6. Employers must be mobilized to collaborate in providing work-related education and training.

The STWOA calls for a dramatic extension of work-based learning, and one of the most difficult problems will be to recruit employers to provide enough high-quality placements. Although most high school and college students already have paid jobs while in school, these jobs are seldom related to students' fields of study or career interests (Stone et al., 1990). If business firms are to provide work-based learning connected to schooling for large numbers of students, significant changes will have to occur. For example, employers will have to spend time developing training plans that are linked to the school curriculum, supplying extra supervision and mentoring for student trainees, providing opportunities for students to conduct special projects and develop generic work skills, and participating in evaluations of students' performance. In order to prepare students for careers in a learning-intensive economy, work-based learning should occur in workplaces that make learning part of the work process (Phelps and Jacobs, 1994).

In addition to offering work-based learning opportunities for students, new programs also call upon employers to make other efforts. They must help schools develop career-oriented curriculum. Also, they will be asked to provide opportunities for teachers, especially teachers in non-vocational subjects, to become familiar with the workplace. And they must participate in formulating new skill standards, and commit themselves to recognizing and rewarding individuals who have achieved certification.

Employer participation in other countries is encouraged by various types of legal institutions and regulations such as high minimum wages (with exceptions for apprentices), mandatory membership (with associated dues) in employer organizations, and common standards for apprenticeship training. However, these types of regulatory inducements for employer participation seem unlikely in this country. Federal legislation therefore must encourage employer participation through facilitation and leadership (Bailey, 1993).

Industry-based employer organizations can play a crucial role in recruiting their members. Furthermore, industry organizations have a strong interest in strengthening the skill base available to their industry. Thus, legislation could encourage employer organizations to become involved (perhaps through funding guidelines to the states) in developing and implementing work-based education. Legislation might also establish a high-profile group of employers (including owners of small businesses) to encourage their colleagues to participate (Bailey, forthcoming).

Schools, meanwhile, can and do provide work-based learning on their own through school-based enterprises. Schools engage students in such activities as rehabilitating old houses, collecting data on local environmental quality, running restaurants, publishing books and magazines, providing child care, and rebuilding cars. There is evidence that school-based enterprises offer more opportunity than outside jobs to learn new skills and to apply what has been taught in school (Stern et al., 1994a). Although effective school-based enterprises turn to local employers for advice and support, it may be easier for employers to provide that assistance to school-based enterprises than to offer work-based learning opportunities themselves.

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