Preparing Youth For The 21st Century The Transition From Education To The Labour Market Proceedings Of The Washington D C Conference 23 24 February 1999

This publication points the way to future initiatives to improve youth labour market and educational outcomes as identified by policy-makers and experts of OECD countries brought together at the Washington Conference "Preparing Youth for the 21st Century."

In recent years job training programs have suffered severe funding cuts and the focus of training programs has shifted to meet the directives of funders rather than the needs of the community. How do these changes to job training affect disadvantaged workers and the unemployed? In an insightful and comprehensive discussion of job education in Canada, Cohen and her contributors pool findings from a five-year collaborative study of training programs. Good training programs, they argue, are essential in providing people who are chronically disadvantaged in the workplace with tools to acquire more secure, better-paying jobs. In the ongoing shift toward a neo-liberal economic model, government policies have engendered a growing reliance on private and market-based training schemes. These new training policies have undermined equity. In an attempt to redress social inequities in the workplace, the authors examine various kinds of training programs and recommend specific policy initiatives to improve access to these programs. This book will be of interest to policymakers, academics, and students interested in policy, work, equity, gender and education.

Young people in Europe have been disproportionally affected by unemployment as a result of the economic crisis and a large number of the most disadvantaged are migrant youth, or those of a different ethnic origin, living in deprived city neighbourhoods. This book examines the need for more appropriate interventions aimed at improving the inclusion of young people in the labour market, bringing together theoretical reflections and empirical evidence on emerging innovative policies and practices. Using case studies from across Europe, it asks how effectively innovative interventions respond to the specific needs, motivations, aspirations and strategies of unemployed and vulnerable youth within the contextual conditions of the welfare state and locality. It also provides a new theory of the effectiveness of interventions. As social exclusion remains high among young people in Europe, Effective Interventions for Unemployed Young People in Europe is essential reading for policymakers and practitioners. This book demonstrates where we can look for effective innovative interventions and how these can potentially add up to large-scale social innovation. It is also a crucial resource for academics and students interested in social and labour inclusion measures.

This book explains how education policies offering improved transitions to work and higher-level study can widen the gaps between successful and disadvantaged groups of young people. Centred on an original study of ongoing further education and apprenticeship reforms in England, the book traces the emergence of distinctive patterns of transition that magnify existing societal inequalities. It illustrates the distinction between mainly male ‘technical elites’ on STEM-based courses and the preparation for low-level service roles described as ‘welfare vocationalism’, whilst digital and creative fields ill-suited to industry learning head for a ‘new economy precariat’. Yet the authors argue that social justice can nevertheless be advanced in the spaces between learning and work. The book provides essential insights for academics and postgraduate students researching technical, vocational and higher education. It will also appeal to professionals with interests in contemporary educational policy and emerging practice.

How is adult learning used to produce personal, organisational and social change? This interesting examination of adult learning for change illustrates through diverse case studies and theoretical perspectives that personal change is inextricably linked to broader organisational and social change. The authors explore how theorising education as a vehicle for self-change is relevant to the practices of educators, learning specialists and others concerned with promoting learning for change. The book examines the relationship between pedagogy, identity and change, and illustrates this through a range of case studies focusing on the following: * Self-help books * Work-based learning * Corporate culture training * AIDS education * Gender education * Sex offender education. A concluding chapter discusses how writing an academic text is itself a pedagogical practice contributing to the identities of authors. This unique text will be of interest to students of education, sociology, cultural studies and change management as well as teachers, educators and professionals involved in lifelong learning or change management in any way.