Demand For Professional Training Research Articles

Reflections and Prospects of the Gerontological Training and Education

The demand for professional training, mentorship, and research in the field of aging is expected to increase remarkably. Recent statistics indicate less than 8% of social work students nationwide specialize in gerontology; however, a significant amount of social work graduates, regardless of their specialization at school, serve older adults in various social and health care settings. As a panel, former fellows present experiences as participants of the AGESW Pre-Dissertation Fellows Program. The program helps students comprehend basic principles of doctoral education and develop strong professional networks with other gerontology-focused colleagues and mentors across the country. Doctoral students are also trained to be competent working with older adults through research, teaching, and professional development. Many fellows move into faculty positions and their accomplishments are varied and impressive. It is difficult to separate these from the education, connections, mentorship, and support received from the AGESW network and through participation in this program.

Restructuring China’s adult higher education: an examination of the driving forces behind the reform

China’s adult institutions of higher education have launched comprehensive reforms in order to meet the increasing demands for professional training. As in many other countries, reforms in the educational system in China have been driven by economic and political changes, and these changes have been determined largely by the needs of the market. In contrast to the common assumption that externally influenced reforms are often unwillingly accepted by the recipient nation, adult institutions of higher education in China have proactively and positively embarked on the reform without significant external imposition of policy from international organisations. However, global trends of reform in higher education have also influenced the recent restructuring and development of adult higher education in China.

A new approach to meet the growing demand of professional training for the operating and management staff of desalination plants

For the expected installation and operation of additional seawater desalination plants, manpower is needed. Besides the financing and the manufacturing of these plants, the training of the future staff is a big challenge. It is assumed that in the MENA region each year more than 1000 people will have to be trained. The present and future problem at seawater desalination plants, i.e. the lack of experienced personnel, is also a lack of instructors. There are already existing institutions and facilities in various countries carrying out well-organized training programs at site. In addition, there are many excellent short courses and workshops organized by organisations like EDS or MEDRC — nevertheless, the crucial question remains whether these structures are strong enough to meet the growing demand for professional training in the future. When talking about training programs, the question of how to finance these measurements emerges directly. The solution can be found in an improvement of the availability of the plants. A higher availability resulting in a higher fresh water production rate could be obtained by well-trained staff able to react in a proper way to any disturbances or unstable operation modes of the plant. The so-called “Twinning-Model” could be a suitable approach to meet the demand for professional training. A central training facility called TFEU (based in Europe and affiliated to an existing university or a technical school) is one of the twins and plays the part as developer of training programs (curricula), as instructor for the trainers and as trainer for advanced and simulator courses. Following the curricula, additional experts from other universities or companies are integrated in the team. After an initial phase needed for the training of the trainers, the local “twin” called TFLO is responsible for the fundamental and main training program. A board comprised of participants from all parties involved (i.e. TFEU and TFLO, the manufacturers as well as the operators) surveys the curricula and examination procedures.

The Formative Years of Schools of Education in America: A Five-Institution Analysis

The prototype of the American graduate school of education emerged between 1900 and 1940. Five institutions--Chicago, Columbia's Teachers College, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of California (Berkeley)--were pacesetters. Their experiences in trying to mediate between the academic pressures of their ambitious universities and demands for professional training and for services to public school practitioners were repeated elsewhere in a changing America. The generic problems of professional schools were compounded for schools of education by the tenuous state of professional knowledge, the low status accorded teaching, and the predominance of women among practitioners. The education professoriate dealt with these issues by emphasizing graduate instruction and research training, distancing themselves from teacher education, and assisting male educators to make careers as school administrators and faculty for the nation's other schools and departments of education.