Search Results for
"Vocational education"

This article examines what Foundation level GNVQ students say about their learning experience drawing on findings from a case study of staff and students involved in GNVQ programmes at a further education college. The college has a Foundation Studies department, where all Foundation level GNVQ is taught, and the article reports on interviews with a small group of seven Foundation students. It is argued that the most important issue for them is the shift from being disaffected learners to becoming accepted as students within the college. In achieving this, relationships with teachers are crucial, and appear to be the most significant factor in helping these students move from being apparent failures within the education system, to starting out on a more successful path to learning. © 2001 Journal of vocational education and Training All rights reserved.

Reports on the evaluation of a programme which was designed to enable students to complete a traineeship or apprenticeship, and their senior certificate in accordance with a variety of combined school and work programmes, including the New Apprenticeship Scheme. A multimethod approach was adopted which includes interviews with students, vocational educators and employers regarding their perceptions of: competencies, learning outcomes and training acquired during the programme. The results of the interviews with the students illustrated some similar and different perceptions between teachers and students, and showed that students’ main reason for undertaking the vocational education programme were the opportunity to gain “hands on” experience, and a “headstart” to employment. Implications for further research included: an investigation into the perceived status barrier between vocational and general education, the development of work attitudes; and the implementation of a strategic business and marketing plan. © 2000, MCB UP Limited

This article reports some of the findings from a research project on students’ perceptions of education business link activity. Using a self report questionnaire, it contrasts student perspectives on the education business (EB) link activity in schools with ‘well-developed’ links with those having ‘less well-developed’ links. The results suggest that where ‘welldeveloped’ links exist they tend to have overall positive effects on certain key aspects of students’ perceived vocational insight, vocational concerns, locus of control, self-efficacy and work-based learning. These results held up irrespective of the way in which the EB links were organised. Furthermore, the effects were found, on a number of variables, to be most positive in respect of male students. The study concludes that there are differences between schools in their approaches to EB links, which merit further research. © 2000 Journal of vocational education and Training. All Rights Reserved.

The main forces influencing vocational education and training (VET) systems are broadly the same in all countries. Based on interviews with heads of institutions, this article compares these forces and their possible consequences as they affect the development of further education (FE) colleges in England and technical and further education (TAFE) institutes in Australia over the next 10–15 years. Despite the fact that FE colleges and TAFE institutes are embedded in different systems of organisation and management, centralisation of planning and policy making has been a feature in both countries. Recent reforms have sought to emphasise greater efficiency, higher participation rates and more effective responses to market forces. The future is likely to be dominated by a continuation of these trends and institutional agendas will need to reflect this. In particular, we can expect to see further restructuring and rationalisation of provision, the emergence of funding regimes which channel assistance through individual learners and a steady decline in the use of face to face teaching. FE colleges and TAFE institutes will continue to have an important role to play as part of an extensive network of outlets for flexible learning, support and guidance, but it is doubtful whether FE and TAFE systems will survive in their present form. © 2000 Journal of vocational education and Trainin. All rights reserved.

Many United Kingdom graduates face difficulties in securing suitable employment after leaving university and may take up to 3 years to reach a graduate level post. This situation applies widely and not only to those academic disciplines without obvious links to a particular job. Even those with vocationally related degrees might find their current technical expertise insufficient to overcome their lack of practical on-the-job experience. The University of Luton has piloted and developed the Graduate Apprenticeship Scheme. This is a programme for the new graduate that involves a mix of work placements and skills development workshops. Placements are with small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary groups. The workshops lead to professional qualifications including National vocational Qualifications (NVQs). Participating employers are encouraged to utilise the scheme as a low risk means of evaluating graduates prior to formal employment. Project evaluation is discussed in the context of graduate expectations, under-employment, employer expectations, acceptance of NVQs and lifelong learning. This initiative is described as a single institution case study in the preparation of graduates for employment. The work is considered in the context of other initiatives at the University of Luton and elsewhere. © 2000 Journal of vocational education and Training All rights reserved.

In this article the author looks at the extent to which European Union (EU) suggestions for vocational education and Training (VET) policy development for young people, are translated in the context of convergence, as the result of an international trend for adaptation of common policies towards integration. The article traces issues that describe the relation of VET to convergence and integration, and questions the feasibility of socioeconomic integration in the EU, by presenting a short thematic analysis of issues and trends in three Member States, that have conformed to a large extent to the EU policy framework for VET. It is suggested that integration, as a multidimensional process, relates more to the pressure exerted by adults on young people to conform to predetermined standards, whether in working or social life, and argues that if there is to be a change, there will be a need for new methods of integration into a society which is not fixed and immutable, but in fact in the process of upheaval and of being constantly restructured. © 2000, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The purpose of this article is to provide a critique of the idea widely promoted by governments and industrial parties in Australia that competency-based training (CBT) is a coherent model of vocation education and training with universal applicability. The critique is made first by way of illustration with reference to case material gathered in the course of a recent national research project on CBT. The argument is made that CBT, contrary to its image in the public policy literature, is not a singular and universal model of vocational education and training (VET). Rather, it embeds a series of radically different decisions or options with regard to notions of competency, and the use of competencies or competency standards. These decisions or options, once enacted, give rise to transformed models of VET. Shifting the critique to more theoretical ground, the argument is made that these models need not be seen as alternatives. Indeed, they are not entirely separate. Rather, they interact, support and/or challenge one another, as well as support and/or challenge CBT. The conclusion is drawn that, while all of these models have a place in the process of competence development as well as their particular strengths and weaknesses, models that maintain the tension between a focus on the outcomes of education and training and a focus on processes of educating and training, rather than resolve this tension in favour of outcomes, are most appropriate in VET. Thus, the models that contribute most to VET tend to be hybrid (e.g. education/training model, training/development model), mirroring the make-up of VET itself. © 2000 Journal of vocational education and Trainin. All rights reserved.

A quiet reform has gone almost unnoticed in the many policy debates about improving America's schools. Labeled “The School-to-Work Revolution” by Lynn Olson and others, this little-noticed movement offers, at last, a solution to the constraining historical dualism between academic and vocational training. There is a new enthusiasm for and focus on the preparation-for employment side of American secondary education. However, although reinvigorated, the school-to-work revolution remains heavily threatened by our nation's reputation for low-quality vocational education and by some long-unresolved tensions with regard to social mobility and political control. This article discusses the need for additional theorizing about and policy-minded attention to the revolution and observes that valuable opportunities for improvement in job preparation are at hand in an increased national interest in economic development. © 2000, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

Much has been written in recent years on the topic of competency-based training. In the context of recent training policies in Britain, the S/NVQ system has received a great deal of attention and publicity. Unfortunately, most of it is controversial and open to criticism. The promoters of the system tend to highlight the positive attributes and its benefits in terms of employee development. Much of its inherent faults and failures are ignored or glossed over, mostly with promises of imminent improvements or future restructuring. Similarly, the critics and detractors of S/NVQs tend to highlight the system’s failures and shortcomings, and overlook some of the obvious benefits attributable to it. Thus, it appears that, in the context of the relative decline of the British economy, S/NVQs have added a new dimension to the ongoing training debate. On close scrutiny of the available empirical evidence, however, it soon becomes obvious that this ‘training initiative’ has had a limited impact upon the competitiveness of the British economy. Furthermore, 10 years after its inception, its value and/or significance to the skill base of the British Industry remains unproven. Typically, the debate surrounding S/NVQs is fought on ideological or theoretical grounds. The paucity of independent empirical research on this topical issue is perhaps symptomatic of the extent, bitterness and dogmatism of the debate. Equally, however, it could also reflect upon the direction, funding and tight control of academic research in contemporary Britain. © 2000 Journal of vocational education and Trainin. All rights reserved.

In Germany, structures and channels through the education system at first glance appear to be resilient to possible deviations from paths that have always been identified as reliable and more or less successful. One of the examples of a deeply rooted disinclination to reform is the Dual System of initial vocational training, which owes much of its reputation to the fact that it has remained one of the most frequently copied training systems in the world. Although the dualism of ‘learning venues’ may, at first glance, be the striking feature of this ‘German system’ of vocational training there is more to it, especially consensus among the groups involved in the system, the vocational principle as a didactical and structural parameter and also the remarkable contribution to standardisation and quality control from the state. The article depicts what may be seen as the successful transposition of these or similar principles into higher education. The result has been a kind of ‘academic Dual System’ that, despite its growing importance, is still a regional reform project since the emergence of the so-called ‘vocational academies’ (Berufsakademien) has virtually remained restricted to four of the 16 federal states of Germany. © 2000 Journal of vocational education and Training All rights reserved.