Search

The study evaluated students' experience of learning with virtual classrooms facilitated by Google Classroom at the Institute of social work, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study employed the Activity Theory (AT) as a theoretical framework using the first triangle of the activity system, which includes three components - Subject-Tool-Object (STO). This study adopted an anonymous online survey for data collection and the quantitative method was used to analyze data. Additionally, the survey questionnaires were prepared and distributed using the KoBo Toolbox. The sample size of 79 (96%) questionnaires was considered from a subgroup of institute students, which includes a Bachelor's degree in Labor Relations and Public Management (BLRPM), an Ordinary Diploma in Labor Relations and Public Management (ODLRPM), and a Basic Technician Certificate in Labor Relations and Public Management (BTCLRPM) from the labor studies departments. The findings revealed that the student's opinions specified that overall students were more interested in learning activities using the Google Classroom platform as a learning tool and they managed to achieve learning goals in the ICT module. Alternatively, the findings from ANOVA comparing the differences between the groups of students concerning the use of Google Classroom as a learning tool revealed that the ODLRPM and BTCLRM students demonstrated higher online/blended learning experiences of using Google Classroom for the ICT module compared to BLRPM students. In conclusion, the study calls for institute policymakers to plan and offers the use of web 2.0 tools such as Google Classroom to facilitate online/blended teaching and learning at the institute.

From the 1960s until his death in 1997, Albert Shanker was a major force in expanding the labor movement, defending and improving public education, and fighting for all people to live freely in democracies. As president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), he became known internationally as an education statesman devoted to making all public schools excellent and as a fierce labor leader determined to ensure that working people had a voice and dignity on the job. The AFT established the Albert Shanker Institute in 1998 to carry on his intellectual tradition of being open to--and debating--any idea that might enrich the lives of working people and their families. In 2021, executive director Leo Casey handed the reins of the Albert Shanker Institute to Mary Cathryn D. Ricker, and that seemed like a perfect time to reflect on the institute's past and present. This article is a conversation between Casey and Ricker on Albert Shanker's legacy and how the institute can ensure that public education, unionism, and democracy are mutually reinforcing.

Many often identified the Catholic Church with the cause of labor and worker's rights in the United States. However that was not the common situation encountered by laborers throughout most of the nineteenth century. The proclamation of the social encyclicals: Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) and Pope Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno (1931) elevated the status of the worker, endorsed worker associations and placed the Catholic Church as an advocate of worker's rights. But for the worker to clearly understand this change as well as his rights and duties education was vital. For workers in Pennsylvania, especially in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the formation of Catholic labor schools was the catalysis for education and guidance in labor-management issues. Eventually their programs expanded to include anti-communist instruction. This article examines the historical narrative of the Catholic labor schools in Pennsylvania and the curricula and policies developed mutually by the laity and clergy to educate workers (both Catholic and non-Catholic) about their rights and duties and how to apply Christian social teachings in the workplace. These schools became a fundamental part of the labor movement where Catholic labor education endeavored to build a Christian partnership of labor and management to ensure industrial democracy.

Teacher unions worldwide are being criticized for disregarding their responsibility as professionals towards education and students. Critics have claimed that teacher unions tend to protect incompetent teachers, place their own needs and interests above their students, and continuously demand for financial increases even when there is more urgency to elevate teacher professionalism and improve teacher quality. This statement does not take into consideration the political, social and economic aspects that influence unions' decisions. Therefore, this study utilizes a qualitative research design, specifically a grounded theory approach to investigate the challenges facing teacher unions in Lebanon from the perspective of union leaders and union members. Data was collected from seventeen public school union leaders and twenty-one teachers. Findings have revealed that teacher unions have assumed a social justice role limited to raising awareness. There are organizational, legal, political, educational, social, and economic barriers that prevent teacher unions in Lebanon from assuming a more active role as a union.

Public universities in the United States confront drastic changes as labour relations continue to evolve towards neoliberal managerial practices. Increasingly, faculty feel excluded from decision-making processes influencing their lives. This article provides a case study of Public Midwestern University (PMU, a pseudonym), where a faculty union went from protest to participation with administration to formulate a new model for shared governance. While PMU produced such a model, interviews with participants depict a larger economic context that cultivates mistrust and a great sense of uncertainty. The article discusses conflicting attitudes around unionisation, managerial practices and the future of higher education.

This article focuses on a particular group in capitalist society that is disabled, demeaned and denied by capitalism itself, through processes of economic exploitation, systematic and systemic class exclusion, and discrimination/ prejudice- that is- the working class. In doing so I recognise that the working class (defined as all those who sell their/ our labour power) is segmented horizontally into `layers', or strata (for example, the dispossessed, unemployed, unskilled, though to the supervisory. managerial level/ stratum) and also vertically, for example, by `race' and by gender, with particular ethnic groups, and women in general, disabled and oppressed and exploited to a greater degree than their/ our white, male sisters and brothers). Analysing from a Classical Marxist perspective I address the structures of the capitalist state through which this exclusion and 'subalternising' is imposed, through formal state structures such as education, media, the panoply of state force and class law, as well as through the material power of the capitalist class, expressed through, for example, wage suppression and enforced immiseration of the majority of the working class. In doing so I address two types of neo-Marxist analysis- 'Structuralist neo-Marxism' and 'Culturalist neo-Marxism', and the dialectical relationship between them. They differ on such matters as: the degree of `relative autonomy' for resistant agency; the relative impact and import of cultural-ideological as against structural- material analysis; and the salience or not of social class analysis, the Capital-Labour relation, vis-a vis other forms of oppression such as `race; and gender', and their implications for political resistance and organisation at the cultural-ideological level and at the level of power, the material power to reform and revolutionise economic and social relations of Capital. I propose an activist programme of resistance at two levels. Firstly, societal level, looking at Marxists such as Marx and Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin, Trotsky and the dialectical relationship between Reform and Revolution. Secondly, at the level of Education, both formal and informal (through social movements, political parties, trade unions, through public pedagogy for example). Within the formal education structures, I advance specific proposals regarding schooling and teacher education. This is a panoptic paper- the issues above are linked in terms of Classical Marxist analysis of capitalism, class exploitation and oppression, and the implications of such analysis for the praxis and politics of resistance.

This paper explores the potential of feature film to encourage more inclusive, participatory and open learning in the area of employment relations. Evaluations of student responses in a single postgraduate course over a five-year period revealed how feature film could encourage participatory learning processes in which students reexamined their initial perspectives on a series of employment relations topics and debates. Over time, the course became increasingly characterised by a pluralism in which all participants became more open to a range of different views, including those of students from diverse political, cultural and religious backgrounds. Of particular note was how the fictional situations depicted in feature films could expand the opportunities for participation and more complex, multidimensional approaches to learning. Following on from a discussion of how more open learning processes require a reconfigured conceptual framework, the paper concludes with some open-ended questions on the use of film in learning processes.

When he first came to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in 1973, reports Phil Kugler, there was no such thing as labor-management collaboration. It was a term he had never heard of, and no one used it. Back then, the focus was on supporting local unions in their struggles to win collective bargaining rights. At the time, teachers were fighting to achieve basic rights just to organize, so the priority was on establishing locals and helping them achieve the pay, benefits, and working conditions that teachers demanded and deserved as professionals. Growing up in the labor movement during the 1950s and 1960s, Kugler says "we could not have predicted that a major focus of this great union would eventually be on strengthening labor-management relations." Kugler provides insight into the "building bridges" period between 1950 through the 1970's that saw the need to move labor-management collaboration forward, with the union and forward-thinking superintendents, who were then in a minority. Local leaders needed to think about ways in which they can support friendly superintendents who understand the value of collaboration and engagement. Kugler further reports on the forward movement of a successful partnership between AFT and the teachers union, based upon mutual respect, strength, and stability of leadership on both sides. The AFT's most important concern, he concludes, is ensuring that every child receives a high-quality education. Even in the current climate, which is often hostile to unions and critical of educators, educators must continue to remind the public of the overriding commitment that teachers have to this notion of students being the best they can possibly be. The teacher voice needs to be respected and listened to, for teachers are the education experts.

The author describes the early relationship between the Meriden Public schools' local teacher union and the Meriden Federation of Teachers (MFT) as "frosty with a lack of trust." However, in the last five years, she states, the union and the district have built a strong labor-management partnership whose focus on supporting teachers has resulted in a steady increase in student achievement--thanks to the collaborations between Erin Benham, the current president of the Meriden Federation of Teachers (MFT) (2007) and Meriden's education superintendents, Mary Cortright (2003-2010) and Mark Benigni (2010-current). The superintendents and the union president meet weekly, their deputies meet monthly, and members of the union's executive board and the superintendent's cabinet routinely call each other to establish better working relations in support of the teachers. This open line of communication between teachers and administrators has allowed them to devise ways to boost student achievement, especially in the district's high-poverty schools. While Meriden administrators and union officials engage in the usual personnel matters such as hiring and budgeting issues, much of their time is also spent on coming up with joint professional development programs to hone teacher talent. Together, the union and the district have created the "Peer Coaching Program," where educators partner with each other to improve instruction; the "Leadership Academy," which allows teachers to learn how to become stronger leaders in their buildings; "Professional Learning Communities," where the teachers meet to review student achievement data; and the "Meriden Teachers Sharing Success" program, where the district's most effective teachers open up their classrooms to teachers seeking to improve their craft. Because of the city's economic challenges, union and district officials have joined forces to strengthen their schools in the hopes that public education will revitalize both the community and the local economy. Dubin concludes that the overwhelming sense of teamwork has resulted in statewide recognition. Last May (2012), Benham and Benigni both received the President's Award from AFT Connecticut, the union's highest honor.

For most of the past decade, this author has studied union-management efforts to improve public education, and has witnessed extraordinary examples of teachers, union leaders, and administrators working together to improve teaching and learning. In this article, seven case studies on collaborative partnerships between teachers' unions and administrators from districts located across the country and a mix of urban, rural, large and small schools are analyzed. He identifies themes and patterns common to all these districts: (1) Motivation for initiating collaboration; (2) Strategic priorities for improvement; (3) Supportive system infrastructures; and (4) Sustaining characteristics. Rubenstein then reports on the partnership attitude and climate survey data from the California Academic Performance Index (API), and social network analysis. The API includes standardized test results in math, English, social studies, and science, as well as graduation and dropout rates. Social network analysis explores who teachers and administrators communicated with on a regular basis, how they communicated, and what topics they discussed. When the data analyses were completed, the relationship of school-level partnerships (based on the partnership survey) with school-level collaboration (based on the network survey), Rubenstein found that those schools with the strongest partnerships also had the highest levels (density) of teacher-to-teacher communication, meaning that more teachers discussed student performance data, curriculum, articulation, instructional practice, and mentoring with one another in stronger-partnership schools than in weaker-partnership schools. The author concludes with recommendations for policymakers to implement in order to improve collaborative reform efforts. These partnerships take work and are difficult to sustain, but once a culture and system of collaboration is institutionalized, great results do emerge.

In recent years, rigorous studies have shown that effective public schools are built on strong collaborative relationships between administrators and teachers. The two largest national teachers' unions--the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association--have embarked on major initiatives to promote greater collaboration, supported in some cases by large foundations. Therefore, this Winter 2013-2014 issue of "American Educator" is dedicated to addressing such concerns, exploring in depth why collaboration between teachers' unions and administrators has the potential to significantly improve student achievement and strengthen the nation's school systems. It synthesizes research findings; highlights districts and schools that have intensively pursued collaboration; and provides strategies to guide teachers, administrators, and public officials interested in cooperation. It also explains "why" collaboration is critical to raising student performance, drawing from research in other institutional settings as well.

While the South African Constitution enshrines both children's right to a basic education and teachers' right to strike, conflict between these two often occurs when the way in which teachers' unions conduct strike actions detracts from learners' education. This article identifies the parties affected by industrial action in the school context, and then proceeds to examine educators' right to strike as defined by the provisions of the Labour Relations Act. The unique implications of picketing in the education environment are then discussed, covering relevant questions such as where pickets may be held, the issue of picketing rules as well as unprotected pickets. Even though we are faced with a qualified right to strike as opposed to an unqualified right to education, the South African reality seems to be that striking teachers are handled with kid gloves. It is therefore concluded that the vast range of existing laws regulating protest action should be applied more effectively. One of the most important aspects should be the picketing rules, which should clearly determine whether picketing in fact contributes to resolution of the dispute, and how learners' interests and rights may best be actualised.

Teachers' unions are under unprecedented bipartisan attack. The drumbeat is relentless, from governors in Wisconsin and Ohio to the film directors of "Waiting for 'Superman'" and "The Lottery"; from new lobbying groups like Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst and Wall Street's Democrats for Education Reform to political columnists such as Jonathan Alter and George Will; from new books like political scientist Terry Moe's "Special Interest" and entrepreneurial writer Steven Brill's "Class Warfare" to even, at times, members of the Obama administration. The consistent message is that teachers' unions are the central impediment to educational progress in the United States. Part of the assault is unsurprising given its partisan origins. Republicans have long been critical, going back to at least 1996. What is new and particularly disturbing is that partisan Republicans are now joined by many liberals and Democrats in attacking teachers' unions. The critics' contentions, which the author sums up as collective bargaining and teachers' unions being undemocratic and bad for schoolchildren, have no real empirical support. Democratic societies throughout the world recognize the basic right of employees to band together to pursue their interests and secure a decent standard of living, whether in the private or public sector. Collective bargaining is important in a democracy, not only to advance individual interests, but to give unions the power to serve as a countervailing force against big business and big government. Moreover, there is no strong evidence that unions reduce overall educational outcomes or are at "the heart" of the education problems. The author contends that if collective bargaining were really a terrible practice for education, people would see stellar results in the grand experiments without it: the American South and the charter school arena. (Contains 25 endnotes and 1 footnote.)

Statistics teaching should not be carried out in the same way for all kinds of university students. Instead, teaching statistics should take into account the different fields of study that students have chosen. For example, students of sciences or engineering have different interests and backgrounds compared to students of any social or juridical field. The authors address this latter group of students (social, juridical, labor or even economics). The authors propose a direct approach: beginning with a real situation or supposition with real data. Questions of interest are explored and put into the language of statistics. To answer the questions, the necessary statistical methods are used. If needed, these methods are presented and explained at that time. Finally, the authors return to the beginning, to give an interpretation of the results. The approach takes into account the students' levels and the kind of studies or professional orientation of these students. (Contains 4 tables, 2 figures, and 1 footnote.)

In 2002, approximately two thirds of school teachers in the Canadian province of Alberta went on strike. Drawing on media, government and union documents, this case study reveals some contours of the political economy of labor relations in education that are normally hidden from view. Among these features are that the state can react to worker resistance by legally pressuring trade unions and justifying this action as in the public interest. This justification seeks to divide the working class and pit segments of it against each other. The state may also seek to limit discussion and settlements to monetary matters to avoid constraining its ability to manage the workplace or the educational system. This analysis provides a basis for developing a broader theory of the political economy of labor relations in education. It also provides trade unionists in education with information useful in formulating a strike strategy. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

This research study looks at the implementation of an action research project within a blended learning human resource management class in employee and labor relations. The internal and external environment created conditions that converged in the Perfect Storm and resulted in an almost disastrous learning experience for faculty and students. What is critical about this project is that it could happen in even the most benign and calmest of waters. In an integrated system, the manipulation of one variable creates an impact on the other variables/systems within that environment. The failure to predict the impact and mitigate the damages can lead to disastrous results. The institution must be ready, at all levels, to implement and leverage technology to create distance-learning only environments for traditional students (and faculty) with a bias toward face-to-face educational experience.

In the Fall 2007, there were landmark labor contracts agreed upon between the United Autoworkers (UAW) and the Big Three Automakers--General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler LLC. The impetus for these truly historic labor agreements was to afford the automakers to remain competitive in the global market while labor was to be protected. Since the passage of these labor contracts, auto sales have continually declined to record lows due to the recession in the United States. This paper will trace the major contractual provisions of these labor agreements and also analyze how effective they were in accomplishing the stated goals for both the UAW and the Big Three automakers. Additionally, the paper will examine the necessary changes needed in these labor contracts if the automakers are to survive in the global economy.

In a global knowledge economy, filling in the bubbles on a standardized test isn't going to prepare children to succeed in life. This is the time to shed the old conflicts and come together. In this article, the author suggests a new path forward--toward a 21st-century education system, a serious and comprehensive reform plan to transform U.S. schools, ensure great teaching, and prepare children for productive, successful, and meaningful lives. He calls for a new template for teacher development and evaluation, a new approach to due process, the support that teachers need to do their jobs well, and more collaboration between labor and management.

One of the author's enduring concerns about the concept of academic freedom is with semantics. It has seemed to him that one of the biggest difficulties with discussions of academic freedom (as with many conversations about "value-laden" terms such as "democracy," "equity," and "justice") is that people begin from different positions and with different definitions in mind. When terms are defined differently by various parties to a discussion, it is hard to resolve disputes. Moreover, when circumstances change, already precarious definitions may have to be modified to adapt to new environments. Depending on what people mean by their words and how their words are to be used in new situations, substantially different policy implications may follow. As the title of this article implies, the author believes that people are now facing new circumstances. The changing circumstances he has in mind relate to the socially constructed rationale for institutions of higher education, alterations in patterns of finance, and a new view of how colleges and universities are expected to demonstrate accountability in the emerging postindustrial society. In the recent past, each of these has been infused with what is best described as the "market mentality," the belief that institutions do best when they are subjected to a pat on the back or a slap in the face from the "invisible hand" of consumer choice. It is this author's feeling that this market mentality may be in for a spanking of its own. In this article, he revisits the subject of academic freedom. The focus of the changes discussed in this article is postsecondary schools, and the locus of debate concerns both colleges and universities. The changes are complicated and made even more controversial by the emergence of serious debates within and among "two-year" colleges and "four-year" universities, as well as the host of hybrids now struggling for recognition and success.

Today's challenging economy affects everyone, including APPA and its member institutions. In such trying times, institutions and organizations need strong leadership, optimism, and a willingness to revisit basic principles--and that is exactly what Polly Pinney plans to bring to APPA as its new President. Her theme for her presidential year, "Honing the Brilliance--A Time of Strategic Renewal," makes her focus clear. Pinney, executive director of facilities management at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, came to facilities management from an untraditional route, and the same can be said about her path to her current professional position and her role in APPA. Pinney's "untraditional route" to her career in facilities management started with a bachelor's degree in theatre and communications and a master's degree in management, both from the University of South Dakota. She started out as a director of human resources and director of training and development for the South Dakota Department of Labor. She joined ASU in a labor relations position for Facilities Management. Once launched in facilities management, she made steady and impressive progress toward her current position. Pinney takes her facilities management skills to communities outside ASU and APPA. For five years, she taught on issues related to the management of facilities organizations and strategic planning to facilities professionals in the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian community. She is also committed to continuing APPA's progress in diversity, in particular for women in the field. For Pinney, facilities management remains an exciting, fulfilling profession, and is one she wholeheartedly recommends to current students. Despite the challenging times, Pinney believes that APPA's future is extremely bright.

Few studies on representations of social class in children's literature have been published in the United States. As a language arts teacher and media specialist in a high poverty school, the author describes children's novels that directly address social class and the subtopic of the labor movement and consider the continued relevance of social class to educational research in the twenty-first century. Research that examines how children's novels address these issues will assist educators who want to engage students in dialogue about class inequality, past and present.

With the maturation of the internet more and more colleges and universities are offering online courses. As these courses enter the mainstream, public policy issues are beginning to emerge. Many of these involve the tension between the "work for hire" doctrine and academic freedom that occurs when educational institutions offer these courses with a profit motive and then claim ownership of course materials. When a university begins to offer courses with a for profit motive, issues involving copyright infringement may also arise due to the inapplicability of the "fair use exception". Other issues involve a developing disparity between the rights of public university faculty over those of private university faculty to the ownership of course materials as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in "NLRB v. Yeshiva University" as well as the Due Process and the Takings Clauses in the Fifth Amendment and the Due Process Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The lack of clarity in U.S. copyright law over ownership of professorial created academic works has led some commentators to suggest the time has come to amend the law to return a "teacher exception" to the definition of a "work for hire" in the U.S. copyright statute. In the meantime, faculty must negotiate ownership issues with their schools on a individual basis, through collective bargaining or by both. In the case of private university faculty, there is no guarantee of any right to negotiate with their employer.

This study examined the relationship between teacher written feedback and change in the disciplinary writing of tertiary students in their final year of undergraduate study. The student texts and teacher written feedback examined arose naturally out of a third year disciplinary-based unit in which each student submitted a text three times over the course of a semester, each time receiving feedback and a mark prior to rewriting and resubmitting. In analyzing the relationship between the different types of feedback and the changes that occurred, the feedback was categorized according to the issue that was being addressed, the manner in which it was given, and its scope. The different types of feedback were directly related to the changes that occurred in the students' subsequent rewrites. The analysis shows that certain types of feedback are more strongly related to change than other types of feedback. In addition, the analysis shows that change is further influenced by the balance between the various individual points of feedback and the degree to which they reinforce each other. The findings show that the use of feedback that is strongly related to change can improve the writing of students in the disciplines. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.) [Note: The publication year (2009) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct publication year is 2008.]

This article presents a discussion of the development of Jeongyojo or the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union from its emergence as a social movement in the late 1980s to its current status and prominent campaigns. The article identifies certain aspects of South Korean history and culture that have shaped the distinctive identity of this teachers union. The article recognizes that, despite legalization some years ago, the Korean Teachers Union continues to engage in controversial campaigns that frequently cause conflicts with the Ministry of Education in South Korea. The article points towards the set of principles of True Education (Chamgyoyook) that provide the guiding framework for the union's activities at home and internationally. (Contains 1 endnote.)

Human Resource Management is a branch of an organization which recruits and develops personnel to promote the organization's objectives. Human Resource Management involves interviewing applicants, training staff, and employee retention. Compensation, benefits, employee/labor relations, health, safety, and security issues are a few of the aspects of the Human Resource Management division. The ultimate goal of the human resource department is to manage people, human capital, and culture for the organization's success. In the educational arena, the selection of an effective school administrator is crucial in maintaining a nurturing and supportive environment for teachers. The purpose of this article is to discuss managerial efficacy in recruiting and retaining teachers. Recruitment provides an opportunity to select from a pool of qualified applicants. Human Resource Management is responsible for designing a plan for employee retention. The objective of Human Resource Management is to help an organization meet strategic goals by attracting and maintaining employees, and also to manage them effectively. In conclusion, the ultimate goal of Human Resource Management is ensuring that the organization attract and retain qualified employees who are committed to the vision. Human Resource Management should be knowledgeable of the ten recommendations that were noted in the essay: effective leadership, employee retention, hiring standards, diversity, benefits, mentoring, professional development, professional learning communities, organizational climate, and performance evaluation. The recommendations will enhance the effectiveness of Human Resource Management in recruiting and retaining teachers.

In recent years, educators have begun to use learning portfolios as a means of evaluating student learning in higher education. Research indicates that learning portfolios can help students understand better the learning process as well as enhancing learning outcomes. They promote reflection on the learning experience and encourage students to think critically and make judgments about their own learning. The aim of this paper is to explore how short-answer portfolios can support the development of generic skills. We focus on generic skill because one of the central aims of university teaching is to develop the generic capabilities of graduates. These generic attributes represent the qualities, skills and understandings a university community anticipates its students should acquire at university and display as a graduate professional and citizen. This paper reports the findings of a study of learning portfolios and generic skill development of industrial relations students studying on-line at a remote location. The students completed a short-answer learning portfolio as part of their learning experience. Data were gathered about the performance and views of these students from interviews, a survey, analysis of student work and email correspondence with their teacher. Our research indicates that learning portfolios are an effective way of developing generic skills, although they are very labour intensive from the teacher's perspective. (Contains 7 tables and 1 footnote.)

The question of European trade unions' approach towards vocational training is an interesting example of a broader issue, involving both the role played by non-governmental actors in shaping the social dimension of the integration process, and the need to develop a social dialogue in the Community. In this context, the establishment of Cedefop in 1975 can be considered one of the main achievements of the protracted pressure and requests from the European trade unions to be better represented in the EC and to develop a series of initiatives aimed at shaping a common European social policy in the field of employment and vocational training. (Contains 10 footnotes.)

The French worker certification system is focusing on efforts to design a scheme for the accreditation of work-based learning. If implemented, the scheme would be directed by a business-government-worker partnership, recognized and accepted by different occupations, and accessible to all employees regardless of the way their qualifications were acquired. Applicable to a labor market characterized by discontinuous work experiences and precarious employment conditions, such a mechanism would permit worker mobility between jobs and complement the traditional certification regime. Important issues in this effort include: (1) developing standards according to common rules to allow comparison between occupations; (2) establishing student evaluation using multiple forms, such as combining one or more of interview, test, observation and simulation; and (3) structuring qualifications to demonstrate mastery of an occupation or elements of multiple occupations to help create individual career paths. (Sidebars discuss findings of an original research study upon which the scheme is based and general certification practices in various French industries.) (AJ)