Benefiting from the support and involvement of two major international research networks, this collection features the latest research findings in TVET. Members of INAP, the International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship, and VETNET, the Vocational Education and Training Network, have contributed key research findings to this detailed survey of the field. Featuring the inclusion of the internationally recognized memorandum released in April 2012 by the INAP Architecture Apprenticeship Commission, the volume covers a wealth of issues relating to technical and vocational education and training, including exemplar architectures such as successful school-to-work transitions, competence assessment and development models, and governance, including the role of stakeholders. The book provides many opportunities to explore in depth the scholarly debate on TVET, as well as to learn from positive international experiences. It aims to inform the practice of TVET professionals as much as the decision making of administrators.

Apprenticeships can offer apprentices, their teacher-tutors and business apprenticeship supervisors experiences that are rich in knowledge. The Success of Apprenticeships presents the observations and opinions of 48 actors regarding apprenticeships. These testimonies recount how apprenticeships allowed them to improve their expertise, their professional practices and their organization skills. This book also examines how their interactions in the work/study process allowed them not only to develop the skills of apprentices, but also the skills of those who accompanied them – the teacher-tutors and the business apprenticeships supervisors. The creation of an authentic community of apprentices subscribes to the formation of an ecosystem of learning, in which each individual harvests fruits in terms of the development of their personal abilities.

In April 2013, the International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship (INAP) hosted its fifth international conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, in co-operation with the International Labor Organization (ILO), bringing together researchers, policy makers, and practitioners from 34 nations. The title of the conference - "Apprenticeship in a Globalized World: Premises, Promises and Pitfalls" - points out the need for apprenticeship to deliver on its promise of workplace skills and for it to develop and change as world economies develop. An international exchange of ideas among researchers from all over the world is necessary to identify cases of good practice and facilitate the transfer of knowledge and innovation, also within the frame of informal apprenticeships. This book, a summary of the papers presented and discussed at the Johannesburg conference, is split up equally into five key topics: Introducing Apprenticeship: Backgrounds, Changes, and Difficulties * Enabling Learning Opportunities in Workplaces and Informal Contexts * Competence Assessment and Development * Managing Transitions from VET into the World of Work * Curriculum Design, Apprenticeships, and National Qualification Frameworks. (Series: Bildung und Arbeitswelt - Vol. 27)

This book addresses growing reservations about the relevance of educational systems to the economic and social needs of individuals by examining different aspects of transitions from school to work or further studies within formal and informal settings in Asia. Highlighting important issues such as selectiveness and inclusiveness, integration of transversal competencies, vocationalisation of secondary schooling, approaches to career guidance and emerging models of student support, it is of particular interest to educators, policymakers and other stakeholders who are concerned about the effectiveness of system-wide and institutional-based approaches. The first part of the book explores different models, mechanisms and approaches to policy and practice in the context of Asia, while the second part examines Hong Kong students’ transitions to post-school life and provides an account of issues and challenges the government and individual schools experience in terms of structural support for both mainstream and special-needs students.

Apprenticeships can offer apprentices, their teacher-tutors and business apprenticeship supervisors experiences that are rich in knowledge. The Success of Apprenticeships presents the observations and opinions of 48 actors regarding apprenticeships. These testimonies recount how apprenticeships allowed them to improve their expertise, their professional practices and their organization skills. This book also examines how their interactions in the work/study process allowed them not only to develop the skills of apprentices, but also the skills of those who accompanied them – the teacher-tutors and the business apprenticeships supervisors. The creation of an authentic community of apprentices subscribes to the formation of an ecosystem of learning, in which each individual harvests fruits in terms of the development of their personal abilities.

Holistic Innovation Policy puts forward a novel framework for the design and analysis of innovation policy. It provides a theoretically anchored foundation for the design of holistic innovation policy by identifying the core problems that tend to afflict innovations and the activities of innovation systems, including the unintended consequences of policy itself. As most of the current innovation policies focus on few determinants of innovation processes, this is a necessary stepping stone for the identification of viable, relevant, and down-to-earth policy solutions. Rather than presenting a recipe or 'how-to' guide, this book offers a critical analysis of policy instruments and their choice in innovation policy design, and considers the ways in which policy might be providing solutions to problems in systems of innovation. Exploring areas such as knowledge production and R&D, education, training and skills development, demand-side activities, interaction and innovation networks, changing institutions and regulations, and the public financing of early stage innovations, its critical and novel perspective serves policy-makers, scholars, and those interested in the design of innovation policy.

This book draws on experiences from a range of vocational education systems in different nation states and re-examines the purpose of providing experiences outside educational institutions; the kinds and extent of those experiences; and efforts made to ensure the integration of students’ experiences across sites. Analyses of the various vocational education systems, their purposes and practices across nations, and challenges experienced by different stakeholders illustrate different approaches to the integration of learning at different sites. The book includes a consideration of what constitutes the integration and reconciliation of experiences, and their attendant educational implications. This extends an appraisal of the concepts of integration, reconciliation, curriculum and work readiness, each of which has a range of connotations. Integration or reconciliation is differentiated from transfer of learning, which is commonly based on simple assumptions that the educational institutions will provide theory and that the workplaces will provide practice from the workplaces, and that the two can be easily linked by students. The contributions from different nation states clearly demonstrate that integration is a collaborative process and requires the agency of stakeholders operating at global, national and specific learning site levels.