The national vocational education plan for unqualified young people (16–18 years old): The French experience (1982–1984)

In 1982, the French Government instituted a new National Vocational Education Plan (NVEP) to combat the nationwide problem of students leaving the school system prior to receiving adequate vocational preparation. This plan affects 100,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 18 years. The NVEP gave to each Regional Government the opportunity to create its own programmes and curricula; it renewed counselling and individual assessment facilities; it established new tracks within the education system; it also established co-operative education (linking education to the world of work). Concurrently, an Assessment and Observation System was created.During the first assessment year (1982–1983), information was gathered about existing local educational resources, counselling facilities, characteristics of the 16 to 18 year-old population, functioning of the educational tracks and co-operative education system. During the second year (1983–1984), the assessment provided quantitative statistical results. The most striking result concerns the configurations of educational and employment experiences which seemed to determine the ability of students to find employment. Students with a background of job intensive experiences were more successful in finding subsequent employment than those without. Students with education intensive experiences entered an educational programme because they were unable to find a first job.While the benefits of the NVEP were not immediately apparent, it nevertheless became evident that at this level of training, education was not necessarily the royal road to employment. However, employment criteria cannot be the only way to assess a vocational education system.

---

Zusammenfassung 1982 setzte die französische Regierung einen neuen Nationalen Berufsausbildungsplan (NVEP) inkraft zur Bekämpfung des landesweiten Problems des Abgehens der Schüler von den Schulen, bevor sie durch eine entsprechende Berufsausbildung vorbereitet sind. Dieser Plan betrifft 100.000 junge Leute im Alter von 16 bis 18 Jahren. Der NVEP gab jeder Region die Möglichkeit, ihre eigenen Programme und Curricula zu entwickeln; er erneuerte die Möglichkeiten zur Beratung und individuellen Bewertung; er bahnte neue Wege innerhalb des Erziehungswesens und führte die kooperative Erziehung (Verbindung von Schulbildung und Arbeitswelt) ein. Gleichzeitig wurde ein Bewertungs- und Beobachtungssystem geschaffen.Während des ersten Jahres der Bewertung (1982–1983) wurden Informationen zusammengetragen über bestehende lokale Bildungsressourcen, Beratungsmöglichkeiten, typische Merkmale der Bevölkerungsgruppe der 16 bis 18jährigen, über die Auswirkung der neuen Wege im Erziehungswesen und über das kooperative Erziehungs-system. Während des zweiten Jahres (1983–1984) wurden durch das Bewertungs-system statistische Ergebnisse quantitativer Art bereitgestellt. Das beeindruckendste Resultat betrifft die Konfigurationen von Schul- und Berufserfahrungen, die anscheinend die Fähigkeit der Schüler, eine Anstellung zu finden, bestimmen. Schüler mit einem Hintergrund intensiv berufsbezogener Erfahrungen waren erfolgreicher später eine Anstellung zu finden, als Schüler ohne solche Erfahrungen. Schüler mit intensiv schulbezogene Erfahrungen meldeten sich zu einem Weiterbildungsprogramm an, da sie nicht in der Lage waren, eine erste Anstellung zu finden.Während die Vorteile des NVEP nicht sofort offenkundig waren, wurde dennoch ersichtlich, daß auf dieser Ausbildungsebene Schulerziehung nicht notwendigerweise ein Tor zur Anstellung öffnet. Gleichwohl können berufliche Einstellungskriterien nicht der einzige Weg zur Bewertung eines Berufsausbildungssystems sein.

---

Résumé En 1982, le gouvernement français a inauguré un nouveau Plan National d'Enseignement Professionnel (PNEP) afin de combattre à l'échelle nationale le problème des élèves qui quittent le système scolaire avant d'avoir acquis un niveau adéquat de formation professionnelle. Ce plan concerne 100.000 jeunes gens âgés de 16 à 18 ans. Le PNEP donnait la possibilité à chaque Région de créer ses propres programmes et curricula; il renouvelait les possibilités de consultation et d'évaluation individuelle; il ouvrait de nouvelles voies au sein du système d'éducation; il jetait également les bases d'une éducation coopérative (entendue dans le sens d'une liaison éducation—travail).Au cours de la première année d'évaluation (1982–1983), des informations furent compilées sur les ressources éducatives locales disponibles, les possibilités de consultation, les caractéristiques de la tranche d'âge des 16 à 18 ans, le fonctionnement des voies éducatives et du système d'éducation coopérative. Lors de la seconde année (1983–1984), l'évaluation fournit des résultats statistiques quantitatifs. Les résultats les plus significatifs concernent les configurations des expériences éducatives et relatives au travail qui déterminaient apparemment la capacité des étudiants de trouver un emploi. Les apprenants aux expériences intensives de travail avaient plus de facilité à trouver un emploi par la suite que ceux qui n'en avaient pas. Les étudiants aux expériences intensives d'apprentissage commençaient un nouveau programme d'étude parce qu'ils n'arrivaient pas à trouver un premier emploi.Si les résultats positifs du PNEP n'ont pas été immédiatement apparents, il est cependant apparu évident qu'à ce niveau de formation, l'éducation ne représentait pas la voie royale conduisant à un emploi. Toutefois, les critères relatifs à l'emploi ne peuvent constituer le seul moyen d'évaluation d'un système d'enseignement professionnel.

---

---

The Assessment and Observation System was supported by the French Ministry of Vocational Education and directed by Dr. G. Malglaive. The assessment of the National Vocational Education Plan was conducted by the National Assessment Team (S. Aubrun, E. Beauvallet, P. Chevalier, D. Colardyn, A.-M. Lucas, J.-G. Meilhac) with the effective contribution of 15 regional teams.

---

We are specially grateful to Jessie Miller, graduate student in Psychology, Boston University, whose co-operation and helpful comments on a previous draft made this paper possible.     

On the front-line: Teachers as active observers of pupils’ mental health

There is a growing expectation that schoolteachers should not only act as educators by delivering the national curriculum, but also be more involved as tier one mental health professionals. In this role they are expected to assume some responsibility in the early identification of children's mental health problems and to refer these children for appropriate support as required [NHS Health Advisory Service. (1995). Together we stand: The commissioning, role and management of child and adolescent mental health services. London, UK: HMSO]. In this paper, we examine teachers’ experiences in light of these expectations and in the context of greater inclusion. We undertook in-depth interviews, to explore teachers’ views on competency and training in mental health management. Our findings indicate a widespread perception that teachers feel inadequately prepared to manage pupils with mental health needs. The findings are discussed with reference to the changing role of the teacher, current education policy and teacher training.     

Aversive, appetitive and flavour avoidance responses in the presence of contextual cues

Appetitive, aversive and avoidance responses to a flavoured solution in distinct contexts were examined. Rats placed in either a white or black box were given access to saccharin. Consumption was followed by an injection of a toxin in one but not the other box. Rats showed more aversive responses in anticipation of and during the presentation of saccharin in the box paired with the toxin than in the box paired with vehicle. The reverse was true for appetitive responses. The acquisition of conditioned avoidance paralleled the acquisition of aversive and appetitive responses. These findings demonstrate that the toxin does not have to overlap exposure to contextual cues to produce conditioned aversive responses, that the aversive and appetitive responses to a flavour can be modulated by visually distinct environments that predict the toxin, and that conditioned avoidance and conditioned aversions develop simultaneously during acquisition. Thus, environmental cues can modulate anticipatory nausea and may prove helpful in the control of nausea in clinical settings.     

‘Nervous Energy and Administrative Ability’: The Early Lady Principals and Lady Superintendents in Ireland

At the turn of the twentieth century, middle‐class educated gentlewomen in Ireland had established positions of authority and leadership in the relatively new professions of education and nursing. Acting in the roles of lady principals and lady superintendents, respectively, in education and nursing, many of these women had themselves participated in the social reform movements that led to the establishment of their new professions in the late nineteenth century. This paper critically analyses the roles played by these two distinct but socially related groups of Irish women, who were prominent in the early development of the social practices of education and nursing. The lady principals and lady superintendents entered the public domain as women with supervisory managerial roles, a fact that was in and of itself significant in late Victorian and early Edwardian society. In these roles, they expanded the boundaries of woman’s role, provided role models for other women to follow, and forged networks of support for women. While the performance of their respective roles was mediated by public expectations and by extant gender relationships, they negotiated their way through the constraints of their new public space to achieve their aims of advancing their respective professions.     

Contexts for Remedial Reading: Practice Reading and Pause,Prompt and Praise tutoring

Abstract Fourteen residential childcare workers were trained to implement both a Practice Reading and the Pause, Prompt and Praise remedial reading procedures in school and cottage settings with 18 low‐progress readers of primary school age. Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures were introduced in each setting only if readers made insufficient progress with Practice Reading alone. Childcare workers displayed major change in their tutoring behaviour between baseline (untrained tutoring) conditions and trained tutoring conditions (Practice Reading or Pause, Prompt and Praise). Readers who received a six week programme of individual reading assistance made significant gains on standardised tests of reading accuracy and comprehension and made accelerated progress through graded book levels, while children in the comparison group did not. Results are discussed in terms of the interactive social contexts provided by the two procedures and of the opportunities for reciprocal gains in skill between readers and tutors with the Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures.     

Judges' Use of Examinee Performance Data in an Angoff Standard‐Setting Exercise for a Medical Licensing Examination: An Experimental Study

Although the Angoff procedure is among the most widely used standard setting procedures for tests comprising multiple‐choice items, research has shown that subject matter experts have considerable difficulty accurately making the required judgments in the absence of examinee performance data. Some authors have viewed the need to provide performance data as a fatal flaw for the procedure; others have considered it appropriate for experts to integrate performance data into their judgments but have been concerned that experts may rely too heavily on the data. There have, however, been relatively few studies examining how experts use the data. This article reports on two studies that examine how experts modify their judgments after reviewing data. In both studies, data for some items were accurate and data for other items had been manipulated. Judges in both studies substantially modified their judgments whether the data were accurate or not.     

Strategies for success in education: Time management is more important for part-time than full-time community college students

This paper examines relationships between the Big Five personality factors, time management, and grade-point-average in 556 community colleges students. A path model controlling for vocabulary, gender, and demographic covariates demonstrated that time management mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and students' academic achievement at community college. Separate modeling for part-time (n = 147) and full-time students (n = 409) showed that this mediation was moderated by enrollment status. Thus, time management was a significant mediator for part-time students but not for full-time students. The greater importance of time management for part- versus full-time students suggests that noncognitive constructs such as time management may be more critical for non-traditional students. These findings gather fresh currency as ever increasing numbers of students are enrolling part-time in post-secondary education across the globe.