Author: Ajal

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How can the expansion of the apprenticeship system in India create conditions for greater equity and social justice?

Authors: Erica Smith, Federation University Australia; Ros Brennan Kemmis, Charles Sturt University; Paul Comyn, International Labour Organization

Edition: Volume 54, Number 3, November 2014

Summary:  This paper reports on aspects of a recent project carried out for the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, which was designed to feed into the process of updating and expanding India’s apprenticeship system. The apprenticeship system in India is extremely small for the country’s population, even taking into account the high proportion of jobs that are in the informal economy, and is subject to very rigid regulation. Expansion of the system has been seen as vital in order to improve the supply of skills to the rapidly expanding economy, and also to address issues of disparity in labour market participation and equity for certain groups in Indian society. The paper firstly explains how findings about apprenticeship  systems from ten other countries, together with analysis of the Indian situation, were used to present options for consideration by the Indian government. It then analyses these options for their social justice and equity implications.

Keywords: Apprenticeship, developing nation, equity, access to training

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 54_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Developing a qualifications structure for the finance services industry in Malaysia and beyond

Authors: Amat Taap Manshor and Siong Choy Chong, Finance Accreditation Agency, Malaysia; Roslyn Cameron, Curtin University, Australia

Edition: Volume 54, Number 3, November 2014

Summary:  The development of qualifications systems and frameworks assists in promoting lifelong learning and work-based recognition systems. Several nations in the Asian Pacific region have established national qualifications frameworks across their respective educational sectors (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines), whilst others have frameworks for specific educational sectors (e.g., Singapore and Thailand). Work is also underway to develop an ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework which “will enhance each country’s national qualification framework or qualification system while providing a mechanism to facilitate comparison and transparency” (ASEAN 2013: p. 2). However, academic and vocational-based qualifications remain the primary emphasis of these frameworks. This paper focuses on the development of a Finance Qualifications Structure (FQS) and the crucial role this will play in the development of human capital in the financial services industry (FSI) not only in Malaysia, but across Asia and beyond into the Middle East, African and European regions. The FQS aims to integrate and harmonise all the professional qualifications in the FSI into a single structure on the basis of FAA Learning Standards and FAA Recognition of Learning (RPL). Talent management and mobility in the FSI is a key concern as is the need to recognise the competencies of those who have been working in the sector for many years but may possess only professional but not academic qualifications. The paper is centred on the role played by the Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA) in developing the FQS through high levels of stakeholder engagement and consultation, both nationally and internationally and the important role played by the recognition of prior learning. The level of industry and stakeholder engagement in the development of the FQS and the importance of the FAA Recognition of Learning (FRL) have been outstanding features of FAA’s activities and have been identified as key enablers by the International Labour Organization (ILO) for fostering effective lifelong policy and practice (Singh and Duvekot 2013).

Keywords: Finance Qualifications Structure, learning standards, recognition of prior learning, national qualification frameworks, finance services industry, Malaysia.

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 54_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Continuous learning and its social organisation for engineers: An exploratory study in China

Author: Hongxia Shan, University of British Columbia

Edition: Volume 54, Number 3, November 2014

Summary:  Continuous learning for professionals such as engineers has undergone
sea changes around the world in the past few decades. This paper explores some of these changes in China. It starts by examining the learning experiences of five engineers and the training policies in three companies with different types of ownership. It shows three
major learning pathways for engineers: shadowing, title and license related learning, and further education. Associated with these learning pathways are issues such as differential training support from companies, tensions between the pursuit for professional
standardization and experiential knowing, and gendered streaming. The paper further traces the changing institutional relations that work in concert to shape companies’ investments in training and engineers’ motivations for learning. Specifically, it maps the traditional
vocational title system, the newly adopted practice licensure systems, as well as governmental sectoral regulations. The study pinpoints not only the pervasive power of state regulation, but also the profession’s desire for internationalization or to ‘connect rails’ with the engineering
educational and professional regulation systems in the West. Within this context, continuous development has increasingly become a professional mandate for engineers in China. It has also given rise to issues such as commodification of professional licences.

Keywords: Continuous learning, professional regulation, workplace training, internationalization, institutional ethnography, engineers, China

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 54_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Book Review: Reflections on learning, life and work: Completing doctoral studies in mid and later life and career

The Work: Reflections on learning, life and work: Completing doctoral studies in mid and later life and career. Maureen Ryan (ed.) Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2012. 284 pages

Reviewer: Cheryl Maree Ryan, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University,

In brief:  The courageous research in this book is inspirational and presents the personal, emotional and intellectual investment necessary to complete a doctoral thesis. Maureen Ryan’s words resonate from the beginning of the book to the last page.

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 54_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Do actions and methods in guidance for older workers exist in Spain?

Authors: María José López Sánchez and José Antonio Belso Martinez, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche

Summary:  Older people suffer discrimination in the labour market, in that their chances of finding employment if they lose their jobs are small, and the longer someone is out of the labour market, the harder it is to return. Although they often do possess the technical and transferrable skills required, these are not always recognised. Those who remain in work also encounter discrimination. They are unlikely to receive ongoing training and encouragement for career development, especially if their existing skills and qualifications are at a low level.

This paper is focusing on the Spanish situation, looking at the actions and methods in careers guidance for older workers. For this purpose 52 websites of Spanish trade unions were visited during 2010. Using the main findings of 131 questionnaires from 48 employers’ organisations, 41 trade unions and 28 public employment services from across the country, we look at guidance from a macro and micro perspective: how guidance is provided and who the main beneficiaries are.

We conclude that in the Spanish labour context, there is a specific need to improve the coordination and effective publicity regarding existing guidance services and their accessibility. Evidence shows that those who make least use of the careers guidance services are the older workers aged 50 to 55 years, and no special attention is given to meeting their needs.

Keywords: Old workers, careers guidance, active labour market policies, social partners, Spain

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 54_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Educational biographies in Germany: From secondary school general education to lifelong learning?

Author: Harry Friebel, University of Hamburg

Summary:  This article addresses the change in the transitional process from secondary school general education to gainful employment within the framework of societal modernisation processes in Germany.
We analyse the relationship between the options for and restrictions upon individual educational mobility under the conditions imposed by the various socially institutionalised educational segments, which comprise a structure of opportunity.
The database for our study consists in the longitudinal findings of the “Hamburg Biography and Life Course Panel” (HBLP) from 1980 to 2007, which examined the processes of vocational education mobility for a sample of the Hamburg graduating class of 1979.
How do these people manage their educational strategies? What do they experience in terms of vocational education and continuing education within the institutional structure of opportunity? Do the career paths differ after gender?

Keywords: Vocational training, Educational Biography, Vocational training mobility, Continuing education, Vocational education policy, Germany

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 54_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Identifying tertiary bridging students at risk of failure in the first semester of undergraduate study

Authors: Robert Whannell and Patricia Whannell, University of New England

Summary:  This study presents the findings of the second phase of a project examining the attrition and progression of two cohorts of students in a tertiary bridging program at a regional university in Australia. The first phase of the study (Whannell, 2013) based on data collected up to week 5 of the bridging program identified age, academic achievement on the initial assessment tasks, the level of peer support and the number of absences from scheduled classes as being the factors which predicted attrition from the bridging program. This phase of the study examined a sample of 92 students who subsequently completed a custom questionnaire in week 12 of the tertiary bridging program and then continued into the first semester of undergraduate study. Participants at risk of failure in the first semester of undergraduate study were characterised by being younger in age, demonstrating a high incidence of absence from scheduled classes and low levels of academic achievement in the final assessment tasks in the bridging program and reporting lower quality relationships with academic staff. The need to initiate interventions to target at-risk students prior to commencement of their undergraduate study is discussed.

Keywords: tertiary bridging program, attrition, educational transition.

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 54_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.