Higher education as human risk capital

Both the rhetoric of human capital and the information society are based on the idea of continuous progress. The politics of European governments rest on a simplified presumption that to produce more and higher educational credentials is the same as to produce more human capital. The information society rhetoric is saying that the expanding human capital serves both societies, firms and individuals as a direct route to economic growth, since people are living and working in the conditions of more knowledge-intensive production in the so-called information society. In this article we will concentrate on analysing the gap between the reborn human capital ideology, represented in current labour market rhetoric, and the everyday realities of human risk capital faced by graduates. We discuss the changing labour markets, presenting an extended model describing the various social mechanisms which affect graduate employment. Information society implies also the 'information State', since especially in the Nordic countries, the State still has a firm grip on higher education and the labour market, in spite of the popular market rhetoric. We also ask to what extent, instead of traditional organizational careers and permanent jobs, the future of higher education graduates can be described in terms of boundaryless careers or entrepreneurial work.     

Beyond school inclusion: secondary school and preparing for labour market inclusion for young people with disabilities in Spain

Research analysing good practices in the area of labour market inclusion for people with disabilities shows that the role of the secondary school is fundamental in improving employment opportunities. The aim of this article is to analyse to what extent secondary education in Spain prepares young people with learning difficulties for later inclusion in society and the labour market. Results from studies into good practices in secondary education have established which educational characteristics to take into account for pupils' transition to working life and the need for the school to lead this process. We contrast these results with the current situation in Spain by comprehensively analysing how current secondary education is facing up to the challenges of labour market inclusion for young people with disabilities. Following this, we propose guidelines for the improvement of educational practices in secondary education so as to foster opportunities for labour market participation, from an inclusive viewpoint, for young people with learning disabilities.     

Learning to adapt: does returning to education improve labour market outcomes?

The transition into a post-industrial economy changed the nature of the Australian labour market extinguishing jobs in traditional industries and creating jobs in new industries. Workers displaced from the manufacturing sector and women seeking to re-enter the labour market after taking time out for family reasons need to retrain in order to secure full-time employment in new industries. Consequently, returning to education is a relatively common occurrence in Australia as adults adapt to the changing demands of the labour market. Using the first 12 waves of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia data, this paper examines the characteristics of those who return to education and gain new educational qualifications. The effect of upgrading educational qualifications on employment outcomes is also examined. The results show that those with higher levels of education were more likely than those with low levels of education to complete new qualifications after the age of 25 and that employment outcomes vary according to level of qualification completed.     

THE EDUCATION MARKET,QUALIFICATIONS, AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

This article examines the relationship between the development of the education market and the demand for qualified personnel in the context of European integration. To begin with, a model portraying the relationships between the education and the labour market is introduced, following which the old but still topical qualification discourse with its theses with regard to overqualification and underutilization, is discussed. Despite the modern European Communities’ educational ideology of technological progress and of the thesis of increasing qualifications, questions which are still worth asking are what kinds of demands actually exist in the labour market for increasingly highly trained labour and what kinds of educational policy the new United States of Europe should have.     

Schools and the Structure of Female Occupational Aspirations

The purpose of this paper is to clarify some popular misconceptions within the sociology of education about the mechanisms which maintain the position of women within the labour market. Sociologists have often argued that the experiences of young women within the educational system are largely responsible for maintaining the existing sexual division of labour. I will be suggesting here that the influence exerted within the educational system is limited, given the strength of parental, and particularly maternal, role models upon the development of female occupational aspirations.     

‘The degree is not enough’: students’ perceptions of the role of higher education credentials for graduate work and employability

The UK Government is calling upon higher education students to see their learning as an investment that will give them direct benefits in the labour market. At the same time, the relationship between educational credentials and their returns in labour market has been changing in recent times. Based on a qualitative study with 53 final‐year undergraduate students in a pre‐1992 university, this article examines the way higher education students understand the role of their educational credentials in relation to their future employability. It shows that students perceive their academic qualifications as having a declining role in shaping their employment outcomes in what is perceived to be a congested and competitive graduate labour market. While academic credentials are still seen as a significant dimension of their employability, students increasingly see the need to add value to them in order to gain an advantage in the labour market.     

市场经济与技术本科教育的探讨

在逐步完善的市场经济环境中,市场需求深刻影响着人们对教育类型和层次的选择。为了满足人们对各种教育类型和层次的选择,适应社会对各层次技术人才的需求,强化市场对教育发展的导向作用,高等技术教育体系有待完善。这有利于我国技术教育的持续发展和人才结构的合理化,也将促进生产和技术的发展。     

L'éducation des adultes et le vieillissement des populations: Tendances et enjeux

The aging of the population is accompanied by profound changes in life cycles, and it calls into question the models of institutional relationship between education, work and leisure time. After reviewing some concepts of aging, the author places the “training-work-retirement” triad in the context of the transformation of paid work and the new scenarios of ways in which people finally leave the labour market. Two questions are then asked: In what way may aging populations change the demand for adult continuing education? And, what is the significance of the present educational response to the problems posed by the aging of the population?     

The expansion of higher education,employment and over-education in China

The article considers the current situation in the labour market for higher education graduates in China, showing what kinds of graduates have an advantage when facing potential employers. Secondly, it discusses the tendency of supply and demand between higher education graduates and the labour market from the perspectives of employment probability and over-education. Finally, the article suggests what should happen in the Chinese higher education system if it is to achieve a more effective relationship with the labour market.     

Education pays off! On transition to work for 25 year olds in Norway with upper secondary education or lower as their highest educational level

In this article we examine the relationship between educational level and position in the labour market at age 25 for those who have completed upper secondary education or lower as their highest educational level. Whilst completion of upper secondary education is widely regarded as being important, we find that early and lasting work experience can compensate for non-completion. On the other hand, having received public welfare support decreases one’s chances of being in the labour market. Our conclusion is that educational attainment matters: it is important to complete upper secondary education for successful transition into the labour market, but if you do not complete, every step on the ladder to completion counts.     

From labour to learn 1 : the limits of labour society and the possibilities of learning society

This article presents sociologically and historically oriented reconceptualizations of the changing relationship between labour and learning in the reflexive modern era. First it claims that the whole modern division of labour does not merely reveal the nature by which we define morality but also it is a crucial condition for the whole solidarity of human kind. It creates between people the holistic system of rights and duties, which bonds them together permanently. Then the article comes to the conclusion that the first modern period, and the Keynesian welfare state policy with its homogenous workforce and policies of full employment, has come to its historical end. Consequently, the steady progress of the population along educational pathways into secure full‐time working lives can no longer be taken for granted. The process of the redivision of labour is liable to generate many problems for society and individual citizens since so many of our societal institutions and expectations have been constructed on parameters defined by the labour market, wage earning and promotions. The article then puts forward the scenario of the risk society where confidence coexists with fear, security with threat, credibility with ambivalence, and conflict over the distribution of goods turn out to be conflicts over distribution of bads. The author sees that education has always been seen as a major component in the great Enlightenment project, which has been connected and incorporated by the national state. Lifelong learning on the contrary has been less incorporated, less an early modern, but more a marginal and informal position, waving the flag for both individuals and groups from below. The article claims that the new era of reflexive modernization may see the rise of lifelong learning and perhaps also the partial collapse of the old pre‐modern educational system.

It may be that some of what we regard as European trends in adult education research are at the moment more programmes or wishes than facts, but an understanding of such trends can be helpful for future developments in our research. (Jarvis and Poggeler 1994: 10)     

Politics,a Need and Danger for Education

This article advances the argument that special education is expanding as part of a restructuring of the education‐training system to deal with large numbers of young people who are now defined as unable or unwilling to participate in normal education. The expansion is occurring as attempts are made to change education to fit the perceived needs of a technologically‐based society in which a large social group will be partially or permanently unemployed. Evidence for expansion is examined, professional interests in an expanding clientele are noted, and the dilemmas inherent in comprehensive schooling and a disappearing youth labour market are discussed. The concept of special needs is thought to have become an ideological rationalisation which obfuscates the educational, political and economic needs actually served by the expansion.     

Adult Education between Cultural Assimilation and Structural Integration. Settlement programmes for 'newcomers' in The Netherlands

In The Netherlands, since 1996, 'newcomers', like migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, are obliged to take part in an educational settlement programme which should enable them to gain access to (professional) education and to the labour market. This paper deals with the settlement efforts that are required from adult education on the one hand and newcomers on the other hand, and with the current results and further prospects. We elaborate the central aspects of the settlement policy and its developments, and, drawing on the field theory of Pierre Bourdieu, we analyse the settlement policy and its consequences for adult education as well as newcomers. Then we turn to the two ideologies, cultural assimilation and structural integration, which firmly instigated the (re)formation of the policy, and we relate them to the actual settlement practice. Conclusively, we stipulate three kinds of conditions for a settlement policy that has greater significance for the labour participation of newcomers, and for their integration in Dutch society in general.     

加强高校思想政治教育 优化校园育人环境

通过对市场经济发展带来的一系列思想文化领域的问题与高校原有思想政治教育工作情况的分析 ,探求在新形势下加强高校思想政治教育的有效途径 ,必须优化高校思想政治教育的环境 ,即“育人环境”     

The Competitive Structure of School and the Labour Market: Japan and Britain

The serious problem in Japanese education today is the excess of competition. Although that helps the high standard of Japanese education, it also brings about many difficulties for young people. The competition in the school system is, in general, closely related to the competition in society as a whole, especially in the labour market. The structure of the labour market has a strong influence on competition in the school. For example, the British segmented labour market divides the competition by occupation, and it helps the diversified structure of post‐compulsory education/training. Meanwhile, in the Japanese labour market, which is characterised by Japanese‐style employment, the competition is little divided by occupation, and this helps the unitary structure of competition in the school. Comparing Japan and Britain, this paper will examine the structural causes of the competition in the school system.     

人学价值、终身教育与社会发展

社会发展是社会主体人的创造过程,在此过程中终身教育将起着无可替代的作用。提高社会主体人的科学文化素质是市场经济社会条件下人的发展的重要内容,而创新的基础依赖具有高素质的社会主体人才。在当代开放的教育系统中,终身教育又必须按照社会发展的要求调整自身的目标与价值尺度,以促进人的全面发展和社会的全面进步。     

New perspectives of the relationships between higher education and employment

Abstract

The relationships between higher education and the world of work revived in 1990 as a major issue of debate. Growing enrolment as well as labour market problems in many industrialised countries fuelled the debate. A close look reveals that the systematic information provided on graduate employment is often insufficient or biased. In spite of controversial assessments of graduate employment and work, most experts, however, tend to agree that a growing diversification is an appropriate response. Also, common views are widely held as regards the desirable curricular approaches: emphasis ought to be placed on general knowledge and flexibility, problem‐solving abilities, a confrontation of theory and practice, interdisciplinarity and international competencies. These views are advocated irrespective of whether higher education is expected to follow closely the presumed demands of the employment system or whether higher education is called on to counteract instrumentalist pressures and to prepare students for a proactive role in society.     

Straight Roads and Winding Tracks: Swedish educational policy from a gender equality perspective

A review of Swedish educational policy and educational research indicates that labour market considerations have had a high visibility. Straight routes through the educational system have been laid out in order to equalise and make the system more efficient. Empirical studies show that women's strategies to combine education, work and family often resulted in ‘winding tracks’ through education. Predominant research models tend to adjust to the ‘straight roads’ of educational policy while women's winding routes have been set aside. The current Swedish goal of equality between men and women gives work and parenthood the same weight for both sexes. This article discusses whether this goal could set a challenging framework for a research agenda where more gender‐sensitive methodologies are developed as well as gender‐sensitive concepts, upgrading women's knowledge, experiences and values.