The linkage between the education and employment systems: ideal types of vocational education and training programs

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to the literature by proposing a methodological approach that scholars in all research fields can use to develop high-quality explanatory typologies. We argue that every typology should be constructed using a systematic, transparent process and must have a strong theoretical foundation to validate its explanatory value. Drawing on Max Weber’s typology theory, we apply our approach to construct three ideal types of vocational education and training (VET) programs. By bypassing heterogeneous context conditions, our typological approach enables us to compare VET programs based on the criteria that are relevant to an explanation of youth labor market outcomes. We build on Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems, which helps elucidate the significance of the linkage between actors from the education and employment systems in VET. The first ideal type, with maximal linkage, entails equal power-sharing between both kinds of actors. We expect such a VET program to have the most favorable outcome. The other two ideal types, in which one system has all the power, result in either undesirable youth labor market outcomes, such as unemployment or skills mismatch, or lack of access to further education.     

Educational problems of Turkish migrants' children

The author deals with the education of Turkish migrants' children and the handicaps existing for equal access to all educational opportunities. She comes to the conclusion that unless realistic measures endeavouring bi-cultural integration on behalf of the growing generations are implemented, the dependency of Turkey's excessive manpower on the European labour market will mark these children and leave them on the threshhold of adult life without equal means and opportunities to build a more prosperous and peaceful world.     

Politics in an Indian canyon? Some thoughts on the implications of ethnomathematics

Working with Navajo Indian informants in Arizona, USA we became aware of the capabilities of children and adults to find their way in vast and clearly “chaotic” canyons. One thing we did was describe what people actually did and said about their ways to find the way back home in such contexts. A second one was to use these data in order to build a curriculum book for a bicultural school on the Navajo reservation. We start from this example to ask what the political choices are, which we confront when working with such material: how much mathematics (or is it Mathematics) is needed in daily life? And what mathematics should we promote or develop, without becoming colonialist again? In Section 2, we discuss the meaning and the status of ethnomathematics, proposing that it would be the generic category which allows for a more systematic and comparative study of the whole domain of mathematical practices. In Section 3, we introduce the concept of multimathemacy (after multiliteracy) to discuss the political agenda of ethnomathematics. We argue that multimathemacy should be the basis of the curriculum in order to guarantee optimal survival value for every learner.     

Investigating Preschoolers’ Categorical Thinking About Gender Through Imitation,Attention, and the Use of Self‐Categories

Whereas traditional theories of gender development have focused on individualistic paths, recent analyses have argued for a more social categorical approach to children’s understanding of gender. Using a modeling paradigm based on K. Bussey and A. Bandura (1984) , 3 experiments (N = 62, N = 32, and N = 64) examined preschoolers’ (M age = 52.9 months) imitation of, and memory for, behaviors of same‐sex and opposite‐sex children and adults. In all experiments, children’s imitation of models varied according to the emphasis given to the particular category of models, despite equal attention being paid to both categories. It is suggested that the categorical nature of gender, or age, informs children’s choice of imitative behaviors.     

Young people's views of sex education: gender,information and knowledge

This paper derives from research that had the aim of understanding more about adolescents' views of sex education and adolescent sexuality. The data are taken from three separate pieces of research conducted in 1984, 1998 and 2003. This paper presents data about gender, information and knowledge relating to sexuality. It seeks to demonstrate that attitudes to information and knowledge vary significantly with gender. The data suggest that many adolescents we studied were offered different access to information about sex and sexuality in their families. The argument is that this has impact on the sources of information that they rely upon and prefer. We investigate the underlying issues about the ways boys obtain not only information about sex, but also their attitudes to sexual encounters. Sources of information and counselling about sexuality varied with gender. Boys and girls were exposed to different kinds of experience, in which information about sexuality and messages about desire also vary. Home and intimacy with parents, especially mothers, is important for many, although not all, girls in a way it is not for boys. This indicates a picture of boys learning about sex and sexuality in ways that by and large do not include adults, or more especially trusted adults, and where there appears to be some elements of exclusion from the family. This has important implications for sex education programmes, and may offer us insights into why the boys resist school sex education work.     

“Inclusive education: The way of the future”—A rebuttal

At the general presentation of the 48th session of the International Conference on Education, “Inclusive Education: The Way of the Future”, a “holistic” approach was advocated to improve educational opportunities for children who are excluded from an equal education and adults who are illiterate. The first part of this paper argues that a more effective approach would be “piecemeal social engineering”. The second section presents examples of the piecemeal or targeted approach and offers suggestions for applying it to improve educational opportunities for this group.     

The day care and early education curriculum planning guide for September and October

With custodial care the nemisis of parents, educators, and funding sources, a prime concern of child-care and early education people is finding ways to provide the high-quality developmental care that all of us want for our children. This is the third in a series of four month-by-month curriculum planning guides to daily activities for preschoolers designed to keep you and your children busy for quite a while. And though it might not be obvious, virtually every activity has readiness of some kind built right in. So go ahead — enjoy! There're good for you, and the children too.Rose Blue is an early childhood educator, an editor, and the author of over ten books for children and young adults. Correspondence can be addressed to her at 1320 51st Street, Brooklyn, New York 11219.     

外语学习起始年龄刍议

不同年龄群体的语言学习者在生理、心理和认知能力上存在着明显的差异,儿童、青少年和成人学习外语或二语时各有优势。儿童有习得外语或二语的潜能,最突出的是儿童能够习得具有目的语母语者一样的发音;青少年拥有较好的模仿能力、记忆力和敏感的超语言意识;而成人的记忆能力特别强,也很容易注意到语言的形式特征。我们可以期待儿童在玩中习得更多的外语,然而对成人而言,我们可以适度地使用抽象思维能力进行外语或二语学习。语言教师应当对所有因素进行考虑,并采取相应的教学方法。     

Viewing the reconstruction of primary schooling in Southern Sudan through education data, 2006–2009

After one of the longest wars in the history of Africa, Southern Sudan accomplished one of the world’s quickest education reconstruction programmes. Once the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in 2005, the international donor community and the government and people of Southern Sudan united under a common goal: to increase access to education for both children and adults. Southern Sudan’s experience leads to three lessons. First, countries entering a post-conflict situation should anticipate and plan for the possibility of a large and rapid influx of new students immediately after hostilities end. Second, after a prolonged conflict, an alternative education system is critical to allow children, and the young adults who were previously deprived of education, the opportunity to acquire the skills they need to earn a living. Finally, donors must respond rapidly, demonstrate considerable flexibility, forgo extensive planning and documentation before acting, and be willing to make a multi-year commitment.     

Transforming America’s Universities to Compete in the “New Normal”

The challenges faced today by U.S. colleges and universities have been accelerated by the current economic downturn, but they are not the result of it. Consequently, we should not expect a sudden reversal of fortune when the economy rebounds. Changing demographics and spending priorities coupled with increasing competition and demands for accountability mean that universities face a “new normal” in which they must embrace a clear vision of the future, including access and opportunity for all learners and a culture of entrepreneurship and service.     

Universalizing Nine-Year Compulsory Education For Poverty Reduction in Rural China

Lack of access to basic education leads to diminished individual and national capabilities, therewith furthering cycles of poverty. An equitable education system meeting basic learning needs represents not only a human right, but also a means for reducing poverty, promoting productivity, and sustaining development. The Government of China – the most populous developing nation, the majority of whose citizens live in rural areas – has been committed to universalizing nine-year compulsory education among school-aged children and eliminating illiteracy among youths and adults aged 15–45. This study examines lessons learned from China’s efforts in these areas. It also reports on current challenges and trends in a new national initiative for achieving high-quality universal basic education by the year 2007.     

Bimodal bilingual language development of hearing children of deaf parents

Adopting a bimodal bilingual language acquisition model, this qualitative case study is the first in Germany to investigate the spoken and sign language development of hearing children of deaf adults (codas). The spoken language competence of six codas within the age range of 3;10 to 6;4 is assessed by a series of standardised tests (SETK 3-5, TROG-D, PDSS). Additionally, a language assessment tool designed specifically for hearing bilingual children named HAVAS 5 is employed to measure both the children’s spoken and sign language abilities. A heterogeneous picture emerges: all codas show abilities equal to those of monomodal monolingual children in their age range with regard to German sentence structure and verb inflection and an extensive receptive vocabulary, but deviations from the age norm are observed for the production of verbs and prepositions. Furthermore, three codas show below average T-values in some grammatical subtests. Overall, the findings suggest that at least some codas may acquire both of their languages (i.e. spoken and signed German) simultaneously. However, our study also indicates that the spoken language development of some codas as well as the acquisition context of this minority group strongly resembles a form of successive language acquisition that is known from children who acquire German as an early second language in a migration background.     

Peer’s mental states in a collaborative setting: Developmental perspective on children’s inferential abilities

The present study investigates the development of children’s ability to make inferences about a peer’s mental state. In this study 48 eight-year-old children, 49 ten-year-old children and 44 adults observed and analyzed short video sequences, extracts from a socio-cognitive interaction between two children working on a mathematical task. The participants inferred mental states of one of the videotaped children while answering questions. Half of the participants watched the different sequences with sound and the other half watched them without sound. The results show that ten-year-old children are nearly as skilled as adults in making inferences but that eight-years-old children make less relevant inferences. The access to verbal information influenced the inferences only for the eight-year-old group.     

Childhood sexuality: a decade of study. Part II--dissemination and future directions

OBJECTIVE: One goal in perpetration prevention has been to increase the awareness and competence of professionals and parents in understanding and responding to the sexual behavior of children in order to reduce the risk of children developing sexually abusive behavior. A decade of experience in disseminating information about children's sexual development and behavior is reviewed in this paper. METHOD: Curricula developed at the Kempe Children's Center, University of Colorado Health Science Center, were used to provide training to professionals and paraprofessional caregivers. The information has evolved into a variety of models for different purposes in different settings. RESULTS: Children engage in a wide range of sexual behaviors, some of which adults observe or are told about by other children. Adults can be trained to evaluate what is developmentally expected or problematic, and to respond consistently on the basis of objective definitions and universal goals, rather than relying on the personal beliefs and values of individuals. CONCLUSION: Because children's sexual behaviors may pose a risk to themselves or others, there is a legitimate need for adults to respond to what they see and hear in order to validate or correct sexual learning in childhood. Adults are often not well informed about childhood sexuality and are eager to access objective information to inform their decision making in the care of children.     

Science Education in Nigeria: An Examination of People’s Perceptions about Female Participation in Science, Mathematics and Technology

The paper brings to focus people’s perception about female involvement in science, mathematics and technology (SMT). Data for the study were obtained from a survey conducted in March, 2005 in two Local Government Areas of Osun state, Southwest Nigeria. The paper reveals that: (i) about 57% of household heads, 45.6% of mothers and 57.6% of the children are of the opinion that both boys and girls are given equal right to SMT education (ii) social forces play an important role in determining people’s attitude to SMT (iii) though, parents and stakeholders perceptions about girls’ participation in some professions is changing, however, socio-cultural and economic factors still determine which sex to encourage to read SMT.     

Risk factors for the perpetration of child sexual abuse: a review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES: Since the late 1980s, there has been a strong theoretical focus on psychological and social influences of perpetration of child sexual abuse. This paper presents the results of a review and meta-analysis of studies examining risk factors for perpetration of child sexual abuse published since 1990. METHOD: Eighty-nine studies published between 1990 and April of 2003 were reviewed. Risk factors were classified into one of the following six broad categories: family factors, externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, social deficits, sexual problems, and attitudes/beliefs. Sex offenders against children (SOC) were compared to three comparison groups identified within the 89 studies: sex offenders who perpetrated against adults (SOA), non-sex offenders, and non-offenders with no history of criminal or sexual behavior problems. RESULTS: Results for the six major categories showed that SOC were not different from SOA (all d between -.02 and .14) other than showing lower externalizing behaviors (d=-.25). Sex offenders against children were somewhat different from non-sex offenders, especially with regard to sexual problems and attitudes (d=.83 and .51). Sex offenders against children showed substantial differences from non-offenders with medium sized effects in all six major categories (d's range from .39 to .58). CONCLUSION: Child sex offenders are different from non-sex offenders and non-offenders but not from sex offenders against adults. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study suggests that the presence of general risk factors may lead to a variety of negative behavioral outcomes, including the perpetration of child sexual offending. Family factors were strongly related to the perpetration of child sex offending (vs. non-sexual offending or non-offending) and may be valuable intervention points for interrupting the development of child sex offending, as well as other negative behaviors. Other potential points for intervention may focus on the development of appropriate social and emotional skills that contribute to sexual offending.     

Can teachers disrupt their professional identity and enable Children’s participation? Comparing teachers’ and municipal officials’ work with students in democratic spaces

This paper explores how teachers conceive and facilitate children’s participation in student councils, by comparing their conceptions and practices to those of municipal officials operating a municipal children’s parliament. Findings from an exploratory case-study suggest that the latter, guided by citizen consultation discourse, view children as municipal citizens and treat them as adults. In contrast, teachers, guided by pedagogical ethics and protectionist developmental discourses and approaches, treat children as adults-in-the making unprepared for full participation. This divergence, we argue, offers insight into the difficulty teachers have disrupting their professional identity to enable children an equal voice in democratic spaces. This difficulty is compounded, we show, by the complexity of facilitating children’s participation in the hierarchical setting of the school.     

Introduction Universal primary education in South Asia: A right that remains elusive

South Asia, with a quarter of the world’s population, has at least a quarter of the world’s children who should be in primary school but are not. As a region, South Asia will almost certainly fall short of achieving the second EFA goal by 2015: full access to, and completion of, primary education. What can be done now to improve the prospects of achieving the goal as soon after 2015 as possible and to lay a solid foundation for doing so?     

Can we use young people’s knowledge to develop teachers and HIV-related education?

Despite recent progress in meeting the goals of the Education for All agenda, certain groups of young people are particularly vulnerable to exclusion and underachievement, including children with HIV/AIDS, children living in poverty, and children with disabilities. HIV/AIDS has reduced many young people’s rights to access education, to live a full and healthy life, and to have a life as a child. This article focuses on attempts to continue to empower young people to protect themselves from HIV by exploring the dynamics around HIV-related education in schools, in particular by examining the role that young people’s knowledge can play in improving curricula and thus reducing HIV/AIDS rates. The authors draw on qualitative research in a total of eight schools in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. Preliminary findings suggest that pupil consultation and dialogue can be used to inform thinking on the curriculum for HIV education.     

The argument for a constitutional right to communication and language

The need for and right to communication and language is fundamental to the human condition. Without communication, an individual cannot become an effective and productive adult or an informed citizen in our democracy. The importance of communication and language for deaf and hard-of-hearing children is so basic as to be beyond debate. Given the historic difficulties deaf and hard-of-hearing children face, their compromised communication and language skills and the educational, social, cognitive, and psychological consequences, this note contends that a constitutional right to communication is both necessary and legally sound. The right to assemble and to vote, the right to equal protection under the law must be extended to the right of deaf and hard-of-hearing children to full communication development and access. If the Constitution venerates the right to speech, the right to communication and language is of equal or greater value.