The ‘new vocationalism’: Further education and local labour markets

Current policies aimed at promoting a ‘new vocationalism’ through changes in vocational training in further education are based upon a particular functional model of labour market behaviour, which sees the relationships between technical qualifications, training and recruitment to jobs as unproblematic. In fact, however, this model bears little relationship to the realities of actual labour markets, especially given the enormous diversity which exists between economic conditions in different localities. What this implies, therefore, is that there are considerable tensions between the imperatives of a national training strategy, promoted centrally by the Training Commission (and previously by the Manpower Services Commission), and its local implementation mainly by the local education authorities and their colleges of further education. In many local labour markets, far from promoting closer responsiveness to the needs of employers, current policy initiatives may actually be making it more difficult for the colleges to react to employers' demands. These general arguments are illustrated here by reference to a large‐scale empirical study which was specifically designed to investigate the inter‐relationships between the labour market behaviour of employers and the implementation of the ‘new vocationalism’ in further education.     

Evaluating local labour market policy: the case of TECs

Abstract

The 1988 Government White Paper ’Employment for the 1990s’ proposed the establishment of Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) throughout England and Wales, to promote and support small businesses and self‐employment, and to plan and deliver training in their local areas. Placing the responsibility for the formulation and delivery of training almost entirely in the hands of local private sector employers, the TEC initiative has proved to be a highly controversial and contested area of policy. Accordingly, it has attracted a sizeable multi‐disciplinary academic literature which variously portray it as either innovative and revolutionary, or a retrograde high‐risk strategy. This paper commences by placing TECs in the long‐term historical context of previous national and local training measures in England and Wales, which is surely essential to any assessment of the extent to which they mark a novel and relevant modem response to contemporary training and labour force requirements, or a mere re‐working of obsolete government policies and responses to high unemployment levels. This is followed by a brief discussion of the emergence, and state encouragement, of an ‘enterprise culture’ in the 1980s. Against this background, the final section of the paper outlines the establishment of TECs, providing examples of their operation, and reviews the body of literature regarding their potential and actual strengths and weaknesses. It is argued that the historical contextualisation of TECs is fundamental to any evaluation of the extent to which they are an appropriate revolution in training and enterprise, or simply a newly packaged continuation of earlier, discredited, training policies and initiatives.     

Educating Immigrants in the Netherlands: Migration flows and educational policy in the twentieth century

The first part of this article describes some general tendencies in migrant and school populations in Western Europe. Then it focusses upon some specific migration flows in the Netherlands in the twentieth century. A distinction is made between three migration parameters: colonies, labour force, and asylum. The second part of this article discusses the policy initiatives taken to educate the different migrant groups and their offspring. A distinction can be made between the first 70 years of the twentieth century and the remaining decades. In the first part of the century the education of immigrants was in the hands of private initiatives set up by churches, welfare institutions, migrant organisations, and employers. Later the Dutch government became a major player.

     

Women and the Enterprise Culture: The Australian Experience∗

Abstract

Information Technology is often heralded as the key feature of employment in so‐called post‐industrial regions. If this is the case then it is vital that education and training for IT is properly conceived and based on a knowledge of actual working patterns involving IT in industry.

The research reported in this article, based on interviews and case‐studies of a range of employers using and developing IT, examines current practices with a view to their implications for education, training and recruitment. By studying IT in the workplace in one city undergoing many changes we hope to highlight some of the general issues in the relationship between education, training, and employment. More specifically, the words of the employees interviewed contain many important messages for both employers and trainers, particularly on recruitment practices, curriculum design and training strategies for the development of information technology.     

‘Reporting Trainee Competence: what,and how much do employers need to know?

ABSTRACT

Three major elements in the Australian national workplace reform agenda are the introduction of key/generic workplace competencies, national occupational employment standards and a competency‐based education‐training system that recognises prior learning and assures development of identified competencies, both generic and occupationally specific. Attempts to develop effective and efficient assessment schemes to determine participant competence are underway. A continuing major concern, however, is how best to report information to potential employers. While employers need sufficient relevant information to make informed hiring decisions there is the distinct danger of providing too much detailed information in a competency‐based education system that it is not able to be used in a timely and efficient fashion. This paper reviews the merits of selected reporting schemes being considered, and then presents questions for further research about employers' reactions to reporting of competency information.     

Purpose,Value and Competence: Contextualising competence based assessment in the civil aviation sector

Abstract

This paper outlines some of the issues emerging from research in to competence based training and assessment, and National Vocational Qualifications. A model for analysing the key purposes of formal assessment systems is suggested and a conceptual framework is presented which uses the notions of use and exchange value for gauging the worth of qualifications. The author presents material collected during a study of the training and assessment of student air traffic controllers to illustrate how contextual features, particularly at the occupational level, can affect the purpose and design of a qualification as well as the value attached to it by recipients and employers. It is suggested that elements such as: ‘purpose’, ‘perceived value’ ‘qualification design’ and ‘context’ provide a conceptual framework within which further understanding of the role of qualifications can be achieved. The longer term aspiration of the analysis begun in this paper is the development of a context‐sensitive theory of occupational qualifications.     

Training for Film and Television in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article traces the development of training for Britain's film and television industry from the mid‐1970s to the present time. It highlights the range of training opportunities currently available, linking these to government training policies in general and to the specific problems of this industry. The evolution of college and university courses, industry‐based initiatives, the relationship between media education and media training and the difficulties of financing training are all addressed, together with some very recent developments which may further influence the quantity and quality of training available over the next decade.     

The evaluation of London Docklands SKILLNET Quick Start Initiatives: a researcher's eye view∗

Abstract

The NFER undertook an evaluation for the FEU of a programme of short training courses (Quick Start Initiatives), operated by DOCKLANDS SKILLNET. SKILLNET's remit ‐‐ under the combined aegis of the London Docklands Development Corporation, ILEA and the London Borough of Newham ‐‐ was to commission training provision from public sector and independent providers, in order to raise the level of skills of local people in line with the expected increase in jobs in the redeveloping dockland area. The study, completed in March 1988, investigated the operation of SKILLNET as a partnership, the courses offered, the delivery of trainees into employment or further training and the views of local employers about SKILLNET. The article discusses the main findings and emerging issues.

     

Employer‐led Realities: apprenticeship past and present

ABSTRACT

In 1993, the United Kingdom launched yet another new initiative to revitalise youth training, but this time, rather than choosing a title which conjures up the flexible workplace of the future, it chose to delve back into the industrial past and introduced Modern Apprenticeship. Piloted for a year in 15 occupational sectors, Modern Apprenticeship is to expand in 1995/1996 to cover some 50 sectors, many of which have little history of substantive or accredited workplace training. By examining the history of apprenticeship in the United Kingdom, including evidence from two industrial sectors (electricity supply and chemicals), this paper suggests that whilst the concept of apprenticeship may still be very attractive to young people, their parents and some employers, the history of its decline over the past 30 years should be treated seriously by policymakers attempting to re‐create apprenticeship in the 1990s     

Teacher training in early childhood education: The case of Ghana,West Africa

Abstract

Teacher training in early childhood education in Ghana, West Africa is more of a grassroots effort rather than a formal system that is fully supported financially by the Ministry of Education. Formal teacher‐training college or university‐based early childhood teacher training has yet to be realized for the thousands of teachers of children 3–5 years old in government or government‐supported primary schools. This work chronicles the past and present teacher‐training programs available in this country that reports approximately 4.3 million children in its population under the age of 6 years.     

Student Loans Versus Grants: The Debate Revisited

Abstract

This paper argues that the scheme of appraisal agreed between NATFHE and college employers is capable of implementation in a developmental manner that is compatible with the ideal of further education teaching being a professional practice. It outlines a case study of the innovation of one appraisal scheme at a College in the south west, identifying the key elements of the scheme that give it a developmental emphasis and some elements which inhibit it.     

Higher education institutions and specialist schools: Potential partnerships

This paper argues that the development and growth in numbers of Specialist Schools in England raises a number of key questions about the relationships between higher education institutions (HEIs) involved in initial teacher training (ITT) and continuing professional development (CPD) work, and schools now designated as Specialist Schools. It focuses attention on Specialist Sports Colleges to illustrate the complex, dynamic and contested policy context in which new partnerships are arising. Recent policy statements from government and agencies associated with the development of Specialist Schools in England are identified as according Specialist Schools a clearly privileged position as compared to HEIs in plans for the further reform of education, training and sport provision in England. Discussion emphasises the need for renewed debate about conceptualisations of partnership and for more research that focuses on emerging HEI - Specialist School partnerships.     

大学生就业歧视的各方博弈分析及对策

大学生就业过程中面临诸多歧视,性别歧视、地域歧视、学校歧视、身份歧视等。大学毕业生就业求职是学生、用人单位、政府三方参与的博弈过程,通过构建学生与用人单位以及用人单位与政府之间的博弈模型并对模型求解,根据对混合纳什均衡解的分析,提出治理大学生就业市场中就业歧视行为的对策和建议。     

The National Training Reform and the Preparation of Teachers: new approaches

The series of Australian Government policy initiatives somewhat misleadingly known as the national‐training‐reform agenda (FitzGerald, 1994) represent a new reference point for faculties of education engaged in the preparation of teachers. The ideas first floated in Australia Reconstructed (ACTU, 1987)—the creation of a high‐wage, high‐skill economy based on a national system of skills formation and skills enhancement—reflected three underpinning principles on which government, unions and employers were united. These principles—a move away from time served and towards competencies achieved, a system of nationally recognised qualifications and a central role for industry in the specification of standards—continue to enjoy such tripartite support and are central to the implementation of training reform. Lundberg (1994) identified five main themes of the training‐reform agenda, namely, nationally consistent competency‐based training, national recognition of competencies however attained, an open training market, fair participation in vocational education and training, and an integrated entry‐level training system. The effect that the implementation of reforms to the training system is having on the work of those teaching in schools is only now becoming apparent (Schools Council, 1994a). This paper describes the approaches used by the Faculty of Education and Training at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and considers the impact that the changed training system might also have on the work of teacher educators in higher education in Australia.     

The Stratification of Youth Training∗

Abstract

This article is based on surveys in 1988 among representative samples totalling 4,247 16‐19 year olds from four areas (Kirkcaldy, Liverpool, Sheffield and Swindon), of whom 1,562 had some experience of Youth Training (YT). The young people's likelihood of entering YT depended primarily on their educational qualifications and where they lived. Trainees’ chances of being kept on by the firms where they were trained depended mainly on their types of schemes and their performances during training, indicated by whether or not they earned any additional qualifications. The chances of those not retained moving immediately to jobs with other firms were more dependent on their school‐leaving qualifications and where they lived. The authors interpret their evidence to argue that employers’ uses of YT in the late‐1980s were creating increasingly clear divisions between sponsorship, contest and warehousing sectors.

     

Christians,Humanists and Common Ground

Abstract

The paper describes the setting up and implementation of an initiative in social education in Dudley, jointly supported by Dudley LEA and The Social Morality Council. The programme developed out of earlier work in the authority including the production of a syllabus in social education for 13‐18 year olds and was in direct response to the perceived needs of schools. Work was undertaken in several schools with a special emphasis on establishing links between schools, the community and employers and was monitored by surveying the views of parents, pupils, teachers and employers. The report describes the development of the role of advisory teacher, of involvement of various external agencies, the production of resource materials and summarizes the evaluators’ key ‘findings’ resulting from the project. This information, it is hoped, may be of interest to other schools and LEAs which may be considering a social education programme.     

A New Approach to BEC Assessment

Abstract

Three key researches bearing on YTS are analysed: that of the IMS (Institute for Manpower Studies) which provided the training rationale for YTS; an important economic analysis (Chapman &; Tooze 1987); and Raffe's long‐term study derived from the SYPS (Scottish Young People's Survey). A series of ‘contradictions’ are examined which are likely to undermine YTS, the most serious being MSC's ambiguous role as a manager of both employment and unemployment. The IMS rationale is defective and ideologically based but has become institutionally entrenched. In practice it proves counterproductive, particularly with regard to the OTF (Occupational Training Families) system. Because of this YTS does not meet real labour market needs; there has been a reversal of the roles of supply and demand. Raffe argues that improving the quality of YTS has no bearing on its success or failure. He stresses the ‘primacy of context’ over content, arguing that unless labour market contexts are changed, YTS cannot succeed. In the educational context a ‘vicious circle of low status’ is identified with YTS which it will be hard to break. Recommendations are made which include (a) a second year which is industry — rather than occupationally‐based; (b) unconstrained movement across OTFs in order to reduce a counterproductive bias in that system; (c) YTS should be financed by government and not by employers in order to combat uneven coverage of training endemic in the ‘voluntary’ system; (d) there should be an expansion of the ‘credentialling’ sector of YTS; (e) and/or an expansion of higher status places in the ‘contest’ sector. YTS is then set against current changes in MSC and government policy regarding education and training.     

A digital storytelling project in a multicultural education class for pre-service teachers

ABSTRACT

This paper, against the background of trends in the development of initial teacher training in Europe as a whole, identifies and explains some of the recent, radical reforms which were introduced in France by a socialist government. These include the need to raise the status and the competence of the teaching profession; the creation of new teacher‐training institutions of university status (Instituts universitaires de formation des maitres); the introduction of common entry qualifications at degree level for both primary and secondary levels; the harmonisation and the extension to 2 years of the post‐degree teacher‐training course and the increase in emphasis placed on professional training, both theoretical and practical. These reforms provoked a storm of protest and an examination of the reasons for this reveals a multiplicity of crucial questions which have far‐reaching implications.     

Institutional innovations in higher education in central Europe: Agenda for research and co‐operation

Abstract

Research findings on graduate employment in the UK continue to highlight the importance that employers attach to the general knowledge, attitudes and social skills that graduates possess in addition to specific disciplinary knowledge and expertise. Additionally, work based learning is increasingly being viewed as an important vehicle by which undergraduates can develop personal and social skills, as well as gaining knowledge of how organisations work. In this paper I will argue that although developments in undergraduate work based learning do raise a number of issues for higher education institutions and for employers, such developments have much to offer the broader education policy of lifelong learning.     

(Re)constructing rurality through skilled trades training

ABSTRACT

There is a growing body of research interrogating the discursive construction of ‘rural’ in negative terms – as lacking, in decline or in crisis. This paper contributes to this body of literature by taking as its point of departure skilled trades training in Canada’s most easterly province, Newfoundland and Labrador. To meet the labour demand associated with industrial projects in rural and remote areas, the provincial government has invested in strategies to encourage youth to enrol in certified training programmes in the skilled trades. This paper examines the contradictory and incomplete ways in which individualized labour market subjects are produced through a combination of economic restructuring and government policy initiatives related to training and apprenticeships, and considers what this means for how young people think about and experience the rural. I argue that rural places are largely framed in economic terms, either as in decline and crisis or as industrial sites of resource extraction, and that by discursively linking youth outmigration and skilled labour shortages, the sustainability of rural places and the province is individualized and downloaded onto youth, ignoring the structured inequalities that mediate access to training and employment.