Engagement: Where to next?

In my commentary, I discuss the historical origins of the Fredricks et al. 3 dimensions of engagement, provide some critical assessment of the individual papers in this special issue, and lay out the argument for renewed theoretical analysis of the concept of engagement. Specifically, the importance of theoretical work related to the definitions of engagement, dimensionality questions, and origins of, and influences, on engagement are discussed.     

Competency-based vocational education: Is this the answer?

Recent calls for reform of vocational education and training arrangements in Australia have drawn attention to so called competency-based vocational education (CBVE) and self-paced methods of training. Teachers in Technical and Further Education therefore need to know more about these methods and how they operate. The paper outlines the main features of CBVE and reviews and compares three competency-based programs in operation. The programs are offered by vocational colleges in Canada, United States of America and Australia and the review concentrates on processes and products required to implement the competency-based approach successfully. The review makes it apparent that CBVE has a good deal of potential for training in vocational education as well as in industry. The self-pacing aspects appear to develop characteristics of independence and self-reliance. The review makes it apparent that there are inherent problems and potential pitfalls. These include the need for consistently adequate and updated resources and learning materials as well as for the adequate preparation and on going staff development of teachers.     

Teacher preparation for vocational education and training in Germany: a potential model for Canada?

Germany's vocational education and training (VET) and corresponding teacher-education programmes are known worldwide for their integrated framework. Government legislation unifies companies, unions and vocational schools, and specifies the education and training required for students as well as vocational teachers. Changing from the Diplom programme model to the Anglophone Bachelor and Masters degree model has raised concerns for VET teacher preparation. It is within this context that we explore Germany's VET teacher-education system and current academic debates. We further investigate challenges in the development of Canada's VET teacher-education programmes and suggest some policy borrowing from the German model.     

Calibration and confidence: Where to next?

One of the key feedback questions is “where to next?” and this article provides some directions as to where to next for research based on a review of the five articles in this special issue. The directions relate to the critical importance of calibration, the multidimensionality of calibration, the relation of calibration to self-regulation strategies, whether calibration is specific to the task or more general within the student, how to measure calibration, how much confidence should be given to partial knowledge when calibrating, the role of overconfidence and knowing “when one does not know”, and how to improve the accuracy of judgments.     

Where did distance education go wrong?

Distance education (DE) practices around the world use a wide range of audio‐visual technologies to overcome the lack of direct contact between teachers and students. These are not universally adopted by DE teachers, however, nor even encouraged by their institutions. This article discusses the organisational attitudes that can lead to outdated methods being maintained and successful ones abandoned, and it suggests that, just as educational television and programmed learning were supplanted in previous decades, so the World Wide Web could be abandoned as a viable education medium in the foreseeable future and replaced by more widely available media such as the cell phone. The article contrasts the learner‐centred philosophies underlying current DE approaches with the teacher‐centred philosophies of a generation ago. If these two philosophies are not united in a sensible middle ground, the article suggests, history may come to regard today’s DE as a Dark Age less enlightened than when Genghis Khan sent his arrow riders to deliver the mail in person across the Mongolian steppes, and when Lenin dispatched educational media experts to deliver DE materials by hand across the post‐revolutionary Soviet Union. The main losers in this scenario, the article concludes, will be the students of the developing world.     

Gendered distribution of ‘knowledge required for empowerment’ in Swedish vocational education curricula?

Sweden is internationally commended for a high degree of gender equality, but many divisions in Swedish society, including the labour market, disadvantage women. This paper addresses gendered divisions of preparation for civic participation in the vocational upper secondary national curricula, which may participate in reproduction of the pattern. In a comparative analysis of the curriculum guidelines for different vocational upper secondary programmes, we focus on the inclusion of important knowledge for empowerment and how knowledge is contextualised in terms of valued labour positions. We deploy Bernstein’s concepts of horizontal and vertical discourse and Connell’s concepts of production, consumption and gendered accumulation. A general finding is that vertical discourse is contextualised towards discourses of consumption in girl-dominated programmes and towards discourses of production in boy-dominated programmes. Boy-dominated programmes include more knowledge that can be clearly classified in recognised disciplines or fields, whereas girl-dominated programmes include courses of undefined knowledge, such as creativity and entrepreneurship. We conclude that the vocational curricula reinforce rather than challenge existing gender structures in the labour market and wider society. In a historical perspective, it can be concluded that Swedish vocational education policy has a continuum of ‘gender-blindness', and thus confirming with wider norms.     

The technical baccalaureate: providing excellence in vocational education?

Proposals for a technical baccalaureate have received cross-party support in England. The technical baccalaureate is intended to deliver the necessary training to enable young people to fill the UK’s skills gap in intermediate-level occupations in STEM and other sectors. This paper explores how to design and implement a high-quality technical baccalaureate and identifies some of the challenges that are likely to be encountered. We argue that the curriculum of the technical baccalaureate should aim to strike a balance between providing young people with skills needed to enter specific sectors whilst also providing a component of general academic education to help keep options open. We argue that the assessment needs to be both reliable and valid. We also suggest that hurdles – additional criteria that students must meet (e.g. must pass a maths exam) – to gain the Tech Bacc should be avoided, as should aggregating qualifications together to grade the technical baccalaureate. We conclude by discussing the challenges of implementing the technical baccalaureate, including obtaining the necessary employer engagement and provision of information advice and guidance.     

‘What's next for masculinity?’ Reflexive directions for theory and research on masculinity and education

Research on masculinity has become an important area of gender and education that includes a wide range of empirical concerns and theoretical approaches. This article identifies a number of studies that are asking questions about the conceptual usefulness of masculinity within educational contexts. The first section explores how educational researchers are beginning to suggest alternative ways that hegemonic masculinity may be configured. The second section draws upon work that interrogates the disconnection of gender from sex. Such work considers the importance of understanding schooling worlds through an untethering of gender categories from physical bodies. The third section suggests the possibility of a post-masculinity position by exploring research that questions the viability of masculinity as a conceptual frame to understand gender. In conclusion, the paper argues that such developments can be used heuristically to inform the critical reflexiveness of future research in the area.     

Vocational education and the binary higher education system in the Netherlands: higher education symbiosis or vocational education dichotomy?

The Netherlands has a binary higher education system in which academic education and higher professional education at EQF levels 5–8 co-exist. There is also secondary vocational education at EQF levels 1 up to 4. In this paper, I analyse policy documents resulting from the Bologna Process and argue that under neo-liberal conditions, higher professional education brings opportunities for both students and employers, but also creates a socio-economic tension in terms of employability. The gap between higher professional education and secondary vocational education adds to the formation of a labour market in which higher professional education graduates are prepared to an international labour market but employability pressure is being put on lower skilled employees, creating unequal employability opportunities for vocational education graduates.     

General or vocational? The tough choice in the Chinese education policy

China has made great efforts to vocationalise its senior secondary education in the belief that vocational education better than general education can prepare young people with the skills needed for employment in industry. This runs against a large empirical literature from the last few decades arguing strongly against vocational education on employment opportunity and cost-effectiveness grounds. This paper examines the relationship between employees' educational (and other) backgrounds and their performance in the workplace, as well as their income, based on a survey of 1433 employees in two cities in China. It concludes that pre-employment education gives better work performance, but that vocational education does not lead to better performance than general education.     

University as vocational education: working‐class students’ expectations for university

Labor market conditions, a pervasive public discourse about the benefits of higher education, and parental hopes push many young working‐class people into university. The institutional culture and demands of university, however, often remain elusive and fraught with uncertainty. In this paper, I draw on qualitative interviews with first‐generation, working‐class students at a Canadian university to analyze the ways in which these students discuss their reasons to attend and their expectations for university, and the implications of their attitudes for their future success at university. Analysis of the interview data shows how the relatively high and risky investment of working‐class youth in education leads to strong utilitarian and vocational orientations toward university. Although a narrow focus on the career potential of university is generally perceived as problematic, I argue that it may also help working‐class students in their transition to university. Nonetheless, a critical educational process is necessary that not only helps working‐class students achieve their educational and occupational goals, but also understand their unique status in a social institution that they entered as outsiders.     

Students’ meaning-making and sense-making of vocational knowledge in Dutch senior secondary vocational education

Meaning-making and sense-making are generally assumed to be part of students’ personal vocational knowledge development, since they contribute to both students’ socialisation in a vocation and students’ personalisation of concepts, values and beliefs regarding that vocation. However, how students in vocational education acquire meaning and make sense of vocational knowledge is not explained. Furthermore, examples of what these processes entail in the context of vocational education are lacking. A multiple case study was performed to explore students’ meaning-making and sense-making in classroom interactions in Dutch senior secondary vocational education. Our results show that meaning-making is a process in which students interpret vocational knowledge by explicating and clarifying this knowledge. Sense-making is perceived to be a process in which students concretise vocational knowledge by testing and justifying this knowledge. A research model was developed to describe how students make meaning and sense of vocational knowledge in interaction with practitioners.     

One foot out the school door? Interpreting the risk for dropout upon the transition to post-secondary vocational education

Many students drop out in the first year after a school transition. Most commonly used indicators of an increased risk for dropout reveal little of the mechanisms that push or pull students out of school. In this study, we look at the association of a set of common risk indicators with students’ supportive resources and school experiences upon the transition to post-secondary vocational education in the Netherlands. Multilevel regression analyses on a diverse sample of 1438 students indicate that most sociodemographic risk indicators relate to less access to supportive resources for school, whereas personal circumstances outside school that are associated with an increased risk for dropout correlate with negative school experiences. Students from lower educated or poor families and students who use drugs, have debts, or are delinquent score negative in both domains, suggesting that those students make the transition with one foot out the school door.     

General education. Homogenised education for the globalized world?

Societies need to make sure that the next generation is ready and capable to take over in due time, be it in working life, culture, civil society, politics or families. Therefore, society at large and specifically state governments need to assist the efforts of families and local communities. Such provisions have been the basic premise for general educational theories for centuries, when education was often named Democratic and Comprehensive Bildung. At present, this premise needs re-conceptualization, because societies are moving dramatically towards opening up for interactions and relations with the widest possible area: the globe. Many societal challenges have effects across nations, calling for trans-national coordination, management and solutions,—for homogenized and standard based policy making. At the same time, inspiration from multiple sources produce conflicting visions and rival discourses about what the purposes of and the means for education should be.In this paper we analyze and discuss two contemporary, fundamentally dissimilar discourses on education and their theoretical and societal roots. Our main method is discourse analysis. We argue for inclusion of a global world-view in national education. We shall be critical, however, to the technocratic turn and the homogenization of education per se and argue for a Democratic Bildung perspective in education for world citizenship.     

Links between general and vocational education: Does the one enhance the other?

The answer is YES. The hallmark of successful schooling is the creation of portable skills and efficiency in future learning. This paper examines the linkages between and within levels of schooling, and between education in schools and apprenticeships and other forms of work-associated training. It shows that elementary schooling is of too great a vocational importance to risk feeding children vocationalism. School-work programmes are rarely effective pedagogy, but theory is an important element in apprenticeships. Quality counts heavily whatever the educational content and setting. And the general elements in skill development are critical for both individuals and societies in a world of change.

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Zusammenfassung Die Antwort auf die Frage, ob bei den bestehenden Verbindungen zwischen allgemeiner und berufsbezogener Bildung, die eine die andere verbessert, ist ja. Als Anzeichen für eine erfolgreiche Schulbildung gelten übertragbare Fähigkeiten sowie Effizienz beim späteren Lernen. In diesem Bericht werden die Verknüpfungen zwischen den und innerhalb der verschiedenen Schulebenen, zwischen Erziehung an Schulen und in der Lehre und anderen Formen von berufsbezogener Ausbildung untersucht. Es wird der Beweis erbracht, daß die Elementarschule von zu großer berufsorientierter Wichtigkeit ist, um das Risiko einzugehen, Kinder mit berufsbetonten Programmen zu überfrachten. Schulprogramme zur Berufsbildung sind nur selten pädagogisch wirksam, während die Theorie einen wichtigen Bestandteil der Lehre bildet. Der Qualität wird ein hoher Stellenwert beigemessen, unabhängig von dem erzieherischen Inhalt und dem Umfeld. Darüberhinaus sind allgemeine Elemente in der Entwicklung von Fähigkeiten für den Einzelnen als auch für ganze Gesellschaften in einer Welt, die sich im Wandel befindet, entscheidend.

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Résumé La réponse est oui. Une scolarité efficace est marquée par la transmission de compétences utiles et efficaces pour un apprentissage futur. Cet article examine les liens entre les niveaux de scolarité et au sein de ces niveaux, entre l'éducation dispensée par les écoles et un apprentissage ou d'autres types de formations axées sur le travail. Il montre que l'enseignement élémentaire est d'une importance trop grande pour la formation professionnelle pour risquer de surcharger le programme des enfants d'éléments professionels. Les programmes scolaires à vocation professionnelle sont rarement efficaces pédagogiquement, alors que la théorie constitue un élément capital dans un apprentissage. La qualité compte considérablement quels que soient les structures et les contenus éducatifs. En outre, les éléments généraux du développement technique sont cruciaux pour les individus et les sociétés d'un monde en mutation.

     

Learning pathways between and within vocational and higher education: towards a typology?

Promotion by governments of the provision of pathways for learners and the principle of seamlessness in post-compulsory education over the past decade may be perceived as both positive and problematic. Seamlessness can provide considerable choice and yet can readily lead to uncertainty and indecision. A number of studies have drawn attention to the phenomenon of indirect transfer, where the movement of tertiary students is not linear but involves several moves within and between sectors. This paper explores patterns in such movements and proposes a typology of five learning pathways. The research involved in-depth interviews held with 69 students in South Australia who had experienced both vocational and higher education sectors. Such research can help educators and researchers understand more fully the experiences in and reasons for moving within and between various pathways. It can also assist policymakers and institutional planners with insights into how best to fashion relationships between sectors and tailor policies and services that help learners navigate through education systems.