Workplace education. Workforce education. Worker education. Workforce development. What does each of these terms mean, and how to they overlap with one another? The Massachusetts workplace education landscape has changed dramatically over the last twenty years. Globalization, the move from manufacturing to service industries, the decline in unionized workplaces, and the rise in immigrant workers are a few factors affecting the workplace and the workplace education scene. Further, the passage of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 deeply affected the intersection of adult basic education and workplace education, both on the policy and program level.

In this issue of Field Notes, Laurie Sheridan, the SABES statewide workforce development coordinator, gives us a detailed analysis of the workforce development landscape in Massachusetts. She also explains the SABES workforce development initiative and includes contact information for all SABES regions. Andrea Perrault of the Department of Education Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS) clarifies the DOE's collaboration with the larger workforce development system across the state. Taken together, these articles give a strong foundation in understanding the "big picture" of workforce development and how it connects with the ABE scene.

Despite policy and economic changes, classroom issues remain constant over the years. In responding to student/worker needs, teachers often focus on understanding workplace culture in North America; understanding workplace rights, including safety and health issues on the job; learning the language and literacy skills necessary for getting and keeping employment, and problem-posing about job conflicts. Teachers' creativity and resourcefulness in connecting workplace concerns with larger literacy, language, and community-building skills are evident in the articles they contributed to this issue. Read about selling flowers to raise program money; about conducting a needs assessment for a workplace education program; read the oral history of a woman who got her GED in a workplace program in a western Massachusetts mill. Read about how one teacher's experience as yoga instructor found its way into the classroom to help students avoid injuries on the job. A lexicon of workplace terms and a resource page listing print and Web based materials rounds out the issue. We welcome your comments and contributions on this, or any other issue of Field Notes.

Lenore Balliro may be reached at: lballiro@worlded.org