Search Results for
"Vocational education"

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 questions and issues as regards: (1) the future development of apprenticeship in the creative and cultural sector in the UK and internationally, and (2) the concept of vocational practice in vocational education and Training. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

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. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

Graduates of Morocco's vocational training system remain in a very precarious position on the labour market, despite improvements to the system over the past 20 years. Data from a 2000 study of the career paths of graduates are analyzed to determine the factors favouring or hindering employment. The analysis is based on duration modelling applied to the length of unemployment before the first employement. Results confirm the disorganized state of the labour market in Morocco. Training geared to informal economies offers a greater potential for employment. Soliciting help from parents and friends increases access to employment, particularly for girls, as do using training centres or consulting employment ads in newspapers, although comparatively less so than personal connections. The father's profession is instrumental. Children of managers and skilled trades are more likely to find employment. Finally, internships are shown to be more helpful for girls than boys. © Revue canadience d'études du dévelopment, 2007. Tous droits rŕeservés.

There is a recognised gap in information and communications technology (ICT) learning and teaching in higher education for entry-level healthcare professionals. This paper proposes a research model for understanding the dimensions of this gap. We describe methodological approaches to understanding present practices, identifying levers for change and learning by doing. We discuss issues faced in getting started and sustaining momentum on the research that is an essential prerequisite to effectively build the ICT capacity required by the clinical workforce in a sustainable healthcare system. © 2007 The authors. All rights reserved.

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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 serious questions about the pace of policy-led change, the management of change and professionals’ responses to turbulence in the sector, and stress the need to consider the impact on staff, and to listen to those who work closely with learners. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

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 benefits of learning in the workplace are realized. There is, therefore, a need both for more sustained funding from government and employers and for greater regulation, such as the ‘licence to practise’ approach taken in the Health and Social Care professions. © 2007 The vocational Aspect of education Ltd.

The emerging knowledge society is one of the main reasons that underlie the appearance of the interactive combination of learning and working in higher education. It is argued that the coop education system and work-based learning can become important instruments in integrating learning and working only if coop education is organized as a knowledge network in which universities and business closely cooperate. Based on this community perspective on coop education, a literature study and secondary analysis of evaluation and policy studies with relation to coop education are performed, in order to distinguish drivers for the development of coop higher education as well as factors that inhibit the acceptance of coop higher education. To further the conceptualisation of the coop system, the cooperation between a university of professional education and a number of business partners in a particular project (the Interface project) has been explored and examined. It is concluded that the further development of a system of coop higher education requires a number of advancements among others: further conceptualisation of this specific type of higher education, a quality assurance system that makes explicit what we mean by academic standards and how students can meet these standards, and a clear description of responsibilities and obligations of the various parties involved. When it comes to the development of sustainable knowledge networks in which institutions of higher education and companies participate the design of a coop curriculum can be very helpful, but cultural differences still need to be overcome. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

This study examined a model of assessment that could be applied nationally for Year Twelve vocational education and Training (VET) subjects and which could yield both a differentiating score and recognition of competence. More than fifty colleges across all states and territories of Australia field-tested the approach over one school year. Results showed that the model allowed for a standards-referenced model to be used: that the approach was compatible with the diverse range of senior secondary assessment systems in use throughout Australia and that there were considerable cost benefits to be had in adopting the logic of item response modelling for the development of rubrics for scoring performances on units of competence from National Training Packages. A change in the logic of competency assessment was proposed, in that the performance indicators were not rated using a dichotomy but with a series of quality ordered criteria to indicate how well students performed specified tasks in the workplace or its simulation. The study validated the method of assessment development, demonstrated the method's consistency, and showed how the method could address the issue of consistency across states. The study also proposed a set of principles for a joint assessment of both quality and competence.

For many registrars, general practice is regarded as a compromise between the more exciting work in hospitals and a compromise for a life outside medicine. There are, nevertheless, known significant stresses experienced by registrars in general practice training. The aim of this qualitative study of 32 semi-structured interviews with registrars (six as pilot) and one focus group of 11 registrars was to investigate the problems faced on becoming a GP registrar and how the trainer and practice help or fail to help. It was found that registrars felt a sense of a jump in knowledge and skills needed to cope with general practice. Expressions of isolation were common including the isolated nature of general practice work, problems within specific practices, isolation from peers and the isolating experience of responsibility for making decisions. Challenges came from clinical situations and not from formal teaching. The registrar was helped through these potential difficulties by good relationships with trainers, feeling part of the practice and meeting peers outside the practice. Poor confidence and the need to maintain feelings of competence in front of patients and trainers were often apparent. More than one registrar in a practice and specific steps to increase involvement within the practice may alleviate isolation. Poor relationships with trainers occurred occasionally and should be identified early. © 2007 Radcliffe Publishing Limited.