Future-oriented education needs to invest in the connectivity between learning and working in order to realise its full potential. This book presents guiding principles on how to build these successful connections. By taking an educational perspective and enriching it with insights from human resource development, this book explores the why, how and what of designing for connectivity. This edited volume presents the current knowledge about educational practices and principles that help to realise connectivity between learning and working experiences. Introducing the central perspectives of workplace learning and learning environments at the boundary of school and work, this book presents key research that examines how educators and professionals from organisations and schools can come together with the purpose of realising connectivity in educational programmes. Empirical research showcasing both theoretical and practical insights from real life cases are at the heart of this book. Considering the barriers to achieving connectivity, this book also focuses on how it can be achieved, with ideas and guidance about communication, design principles and best practices. Using carefully chosen international examples, this book is ideal reading for policy makers, practitioners and researchers looking to learn more about connecting learning and working experiences.

Across 40 chapters, learners, learning and work are situated within educational, organisational, social, economic and political contexts. Taken together, these contributions paint a picture of evolving perspectives of how scholars from around the world view developments in both theory and practice, and map the shifts in learning and work over the past two decades.

An increasing societal trend is the belief that the 21st century requires a rethink of the education system. Change is happening fast and our students are growing up in a world where jobs are not certain or guaranteed. "The purpose of education is to prepare students for a world we can't envisage, so when they are stuck, they choose to think, instead of remember". Alongside this, there is also a need for education systems to impart higher level skills aligned with the demands of growing economies, where many jobs are being automated and skill sets are changing fast. Are professionals, employers and educational institutions ready for the challenge of developing the new skills this future will demand? This book has evolved out of many years of implementing innovation in education, it has been written because we believe we have something to say which might inspire, support or encourage other educationalists to take action to align the education our schools deliver with the needs of the 21st century.

This book draws on experiences from a range of vocational education systems in different nation states and re-examines the purpose of providing experiences outside educational institutions; the kinds and extent of those experiences; and efforts made to ensure the integration of students’ experiences across sites. Analyses of the various vocational education systems, their purposes and practices across nations, and challenges experienced by different stakeholders illustrate different approaches to the integration of learning at different sites. The book includes a consideration of what constitutes the integration and reconciliation of experiences, and their attendant educational implications. This extends an appraisal of the concepts of integration, reconciliation, curriculum and work readiness, each of which has a range of connotations. Integration or reconciliation is differentiated from transfer of learning, which is commonly based on simple assumptions that the educational institutions will provide theory and that the workplaces will provide practice from the workplaces, and that the two can be easily linked by students. The contributions from different nation states clearly demonstrate that integration is a collaborative process and requires the agency of stakeholders operating at global, national and specific learning site levels.

Marja-Leena Stenstrom ̈ and Pai ̈ vi Tynjal ̈ a ̈ Changing Working Life as a Challenge to Education Recentmacro-leveltrends,suchaseconomicglobalisation,thedevelopmentofthe- formationsociety,changesinmethodsofproductionandtheorganisationofwork,and the growing signi?cance of knowledge as a factor of production, have created a new context for the relationship between education and working life. In this new context, the use of work experience as an educational and learning strategy has become one ofthemostimportantdevelopmentsbothinvocationaleducationandtraining(VET) and in higher education. Although the tradition of making work an integral part of education has varied at different levels of the educational system, the challenges that systems of education currently face are very similar in many respects. These include thechallengeofequivalenceasregardsthelevelofacademicstandards,thechallenge ofdevelopingpedagogicalpracticesfordifferentformsofwork-relatedlearning,and the impact that work-related learning has on the identity of the educational orga- sation, the teacher, and the learner. The diversity of the systems through which work experience is realised, the varying levels of training of workplace trainers, and the lack of industrial experience of vocational school teachers have aroused discussion abouthowtoguaranteeandassessthequalityofthelearningtakingplaceindifferent workplaces and of the work-based learning system as a whole. (See e. g. Boud & Solomon, 2001, p. 27; Grif?ths & Guile, 2004; Guile &Grif?ths, 2001. ) The key pedagogical question regarding collaboration between education and work is how to build a ?rm connection between theory and practice or abstract thinking and practical action – and between the development of general skills and speci?c vocational skills.

A collection of the theories, practices, and policies of vocational education and training written by international experts The Wiley Handbook of Vocational Education and Training offers an in-depth guide to the theories, practices, and policies of vocational education and training (VET). With contributions from a panel of leading international scholars, the Handbook contains 27 authoritative essays from a wide range of disciplines. The contributors present an integrated analysis of the complex and dynamic field of VET. Drawing on the most recent research, thinking, and practice in the field, the book explores the key debates about the role of VET in the education and training systems of various nations. The Handbook reveals how expertise is developed in an age of considerable transformation in work processes, work organization, and occupational identities. The authors also examine many of the challenges of vocational education and training such as the impact of digital technologies on employment, the demand for (re)training in the context of extended working lives, the emergence of learning regions and skill ecosystems, and the professional development of vocational teachers and trainers. This important text: Offers an original view of VET’s role in both the initial and continuing development of expertise Examines the theories and concepts that underpin international perspectives and explores the differences about the purposes of VET Presents various models of learning used in VET, including apprenticeship, and their relationship with general education Explores how VET is shaped in different ways by the political economy of different countries Reviews how developments in digital technologies are changing VET practice Discusses the challenges for universities offering higher vocational education programs Draws on both recent research as well as historical accounts Written for students, researchers, and scholars in the fields of educational studies, human resource development, social policy, political economy, labor market economics, industrial relations, sociology, The Wiley Handbook of Vocational Education and Training offers an international perspective on the topic of VET.

Vocational Education in the Nordic Countries: The Historical Evolution is the first of two books that disseminate new and systematic knowledge on the strengths and weaknesses of the different models of vocational education and training (VET) in four Nordic countries. Vocational education in Europe has resisted standardisation to a higher degree than other fields of education, and during the last decade, there has been a growth in international, comparative VET research. While the Nordic countries provide an ideal case for comparative education studies, the literature in English on the Nordic VET systems is at present very limited. This first book provides thorough examinations of VET in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland over 150 years. Each section examines the historical evolution of VET at upper secondary level in one of the four Nordic countries. Contributors also analyse how each country have tried to reform their respective VET systems, and compare the paths which each nation has taken. The book explores what can be learned from the diversity of the VET-systems in the Nordic countries, which otherwise have many similarities and share a common heritage in education policy. This volume will help strengthen the knowledge base required for transnational policy learning, and for developing vocational education internationally for the future. It will be of interest to researchers, academics and postgraduate students involved in the study of vocational education, educational studies and educational policy, education planners and teachers educators.

U.S. strength in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines has formed the basis of innovations, technologies, and industries that have spurred the nation's economic growth throughout the last 150 years. Universities are essential to the creation and transfer of new knowledge that drives innovation. This knowledge moves out of the university and into broader society in several ways â€" through highly skilled graduates (i.e. human capital); academic publications; and the creation of new products, industries, and companies via the commercialization of scientific breakthroughs. Despite this, our understanding of how universities receive, interpret, and respond to industry signaling demands for STEM-trained workers is far from complete. Promising Practices for Strengthening the Regional STEM Workforce Development Ecosystem reviews the extent to which universities and employers in five metropolitan communities (Phoenix, Arizona; Cleveland, Ohio; Montgomery, Alabama; Los Angeles, California; and Fargo, North Dakota) collaborate successfully to align curricula, labs, and other undergraduate educational experiences with current and prospective regional STEM workforce needs. This report focuses on how to create the kind of university-industry collaboration that promotes higher quality college and university course offerings, lab activities, applied learning experiences, work-based learning programs, and other activities that enable students to acquire knowledge, skills, and attributes they need to be successful in the STEM workforce. The recommendations and findings presented will be most relevant to educators, policy makers, and industry leaders.

"This book analyzes different types of virtual communities, proposing Knowledge Management as a solid theoretical ground for approaching their management"--Provided by publisher.

This book advances understandings about and practices for effectively integrating practice-based (e.g. workplace) experiences in higher education programs. This issue is becoming of increasing salient because higher education programs globally are increasingly focussing on preparing students for specific occupations. Such imperatives are reflected in the cooperative education movement in North America, the foundation degree programs of the United Kingdom, the work integrated learning approach within Australian higher education and initiatives in a range of other countries. There are clear and growing expectations that graduates from such should be able to move smoothly into being effective in their occupational practice. These expectations rise from the imperatives and interest of government, employers, community and students themselves. The book achieves a number of important goals. Firstly, it identifies and delineates the educational worth of students and engagement in practice-based experiences and their integration within their programs of study. Secondly, it advances conceptions of the integration of such experiences that is essential to inform how these programs might be enacted. Thirdly, drawing on the findings of two teaching fellowships, it proposed bases and propositions for how experiences in higher education programs might be organised and augmented to support effective learning. Fourthly pedagogic practices seen to be effective in maximising the learning from those practice experiences and integrating them within the curriculum are identified and discussed. Fifthly, a particular focus is given to students’ personal epistemologies and how these might be developed and directed towards supporting effective learning within practice settings and the integration of that learning in their university programs.