Michael Young

Bio: Michael Young is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Curriculum development & Curriculum. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 17 citations.

FET college teachers : a knowledge-based profession of the future : conversations

Abstract: The publication of the new curriculum and subject guidelines for the National Certificate (Vocational) marks an important development in policy by the Department of Education. To implement this new National Certificate (Vocational), the teaching staff at FET colleges should not only be familiar with the new curriculum and its pedagogic demands, but must also have clarity on the new meaning of the vocational role of colleges. Thus if the new curriculum is to become a reality, systematic attention needs to be given to the professional development of FET college teaching staff. In this article, I examine possible approaches through which FET college lecturers might become members of a knowledge-based profession of the future.

Conceptualizing curriculum differentiation in higher education: a sociology of knowledge point of view

Abstract: Sociologists of education rooted in social realism have for more than a decade argued that knowledge matters in education, there are different kinds of knowledge, not all forms of knowledge are equal and that these differentiations have significant implications for curriculum. While this argument has made an important contribution to both theoretical and policy debate, the implications for curriculum have not been sufficiently addressed. In other words, a theory of differentiated knowledge has not translated into an adequate theory of differentiated curriculum. Drawing on Basil Bernstein’s work on knowledge differentiation and Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory, this paper offers an empirically derived emerging framework for conceptualizing differentiated higher education curricula with a particular interest in occupationally and professionally oriented curricula. The framework illuminates the principles underlying curriculum differentiation, thus enabling a richer conversation about epistemological ac...

FET college lecturers: the ‘devolving’ link in the South African skills development equation

Abstract: National attention on the role of skills development has focused on the role of Further Education and Training (FET) colleges in providing intermediate‐level education and training necessary to meet the South African national development challenge. In particular, attention has been focused on reorganisation and rationalisation of college structures: through infrastructural development using recapitalisation funds; by curriculum renewal; and by proposing to boost learner enrolment to more than a million learners by 2014. The changes presuppose that college lecturers, as key strategic players, are a well‐motivated and an effective component of the college system ready to take on these challenges. This paper considers that this may not necessarily be the case. Some attention has been paid to them in passing in the South African literature on FET colleges, and a report on ‘staffing challenges’ commissioned by the national department provided important information as to their form and composition. Very little ...

Lecturer experiences of TVET College challenges in the post-apartheid era: a case of unintended consequences of educational reform in South Africa

Abstract: Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in South Africa has undergone major institutional, structural and curricular changes over the last fourteen years. Drawing on figurational sociolo...

From policy to curriculum in South African vocational teacher education: a comparative perspective

Abstract: This article analyses recent national policy on further education and training (FET) college lecturer development in South Africa in the light of more established curricula and practice for the training of vocational teachers internationally. The policy published by the national Department of Education suggests standards for college teaching which encompass academic competence, work experience and pedagogic competence. However, qualifications are yet to be designed, developed and offered by universities and other providers that hold responsibility for teacher education. The article explores local and global vocational teacher education (VTE) policies and curricula in an attempt to highlight the agreed‐upon elements of curricula that could pave the way for South African policy on vocational lecturer development to be implemented.

Integration and fragmentation of post compulsory teacher education

Abstract: The boundaries between vocational and academic post compulsory education have been blurred by students combining vocational and academic studies and by students transferring increasingly between the two types of education. Institutions are also blurring the boundaries between the sectors by increasingly offering programs from two and sometimes three sectors. In contrast, teachers seem more entrenched than ever in their own sector. This article reports a project on the preparation of Australian teachers of vocational education. It examines the prospect of integrating the preparation of teachers in post compulsory education to teach in schools, vocational education institutions and higher education institutions. It argues that greater differentiation between different types of vocational teachers and vocational teacher preparation can support the development of a continuum along which it would be possible to establish points of commonality with the preparation of school and higher education teachers.