Caught up in the past? Social inclusion,skills, and vocational education and training policy in England

Since the mid-1990s, governments of different political persuasion have tried to reform VET policy to address problems in skills formation and social inclusion. Despite considerable policy activism, success has been somewhat limited, and England failed to overcome the problems associated with its liberal training regime. This article assesses the failure in vocational skills formation as a political economy and a public policy problem. It challenges the determinism in the political economy literature, points to poor public policy-making, and outlines possible policy levers.     

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.     

Education for girls in Ireland: secondary and vocational curricular provision 1930–1960

A challenge for historians of education is to explain the ways in which the development of education has been a gendered process. The literature tends to focus on primary and secondary schools; the role played by religious orders; the experiences of female teachers; ideological influences on curriculum; and the preparation of young girls for their role in society. Few historians, however, have examined vocational education and the impact of its ‘social efficiency’ orientation on girls. The literature that exists tends to treat both systems separately, and little effort has been made to compare the impact of both systems on girls’ opportunities within the society in which they lived. This omission in the literature is significant as such a comparison facilitates insights regarding state policies and priorities for the education of girls, the impact of social class, and national and local circumstances. This article compares both systems of education in Ireland and their impact on girls during the period 1930–1960.     

Will skills save us? Rethinking the relationships between vocational education,skills development policies,and social policy in South Africa

This paper examines experiences with ‘skills development’ in South Africa to contribute to broader debates about ‘skills’ and the relationships between vocational education and development. Numerous policy interventions and the creation of new institutions and systems for skills development in South Africa are widely seen as having failed to lead to an increase in numbers of skilled workers. I analyze some of the underlying reasons for this by considering South African policies and systems in the light of research in developed countries. The dominant view in South African media and policy circles is that a skills shortage, coupled with an inflexible labour market, are the leading causes of unemployment. This has led to a policy preoccupation with skills as part of a ‘self-help’ agenda, alongside policies such as wage subsidies and a reduction of protective legislation for young workers, instead of collective responsibility for social welfare. Skills policies have also been part of a policy paradigm which emphasized state regulation through qualification and quality assurance reform, with very little emphasis on building provision systems and on curriculum development. The South African experience exemplifies how difficult it is to develop robust and coherent skills development in the context of inadequate social security, high levels of job insecurity, and high levels of inequalities. It also demonstrates some of the weaknesses of so-called ‘market-led’ vocational education.     

Happy objects,happy men? Affect and materiality in vocational training

This article investigates the prevailing social inertia of vocational training. Previous research indicates that gendered social norms contribute to sustaining gender segregation. Few studies, however, have paid attention to how the interplay of emotional and material factors impact on gender norms in vocational training. The article builds on an ethnographic study in a Swedish upper-secondary educational programme traditionally dominated by masculinity norms, namely the Building and Construction programme. Employing Sara Ahmed's notion of happy objects, the article centres on vocational students' expressed joy in the practical work and shows how joy contributes to sustaining and challenging dominant masculinity patterns. Though students enjoyed practical work, the study indicates that a particular version of happiness was normalised which ruled out non-heterosexual and female students. The article suggests that further studies of social inertia in vocational training need to account for the interconnectedness of the emotional, material, and corporeal dimensions of gender.     

Democratising the curriculum or training the children of the poor: school‐based vocational training in Australia

This article examines the views of staff employed in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) about how those institutions are dealing with the impact of recent UK equality legislation and related European employment directives. Assumptions underlying current approaches to equality in UK HEIs are examined, particularly the notion of meritocracy, which advocates job selection and promotion based on normatively and culturally neutral measures of merit. The article is based on a project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, using qualitative case studies of six English, Welsh and Scottish HEIs. The project data suggest that equality policies for staff and students are in tension with each other, that staff policies may clash with other institutional policies, for example on research excellence or enhancing the student experience, and that the rhetoric of equality policies is not always matched by the day‐to‐day experience of staff. The article suggests that the case study UK HEIs, with their continued focus on meritocracy and excellence, have not yet adapted to the new climate of employee equality legislation and perhaps need to consider a different approach than the meritocratic one.     

Covert action? Education,social policy and law in the European Union

Education in Europe has been one more aspect of social policy, traditionally held to exist within the sovereignty of member states, which has been encroached upon by supranational institutions. This paper explores the legitimacy of the partial control over education matters that has been gained by the European Union since the 1970s, examining in particular the role of the European Court of Justice and also the European Commission, in reshaping and altering definitions of legal competence in the fields of education and training. Special emphasis is placed on the method by which an original competence in training has been reconstituted to incorporate some aspects of education policy. Implications for democratic legitimacy and accountability at the European level are discussed.     

Knowledge,skills, competence: European divergences in vocational education and training (VET)—the English,German and Dutch cases

Policy debates on employability, lifelong learning and competence‐based approaches suggest a convergence of VET approaches across European countries. Against the background of the creation of a European Qualifications Framework, this paper compares the VET systems of England, Germany and The Netherlands. The analysis reveals the distinct understandings and meanings of outwardly similar terms. These meanings are deeply rooted in the countries’ institutional structures and labour processes and still inform national debates and policies today. The paper identifies a major distinction between a ‘knowledge‐based’ VET model in Germany and The Netherlands and a ‘skills‐based’ model in England. There is a need to develop trans‐national categories that take into account the social construction of terms such as ‘skills’ and ‘qualifications’.     

Scientists,Engineers and the Society of Free Choice: Enrollment as Policy and Practice in Swedish Science and Technology Education 1960–1990

This article portrays the formation of a new problem area within Swedish educational policy in the 1960s, namely the need of scientific manpower and the demands to entice more individuals into studies in science and technology. As a consequence school science was given the mission to be interesting, fun and to change young people’s attitudes towards these subjects. In the 1970s and 1980s many initiatives were taken to increase the numbers of applicants at high school and university levels, both within curricular frames and out-of-school activities such as science clubs. Through an approach inspired by governmentality studies, I describe the strategies deployed to remedy the problem as rationalities of liberal governmentality. The actions taken were executed in a way to make school children choose science or technology out of their free will. It was an exercise of power that was not meant to restrain but instead to enable action.     

Reflections on the emancipatory potential of vocational education and training practices: Freire and Rancière in dialogue

This paper focuses on the issue of emancipation in education practices in general and in vocational education and training (VET) in particular. The principal aim is to contribute to the discussion of particular traditions of emancipation in education in connection with VET practices. The exploration of ongoing educational debates on VET policy-making and the issue of emancipation in VET reveals that, ultimately, emancipation in VET is understood as a specific function for socio-economic integration. The paper discusses this functionalist orientation and contrasts it with a vision on emancipation as a feature of an educational process rather than an educational outcome. Freire's and Rancière's core concepts of emancipation guide the discussion regarding the latter interpretation of emancipation in VET practices.     

Secondary Education and Emancipation: Secondary Schools for Freed Slaves in the American South, 1862–1875

Slavery in the United States denied education to the enslaved. Yet within fifteen years of the beginning of the American Civil War and the freeing of four million American slaves, the freed people and their supporters elaborated a full system of universal education in the South, including over 120 secondary and higher institutions. Historians have overlooked black secondary education as a distinctive part of early black schooling. This article documents the competing ends of black secondary education during Reconstruction, the forms of secondary education that emerged during that period, and the curriculum and pedagogy of the schools. An appendix lists the schools of secondary and higher grade known to have been in operation by 1876.     

Graduate programme outcomes in history, 1990–2015: a humanities case study in Canada

During the last decade, scholars and journalists in Canada raised alarm bells about the efficacy and viability of graduate humanities programmes across the country. The Department of History at the University of Saskatchewan decided to analyse the outcomes of its graduate programmes at the Doctoral and Master's levels, from 1990 to 2015. We learned that our students complete their programmes in a timely manner, their attrition rates are lower than expected, and most are finding employment in relevant fields, including academia, administration, and public history. However, we also discovered a trend of gender inequity that warrants attention. Although the proportion of male and female graduate students entering our programmes was about equal, our female students withdrew more often and took longer to complete their degrees. In addition, our female graduates were not hired in the top academic positions at the same rate as their male counterparts.     

Gender issues in vocational education and training and workplace achievement of 14–19 year olds: an EOC perspective

ABSTRACT

The role of education and training historically was to prepare men and women for different roles beyond schooling. Despite equality legislation in 1975, designed to secure wider opportunities for women in society and in the workplace, progress towards achieving equality in employment–with the exception of entry into the lower levels of some professions–has been slow and traditional patterns of occu‐ pational segregation remain. Traditional attitudes and expectations have proved diffi‐ cult to change. This is reflected in the participation rates of men and women in vocational education and training programmes currently on offer to young people.

The compulsory education system has seen the removal of structural barriers to equality and access to all subjects has provided girls with the opportunity to achieve well and outperform boys even in non‐traditional subjects such as maths, science and technology. Disappointingly, however, academic gains have not been marked by wider vocational choice within and beyond schooling where stereotyping in option, subject, training and employment decisions is still overt.

In this article, we use the examples of Part 1 GNVQs, further education, Modern Apprenticeships and National Traineeships to illustrate the current extent of stereo‐ typing and segregation in vocational education and training. We argue that it is of par‐ ticular concern that these recent policy initiatives reinforce rather than challenge stereotyping and that 25 years after the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA), vocational education and training provide young people with narrow and segregated routeways while delivering to industry limited and gender‐based pools of talent. We recognize that young people, women particularly, are disadvantaged as a result, and their poten‐ tial for career development and economic independence is reduced.

We argue that gender stereotyping is a barrier to equality which should be addressed in all new education and training policy development, such as the review of the National Curriculum, and should be included in government policy direction to vocational education and training providers. We use the example of TVEI to show how good practice can be promoted in education and training in schools and we identify and recommend the use of good practice strategies in vocational education and training, particularly the positive action provisions of the SDA.     

“… It’s like the immigrants stick together,the stupid ones,and the ones who want to learn something”: dynamics of peer relations,social categories,and dropout in vocational educational training

This paper discusses how student identities are constituted through social categories and how this affects students’ educational trajectories. Dropout is often described as a sudden event but this paper demonstrates how dropping out is a long-term process involving social interactions between the students. It is based on a field study in which the author was enrolled as a student at the car mechanic program at a vocational education and training school. The various social categories emerge in contrast with each other and have fundamental influences in defining the students’ scope of action. Divisions between the students were based on discourses of ethnicity and seriousness. Four portraits of individual students, each belonging to a different peer group, are presented to describe the individual level of the peer-related dropout processes. The discussion calls for awareness of reproducing effects of taken-for-granted logics and discriminatory practices and for including identity-related perspectives on peer relations, when studying dropout.     

Dropouts in Swiss vocational education and the effect of training companies’ trainee selection methods

In the Swiss vocational education system, which is often called a ‘Dual System’, trainees enter into an apprenticeship contract with a training company. On average, 25% of those contracts are terminated prematurely (PCT). This article examines the relationship between training companies’ selection methods and PCTs. The investigation is based on a quantitative study with a cross-sectional design and on qualitative interviews. Trainers and operations managers (N = 335) of Swiss training companies for cooks and painters were surveyed. Half of the companies have been affected by a PCT in the past and the other half have not. The findings indicate that a certain amount of the explained variance between companies with and without reported PCTs can be explained by the companies’ selection process. Companies that were affected by a PCT use a job interview and a company visit significantly less often in their selection process than companies without a PCT.     

Hong Kong Higher Education, 1981–2001: public policy and re-emergent social stratification

In this paper I first place the development of Hong Kong's higher education in the larger context of education and governance histories. Next I describe one of the deepest policy quandaries for Hong Kong's government in charting the futures of its higher education system: whether to view the ultimate benefits of higher education for individuals in terms of ‘sponsored’ versus ‘contest’ mobility. I then turn to evidence from HK census data about the changing distribution of opportunity for higher education. I discuss trends in educational stratification since 1981, focusing most attention on changes in the opportunity for post-secondary and, especially, for university education to the Bachelors' degree level. I discuss methods for the use of Hong Kong's 1981, 1991 and 2001 census, and I present bivariate and multivariate analysis of the changing impact of family cultural and material resources on the odds of continuing and attending education at the university level. From 1991 to 2001, census data suggest there was a reversal of a trend towards greater equality of opportunity that was observed between the 1981 and 1991 census. I conclude by relating the findings from these analyses to future higher education planning in Hong Kong.     

Race,Education, and Joblessness in the Inner City, 1970–1990

In When Work Disappears, William Julius Wilson argues that the difficulties black inner-city residents face in finding work has more to do with their failure to acquire the kinds of education, skills, and work habits required by changes in the urban labor market than with racial discrimination. In this essay, I argue that this notion tends both to obscure the substantial gains African-Americans have made in education and to discount the degree to which race continues to mediate the relationship between educational achievement and labor market outcomes. Although there is no question that the economic position of those with little education has deteriorated badly over the last two decades, absent policies that address the persistent racial disparities in employment, reforming education by itself will not substantially improve African-American employment opportunities or reduce black joblessness in the inner city.     

Educating for a high skills society? The landscape of federal employment,training and lifelong learning policy in Canada

Government reports and documents claim that building a knowledge economy and innovative society are key goals in Canada. In this paper, we draw on critical policy analysis to examine 10 Canadian federal government training and employment policies in relation to the government's espoused priorities of innovation and developing a high skills society and economy. Our findings highlight three areas of contradiction: a tension between high skills and low skills policy, a contradictory focus on the socially and economically excluded and included, and the paradox of both an active and passive federal government. Drawing on state theories such as inclusive liberalism and the social investment state, we argue that while a ‘highly skilled knowledge economy’ may form part of the overall skills discourse, these contradictions raise doubts that it is to become a reality in Canada in the near future.