The European Social Fund: changing approaches to VET

Since its creation in 1958, the European Social Fund (ESF) has played a major role in supporting the development of vocational training in the Member States. However, compared to other, more recently launched, EU programmes and initiatives in the area of education and training, the ESF has not made a significant contribution to the debate about European cooperation in this field. This article argues that the ESF has made a mistake in this respect. It also seeks to illustrate and analyse the important changes that the ESF has undergone over the years in addressing the issue of vocational education and training (VET) and to demonstrate that it has substantial resources, in terms of money and experience, that can be used to adapt education and training systems to labour market requirements and to the needs of a knowledge-based economy. The article places a deliberate, though not an exclusive, emphasis on vocational education and training for young people and on the extension of transnational cooperation within the framework of the ESF.     

Die Audio-visuellen Hilfsmittel und der Sprachunterricht Antwerpen, 3.–7. April 1963

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

When Empirical Success Implies Theoretical Reference: A Structural Correspondence Theorem

Starting from a brief recapitulation of the contemporary debateon scientific realism, this paper argues for the following thesis:Assume a theory T has been empirically successful in a domainof application A, but was superseded later on by a superiortheory T^*, which was likewise successful in A but has an arbitrarilydifferent theoretical superstructure. Then under natural conditionsT contains certain theoretical expressions, which yielded T'sempirical success, such that these T-expressions correspond(in A) to certain theoretical expressions of T^*, and given T^*is true, they refer indirectly to the entities denoted by theseexpressions of T^*. The thesis is first motivated by a studyof the phlogiston–oxygen example. Then the thesis is provedin the form of a logical theorem, and illustrated by furtherexamples. The final sections explain how the correspondencetheorem justifies scientific realism and work out the advantagesof the suggested account.

1. Introduction: Pessimistic Meta-induction vs. Structural Correspondence
2. The Case of the Phlogiston Theory
3. Steps Towards a SystematicCorrespondence Theorem
4. The Correspondence Theorem and ItsOntological Interpretation
5. Further Historical Applications
6. Discussion of the Correspondence Theorem: Objections and Replies
7. Consequences for Scientific Realism and Comparison with OtherPositions

   7.1 Comparison with constructive empiricism

   7.2Major difference from standard scientific realism

   7.3 Fromminimal realism and correspondence to scientific realism

   7.4Comparison with particular realistic positions