Search results

The vocational education and training (VET) system needs a future change in order to be more accountable to employers (and their associations) for training outcomes that match employer expectations. As part of this, an important focus is employability skills that go beyond work-related technical and interpersonal skills to include employer-preferred values, attitudes and personality dimensions. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of supervised work experiences (SWEs), among other factors, on undergraduate vocational trainees’ acquisition of employability skills.

A total of 138 respondents ranging in age from 17 to 24 years who successfully completed their two years program awarded with Malaysian Skill Certificate were included. They were divided into two sub-populations, trainees participating and trainees not participating in the SWE. Descriptive analysis, Correlation and ANCOVA were applied for data analysis.

The results showed that participating students achieved a moderately higher level of employability skills compared to students not participating in the SWE. The findings also revealed other factors contributing to the acquisition of employability skills, including gender, age, work experience, self-concept and achievement motivation. However, achievement motivation was found to be significantly related to the acquisition of employability skills. Therefore, participation of vocational trainees in the SWE influences the acquisition of employability skills which are identified as career success skills and could facilitate youth in transition from school to work.

Although the research has reached the aims, there were a few limitations which may effect on generalization of the findings. Because of the limit access to students from all majors in vocational training, this study focused on six types of skills. In addition, the number of participants from different courses was not equal.

The research findings also imply several practical implications. First, based on the finding, it can be suggested that industries provide students’ vocational training under supervision of expert in their course area in order to enrich the level of trainees’ acquisition of employability skills. Second, referring to the finding, focusing on the key aspects of employability skills, industries can improve the trainees learning process and producing workers with abilities to allow them to interact with job duties in the organization of workplace.

This study can serve as a model for evaluation when implementing school to work programs.

This brief survey looks at library school fieldwork placements and the current problems and constraints. It does not approach the subject from a theoretical viewpoint, but looks at the practicalities of the situation, as they are experienced by placement tutors/liaison officers, host librarians and students. No attempt is made to review the considerable literature originating on both sides of the Atlantic and elsewhere. The emphasis is on current views and all material was collected between October 1985 and February 1986. Comments on library school practices have deliberately been kept brief, as their point is not to inform academics, who are well aware of the position, but to promote understanding. All too often there is a communication gap, and many librarians, and indeed many students, may not realise the parameters within which a school is operating. Similarly tutors and students may not fully understand the constraints affecting librarians/information officers in a vast range of institutions. Tutors and librarians may lose sight of the students' needs and the heavy demands that placement can make on them.

This chapter examines the teacher's role as supervisor of support staff (Teaching Assistants (TAs) in the UK, school paraprofessionals in the US) – a role for which there is typically little administrative or infrastructural support. Working from a UK perspective, the chapter draws on research from the UK and the US to address questions pertinent to the education systems of all countries which employ paraprofessionals: What types of behaviours do conscientious teachers engage in to provide effective supervision to paraprofessionals? How do paraprofessionals view the supervisory behaviours of their supervising teachers? Given the important role of paraprofessionals, the high levels of expertise required by their assigned roles, and the uneven provision for their professional development, the chapter also makes recommendations for building the teacher's supervisory role into the infrastructure of schools, rather than relying on its emergence as a discretionary behaviour.

All staff at the University of New England were sent a personal particulars form and questionnaires designed to obtain information about job‐related factors which acted as stressors for them, their general stress, their emotional health, and their physical health. Factor analysis of the job stressors questionnaires revealed that six factors, namely, job significance, workload, work politics, interpersonal dealings at work, work conditions, and university reorganization, were the major stressors for the staff. In general, younger staff members reported more job stress than older staff. Staff belonging to the Faculty of Education, Nursing and Professional Studies at the Armidale campus and general staff at the Armidale campus reported more job stress than other staff. There was some indication that staff employed at the higher job levels were less stressed than those employed at the lower job levels and support staff. Both the job stress and non‐work stress were associated with poor physical health, poor emotional health, and high job dissatisfaction.

This paper seeks to articulate roles for librarian supervisors of non‐LIS undergraduate internships in academic libraries by drawing on ideas from Alderman and Milne's “facilitated mentoring” model. Further, it aims to draw attention to this specific type of internship, which is relatively uncommon, even though it could potentially be implemented in any academic institution that offers internships through its academic departments.

The ideas outlined here are based on both the themes and ideas identified in the professional literature and experiences of supervising undergraduate internships offered in partnership with an academic department at a large university library. Elements of the facilitated mentoring model are outlined and then applied to internships at the Murray Library at the University of Saskatchewan.

Very little of the literature has been devoted to exploring the details of a supervisor's role in library‐based internships, especially those for non‐LIS undergraduates. Elements of models from other types of library internships generally apply, but this topic is worthy of more attention because elevating supervisors to roles of mentors requires thought and guidance, and certain adaptations are useful when working with non‐LIS interns specifically.

This work is unique in that it focuses specifically on the supervisory role of librarians who host interns, and because it outlines this role particularly in relation to undergraduates in non‐LIS programs. It builds on a model articulated in the literature and applies it to related internship experiences in order to provide insight and guidance for others contemplating assuming this type of role.

The responsibility for ensuring the safety and standard of building works in Hong Kong has long rested with the government. In 2003, the government proposed a new control regime to streamline the process of building proposal approval by allowing private‐sector practitioners to certify certain types of minor building works. The purpose of this paper is to consider the likely effectiveness of the proposed regime by examining the views of local building professionals.

Following an overview of the government's initiative in private certification of building works, a literature review is conducted to collate the collective views of the local professional institutions about the proposals. A total of 90 local architects, building surveyors and structural engineers in the private and public sectors are then interviewed using a structured questionnaire.

The proposed regime is generally perceived as having the capacity to speed up the process of building proposal approval whilst also improving overall standards of building performance in Hong Kong. Concerns are however expressed about the clarity of the definition of minor works, and about the level of professional competence of the private certifiers. The respondents also expressed further general concern over the adequacy of government support offered to the private certifiers under the proposed system.

Stakeholders of the proposed minor works regime are not confined to building professionals such as architects, engineers and building surveyors, but also include contractors and the general public as a whole. Owing to limited resources, only the views of the local building professionals are solicited.

The findings of this study provide valuable insights for public administrators into the design and subsequent operation of the new regime. They will also assist the Hong Kong Government in making more informed decisions about the future streamlining of the building control system without, at the same time, sacrificing the overall building safety of the city.

This is the first published study on the views of building professionals from different professional backgrounds on the proposed private certification regime.

The purpose of this paper is to narrow the diverse views of the industry stakeholders on two controversial issues, namely the scope of core competence of building services engineers (BSEs) and the statutory role that they should play, which were encountered in an extensive research study on the building services profession of Hong Kong.

An expert panel was formed and the Delphi method was applied to resolve the controversies. In the Delphi process, every panel member was provided with complete opinions expressed by all other panel members in each round of the deliberation.

Sufficient support was found for the proposition that professional BSEs should be competent in handling air‐conditioning, electrical, fire services, and plumbing & drainage works, and that the government authorities should mandate the design and compliance certification of electrical and fire services installations by BSEs.

Although the Delphi method has not been hitherto applied to resolve the controversies addressed in the study, it was proven to be a very effective tool in seeking majority opinions from a group of experts. The same approach may be taken in similar studies in future.

The core competence identified should be made as a minimum requirement for practitioners who wish to practise as professional BSEs. The views and comments given by the expert panel members are informative references to public policy makers.

This was the first ever study conducted in an attempt to identify the core competence and statutory role of BSEs in Hong Kong.

Using an integrated framework for performance management of nonprofit organizations, this paper aims to present an analysis of the activities of an Indigenous social enterprise in the town of Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The evaluation focuses on the social effectiveness of the organization and its ability to help generate income and employment and drive social capital creation.

The analysis is informed by data derived from “yarns” with social enterprise staff and semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants who were selected using snowball sampling. Data were transcribed and analyzed thematically.

The analysis reveals that the organization provides a successful community-based pathway for increasing Indigenous economic participation on local terms at a time of regional economic decline and high levels of Indigenous unemployment nationally.

The measured effectiveness of Nuwul highlights the need for targeted policy support for Indigenous enterprises and that social entrepreneurship is far more likely to be successful in a supportive government policy environment, a critical need for government-initiated policies to encourage the formation of Indigenous social enterprises that are entrepreneurial and innovative in their solutions to poverty and marginalization. Such policies should not only aid the establishment of Indigenous ventures but also facilitate their long-term growth and sustainability.

Although Indigenous entrepreneurial activities have been found to be effective in addressing Indigenous disadvantage in Australia, little is known about their community impact. The article provides original empirically grounded research on the measurement of Indigenous entrepreneurial activities and their wider community impact. The data show, against the backdrop of mixed results of government efforts to drive Indigenous economic mainstreaming, that the entrepreneurial activities analyzed in this paper are an example of more flexible and culturally appropriate pathways for achieving Indigenous equality in rural and remote regions of Australia.

This study aims to explore how the use of mobile instant messaging (MIM) in an organization has led to the decentralization of authority.

To achieve this aim, a study was conducted on a case site that had used MIM extensively to manage an event.

This study found that communication technology such as MIM can shift more authority to the lower-level committees through the processes of formation, delegation, control and dissolution.

The role of information systems and technology in affecting a decentralization process has been largely understudied. Additionally, the effect of communication technologies such as MIM on a decentralization process has been largely ignored. Therefore, this study theorizes the role of MIM in managing an event and how the technology has decentralized more authority from the top management to the lower-level committees.

Opened this summer, Humberside County Council's Stoneferry Bridge is a new and unique construction in Britain, spanning the River Hull in two sections and providing improved transport links for over 30,000 vehicles per day.