Showing papers in "Journal of Vocational Education & Training in 2007"

The Concept of Competence in the Development of Vocational Education and Training in Selected EU Member States: A Critical Analysis.

Abstract: This contribution follows the descriptive review of Weigel, Mulder and Collins regarding the use of the competence concept in the development of vocational education and training in England, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The purpose of this contribution is to review the critical analyses brought forward by various authors in this field. This analysis also remarks on the most important theories and critiques on the use of the competence concept in the above‐mentioned states, The systems of vocational education within the four states covered in this study are: the National Vocational Qualifications in England, the approach to learning areas in Germany, the ETED and the bilan de competences in France, and the implementation of competence‐based vocational education in the Netherlands, and these are the respective focal points for the critical assessments of the competence concept presented here. These critiques encompass such aspects as the lack of a coherent definition of the concept of competence, th...

The concept of competence in the development of vocational education and training in selected EU member states.

Abstract: This contribution reviews how four European countries—England, Germany, France and the Netherlands—use the concept of competence in the process of developing vocational education and training. Competence in England is set in the context of the National Vocational Qualifications; in Germany within action competence and the approach to learning areas; in France within the Emploi Type Etudie dans sa Dynamique (ETED, translated by Cereq as Typical Employment Studied in Its Dynamics) and the bilan de competences; and, in the Netherlands, the concept is strongly linked to the development of a competence‐based qualification structure for senior secondary vocational education. The nature of this review is rather descriptive as it aims to present a comparison of the meaning and use of the concept of competence within these respective countries. It can be concluded that despite a certain amount of diversity, especially at the instrumental level, there is enough conceptual convergence within the four above‐mentioned...

‘Modernisation’ and the role of policy levers in the learning and skills sector

Abstract: This paper examines the changing use of policy levers in the English postcompulsory education and training system, often referred to as the learning and skills sector (LSS). Policy steering by governments has increased significantly in recent years, bringing with it the development of new forms of arms‐length regulation. In the English context, these changes were expressed during the 1980s and 1990s through neoliberal New Public Management and, since 1997, have been extended through the New Labour government’s project to further ‘modernise’ public services. We look here at the changing use of policy levers (focussing in particular on the role of targets, funding, inspection, planning and initiatives) over three historical phases, paying particular attention to developments since the formation of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2001. We conclude by considering the range of responses adopted by education professionals in this era of ‘modernisation’.

Factors influencing teachers' professional competence development

Abstract: This article aims to increase understanding and knowledge concerning teachers’ competence enhancement. Models used in industrial contexts are analysed in order to elaborate a framework relevant to understand teachers’ learning. This specifies components of the work environment that are mobilised by teachers in order to achieve their goals. It is used to identify ways in which teachers in France manage to improve their practice despite being involved in complex and difficult situations. The data come from 60 interviews. The results highlight the effects of the organisation of the collective work situations: spurring exchanges amongst teachers and school partners appears to be a main factor for improving teachers’ conceptions about teaching. Some ideas are outlined for constructing new continuing professional development programmes and studying their effects.

Endless change in the learning and skills sector: the impact on teaching staff

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of change on tutors and managers in 24 learning sites in England, in vocational courses at Level 1 or Level 2 1 in further education (FE) colleges and in basic skills provision in adult community education and workplaces. We discuss the views of these participants in the research project, The Impact of Policy on Learning and Inclusion in the Learning and Skills Sector, funded through the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), in relation to other research on professionals in the sector. We then consider in turn the diversity in a group of tutors and managers we interviewed; their perceptions of the sources of change in their sector; and changes in the learner groups with whom they work. Three examples of changes affecting staff, and their responses to those changes, are then discussed, one from each of the research contexts: FE colleges, adult and community learning (ACL) and work‐based learning (WBL). We raise ...

‘The heart of what we do’: policies on teaching, learning and assessment in the learning and skills sector

Abstract: One of the stated aims of government policy in England is to put teaching, training and learning at the heart of the learning and skills system. This paper provides a critical review of policies on teaching, learning and assessment in the learning and skills sector over the past five years. It draws upon data collected and analysed in the early stages of an ESRC‐funded Teaching and Learning Research Programme project. 1 Using evidence from policy sources, we argue that despite policy rhetoric about devolution of responsibility to the ‘front line’, the dominant ‘images’ that government has of putting teaching, learning and assessment at the heart of the learning and skills sector involves a narrow concept of learning and skills; an idealization of learner agency lacking an appreciation of the pivotal role of the learner–tutor relationship and a top‐down view of change in which central government agencies are relied on to secure education standards.

In search of the further education of young people in post‐war England

Abstract: This article surveys three strands of development in the further education of young people in England since the Second World War: its institutional evolution, some aspects of the experience of its students and staff, and the political and economic imperatives that have given it shape and direction. The account draws upon a wide range of primary secondary sources, from the literatures of professional and social research, economics, political science and political history. Toward the end of the paper, a broader comparative perspective is adopted in order to pin down the distinctiveness of the English experience, before overall conclusions are drawn. These discuss the extent to which further education in England remains a local enterprise and the areas of continuity that, as whole, account both for its identity and its place in English culture and society.

Riding the waves of policy? The case of basic skills in adult and community learning in England

Abstract: This paper draws on data from secondary sources and in‐depth interviews to explore the question: What is the impact of policy on teaching, learning, assessment and inclusion in Adult and Community Learning (ACL) Skills for Life (SfL) provision? In particular, it focuses on the government’s use of five policy‐steering mechanisms—funding, inspection, planning, targets and policy initiatives (in this case SfL). The design of the study allows us to use evidence from four sets of interviews with teachers, learners and managers of ACL in eight sites of learning (four in London and four in the North East) over a period of 26 months of considerable policy turbulence. We argue, first, that there is a symbiotic relationship between ACL and SfL provision; and second, that while the combined effects of targets and funding have the most powerful effects on tutor and manager actions, inspection, planning and tutors’ and managers’ own professional values also have an important role in shaping the teaching of literacy an...

Mediation, translation and local ecologies: understanding the impact of policy levers on FE colleges

Abstract: This article reports the views of managers and tutors on the role of policy ‘levers’ on teaching, learning, and inclusion in colleges of Further Education (FE) in our research project, ‘The impact of policy on learning and inclusion in the Learning and Skills Sector (LSS)’.i Using data from five research visits conducted over two years in eight FE learning sites, we explore the processes by which colleges ‘mediate’ and ‘translate’ national policy levers and how this affects their ability to respond to local need. The paper tentatively develops three related concepts/metaphors to explain the complexity of the policy/college interface – ‘the process of mediation’, ‘acts of translation’ and ‘local ecologies’. We found that policy levers interacted with a complex set of national, local and institutional factors as colleges responded to pressures from the external environment and turned these into internal plans, systems and practices. We conclude by suggesting that national policy-makers, who design national policy levers, may not be fully aware of these complexities and we make the case for the benefits of greater local control over policy levers, where these interactions are better understood.

‘I was just the boy around the place’: what made apprenticeships successful?

Abstract: This article seeks to add to current policy and debate on apprenticeships and youth transitions more widely by reflecting back upon the historical experience of the apprenticeship model. The research comprises in‐depth interviews with 30 people who undertook apprenticeships in a range of trades in Great Britain in the period 1944–1982. The discussion focuses upon the socialisation aspects of apprenticeship and concludes that a key feature of good apprenticeships in the post‐ war period was that they offered a sheltered and extended period in which the young person was able to grow up and become job‐ready. Reconstructing the social, industrial, familial and community conditions that made this possible is very difficult in the contemporary period, although further work in oral history has considerable potential.

Teacher educators in post-compulsory education: gender, discourse and power

Abstract: Recent research on post‐compulsory teacher educators in England suggests that there is a high degree of feminisation of this workforce, particularly where further and higher education partnerships are concerned. This process of feminisation has taken place against a background in which English post‐compulsory education has increasingly been brought under state control and direction, with profound consequences for those engaged in the professional development of teachers in the sector. Although teacher education is also highly feminised in other sectors and in many countries, the recent history of post‐compulsory education in England has a number of characteristics that have strongly influenced the gender distribution of its teacher educators. This article examines the locus of power driving the gendered division of labour in post‐compulsory teacher education and attempts to account for it by means of the intersection of structuralist and poststructuralist perspectives. It is argued that the trends taking ...

Trust, shared goals and participation in partnerships: reflections of post‐16 education and training providers in England

Abstract: This paper discusses the role of trust and shared goals in relation to participation in inter‐organisational and multi‐agency partnerships. It draws on a study of partnership working in England and focuses in particular on the perspectives of senior managers of post‐16 education and training providers with substantial experience of working in local and regional partnerships. The research explored the concept and practice of partnership through a qualitative case study of a sub‐regional partnership and the main methods used for data collection were observations of partnership meetings, documentary evidence of partnership working and semi‐structured interviews with members of the partnership. The findings presented in this paper emanate principally from the interview data and reveal the importance and differentiated nature of trust in partnership working and the place of both trust and shared goals in effective and sustained partnerships.

Across the great divide. From a welfare state to a new market state: the case of VET

Abstract: This paper revisits the crucial period following the Arab oil boycott of 1973, when the welfare state in the UK finally collapsed along with the heavy industrial base upon which it rested. Unlike the post‐war welfare‐state ‘settlement’, the new post‐welfare market state was imposed by Margaret Thatcher’s governments. It was marked for vocational education and training by the 1988 Education Reform Act and the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act. This legislation was part of what has been called ‘a succession of Acts of Parliament… [that] mark the most decisive break in British social policy since the period between 1944 and 1948’. The paper revises and refines previous accounts to suggest that this outcome was not inevitable, nor is it sustainable, and that it is best comprehended as a new type of state formation.

Flowers in the desert: the impact of policy on basic skills provision in the workplace

Abstract: In this paper we argue that learning in the workplace can bring considerable benefits for learners and employers. It draws on data from in‐depth interviews and secondary sources from eight sites of work‐based learning as part of wider research into the effects of five national policy mechanisms within the Learning and Skills Sector. We also have evidence of the positive effects of policy initiatives, in this case, Skills for Life, Union Learning Representatives and Employer Training Pilots, and of legislation such as the Care Standards Act. However, initiative‐based resources cannot substitute for longer‐term, more secure funding. We have found what may be described as ‘flowers in the desert’—provision that grows, develops and blossoms quickly with the injection of funding, but which is very susceptible to changes in resourcing and, like flowers in the desert, can wither as quickly as it grew. We conclude by arguing that initiatives and exhortation are unlikely on their own to ensure that the full benefit...

Balancing the vocational and academic dimensions of accounting education: the case for a core curriculum

Abstract: Knowledge is a defining characteristic of professions but, given the ever‐increasing knowledge base, curricula in professional disciplines are becoming overcrowded. This paper discusses propositional/declarative knowledge in relation to the accounting knowledge base. Historically, professional areas such as medicine, law and accountancy have expanded their curriculum to encompass new areas. However, core curricula have been introduced recently in medicine and law to provide space for the development of wider skills, to equip students for lifelong learning and to enable them to tailor their study in line with interests, aptitudes and career intentions. These core curricula are examined in order to assess the arguments for and against a core curriculum for accounting. The paper concludes that the introduction of core curricula in undergraduate accounting education could address the problem of the increasing knowledge base while providing breadth, opportunities for developing interpersonal skills and allowin...

The demands of the double shift: communities of practice in continuing professional development

Abstract: Discussion of communities of practice in workplace learning is widespread. Here the authors seek to consider how we can make use of communities of practice theory in practical teaching in a formal undergraduate educational context. The concept of what the authors call the double shift is discussed; a shift from the workplace as community of practice to the educational institution then the shift back from the educational context to the workplace. The authors describe methods used to manage the transition between different communities based on reflection linked to the development of Continuing Professional Development programmes. They conclude that the learning that takes place in an educational context is in a dynamic relationship with the community of practice of the workplace and the methods proposed can contribute positively to this relationship.

Policy and Practice in the Learning and Skills Sector: Setting the Scene.

Abstract: This paper sets the scene for a collection of papers based on The impact of policy on learning and inclusion in the learning and skills sector, a research project funded from January 2004 until July 2007 by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of their Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP). We raise some general issues about researching the impact of policy, and offer a brief description of the learning and skills sector in England, highlighting two important features: its turbulent recent history, and the diversity and divisions within the sector. We then outline the scope of our research and discuss aspects of our methodology, which has sought to engage practitioners and policymakers in a variety of ways throughout the project. Finally we introduce the six other papers produced by members of the project team in the second and third year of the research, and the two commentaries from our external discussants, Mary Hamilton and Phil Hodkinson.

‘We are trying to reproduce a crafts apprenticeship’: from Government Blueprint to workplace‐generated apprenticeship in the knowledge economy

Abstract: Recent research has shown that the UK's Advanced Apprenticeship Programme (AAP) struggles to develop the forms of ‘vocational practice’, that is, a combination of knowledge, skill and judgement, employers are looking for in the creative and cultural sector. Employers' reluctance to get involved with the AAP does not mean that they are uninterested in training. They are concerned that the UK's Department of Education and Skills promotes the AAP to serve ‘educational’ goals (i.e. route for academic progression), rather than functioning as a genuine attempt to develop the sector‐specific vocational knowledge and skill that they feel it is important for apprentices to develop. To understand why many employers distance themselves from the AAP, the paper compares and contrasts the AAP with the ‘Technical Apprenticeship’, which has been developed by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with regard to the different notions of skill formation, skill transfer and employability. It concludes by raising a number of question...

14‐ to 16‐year‐olds in further education colleges: lessons for learning and leadership

Abstract: The views of 14‐ to 16‐year‐olds who have undertaken vocational courses in further education, and those of parents and staff, raise issues regarding the ways in which schools and colleges support learning. Staff differ in how they understand vocational education, reflecting not only conceptual differences but also differences in the market position and interests of their organization. Nevertheless, the experience of young people in further education is generally seen as very positive. The article suggests that the success is due to a pedagogy that makes use of experiential and social forms of learning in an environment which allows students to connect more fully to a future adult world. The article concludes by exploring the possibilities of making this successful experience more widely available to 14‐ to 16‐year‐olds. Government plans are suggested to be inadequate in addressing the degree to which the competitive environment and different cultures will undermine collaborative arrangements.

The establishment of centres for the training of teachers in technical and further education in England, 1933-1950

Abstract: This paper examines the beginnings of courses of teacher training for teachers in technical and further education in England. First the development of the technical education sector and its distinctive part‐time nature is traced, alongside the activities of the three associations representing the colleges and their staffs. The views of these on the proposals of the Board of Education to introduce an experiment in technical teacher training in the late 1930s are considered. The wartime planning of technical teacher training as part of the emergency teacher training scheme is discussed, and the setting‐up of three centres for teacher training in technical colleges and their work up to 1950 are outlined.

Reflections on Agency and Change in the Policy Process.

Abstract: This commentary responds to a collection of papers based on ‘The impact of policy on learning and inclusion in the learning and skills sector’, a research project funded from January 2004 until July 2007 by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of their Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP). In her response to the papers, the author reviews the features she found particularly useful and identifies the aspects she believes warrant further development. Some questions about issues of ‘agency’ and ‘change’ in the learning and skills sector are raised. The contribution of these papers are linked to the author’s own research focus on the area of ‘Skills for life’ (strategy indexed at TD/IRD 88.171).

Reclaiming bodily dispositions through the humanities: homeless people learning

Abstract: This paper examines data drawn from interviews with homeless people who were undertaking a Clemente programme offered by the Australian Catholic University in the Vincentian Village in East Sydney. The Clemente programme, conceptualised by Shorris, is based on the belief that an education in the humanities empowers people to engage in a more controlled way with the world in which they live, and that they will therefore be less likely to react simply to contexts and events. Two of the striking things about the interview data were the rejection of ‘vocational courses’ and the way in which the learners referred to changes in their bodies that flowed from the humanities programme: the way they walked, the straightness of their backs, together with the metaphor of climbing. The present paper seeks to interpret these and other changes in terms of Mauss’s and Bourdieu’s conceptions of habitus, bodily hexis and dispositions, and possible implications for teaching and learning in vocational education.

Pedagogy and the intuitive appeal of learning styles in post‐compulsory education in England

Abstract: Despite the rigorous and robust evaluation of learning styles theories, models and inventories, little objective evidence in support of their effectiveness has been found. The lack of unambiguous evidence in support of these models and practices leaves the continued popularity of these models and instruments as a puzzle. Two related accounts of the tenacious appeal are considered in this paper. First, the popularity of these accounts is explored in terms of their intuitive appeal. This notion is explicated in terms of what it is to be gripped by a metaphysical picture. It is argued that the simple and direct appeal of these models, viewed as metaphysical pictures, in part explains their continued popularity. Second, it is argued that when we situate these models in the arena of contemporary pedagogic practice in the Post‐compulsory Education and Training Sector it becomes possible to discern a number of ways in which they can also be recognized to serve specific instrumental ends. The apparent usefulness ...

What do graduate teaching assistants' perceptions of pedagogy suggest about current approaches to their vocational development?

Abstract: This paper explores the current assumptions behind vocational training for graduate teaching assistants at a large, urban, research‐led UK university. Through qualitative evaluation it reflects on the perceptions of participants on a graduate teaching assistant ‘learning and teaching module’ in terms of an interpretation of their views on pedagogic practice. These reflections suggest that three of the assumptions upon which GTA training has been, and still is, predicated view the process in a relatively simplistic manner. The paper suggests that the pedagogic socialization process has been inaccurately homogenized as a postgraduate issue, ignoring the possibility that relatively sophisticated perceptions of good teaching practice are already firmly in place when a graduate enters a doctoral programme.

From the sidelines to the centre: Indigenous support units in vocational education and training

Abstract: Indigenous Australians are significantly disadvantaged in comparison with non‐Indigenous Australians on all socioeconomic indicators Education and training are seen as a means of reducing inequality, and high levels of Indigenous participation in vocational education and training (VET) indicate that this sector has a central role in this process This paper draws from an interview study undertaken to investigate the VET experiences of Indigenous adults in Victoria, Australia Retrospective interviews were conducted with a sample of 128 current and former students, and teachers and other stakeholders in order to identify the factors that promote engagement in the system and improve qualifications and employment pathways A major finding of the study was the vital role played by Indigenous Support Units in enabling Indigenous students to successfully negotiate their pathways through the VET system

Perspectives on vocational education and training in post‐war England

Abstract: Over the last decade in Britain, there has been something of a renaissance in historical scholarship on education. This is represented in a broadening of theoretical, methodological and substantive...

Marine and maritime sector skills shortages in the South West of England: developing regional training provision

Abstract: Clustering theory assumes that companies gravitate towards each other on the basis of locally and regionally specific resources and supply chain characteristics, which lead in turn to innovation and high‐value economic development. In line with such thinking, UK government policy has devolved certain functions to regional development agencies such as the encouragement of linkages and systems to facilitate knowledge transfer and address skills needs within regional clusters. Within this broad context, the research reported here focused on the analysis and development of an action plan for the development of marine and maritime sector skills within the South West region, which led to the establishment of a new institutional framework of three sub‐regional centres of excellence based on industry and training collaboration to provide demand‐led vocational training. The overall issue here is how sector skills shortages can be tackled by strategic intervention at a regional level and collaboration between stake...

Researching 40 years of learning for work: the experiences of one cohort of workers

Abstract: Using previously unanalysed data from a lost study—the Adjustment of Young Workers to Work Situations and Adult Roles (1962–1964)—and data from a subsequent restudy, this paper contributes to debates on vocational education by examining three themes. First, the methodological issues raised by undertaking a restudy are discussed. Second, the young workers’ initial workplace learning experiences in the 1960s are examined with an emphasis on commitment to learning and training. Third, links between initial training experiences and the subsequent learning experiences in later careers are explored. We conclude that high levels of commitment to workplace learning were evident throughout the life‐course of this group. However, significantly, this commitment existed only when the training available was on‐the‐job and the links between learning and working practice were clear. Formal learning opportunities were deemed unimportant and seen as existing for the benefit of the employer, not the employee.

Transnationals, globalisation and education and training: evidence from the South African automotive sector 1

Abstract: This study explores the relationships between globalisation and education and training through an examination of certain transnational corporations operating in the automotive sector in South Africa. The automotive industry is an important source of improvements in both the quality and quantity of skills in South Africa. This sector was the initial driver of much of recent changes in skills development in response to globalisation and has particular potential to be incorporated into global production chains. The South African policy strategies for skills and for industrial development are still relatively young and fragile. Nonetheless, they do appear to point to the scope that a developing country with comparative economic strength and state capacity has for positive interventions to support international competitiveness.

Behaviourism and training: the programmed instruction movement in Britain, 1950–1975

Abstract: The paper examines the influence of behaviourism on vocational education and training in Britain in the period between the Second World War and the mid‐1970s. By the 1970s, behaviourism provided deeply‐rooted underlying curricular and pedagogic principles that were widely accepted by VET professionals in the UK. Insofar as behaviourist ideas were debated, critics focused on the rigidity with which they were applied in practice, rather than on the ideas themselves. The paper explores the context within which behaviourist ideas came to dominate the VET profession, outlining their operationalisation as ‘programmed instruction’ (later as ‘programmed learning’), and showing how their advocacy and adoption helped to underpin the emergence of a professional community of VET scholars and practitioners. The paper draws largely on contemporary evidence, including professional journals, textbooks and official records, as well as archival materials. It concludes by challenging simplistic dismissal of programmed instr...