The Work-based Learning Route in the Netherlands and in England: Comparing ideas and meanings

The paper provides the outcomes of two small-scale sets of interviews carried out in the Netherlands and in England on views about and interpretations of the work-based route for young people. In the light of current revival of interest in work-based learning for young people, and in particular the apprenticeship model in England, I was particularly interested in the issue of parity of esteem between the work-based route and other routes. Whereas in the Netherlands the focus for the development of Vocational Education and Training (VET) is on the full-time vocational route, which has a reasonably high status, England has opted for the apprenticeship route to be the development tool for high quality VET. The paper explores what we can learn about our own experiences in England in the light of what is happening elsewhere (Raffe, 1998; Raffe et al ., 1999). It becomes clear from the data obtained that policy development in the Netherlands aims to increase the status of work-based learning through incorporating the route into the full-time route and providing end qualifications that can be achieved through either a full-time college-based route or through a work-based learning route. The modern apprenticeship route or work-based learning route as such has not a high status, contrary to what is sometimes claimed to be the case. In England, the aim of policymakers is to create a work-based learning route, which is considered to be a high quality route, and is comparable to the general/academic route. The paper shows that there are various reasons as to why this attempt might fail. Both countries aim to provide a 'ladder' or 'column' of opportunities in VET. The research shows that very few young people in fact move up a ladder, but rather move into work-based learning or apprenticeships at certain points on the continuum, and subsequently move sideways into general or theoretical provision in order to be able to progress higher up. Target groups for work-based learning are different at the lower end from those at levels 3, 4 and 5. Very few participants in either country move from level 1 up to level 4 through participation in a work-based route, and it may therefore be appropriate to talk about the provision of a climbing framework, where young people move backwards and forwards and sideways, rather than about a ladder of opportunities.     

Ethnic-Specific Achievement in Dutch Higher Education

This study investigates the extent to which ethnic-specific differences occur in higher education and the underlying factors behind them. The research sample was made up of about 7,000 students at universities in the Netherlands. The authors established that ethnic-specific differ ences in achievement do indeed exist, even after background variables such as sex have been corrected. Structural modeling shows that prior education, financial (income) factors, and effort have a significant impact on study success.     

Developing Performance Standards for Teacher Assessment by Policy Capturing

There is a need for assessment of teachers' competencies fostered by a growing attention given to accountability and quality improvement. Important questions are how good the demonstrated competencies of teachers should be for a satisfying assessment and how the different competencies should be weighted. Using a policy capturing method, in two rounds, nine stakeholders developed performance standards (or cut-off scores) for teacher assessment on eight criteria (or content standards) that resulted from an earlier study. Between the rounds, the panellists held a structured group discussion. Policy capturing proved to be a clear and useful method generating consistent judgements that can be described according to both a compensatory model and a conjunctive model. From the first to the second round, the consistency increased. However, while the panellists agreed to a substantial degree on the performance standards, they disagreed on the weights to be assigned to the criteria.     

Participant Change During an EPDA Institute: Personality,Attitudinal, and Learning Dimensions

This article reports a study of personality, attitude, and cognitive changes in experienced pupil personnel workers who participated in a retraining experience at an EPDA Institute. The subjects were from Detroit Metropolitan Area schools that have a large percentage of disadvantaged pupils. The program offered an interdisciplinary approach since its designers believe that traditional approaches are inadequate for disadvantaged youth. Measures were taken of cognitive, attitudinal, and personality need changes in the subjects over two summers and a part-time academic year. Significant overall content learnings were found, while the most drastic attitudinal changes took place in understanding. The subjects differed from entering counselor trainees and demonstrated more understanding responses than students enrolled in administration.     

The Local Company Project: Involving Local Companies in Undergraduate Environmental Engineering Education

Technology is changing rapidly and industry needs to adapt continuously. Based on demands expressed by industry, Brunei University in the U.K. has developed a new and challenging undergraduate engineering programme. The programme is designed to address the two major concerns revealed by collaborating companies concerning the education and training of university engineering graduates. Firstly, there is a great need for environmentally aware engineers to help industry to cope with the increasing environmental pressures. Secondly, all engineers need to possess transferable skills, be capable of lifelong learning and of using a flexible approach to problem-solving. Personal as well as professional maturity are seen as the keys to success as a professional engineer. The new programme called Special Environmental Engineering (SEE) employs project-based learning in the educational process. This paper summarizes lessons learned from project-based learning using the SEE Local Company Project as an example.     

No Issue,No Problem? Co-education in Dutch Secondary Physical Education during the Twentieth Century

This article places the current state of Dutch co-education in physical education into a longitudinal perspective. Occasionally, comparisons are made with Germany and England. The dominant, twentieth-century, co-educational tradition in the Netherlands--including its pragmatic argumentation-- has influenced educational ideals, as well as school practice, with respect to physical education. Due to a historical lack of fundamental discussions about co-education, today's problems relating to nationwide co-education in Dutch physical education programmes are trivialised. This is highlighted within this article by an analysis of the only manual on co-education ever published in the Netherlands. In conclusion, the article suggests that because co-education is not regarded as a controversial issue in the Netherlands, gender problems in physical education are neglected.     

Coaching Students in Research Skills: A difficult task for teachers

The new Dutch curriculum for the upper levels of secondary education requires students to use research skills. Students have to conduct a number of small research projects, culminating in the writing of a research paper as a formal part of the new examinations. Although the literature offers abundant advice on how to write a good research paper, comparatively little research seems to have been done on this subject as it relates to the classroom. This article describes some results of a study which examines the problems encountered by students when carrying out research projects and which looks into the difficulties teachers face when coaching students in research skills. These obstacles are particularly apparent in the initial stages of the research process. Problem finding is revealed to be an underdeveloped skill in education. Although teachers score much better than students on a test of research skills, finding an effective way to channel these superior skills into coaching methods that benefit students remains problematic. It is evident that procedural knowledge cannot be seen separately from declarative knowledge. Working together in interdisciplinary teams might help teachers overcome some of these problems.     

A COMMENT ON McCAULEY AND COLBERG'S CONCEPTION OF CROSS-CULTURAL TRANSPORTABILITY OF TESTS

Recently McCauley and Colberg described a theory of transportability, an approach to devising test items for cross-cultural comparative research that are free from unwanted cultural effects. They also provided data to demonstrate the feasibility of their approach. In this comment it is argued that the transportability notion resembles earlier cross-cultural work and does not add new insights into the vexed problem of cross-cultural comparison. It is also stated that McCauley and Colberg's statistical checks do not preclude the possibility of bias.