanese Refugees ◽

Employer Engagement ◽

Origin Group ◽

Positive Indicators ◽

Stable Employment

Successful integration of newly arriving refugees requires the engagement of the receiving community and active facilitation of integration through provision of employment, access to housing, and protection of basic rights. Understanding how local entities effectively facilitate integration is important for policymakers and scholars interested in identifying best practices and replicating outcomes. This study examines the integration outcomes of refugees who participated in a vocational hospitality training program in Chicago, Illinois between 2008 and 2012. In particular, we explore the integration experiences—using employment, housing, and homeownership—of Bhutanese origin refugees who represented the largest country of origin group in the hospitality course. We find that the Bhutanese refugees who participated in the course had high rates of homeownership, stable employment, higher wages and experienced socioeconomic upward mobility—positive indicators of integration. In our analysis, we identify three reasons the program is successful in facilitating integration: a practice of selective enrollment, active employer engagement, and informed industry selection. Importantly, our findings suggest a positive benefit for employers in addition to refugee employees.

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Responding to the Needs of Prisoners with Learning Difficulties in Australia

International Journal of Bias Identity and Diversities in Education ◽

10.4018/ijbide.2019010108 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 113-121

Author(s):

Jason Skues ◽

Jeffrey Pfeifer ◽

Alfie Oliva ◽

Lisa Wise

Keyword(s):

Vocational Training ◽

Training Programs ◽

Learning Difficulties ◽

Psychological Outcomes ◽

Learning Needs ◽

The People ◽

Diverse Learning ◽

Practical Implications ◽

Specific Learning

Offenders who are convicted of a crime in Australia are encouraged to participate in educational and vocational training programs during their time in prison. However, one of the significant challenges encountered by not only prisoners who enroll in educational and vocational training programs, but also for the staff who teach into these programs, are prisoners who experience learning difficulties. Prison teachers and other staff are ordinarily unaware of which offenders experience such difficulties. Given that unidentified learning difficulties are associated with poor educational, employment and psychological outcomes, it is critical that prisoners who experience specific learning difficulties are identified, and that educational and vocational training programs offered in prisons cater for the diverse learning needs of all prisoners. This review highlights issues with the identification of learning difficulties and proposes methods of supporting prisoners who experience learning difficulties and the people tasked with managing them. Such a review offers an important contribution to the literature on educational and vocational training programs in prisons as well as practical implications for prisoners, teachers and administrators.

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