Search Results for
"Vocational education"

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. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education.

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. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

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’. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

In an increasingly e-literate society, new technologies are being developed and traditional teaching approaches are challenged to meet new requirements. Other aspects such as teamwork and knowledge exchange are also becoming more important. Collaborative work methods are more dominant in the networked working environment. The vocational training at universities is therefore continuously confronted with new challenges. The objective of this paper is to show how the implementation of a holistic teaching approach including the idea of blended learning can be an effective way to train students in collaborative and academic working skills, methodological expertise, information competence, as well as making students aware of new developments in media literacy. This approach follows our proposed concept DIAMOND (Didactical Approach for Media Competence Development) with a main focus on the implementation of the "knowledge- enhancing helix." This pedagogical concept was developed correspondingly the requirements for "good online learning." The paper accordingly discusses the theoretical framework and presents a case study where the concept was implemented in practice.

The history of automobiles is not just the story of invention, manufacturing, and marketing; it is also a story of repair. Auto Mechanics opens the repair shop to historical study-for the first time-by tracing the emergence of a dirty, difficult, and important profession. Kevin L. Borg's study spans a century of automotive technology-from the horseless carriage of the late nineteenth century to the "check engine" light of the late twentieth. Drawing from a diverse body of source material, Borg explores how the mechanic's occupation formed and evolved within the context of broad American fault lines of class, race, and gender and how vocational education entwined these tensions around the mechanic's unique expertise. He further shows how aspects of the consumer rights and environmental movements, as well as the design of automotive electronics, reflected and challenged the social identity and expertise of the mechanic. In the history of the American auto mechanic, Borg finds the origins of a persistent anxiety that even today accompanies the prospect of taking one's car in for repair. © 2007 The Johns Hopkins University Press. All rights reserved.

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 stakeholders at a sub-regional level. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

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. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

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. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

The paper reports on the findings of a Learning and Skills Research Centre (LSRC) funded study investigating the impact of different modes and methods of assessment on achievement and progress in post-secondary education and training. Data were collected across Advanced-level academic and vocational preparation programmes in schools and colleges, work-based training, and adult education settings. The paper reports that clarity in assessment procedures, processes and criteria has underpinned widespread use of coaching, practice and provision of formative feedback to boost achievement, but that such transparency encourages instrumentalism. It concludes that the practice of assessment has moved from assessment of learning, through assessment for learning, to assessment as learning, with assessment procedures and practices coming completely to dominate the learning experience and ‘criteria compliance’ replacing ‘learning’. © 2007 Taylor & Francis.

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. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.