The emergence of a more learning-intensive economy has begun to change the relationship between education and work. As employers try to promote on-line learning and people move more frequently from one job to another, continual learning at work becomes increasingly important.
Four main elements characterize an education system that is likely to prepare students effectively for this new environment. Three of these elements--(1) skill standards, (2) workplace learning, and (3) strong links between employers and schools--are evident in countries where school-to-work systems have worked well in the past. Accordingly, countries with less successful systems have been introducing reforms that incorporate these features.
But these elements are no longer sufficient. In addition, most countries have also found it necessary to create a closer connection between vocational and academic education because neither traditional form of education by itself is likely to meet the requirements of learning-intensive work. To prepare for continuous change, school-to-work systems are now called upon to equip students both with the abstract theory and analytical skill that the academic curriculum has traditionally tried to teach and the knack for practical application that has been a hallmark of vocational education. Employer involvement, skill standards, and work-based education are reflecting this new policy direction to varying degrees in different countries.
In some countries, the merging of vocational and academic streams has been occurring through upgrading the academic content of studies within vocational institutions or programs. For example, in Germany, the dual system of occupational education brings the average apprentice to a relatively high level of theoretical understanding, and training standards are constantly being revised and upgraded. In France and Sweden, vocational education takes place mainly in schools, unlike Germany where employers themselves do most of the training. But in France and Sweden, as in Germany, the integration of occupational and academic education has occurred mainly by adding more academic content to vocational programs.
By contrast, Britain and Japan have recently created new curricular options that are not confined to vocational institutions. These new curricula use occupational or industry related themes as a focus for organizing the study of academic subjects. In Britain, and also in Australia, the new integrated programs are supported by new performance standards, work-based learning, and greater participation of employers.
In all these countries, one explicit purpose of linking vocational with academic education is to make it easier for vocational graduates to continue their education at a university or other postsecondary institution. Students who enter the workforce immediately after leaving one of these integrated programs still retain the option of continuing their education later. Conversely, those who proceed directly to higher education have the option to change their minds and enter the workforce. The integrated or upgraded vocational program thus prepares individuals for both work and continued learning, allowing easier movement from one to the other.
The findings of this report are encouraging for the United States, where local communities, states, and the federal government have been spurred by continuing criticism to undertake major changes in the institutions that usher young people from education to employment. Although the evidence about youth unemployment in this report suggests that the United States does not, in fact, have the least effective school-to-work system in the industrialized world, it has not been the most effective either. Most American 20-year-olds probably have not achieved either the mastery of academic subject matter or the level of occupational proficiency attained by their counterparts in Germany, for example. But in the United States, where control of education and training is more decentralized than in most other countries, many localities have launched initiatives that are preparing young people for college and careers at the same time (Business Week, 1996). There is evidence that these initiatives are raising achievement levels (Stern et al., 1995). The main cause for optimism in the United States is that the recent reforms taking shape in some American schools and communities--combining an occupational and academic curriculum with work-based learning and high standards for all students--appear likely to provide the best preparation for young people entering an economy where learning and work are increasingly intertwined. The fact that most other industrialized countries either have been moving in this direction for some time or are now beginning to do so corroborates the logic of these efforts.