Across the globe, vocational education and training is characterised by a number of over-arching trends, including the increasing use of technology, the growing importance of information and communications systems, and changes to national demographics. At the interface between the education and training system and the world of work, VET faces the challenge of tackling these changes, of making a constructive contribution to solving the problems posed by the transition from education to employment, and of ensuring that the next generation has the skills it – and the economy – needs. This volume comprises thirty individual contributions that together add up to a comprehensive overview of the current situation in vocational education and training, its strengths and weaknesses, and its prospects. VET experts from Canada, the USA, India, China, Japan and Korea, as well as from a number of European countries, focus on their national context and how it fits in to the bigger picture. The contributions combine theoretical discussions from various strands of VET research with evidence from country case studies and examples from current practice.

This report describes a study to verify the impact on vocational training policies of research and development work carried out in the field of anticipation of educational and training needs, labor market forecasts, and skills analysis. Section I provides background. Section II presents the framework of the study. Section III includes the full case studies. They follow a common structure: preface, description of study, and analysis of impact. The six case studies are as follows: "Market Scanner for the Installation Sector"; "'Occupational Analysis' in the Field of Inland Navigation"; "'Qualification Analysis' for Revision of Initial Training for Motor-Vehicle Mechanics"; "Action Research for Job Improvement in the Plastics Industry"; "'Technological Development and Changing Demands on Qualification in the Construction Sector' and Its Impact on the Revision of the Ordinance for 17 Construction Occupations"; and "'Foundations and Suggestions for a New Training Ordinance: Data Processing Clerk' and Its Impact on Four New Ordinances in the Information Technology Sector." Section IV includes these conclusions: specific research results are often an important but not the sole information source for curriculum development; the researcher should perhaps be more concerned with the stimulation of curriculum development; and research aimed at revision of existing forms of education may differ from that aimed at development of new forms of educational practices. (42 references) (YLB)