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Often overlooked in discussions related to how to ensure accessible and affordable high-quality early childhood education is the heavy burden that has been carried by the early childhood workforce; the data reveal a level of exploitation of this workforce that must be considered and addressed. This chapter will focus attention on the economic realities of the early childhood workforce as a key element to achieve equitable access to affordable high-quality early childhood services.

In conducting a multi-disciplinary, multi-degree study of all 83 higher education accrediting organizations in the United States and the 605 academic programs associated with them, our goal was to uncover patterns in the presence of leadership and general workforce competencies identified within the stated learning outcomes employed by these accrediting organizations. Our findings suggest strong variability across categories of leadership competence related to workforce competencies, where skills related to reasoning and communication were emphasized much more heavily than others such as intrapersonal development. These findings emerged across all postsecondary degree levels, from pre-baccalaureate to graduate programs, raising important questions for the leadership development of post-secondary students. Keywords: outcomes assessment, student leadership, professional development, leadership education, workforce development, competencies.

While colleges and universities often make the case that preparing students for future career success is critical, studies that examine the empirical support for the assertion curiously lag behind the advanced rhetoric. This paper will showcase research findings based on an analysis of 36,327 learning outcomes addressed within all 83 higher education accrediting organizations in the United States, representing 605 distinct postsecondary academic programs. Our goal was to uncover any patterns of emphasis in particular workforce and leadership competencies embedded within those learning outcomes and examine the extent to which those competencies are represented similarly across postsecondary degree levels.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between training and education and associated workforce productivity and competitiveness also, to identify new effective strategies for China to maintain and enhance workforce productivity given the depleting abundant workforce supply.

Based on data from China's manufacturing firms that included all state‐owned and non‐state‐owned enterprises with annual revenue greater than ¥5 million in 2004, the authors calculate marginal labor productivity through production function and derived the relationship between workers' education and associated productivity.

At the time China arrives at a Lewisian Turing Point, workforce quality can substitute the quantity to maintain its competitive advantage. Higher workforce productivity generated from improved human capital can offset increases in labor cost, thus creating new impetus for sustained economic growth.

Formal education and workplace learning are complementary in maintaining and enhancing a productivity workforce. To build a new competitive edge for China's economic growth in the short run, enterprise‐based training should be a requirement in all industries.

The authors offer implications for HR managers and organizations on talent management strategies. Implications for governments to develop policies that promote and foster workplace learning and skill building activities are also presented.

This study is one of the first adopting large‐scale enterprise productivity data to show China's workforce competitiveness by examining the relationship between workforce productivity and training and education.

This paper aims to review technical vocational education and training (TVET) literature, identify different components of the TVET system and develop a conceptual framework that integrates human resource development (HRD) and national human resource development (NHRD) outcomes. The renewed focus on technical vocational education and training (TVET) is important for human resource development (HRD), as it expands current understanding of its role in economic development through workforce training. National human resource development (NHRD) perspectives recognize the role of TVET in linking regional and national economic development strategies. Furthermore, TVET’s focus on literacy education, poverty alleviation and inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable populations emphasizes social development outcomes that are critical for NHRD. Using this background, the integration of HRD and NHRD outcomes into one conceptual TVET framework for addressing workforce, economic and social development outcomes has been proposed.

A targeted literature review approach was used for exploring relevant research on TVET systems, identifying the components which support and/or inhibit its effectiveness and an integrative framework that connects education, workforce development, social development and economic development was developed.

Three major themes were identified. The first theme identifies nine sub-themes that make an effective TVET system. These are as follows: national TVET policy, regional TVET policy, training, participation, curriculum, coordination of stakeholder institutions, individual and institutional attitudes toward skill development, managing supply-demand mismatches and economic and social development outcomes. The second major theme underlines the increasing overlap and connection between workforce development, social development and economic development strategies. In the third and final finding, effective TVET systems are positioned as the linking pin connecting the four TVET components (skills, education, innovation and knowledge) to the strategic goals of workforce development, economic development and social development.

Integrating national and organizational-based HRD strategies is a unique focus and reflects the broader examination of the differences in the relationship between corporate HRD and more traditional TVET systems. It is argued that the role of TVET in social and workforce development at the regional and societal level cannot be ignored. HRD and NHRD outcomes were integrated by utilizing TVET as a framework for linking economic, social and workforce development strategies.

Continuing work by US and Canadian community and technical colleges with colleagues and partners at higher education institutions offering vocational education programs in the Republic of Georgia provides a useful case study of how key elements of the community college model can be applied to reform programs affecting educational policy systems in emerging market economies. This chapter uses a theoretical framework informed by research on public–private partnerships and community capitals to analyze workforce education and training initiatives informed by government, industry, and community needs. Examples of such initiatives include infusing workforce skills and competencies into vocational education curricula, updating pedagogical methods through retraining for teachers, and expanding the governance paradigm of vocational education programs offered at universities, colleges, and vocational centers to reflect the importance of the workforce needs of business and industry. To actively apply a community college model in the Republic of Georgia and elsewhere requires (1) supportive partners among educational policymakers and academics, (2) international donors who continue their commitment to a reform initiative over enough time to see results, and (3) an approach which focuses on national and regional workforce development priorities. Students, parents, and other community stakeholders also need to understand that one of the most important measurements for vocational education reform over time is expanded job opportunities for students after graduation.

In a world where the continual combining of computer applications and the expansion of artificial intelligence is already necessarily changing the world of work for people, an education system that does not adequately respond to these trends and changes will render itself irrelevant. Education policy and regulation may suffer at the hand of such accelerations due to unexpected consequences and developments. However, the rapid, exponential improvements in computer hardware and software that have enhanced the rate and our ability to gather, transform, manipulate, and interpret these data in an ongoing fashion also present myriad educational opportunities. The so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution offers societies data and information capabilities previously unimagined, making it possible to learn how to combine, innovate, and imagine entirely new avenues for building responsive and intelligent education policies and systems that promote the education and wellbeing of citizens as well as improving their economic participation. These advances necessitate a growing number of educators and education systems who can intelligently respond to Industry 4.0 trends. In this chapter, some considerations regarding the use of large-scale, international datasets and emerging data analytics for analyzing policy for the governance of education are offered, and a discussion of the need for the more systematic use of data analytics as a mechanism for developing socially responsive adult learning and workforce education policy and programing.

Recent drives to modernise the mental health workforce have been led (in England) by initiatives such as New Ways of Working and informed by the Ten Essential Shared Capabilities (10 ESCs) (Department of Health, 2004), reflected elsewhere in the UK. Learning materials have been developed to support these and educators encouraged to embed them within curricula. Yet, little has been said about how such principles could or should apply to the practice of mental health educators themselves. Higher education plays a crucial part in shaping tomorrow's practitioners; yet educators can receive scant mention when workforce initiatives are launched. Here, then, we consider the 10 ESCs, examining how these might be put into practice in a higher education context. The pedagogic rationale for this perspective is discussed in terms of Biggs' (2003) concept of ‘constructive alignment’, Ward's (1999) ‘matching principle’ and Eraut's (1994) analysis of ‘professional education’. Reconceptualising higher education educators as a part (albeit semi‐detached) of the mental health workforce may help us move beyond a ‘tick‐box’ approach ‐ exploring not only whether the 10 ESCs are reflected in the content of curricula, but how they are embodied within teaching teams.

President Obama positions community colleges as a linchpin of federal policy on education and training for citizens adversely affected by the recession. Chief among recommended reforms is the notion of career pathways that enable students, especially non-traditional age adults, to participate in postsecondary education directed at employment.

This paper reviews the literature on career pathway reforms to describe these programs and the students who enroll in them. It also presents evidence from two third-party evaluations of federal grants supporting career pathway implementation.

Results suggest career pathway programs are spreading throughout the United States through unprecedented levels of federal funding. Adult learners are a primary target group, but more data are needed to determine on a deeper level who these students are and whether they are being well served.

This paper offers new information to help readers consider whether President Obama’s agenda will achieve its goals and positively impact college completion and economic recovery.

The information used in the case study was obtained from secondary sources, such as internal documents, reports, news, and organization websites. Three of the four authors played a hands-on role in the case.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the global challenge of hiring and retaining health-care workers. To address its own challenges, Mayo Clinic decided to fundamentally transform its 30-year-old tuition assistance program: from a model centered on the premise that tuition assistance was an employee benefit for professional development purposes, to one that was more driven to meet the business needs of the employer by preparing internal talent for important roles throughout the institution. Herein, this case study first describes how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted health-care organizations like Mayo Clinic. Next, this study provides details on the original employee tuition assistance program, and then, focuses on the reasons for its need to be changed. Afterward, this study introduces the new tuition assistance programs. Finally, this study follows with examples of how both Mayo Clinic and its employees navigated through initial challenges, such as resistance to change and lack of engagement. In sum, this case study provides critical insight into designing workforce education programs that provide professional development for meeting the workforce needs of the organization.

This case can be used as teaching material in relevant undergraduate- and MBA-level courses, such as human resource management, human resource development and compensation and benefits. This case allows students to critically analyze workforce education programs (e.g. tuition assistance programs) and to plan how to strategically align those with the workforce needs of the organization.

The scale of current demand on primary care services from people seeking help with common mental health problems places enormous pressure on the existing front line workers in general practice. The paucity of training opportunities and competing pressures to deliver improved services across a range of general practice targets remains a major challenge for primary care professionals. The impact of government policy, to improve both access to and choice of treatments, has raised public expectations.The commissioning of the graduate workforce, the graduate worker in primary care mental health (GWPCMH), commenced in 2002, in response to the publication of target numbers detailed in the Priorities and Planning Framework, (DoH, 2002). It signalled a determination to expand the workforce provision and improve the quality of care for service users with common mental health problems.This paper examines the scale of common mental health problems, the policy response and the commissioning process. Particular attention is given to examining the barriers that have been shown to affect implementation, identifying the key influencers and the resources required to train these workers.