Workforce Education: Issues for the New Century

This paper is intended to guide small groups of vocational educators in discussions regarding work force education issues for the next century. The following work force issues are suggested: the aging work force; vocational education's role in reforming K-12 education; distance education for technical education programs; the labor shortages resulting from lack of interest in job training; work force preparation for the Knowledge/Imagination Age, which will follow the Information Age; and the lack of career selection in the middle schools. Presented next are selected comments from a labor economist regarding needed types of work force education. The next section is devoted to the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which calls for the following: locally based work force development programs; key role for local elected officials; private sector-led work force investment boards; "one stop" systems with required partners; adult education and literacy, welfare-to-work, postsecondary, veterans, and older worker programs; and community service block grants. Concluding the paper is a brief description of the school-based work force education program offered at Horry County Academy for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. (MN)