In response to concerns that the educational system - from public schools through colleges, universities, and apprenticeship programs - cannot adequately prepare students for work in the new economy, Integrating School and Workplace Learning in Canada proposes alternation - a hybrid form of learning that, by combining experiential and cognitive learning skills, allows individuals to develop the relevant skills and intellectual capabilities to address and solve complex problems encountered in the workplace. Alternation involves not only a curricular balance between the theoretical and the practical but also two distinct venues for learning - the classroom and the workplace. The authors discuss cognitive and social learning, its implementation in a variety of settings, its role in smoothing the school/work transition process, and its potential to contribute to the knowledge and skills needed by the workforce. They bring a wide range of disciplinary perspectives to bear in their analyses of the principles and practices of alternation, providing historical, theoretical, and practical insights. Their analysis contributes to and extends the current debate and discussion surrounding necessary changes in our education and training practices.

In response to concerns that Canada's educational system - from public schools through colleges, universities and apprenticeship programmes - cannot adequately prepare students for work in the new economy, this book proposes alternation - a hybrid form of learning that, by combining experiential and cognitive learning skills, allows individuals to develop the relevant skills and intellectual capabilities to address and solve complex problems encountered in the workplace. Alternation involves not only a curricular balance between the theoretical and the practical but also two distinct venues for learning - the classroom and the workplace. The authors discuss cognitive and social learning, its implementation in a variety of settings, its role in smoothing the school/work transition process, and its potential to contribute to the knowledge and skills needed by the workforce. They bring a range of disciplinary perspectives to bear in their analyses of the principles and practices of alternation, providing historical, theoretical and practical insights. Their analysis contributes to and extends the debate and discussion surrounding necessary changes in education and training practices.

Concern with learning throughout life has become pervasive in market-driven societies. Will most workers need to become more continuous learners in a new knowledge-based economy or will much of their learning be ignored or devalued in relation to their work? These papers critically assess dominant views of learning and work.

In the past two decades, advanced capitalist countries have seen sustained growth in labour market participation along with a growth in the number of jobs workers tend to have in their working lives. Over a slightly longer period we also see that participation in both formal educational attainment and a range of non-compulsory learning/training has grown. However, labour market discrimination based on gender, age, disability and race/ethnicity remains a serious issue in virtually all OECD countries. ‘Challenging Transitions in Learning and Work’ presents a critical and expansive exploration of learning and work transitions within this context. These transitions are challenging for those enmeshed in them and need to be actively challenged through the critical research reported. The impetus for this volume, its conceptual framing, and much of the research emerges from the team of Canadian researchers who together completed case study and survey projects within the ‘Work and Lifelong Learning’ (WALL) network. The authors include leading scholars with established international reputations as well as emerging researchers with fresh perspectives. This volume will appeal to researchers and policy-makers internationally with an interest in educational studies and industrial sociology.

This collection focuses on employer engagement in education, how it is delivered and the differentiated impact it has on young people in their progression through schooling and higher education into the labour market. The focus is not narrowly on vocational or technical education or work-related learning, but on how employer engagement (eg, work experience, internships, careers education, workplace visits, mentoring, enterprise education etc) influences the experiences and outcomes of the broad range of young people across mainstream academic learning programmes. The essays explore the different ways in which education can support or constrain social mobility and, in particular, how employer engagement in education can have significant impact upon social mobility – both positive and negative. Leading international contributors examine issues surrounding employer engagement and social mobility: conceptualisations of employer engagement; trends in social mobility; employer engagement and social class; access and management of work experience; social capital and aspiration; access to employment. The book makes employer engagement an innovative focus in relation to the well established fields of social mobility and school to work transition. By examining what difference employer engagement makes, the essays raise questions about conventional models and show how research drawing on different fields and disciplines can be brought together to provide a more coherent and convincing account. Building on new theorisations and combining existing and new data, the collection offers a systematic exploration of the influence of socio-economic status on school-to-work transitions, and addresses how educational policy can shape more efficient labour market outcomes. In doing so, it draws on, and speaks to, existing literature which has considered such questions from the perspectives of gender, ethnicity and social disadvantage.

Physical and Health Education in Canada: Integrated Strategies for Elementary Teachers is a compendium of integrated, evidence-based approaches to physical and health education teaching from leading physical and health educators and researchers from across Canada.

Nina Bascia, Alister Cumming, Amanda Datnow, Kenneth Leithwood and David Livingstone This Handbook presents contemporary and emergent trends in educational policy research, in over ?fty chapters written by nearly ninety leading researchers from a number of countries. It is organized into ?ve broad sections which capture many of the current dominant educational policy foci and at the same time situate current understandings historically, in terms of both how they are conceptualized and in terms of past policy practice. The chapters themselves are empirically grounded, providing illustrations of the conceptual implications c- tained within them as well as allowing for comparisons across them. The se- re?exivity within chapters with respect to jurisdictional particularities and c- trasts allows readers to consider not only a range of approaches to policy analysis but also the ways in which policies and policy ideas play out in di?erent times and places. The sections move from a focus on prevailing policy tendencies through increasingly critical and ‘‘outsider’’ perspectives on policy. They address, in turn, the contemporary strategic emphasis on large-scale reform; substantive emphases at several levels – on leadership and governance, improving teacher quality and conceptualizing learning in various domains around the notion of literacies and concluding, ?nally, with a contrasting topic, workplace learning, which has had less policy attention and thus allows readers to consider both the advantages and disadvantages of learning and teaching under the bright gaze of policy.