In 1966 the Canadian government announced the abrupt termination of a longstanding conditional grant relationship with the provinces in the domain of technical and vocational education. It sought to substitute a radically new arrangement whereby it would purchase occupational training for adults as an integral part of an over-all manpower policy. This book examines what ensued with particular reference to the province of Ontario and offers unique insights into the conduct of federal-provincial relations from the level of first ministers through that of operating officials down to the grass roots of individual Canadian communities. It also assesses the opportunities and limitations attendant upon a major departure in manpower policy. By focusing on the role of public servants with quite distinct professional orientations – economists and educationists – the book yields new insights into the contribution of appointed specialists to policy development.

Historical account of the development of federal legislation for vocational training in the USA - covers cultural changes and the adaptation of workers to changing job requirements, comments on industrial educational acts and the granting of national level economic aid for vocational training activities, and includes administrative aspects and legal aspects of vocational and technical education.

Federalism has played a central role in charting educational progress in many countries. With an evolving balance between centralization and decentralization, federalism is designed to promote accountability standards without tempering regional and local preferences. Federalism facilitates negotiations both vertically between the central authority and local entities as well as horizontally among diverse interests. Innovative educational practices are often validated by a few local entities prior to scaling up to the national level. Because of the division of revenue sources between central authority and decentralized entities, federalism encourages a certain degree of fiscal competition at the local and regional level. The balance of centralization and decentralization also varies across institutional and policy domains, such as the legislative framework for education, drafting of curricula, benchmarking for accountability, accreditation, teacher training, and administrative responsibilities at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Given these critical issues in federalism and education, this volume examines ongoing challenges and policy strategies in ten countries, namely Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. These chapters and the introductory overview aim to examine how countries with federal systems of government design, govern, finance, and assure quality in their educational systems spanning from early childhood to secondary school graduation. Particular attention is given to functional division between governmental layers of the federal system as well as mechanisms of intergovernmental cooperation both vertically and horizontally. The chapters aim to draw out comparative lessons and experiences in an area of great importance to not only federal countries but also countries that are emerging toward a federal system.

Report and recommendations concerning the role of the public sector in vocational education in the USA - discusses the need to direct educational expenditure for youth vocational training, teacher training and education of women, financial aspects for curriculum development, economics of education, educational policy implications, etc. References and statistical tables.