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This study presents an innovative approach to Information and communication technology (ICT) skill training and employment generation for out-of-school and disadvantaged youths in Africa. With technical and policy assistance from the World Bank, ICTs can be used to revitalize technical and vocational training to meet skill and employment needs of disadvantaged youths in the region. The deplorable conditions of out-of-school youth and the state of secondary education in Africa underscore the urgency to engage disadvantaged youth in productive economic activities. An ICT-enhanced technical and vocational training program in Africa provides both private and social gains: it provides economic prospects for disadvantaged youth and; it adds to the development of the knowledge economy in Africa. The NairoBits Digital Design School in Kenya is presented as a model of a vocational and training school that uses ICTs to improve skill formation among disadvantaged youths in informal settlements in urban Africa. Meeting the objectives of an ICT-based training and employment generation program for underprivileged youth in Africa require strong regulatory frameworks and contributions from the World Bank. The involvement of the bank, particularly through private sector grants for ICT skill train in Africa will help to revitalize technical and vocational education and training in the region. Above all, the collaboration of government agencies, private businesses, other international development agencies and civil society groups in ICT skill training will help to meaningfully engage African youths in the development of their communities in the emerging knowledge economy.

In the 1980s, the Chinese government undertook a major structural reform in education by which upper secondary education was converted from predominantly general education to an equal mix of general education and vocational/technical education. A critical examination is provided of the rationale for and implementation strategies of the reform, framed in a broader context of the development of secondary education in the past four decades. It points out that, although the reform was justified in largely economic terms, there is actually little empirical support for the economic assumptions; the development of vocational/technical education is prompted more by a desire to reduce the social demand for higher education and to use education as a social stratification device. The reform reflects changing perspectives of the Chinese leadership on the role of education in national development; and it can be seen as the outcome of the most recent episode of continuing social and political conflicts in the Chinese state that began in the 1950s.

Since the passage of the Smith‐Hughes Act of 1917, which established vocational‐technical education, more than 17,000,000 students annually are served by some type of vocational school program. In spite of this impressive figure, vocational schools are still considered by many people as a place to send students who are “good with their hands” and who are less academically inclined than their counterparts in comprehensive schools. Yet, the simple hands‐on training experiences, so commonly employed as the main method of instruction, no longer assure that one will have the necessary knowledge to be a competent and employable tradesperson or technician. With advances in technology in all areas (e.g., automotive mechanics, data processing, printing, electronics, aviation, agriculture, etc.), it is now necessary for students in vocational schools to study the related technical sciences and mathematics and the continuing technical developments in an area in order to gain employment. With these advances in technology there has been a large growth in the literature, but no one up to this time has examined collection development.

There is no consensus on the most effective way to foster entrepreneurship in educational institutions, and educational policies on entrepreneurial activity differ significantly amidst organizations and contexts. Thus, the objective of this research is to analyze influence of the college environment and entrepreneurial characteristics on the entrepreneurial intention of Brazilian high school/technical students.

The empirical research used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and a sample of 384 students of technical courses, such as Administration, Systems Development, Chemistry, Secretariat, among others.

The proposed model was validated, and the hypotheses were confirmed, proving suitable for high school/technical education. Assessing the high school environment with this model can help determine each organization's strengths and weaknesses and, indeed, the impacts on the ecosystems in which it operates. The results of the multi-group analysis indicate differences concerning the courses as well.

The main limitations involve non-probabilistic sampling procedures and the collection having been carried out with a single cross-section.

For managers and teachers, this article presents indicators to qualify the activities of the educational environment, considering teaching activities, extracurricular activities, fairs, actions of teachers and students, among other initiatives.

The article contributes to high school managers, particularly in technical schools, so that they understand the factors that influence the profile and entrepreneurial intention of students; in other words, something that can impact the lives of thousands of students, teachers and the community itself.

This research presents a novel analysis of the antecedents that drive student entrepreneurship in an underexplored educational context in a developing country. The results show the necessary conditions for technical schools to foster entrepreneurial activity, feeding innovation ecosystems with entrepreneurial talent.

Discusses the methodological issues in costing two common types of vocational training programmes: institutional vocational training and enterprise‐based vocational training. Points out that the survey/interview approach should be used to collect data from institutions instead of from the government in costing institutional vocational training, and that more frequent use should be made of the case‐study and survey methods in costing enterprise‐based vocational training. Based on empirical studies on both developed and developing countries, analyses the costs of different types of vocational training programmes. Shows that training costs are influenced by such factors as the technology of training, teacher costs and their determinants, programme length, extent of wastage, extent of underutilization of training inputs and scale of operation. In general, vocational/technical education is more costly than academic programmes and pre‐employment vocational training is more expensive than in‐service training. Discusses the implications of these findings for training policies.

In light of contemporary critiques of New Zealand comprehensive schooling published mainly in the popular press, it is timely to re‐examine the origins of and the rationale for the widespread adoption of this model of education. The comprehensive schooling philosophy, it was recently alleged, has produced a situation in which ‘as many as one in five pupils in the system is failing’ and where ‘there is a large group at the bottom who are not succeeding’. This group was estimated to include some 153,000 students out of the total current New Zealand student population of 765,000. In this context, however, Chris Saunders and Mike Williams, principals of Onehunga High School and Aorere College in Auckland respectively, have noted that having underachieving students in secondary schools in particular is not a recent phenomenon. A large ‘tail’ of poor performing high school students has long been a cause of concern, Williams suggests.

Opinions on secondary technical schools are varied and often strongly held but, as with views on comprehensive schools, it helps to have been inside one. Mr Brazendale, a Cambridge graduate in his mid‐twenties, has taught in secondary modern and grammar schools as well as the technical school he discusses here

Some of the problems that have confronted the implementation of the National Policy on Education in Nigeria include the lack of teachers for the pre‐vocational courses and equipped workshops for practicals, among others. Aims to find out how established tradesmen could be used effectively to teach workshop practicals. Principals of secondary schools and technical colleges provided the data which were used to answer the two formulated research questions. The result of the data analysis showed that most post‐primary schools need between one and three instructors in each pre‐vocational subject. Suggested strategies for effective utilization of tradesmen for workshop lessons, including the building and equipment of workshops, constant supply of electricity, supervision of the instructors and students by school heads and organization of competitions among students. Proposes that a system by which instructors could be acquainted with the processes of continuous assessment be built into their teaching assignment.

School sex education has the potential to evoke a range of personal and political reactions. While it is usually agreed that sexuality should be ‘done’ in school, few agree on the best way of ‘doing’ it. This article provides a personal account of the development of sex education at Shepparton South Technical School, Victoria, Australia from 1973‐1985. It is supported by interviews with the people involved in those events and archival materials, including media reports. It also documents the efforts of extreme right activists to discredit and stop programmes, and the State Liberal government’s attempt to formulate a policy on sex education. First I provide a general background to technical schools in Victoria in the 1970s followed by a discussion of Shepparton South Technical School specifically. I then discuss the development of the sex education (social biology) programme, the pivotal role of the Social Biology resource Centre, and the networks involved. I also describe the attacks on the programme in the late 1970s, and their origins and impact. I conclude with a discussion of the outcomes of this intense public scrutiny, and the demise of social biology and the secondary technical schools, the ‘techs’ in the 1980s.

In this article the author seeks to outline the ideas behind the educational approach in the technical school, and then gives a brief outline of the history and development which has taken place in a particular school.