Margarita Pavlova - Böcker

To help researchers, educators and policy makers understand and support the development of 21st-century skills in schools, this edited volume explores the various iterations of "soft" skills with a particular focus on their implications for values and evaluates ways in which "soft skills" and "hard" values can be integrated.Discourse throughout the 21st century has focused on the changing nature of work, the need for new skill sets and the disruptive effects of new technologies. This has been a neo-liberal discourse that subordinated personal and individual needs to the needs of a productive workforce delivering more and more efficiencies linked to higher and higher profits. The solution is often seen to be in the development of a school curriculum that focuses on work-ready skills for an increasingly complex work environment and its demands. Agencies such as OECD and UNESCO highlight the need to link the skills agenda with complementary values. Yet this process is at a very early stage. The proponents of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) for example highlight the impact of new technologies, not just on work but also on the social world. Yet they neglect to explore the values that would be needed in these new disruptive environments.This book takes up that issue and lays out the multiple value systems that are available for this new 21st century world. It is an important resource for policy makers, academics and teachers with responsibility for a new generation.

To help researchers, educators and policy makers understand and support the development of 21st-century skills in schools, this edited volume explores the various iterations of "soft" skills with a particular focus on their implications for values and evaluates ways in which "soft skills" and "hard" values can be integrated.Discourse throughout the 21st century has focused on the changing nature of work, the need for new skill sets and the disruptive effects of new technologies. This has been a neo-liberal discourse that subordinated personal and individual needs to the needs of a productive workforce delivering more and more efficiencies linked to higher and higher profits. The solution is often seen to be in the development of a school curriculum that focuses on work-ready skills for an increasingly complex work environment and its demands. Agencies such as OECD and UNESCO highlight the need to link the skills agenda with complementary values. Yet this process is at a very early stage. The proponents of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) for example highlight the impact of new technologies, not just on work but also on the social world. Yet they neglect to explore the values that would be needed in these new disruptive environments.This book takes up that issue and lays out the multiple value systems that are available for this new 21st century world. It is an important resource for policy makers, academics and teachers with responsibility for a new generation.

The ways education for sustainable development can be addressed in teaching and learning are among the most urgent challenges for modern educational theory and practice. This book explores the unique contribution technology and vocational education can provide to meet these urgent needs. Part 1 examines various concepts from different areas of knowledge that are used to develop a comprehensive understanding of the ways sustainable development, education for sustainable development and empowerment are related and can be conceptualised. Practical strategies are suggested and a model for pre-service teacher training programs is developed. Part 2 explores how general issues are reflected in local norms, values and behaviours within the Russian context. The case study illustrates the importance of understanding the political and sociocultural context of a country in order to develop empowerment strategies that work for that particular society as they reflect specific local histories, values and traditions.

Empowerment is the overarching idea used in this book. The term has a variety of meanings in different sociocultural and political contexts, including “self-strength, control, self-power, self-reliance, own choice, life of dignity in accordance with one’s values, capable of fighting for one’s rights, independence, own decision making, being free, awakening, and capability” (The World Bank, 2002, p. 10). However, the World Bank report observed that most definitions focus on issues of “gaining power and control over decisions and resources that determine the quality of one’s life” (p. 10). This interpretation of empowerment provides a useful starting point for the development of the series of interconnected arguments explored here. Establishment of the basis for understanding, identifying and developing strategies through education necessary for individuals to be able to make choices that inf- ence the quality of their lives is the main aim of this book. There are a number of assumptions and boundaries that frame this analysis. First, the book focuses on “agents”; however, empowerment is often conceptualised in terms of relationships between agency and structure (e. g. , Alsop, Bertelsen, & H- land, 2006). Agency could be defined as “an actor’s or group’s ability to make purposeful choices – that is, the actor is able to envisage and purposively choose options” (p. 11).

This book addresses growing reservations about the relevance of educational systems to the economic and social needs of individuals by examining different aspects of transitions from school to work or further studies within formal and informal settings in Asia. Highlighting important issues such as selectiveness and inclusiveness, integration of transversal competencies, vocationalisation of secondary schooling, approaches to career guidance and emerging models of student support, it is of particular interest to educators, policymakers and other stakeholders who are concerned about the effectiveness of system-wide and institutional-based approaches. The first part of the book explores different models, mechanisms and approaches to policy and practice in the context of Asia, while the second part examines Hong Kong students’ transitions to post-school life and provides an account of issues and challenges the government and individual schools experience in terms of structural supportfor both mainstream and special-needs students.

This book addresses growing reservations about the relevance of educational systems to the economic and social needs of individuals by examining different aspects of transitions from school to work or further studies within formal and informal settings in Asia.

This open access book looks into the roles and practices of small and micro-enterprises in formal and informal economies across seven countries and one territory in terms of how they contribute to environmental and sustainable development and green skills promotion.

This open access book looks into the roles and practices of small and micro-enterprises in formal and informal economies across seven countries and one territory in terms of how they contribute to environmental and sustainable development and green skills promotion.