Problematising vocational education and training in schools: using student narratives to interrupt neoliberal ideology

ABSTRACT

In Australia, like many western countries, there has been a convergence of education policy around a set of utilitarian and economistic approaches to vocational education and training in schools. Such approaches are based on the assumption that there is a direct relationship between national economic growth, productivity and human capital development resulting in the persuasive political argument that schools should be more closely aligned to the needs of the economy to better prepare ‘job ready’ workers. These common sense views resonate strongly in school communities where the problem of youth unemployment is most acute and students are deemed to be ‘at risk’, ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘disengaged’. This article starts from a different place by rejecting the fatalism and determinism of neoliberal ideology based on the assumption that students must simply ‘adapt’ to a precarious labour market. Whilst schools have a responsibility to prepare students for the world of work there is also a moral and political obligation to educate them extraordinarily well as democratic citizens. In conclusion, we draw on the experiences of young people themselves to identify a range of pedagogical conditions that need to be created and more widely sustained to support their career aspirations and life chances.     

Diversity of occupational orientations in Sales vocational education and training

The article examines the ways students in the school-based part of the vocational education and training (VET) in Sales begin to make sense of the world of work they are about to enter. Drawing on a qualitative study of upper-secondary Sales VET students in Norway, a four-fold typology of orientations to retail work is analysed: first, the disoriented Drifter who is restless and eager to move on to other activities or drifts on to retail apprenticeship without developing any substantial interest; second, the product-oriented Consumer is driven by a strong personal interest in the line of products, for example fashion, music, cars or electronics, and the sense of lifestyle they convey; third, the service-oriented Professional reasons on the basis of satisfaction deriving from the act of providing service to customers; and fourth, the career-oriented Aspirer who is motivated by career advancement opportunities within the retail sector. The article aimed to extend understandings of the initial process of becoming by elucidating the students’ subjective accounts of their diverse paths into retail work within the weakly established Sales education, approaching a labour market sector depicted in terms of low-skill and high turnover.     

Alienating curriculum work in Australian vocational education and training

Competency-based training (CBT) is a curriculum model employed in educational sectors, professions and industries around the world. A significant feature of the model is its permeability to control by interests outside education. In this article, a ‘Neoliberal’ version of CBT is described and analysed in the context of Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET). In this version of the model, a division of curriculum labour is instituted that, from the perspective of Neoliberal theory, allows the interests of educators to be limited in accordance with the belief that they will neglect the interests of students and other stakeholders if they have control over the whole curriculum construction process. But this version of CBT denigrates the expertise of educators by forcing them to set aside their own judgement about what is important to teach and implement a pre-existing picture of an occupation that may or may not be an effective representation. Empirical evidence is reviewed that suggests curriculum work in VET is indeed alienating for educators. Existing critiques of CBT are considered and found to have overlooked the specifically Neoliberal form of CBT in VET analysed in the article.     

基于系统动力学视野的职业教育

以系统的观点和系统动力学的思想对职业教育在教育大系统和社会系统中所占有的地位和发挥的重要作用作了分析,并对职业教育遇到的问题和解决思路进行了探讨。     

试述葡萄牙职业教育和培训的法律支持及执行机构

葡萄牙为支持职业教育和培训，相继制定了一系列的法律条．在教育系统中，职业培训是以学校为本位的教育类型；在劳工市场里，则以初级职业培训和继续培训为主。葡萄牙职业教育和培训的执行机构由多个部门构成，它们各司其职，又相互配合，保证了葡萄牙职业教育和培训的顺利进行。     

我国高职教育人才培养模式研究

本文结合高等职业教育人才培养模式的发展现状和趋势,研究高等职业教育人才培养模式创新,达到培养高技能型人才的根本目的。     

Educators in non-formal vocational education and training in Mozambique: a plea for recognition and professionalisation

Interest in vocational education and training (VET) is growing. This can be attributed to global socio-economic developments requiring continuously changing knowledge and skills. Adult education and training, particularly in non-formal education (NFE) contributes to provide these skills and knowledge for youth and adults. This puts pressure not only on programmes and facilities, but also on the educators. How do they cope with the changing demands? This paper focuses on educators in non-formal vocational education and training (NFVET) in Mozambique. It explores the perceptions, experiences and reflections of educators in NFVET working in training centres on the outskirts of Maputo. Semi-structured interviews and observations were used to get insight into the educators’ understandings and into the conditions in which their educational activities took place. The findings point to the need for the professionalisation of NFVET educators. This would contribute to the quality of their activities and to their status as professionals.     

Facilitating the learning journey from vocational education and training to higher education

An increase in students who enter higher education in Australia following their studies in the vocational education and training (VET) sector has led to heightened national interest in the transition experiences of these students. This paper reports on the experiences of students who, as a result of their VET studies, entered a relatively new, large, metropolitan university in 2009 and 2010 in the fields of Business and Law, Early Childhood and Nursing. The investigation elicited responses from students about a range of personal, administrative and academic experiences. A total of 529 students responded to a survey, 74 students were interviewed by telephone and 33 students attended focus groups. A major finding of the research was that many students saw the new learning context as a positive factor and responded to challenges with enthusiasm and resilience. Despite this, it seems that the transition period, particularly the first semester of study, is an unnecessarily stressful time for many students and that this could be mitigated by the provision of timely information about differences between institutional and learner expectations, workload, administrative processes and learning practices.     

Social and communicational skills in upper secondary vocational education and training

This article presents the methodology used by the Finnish Education Evaluation Council in the national evaluation of social and communication skills in vocational education and training. The evaluation concentrates on key competences such as learning-to-learn skills, communication skills, social skills and entrepreneurship （Implementation of Education and Stringfellow, 2005; Recommendation of the European Training 2010, 2004; Winterton, Delemare-Le Deist ＆ Parliament and of the Council of December 18, 2006 on key competencies for lifelong leaming, 2006）. The evaluation focuses particularly on skills required in the labour market. These competences are included in all vocational study programmes as a part of accompanying with other key competences. The authors＇ approach follows the principles of developmental and participative evaluation, applying the Common Quality Assurance Framework （CQAF） model, which has been accepted by the European Commission for the quality management and quality assurance framework for vocational education and training in Europe. Additional methods such as interview and statistical data gathering were used to acquire comprehensive data and ensure extensive participation of each partner involved has key competences. The evaluation material was collected from vocational education and training providers by sector （n=8） and by qualification （n=53）. Every sector and type of examination was included in the evaluation. The evaluation was based on a sample （n=130）. The evaluation data were collected from multiple sources by using multiple methods. The material included written self-evaluation reports by vocational education and training providers （n=130 which equals 95% of VET providers）, quantitative information, interviews organized by the National Board of Education and an evaluation seminar for providers as focus groups. Educational administrators, teachers, students, employers and workplace instructors participated in the self-evaluation of the vocational education and training establishments （multi-professional evaluation）.     

中职学校职业指导教师培训的若干问题与对策

依据教育部2008年的一次专项调查,分析了中职学校职业指导教师培训存在的主要问题,提出了对中职学校职业指导教师培训的建议,即:中职学校职业指导教师培训应具有灵活的课程设置和分类指导的培训模式;重视职业指导专业能力的提高;促进中职学校职业指导教师学生观、评价观、师生观的转变;提高中职学校职业指导教师运用多种教学方法的能力.     

高等职业教育人才培养模式研究

提出了以社会职业分析为起点,兼顾学生的智能差异,构建高等职业教育人才培养的模式。对高等职业教育人才培养模式的培养目标、课程体系、教育策略等进行了探讨。高等职业教育应突出"综合职业能力和全面素质"与"高级实用型"的特点。课程体系设计可采用职业群集分析法与以能力为中心的方法。提出职业技术课程综合化;职业技术理论与实训教学一体化;整合社会教育资源,实现"校企合作,产教结合";毕业设计与生产实际问题相结合;发挥社会评价的重要作用;招生考试内容要注重学生的作品;加强对学生职业生涯发展的指导;建立"三师型"的师资队伍等9种教育策略。     

职业技术教育中的职业健康安全培训刍议

职业技术教育目前在我国蓬勃发展,每年大量的职校生进入职场,直接暴露于存在一定危险的工作环境当中,有关安全监察部门应当与学校联合,在人员集中的职校生中进行职业健康安全培训,提高学生的职业健康安全意识和能力,文章简要探讨了安全培训的内容和方式,并建议职业健康安全培训关口前移,尽早在职业技术学院开展。     

Designing and delivering skills transferability and employment mobility: the challenges of a market-driven vocational education and training system

As job security declines and precarious employment arrangements become more prevalent, transferable skills have become vital for job seeking success. In recognition of this issue, many governments are seeking to redesign their training systems in ways that transferable skills become better emphasised. This paper examines the challenges of developing transferable skills among a nation’s workforce and the tensions that can emerge between training design intentions and training delivery outcomes when training delivery is marketised. Australia, where incremental training sector reforms have occurred since the late 1980s, serves as the context for this study. While training design occurs through a tripartite process involving employer, government and union representatives, training delivery is now determined in an open, deregulated market environment. Our analysis reveals a complex underlying design with an in-built intention of developing widely transferable skills, yet there exists significant concern about the actual training outcomes. We conclude that in an environment where VET delivery is user-choice driven with the aim of fulfilling specific employer skills needs the quality, depth and breadth of transferable skills are compromised.     

中职教育与高职教育的沟通与衔接研究

简述沟通与衔接的意义,提出了中职教育与高职教育的沟通与衔接的关键是两者课程之间的衔接;转变思想观念是构建中职、高职教育衔接的课程体系的关键;开发实践教学课程是实现中职、高职教育课程体系衔接的重点等观点。     

能力本位职业教育与培训理论和实践探源

能力本位教育与培训自从20世纪90年代初引入我国后,在教育领域特别是职业教育与培训领域产生了很大的影响,目前已成为我国职业教育与培训的主要发展方向。     

浅议高职高专师资培养培训途径

通过对目前高职高专师资队伍现状的分析,指出高职高专师资队伍中存在的问题,提出了建立教师资格认定机构,构建高职高专研究生学历师资培养渠道,加强对在职教师进行培训及充分发挥高职高专师资培训基地的作用等建议。     

高等职业教育的地方性与应用性人才培养

我国高等职业教育的地方性表现在：高等职业教育兼有社区教育和高等教育的双重特征,高等职业教育与地方社区经济的发展相融合。在高等职业教育的应用性人才培养方面,要正确理解“应用性人才”培养目标,合理安排理论教学与实践教学,注重毕业设计与生产实际相结合。     

对高职院校实训实习基地功能的探讨

实践教学是高等职业教育培养学生通用能力、基本技能、职业能力和创新能力的重要途径，体现了高职教育人才培养的应用性特色。构建特色鲜明的实训实习基地，发挥相应的基地功能，对于实现高职人才的培养目标将起到积极的作用。     

高职教育人才培养模式中问题的思考

最近几年,高职院校有效的促进了地方社会和经济的发展,在普及高等教育的过程中发挥了很大的作用。可是高职教育在不断发展的过程中也出现了不少问题,这些问题都激发了高技能人才培养与社会经济发展之间的矛盾。所以高职教育一定要及时有效的解决这些问题,促进高职教育的可持续发展,促进我国地方经济的发展。文章主要分析了高职教育中人才培养模式的问题和对策。     

集团化背景下校企合作中职业院校应该具备的能力——以北京电子科技职业学院为例

介绍了职业教育集团的背景、作用、存在的问题以及在现阶段职业院校在校企合作中应该发挥的作用。