Effectiveness of government's occupational skills development strategies for small- and medium-scale enterprises: A case study of Korea

In many developing countries, small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) account for a large part of national employment and income. Therefore, governments have used various strategies/policy instruments to develop human resources for SMEs and improve their productivity and national welfare. In the literature, however, there has been little effort to assess their effectiveness. The government of Korea has adopted various policies including financial incentives to encourage private enterprises in general and SMEs specifically to undertake training of their workers voluntarily. It has been proved, however, that various financial incentives alone did not make much impact on SMEs, and only large enterprises benefited from them. To redress this regressive situation in human resources development, the private sector, in collaboration with the government and non-governmental organizations, undertook a pilot SME training consortium project, which resulted in successful achievements. The pilot project provided SMEs with, in addition to the financial incentives, institutional and technical assistance for their human resources development activities. SMEs actively participated in training of their workers and benefited from productivity increases. The pilot project has already been replicated on a national scale, and many other developing countries would also be able to benefit from the lessons learned.     

Education for Democracy: reasons and strategies

According to social scientists Herfried Münkler in Germany and Colin Crouch in England, major developments in Western industrial societies — individualism, increasing social complexity, globalisation — present serious threats to basic requirements of stable societies and expose democracy to the corrosion of its socio-moral resources such as social trust and civic commitment to the public good. In order to grow and to flourish, the competences and capabilities that constitute these resources require systematic cultivation through educational processes.The school is the only institution that can provide the appropriate experience of a democratic life to all members of society. At present, however, schools are generally far from this goal. This article describes strategies for providing the experience of schools as democratic lifeworlds from an early age: classroom councils as tools for democratic self government and sites for sociomoral learning; projects of service learning in the community which can be successfully organized by these councils; and early experiences of civic engagement in community contexts as part of democratic classroom practice.     

Globalisation, transnational policies and adult education

Globalisation, transnational policies and adult education – This paper examines policy documents produced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the European Union (EU) in the field of adult education and learning. Both these entities address adult education as an explicit object of policy. This paper investigates how globalisation processes are constructed as policy problems when these transnational political agents propose adult education as a response. The author’s main argument is that while UNESCO presents the provision of adult education as a means for governments worldwide to overcome disadvantages experienced by their own citizenry, the EU institutionalises learning experiences as a means for governments to sustain regional economic growth and political expansion. After reviewing the literature on globalisation to elucidate the theories that inform current understanding of contemporary economic, political, cultural and ecological changes as political problems, she presents the conceptual and methodological framework of her analysis. The author then examines the active role played by UNESCO and the EU in promoting adult education as a policy objective at transnational level, and unpacks the specific problem “representations” that are substantiated by these organisations. She argues that UNESCO and EU processes assign specific values and meanings to globalisation, and that these reflect a limited understanding of the complexity of globalisation. Finally, she considers two of the effects produced by these problem representations.     

荷兰的少数民族教育

荷兰的少数民族指移民。其教育政策在1980年以前具有双向性，1980年前后是为了用荷兰化化解移民子女已有的化背景，把他们培养为荷兰社会的成员。在1985年，荷兰政府以改善处境不利儿童的学习机会为核心，把有关政策整合为EPP计划。90年代初开始实行的新政策的最大特点是分散、多样化和增加自治度，EPP计划发生了变化。但是变化所带来的结果不容乐观。     

试论工会在高校思想政治工作中的作用

在新的历史时期 ,高校应继承和发扬工会思想政治工作的优良传统 ,在高校教职工思想政治工作体系中 ,从工会工作的实际出发 ,充分发挥积极的、不可替代的作用     

欧美学生数据隐私保护立法与实践

学生数据是教育数据的重要组成部分,在支撑教育决策、改进课堂管理、推送个性化路径等方面得到了广泛应用。然而,实践中出现了很多侵害学生数据隐私的问题,造成了不良社会影响,急需政府从立法层面加强保护。在此领域,欧美发达国家已经有数十年的经验,法律和制度都较为健全。针对美国和欧盟学生数据隐私保护立法和实践情况的分析发现,欧美已经建立了相对全面的学生数据隐私保护法律体系,形成了较为完善的隐私保护框架原则,其强调行业自律、全民参与的经验值得借鉴。但是也暴露出一些问题,例如,法律仍旧滞后于实践的需要,数据所有权不明确、处理过程不规范,学生、监护人及其他相关方的数据隐私保护意识薄弱,隐私保护和开放教育数据、学习分析之间存在矛盾等。我国尚处于数据隐私保护的起步阶段,应在汲取欧美国家的经验与教训基础上,提高认识,切实增强全民的法律意识;加快立法,尽快建立完善相关法律制度;加强行业自律,规范市场行为;营造隐私保护的社会大环境,构建多方参与的治理体系。     

Learning in and beyond small business advisory programmes

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how participants learn in small business advisory programmes and to explore the impact of these learning programmes on the development of reflective learning dispositions in participants. The research involves two case studies of small business advisory programmes in Queensland, a state of Australia. One involves training in the use of GPS/GIS technology amongst rural SMEs and the other seeks to develop improved management and operational capabilities in regional and metropolitan manufacturing SMEs. Face to face semi-structured interviews were conducted throughout rural, regional and metropolitan Queensland with participants, trainers and senior executives in the administering organisations that ran the programmes. Learning in these programmes occurs through a combination of interaction with others and the adoption of practice-based and learner-centred processes. The impact of the programmes on participants includes the development of reflective learning dispositions, improved confidence in learning and appreciation of the value of new knowledge to their business. The research suggests that small business training programmes have the potential to affect the development of critical reflective learning dispositions in participants which is of fundamental importance to the development of a learning or knowledge economy.     

英国首个GES学位学徒制:背景、内容及启示

英国在2015年开始施行学位学徒计划,开展本科层次职业教育,吸引了不少本科院校甚至精英大学的参与。其首个学位级别的"经济学徒计划"依然坚持专业转型带动本科院校发展职业教育,依据职业标准设置课程,实行工学结合的人才培养模式,并采用能力本位的人才评价体系。该计划旨在培养经济类公务员中的高技能人才,引起了政府部门的高度重视,也为我国培养高层次应用型人才提供了可资借鉴的经验:邀请雇主开发职业标准,为课程教学提供依据, 依托工学结合的人才培养模式,深化校企合作, 建立能力本位人才评价体系,合理安排评价方式。     

中小企业管理和创新领域远程学习材料的设计与开发

本文主要阐述了当代远程学习的变化特征,其中包括学习的情境化、学习共同体与实践者共同体的结合、混合培训的运用等;同时,本文还对传统远程学习和现代在线学习环境下的课程设计和开发的各种模式进行了介绍.本案例中,学习资源的设计主要分为三个模块,即存在的技能、持续性的更新,以及全球化技能的发展.结合中小企业本身特点以及上述所提及的方面,为我们发展和清晰地表达一个中小企业持续性专业发展的框架奠定了基础.通过这个框架,在线学习共同体与离线的实践者共同体相结合,可以促进在某一特定文化背景下人们专业认同度和实践水平的提高.     

Evaluation of an action learning programme for leadership development of SME leaders in the UK

This paper presents the findings from an evaluation research project undertaken by Henley Management College in 2006. This project followed an earlier research study that focused on identifying the leadership development needs for leaders of small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, developed a leadership development model and made recommendations for a leadership development programme. The principle challenges facing the SME organisations overwhelmingly concerned leading change in their organisation. Their personal challenges concerned implementing change initiatives, communicating these and motivating the people in their organisation. In consideration of the challenges identified, one of the key recommendations was to pilot an action learning programme and evaluate the effectiveness of action learning to develop leadership skills in SME leaders. Henley Management College then conducted a research project to evaluate the pilot programme. This pilot consisted of three learning sets, run in three geographical areas in the UK and facilitated using three very different styles. Following the pilot programme, there were several wider reviews by academics, advisors and representatives of relevant government boards. This has since resulted in a significant programme of action learning for SME leadership development being implemented. This paper provides an overview of the relevant literature and research methodology and then presents the evaluation results from the pilot programme. The dominant theme was that action learning does indeed deliver significant business benefits and provides a real opportunity for SME leaders to develop their leadership skills.     

Japan’s new lifelong learning policy: exploring lessons from the European knowledge economy

The concept of ‘lifelong learning’ or shōgai gakushū has rapidly become one of the topmost priorities in Japan’s education policy agenda. This was considerably evident in December 2006 when the term ‘lifelong learning’ was added to Japan’s educational charter, the Fundamental Law of Education. This paper explores, as a means to develop Japan’s new lifelong learning policy, the lessons that can be learnt through an examination of the European countries’ efforts to build a knowledge economy, where lifelong learning is regarded as the key solution in overcoming several important social and economic concerns. In this paper, I first examine the current situation of lifelong learning in Japan, employing the ethnographic data that I have collected since 2001. Second, I provide a brief review of the European lifelong learning policy, which is one of the priority guidelines in the European Union. Under the Lisbon Strategy, for example, the argument on European lifelong learning theoretically centres on developing human capital in order to survive in the global knowledge economy. Lastly, referring to the European experience over the past decade, I propose to directly connect Japan’s latest policy development regarding lifelong learning with the trend of building human capital through lifelong learning in order to enhance its competitiveness in the era of globalisation.     

公共物品供给的PFI路径与服务型政府制度创新——以上海公路建设为例

如何构建低成本高质量的公共物品供给体系?英国公共部门PFI制度创新是这一转型的有效路径。国内对PFI的研究,基本定位于一种新型的建设投融资层面,而作者把PFI定位于重塑服务型政府的基础之上。第一,引导民间资本向新型的政府服务功能转换；第二,风险分担的低成本路径；第三,不断提高公共服务方面的政府支付比例。     

Philosophy and Practical Education: a review

Developing learning programmes to enhance the formation of generic skills is an international concern in education and training policy. This paper provides a broad survey of the development of generic skills policy in England from 1975 to 2002, drawing on both the economic and educational literature. It demonstrates that, despite an evident demand for generic skills in the English economy, successive waves of education and training policy intended to stimulate the supply of such skills have failed to deliver the desired results. Such failure is accounted for using a policy instruments and institutions framework. This suggests that the failure of generic skills policy can be attributed to a combination of weak policy design, the interaction of generic skills policy with other market‐led reforms of education and training in England, and broader exogenous socio‐economic trends. The paper concludes that current initiatives to develop key skills for all 16–19 learners in England are unlikely to succeed without substantial changes in the current education policy environment.     

云南旅游管理本科专业人才的开放教育培养思路

云南省旅游业战略性支柱产业地位的确立,为云南旅游业的跨越式发展提供了新的动力,也对高素质的旅游管理本科专业人才产生了极大需求,根据云南省旅游人才总体情况和云南旅游管理本科人才构成、市场需求、学习需求、政府对旅游本科人才的培养要求,创新性地提出云南未来旅游管理本科专业人才的开放教育培养思路。     

A comparison of the influence of government policy on information and communications technology for teacher training in England and Northern Ireland

Abstract

This article examines the introduction of national standards and guidelines for the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in initial teacher training in England and Northern Ireland. The context for the increased focus on ICT in teacher education is described for each part of the United Kingdom (UK). Comparisons are drawn between the two areas of the UK to show how schools and teacher training institutions have attempted to meet the standards within each political context by examining the positive features of three case teacher training courses, two in England and one in Northern Ireland. From this, inferences are drawn about the level of intervention by Government and whether greater government control has reduced or increased the integration of ICT into the cycle of teaching and learning.     

Modern foreign language learning and European citizenship in the Irish context

This paper presents some of the findings of a study investigating young people's attitudes towards Europe and the European Union and their self-reported learning about European citizenship in Ireland. The paper considers adolescents’ attitudes and motivations for language learning in light of recent literature arguing for the role of modern foreign language instruction in the teaching of European citizenship. Findings based on the results of a knowledge test regarding the rights and opportunities offered through European citizenship are also included. Data provide evidence that Irish students possess more knowledge than their counterparts in England, Spain and France on the subject, while showing more positive attitudes than other students. The paper considers the contribution of modern foreign language teaching to this knowledge and their positive attitudes, drawing some possible inferences for other European member states.     

Falling into LINE: school strategies for overcoming challenges associated with learning in natural environments (LINE)

As the benefits of outdoor learning have become of increasing interest to the education sector, so the importance of understanding and overcoming challenges associated with this pedagogy has gained greater significance. The Natural Connections Demonstration Project recruited primary, secondary, and special schools across south-west England with a view to stimulating and supporting ‘learning in the natural environment’ across the region. This research paper examines qualitative data obtained from case study visits to 12 of these schools. The results from teaching staff interviews and focus groups show that schools face many and varied challenges to embedding outdoor learning, and a raft of strategies are presented for tackling these challenges and integrating learning in the natural environment into much of the current curriculum.     

Fortschritt und Verantwortung! Education as a rallying cry in Luxembourg’s general elections of 1974

Education became a rallying cry in Luxembourg’s general elections of 1974. For the first time in the country’s post-war history, the Socialists and Democrats entered the government, with new plans for education. The unbroken rule of almost 30 years by the Christian Democrats was over. New ‘global’ educational concepts were employed to introduce changes in the national curriculum, the aim being a transformation from an elite to a mass system of participation. One of these changes was the idea of the comprehensive school, which divided the electorates, parties and press respectively. Yet, this fundamental change has received little attention in the academic literature. What were the differences between the parties when it came to education policy? By intersecting politics, globalisation and education, this paper examines the impact of the election events of 1974 on Luxembourg’s political discourse. The conclusion points to the central role the parties played in the proliferation of new educational norms.