This is to draw your attention to two recent web-based publications on
issues of VET and HRD in Europe: the proceedings of discussion at ECER
2005 and a comparative analysis of research communities related to ECER
and the HRD conference.

(1) Proceedings

Current issues of European learning and work were addressed in the
programme provided by the European Network on Vocational Education and
Training Research (VETNET) as part of the European Conference on
Educational Research (ECER) 2005 in Dublin. Highlights of this programme
are presented in the proceedings of the following major sessions:

# How European are Europe's work and learning policies?
# Setting the European VET research agenda
# European and national research networks

The proceedings include links to full-text contributions and to
transcripts of the discussion. You can find the full version on the page
below and a pdf version with an overview and the discussion in the
attached file (ECER05.pdf).

ECER 2005 <http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/vet-hrd/ecer05.htm>

(2) Analysis

ECER with its VETNET programme and the HRD conference are major annual
research events, which have a lot of common themes, yet largely separate
communities of participants. A comparative analysis of these
conferences, covering the period 2000 to 2004, has been done to
investigate issues and trends in recent developments of European
research communities in VET and HRD.

This analysis, which is based on the author's active involvement in
various European partnerships and networks, has been carried out in
connection with projects and activities supported by Cedefop and the
University Forum of HRD. A flyer of the resulting publication is
attached (ECER-HRD-F1.pdf); the corresponding page, which includes the
full publication for downloading, is given below:

ECER-HRD <http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/vet-pr/ecer-hrd.htm>

As always, your comments are welcome!
With best wishes for the new year
Sabine Manning