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As technical and vocational education and training (TVET) continue to occupy a prominent position in Africa's development, addressing the growing concerns about young women's under-participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related TVET has become urgent. This paper draws on the critical capability approach of vocational education and training (CCA-VET) to critique the TVET policy discourse on the participation of girls and women in STEM-related TVET. The paper employed the practical argumentation approach, a critical discourse analysis approach to achieve the paper's aims. The paper's central thesis is that for education policies to transform young women's under-participation in STEM-related TVET, it is urgent to move beyond human rights-based, and human capital approaches to adopt a comprehensive theoretical approach, such as the critical capabilities approach. The paper concludes that breaking this hegemony of human rights and human capital approaches to TVET policy can be achieved by re-conceptualising TVET policy discourses. The re-conceptualisation of TVET policy discourses can be achieved by admitting the critiques of these dominant theories that underpin most TVET policies and then adopting the CCA-VET as a better alternative approach to framing TVET policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how Bernsteinian concepts ('pedagogic rights', 'discursive gaps' and 'pedagogic code') from the field of sociology of education can be used as didactic tools to illuminate how different ways of organising teaching in VET has implications for citizenship preparation. The paper is based on results from a five-year research project investigating the extent and nature of learning processes that can be characterised as civic education in Swedish VET. Results from the project show how VET often contributes to social reproduction through provision of class-, gender-, and ethnicity-based access to knowledge with different powers to students. However, we also identified many variations in the VET-contexts studied. In the paper at hand, examples of when and how students got access to different types of knowledge through different ways of organising teaching, and how different ways of teaching prevented or promoted different types of questions with implications for the kind of citizenship preparation the students were offered, is discussed. Our hope is that these discussions contribute to a conversation on how to make a language accessible to VET-teachers that is helpful to problematise and plan their teaching to offer greater access to an active citizenship for students in vocational programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an account of the everyday workplace learning of cycle technicians. Derived from an ethnography of working cultures and practices at a bike shop in the North of England, this paper rests on a critical reading of Communities of Practice theory in order to explore the complex and heterogeneous learning of cycle technicians. Drawing on a series of vignettes constructed from the ethnographic data, the paper demonstrates the variety of experiences of both formal and informal learning that characterise the trajectories of new cycle technicians as they enter the industry. In addition to providing an account of a qualified and specialist workforce that is under-represented in extant research literature, the paper also provides an exemplar for ethnographic research as a vehicle for exploring working practices through a Communities of Practice lens, using the paradigmatic theoretical elements of the theory. The paper concludes by arguing that for cycle technicians, and perhaps other occupations as well, Communities of Practice theory can generate rich and complex accounts that do justice to the richness and complexity of the craft and practice being observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is a socio-technical, ideological, and rhetorical construction rooted in the neoliberal discourse that reflects key tenets of global capitalism, is believed to have considerable implications for the development of employees in advanced manufacturing environments. This paper aims to explore the ways in which the learning needs of employees in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution could be appropriately identified and how employees could further develop their skills through the design of suitable development curricula. To this end , the paper seeks to interrogate the ways in which the employees' learning needs are likely to be identified in the middle-range future, and problemate the focus of highly specialised and exclusively focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curricula that are likely to be designed to help employees respond to the perceived demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The paper further seeks to explore a preferred liberal future, drawing on the work of Martha Nussbaum, to create the possibility for an alternative future guided by a more holistic conception of employee development through the establishment of learner-centred, liberal – and liberating – interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on various papers related to the complexity of policy research. He decides to examines the similarities of the research ways of these papers to other research projects. He argues that the papers of Local Learning and Skills demonstrate clearly the problems of policy-makers, which is not present in the research papers of Transforming Learning Cultures in Further Education due to complexity. However, both projects show that policy-making make a real difference to learning.

Drawing on a review of international literature published between 2005 and 2021, the present article discusses interventions tailored for Indigenous people in vocational education and training. A critical analysis of this literature was carried out to gain a deeper understanding of the scope of these interventions in bolstering success among Indigenous people in vocational education. Three axes of analysis were used to examine 24 academic papers: the interventions featured in these papers, the conception of social justice in education (i.e. equality of place, equality of opportunity, equity and inclusion, and decolonisation) underpinning these interventions, and their effects on success. The findings paint a picture of the relevance and scope of initiatives that can foster Indigenous student success in vocational education and at the same time reveal the limitations of these studies. They also show which conception of social justice in education appears the most promising. The article concludes with a brief discussion of a few fundamental elements that need to be kept in mind when developing initiatives for Indigenous people in vocational education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about racism and race equality have been widely reported in the first decades of the 21st century, following the Black Lives Matter protests and campaigns such as 'Rhodes Must Fall'. Yet 'race' remains largely absent from policy debate and research concerning further education colleges in the four countries of the UK, particularly in relationship to leadership and governance. The focus of this paper is on who governs and why it matters. Governors and trustees play an increasingly visible and significant role in public, private and charity sector organisations, but diversity on governing bodies of further education across the UK remains patchy and is seen as a major challenge. The paper reports on what is known about the composition of governing bodies and what this tells us about the involvement of governors from black and minority ethnic backgrounds at the present time, drawing on a three-year project which examined the processes and practices of governing in the four countries of the UK. The findings highlight the continuing absence of governors from black and minority ethnic backgrounds on college governing boards and suggest that normative, invisible assumptions of how governing gets done persist, with black and minority ethnic governors often little more than a token gesture of adding diversity to the faces on the board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Those entering a new workplace often come with knowledge and skills relevant to the job they are employed to do; however, there will be site-based practices that they are unfamiliar with. Most of the learning about 'how we do things around here' occurs after a new role is commenced. This is certainly the case with novice Vocational Education and Training teachers. This paper considers what enables and constrains the learning of such new teachers. We use a particular form of practice theory, the theory of practice architectures, to focus on the arrangements that support the development of communicative learning spaces. At work, there are a range of spaces that are 'in-between' the personal and professional. We show how in-between spaces become communicative learning spaces where professional learning takes place. The development of communicative learning spaces is supported through arrangements that enable the intersection of the personal and professional, the sharing of stories, and the development of relational trust. The paper argues that while the fragile nature of in-between spaces means that formalising such arrangements can be counterproductive, approaches can be put in place to assist the development of communicative learning spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's expectation of a demographic dividend owing to an increase in the working age population necessitated government measures aimed at skilling youth. Considerable emphasis was therefore placed on skill development policies and programmes, including revamping formal vocational education and training (VET) institutions that provide skills to students completing secondary schooling and opting vocational training. Although the number of VET institutions in India more than doubled in the last decade, their underutilisation calls for an analysis of underlying reasons. This paper analyses socio-economic factors influencing participation in VET using data from nationally representative survey on education. Findings of a multinomial logit analysis in the paper suggest that students in upper secondary VET institutions tend to belong to socially disadvantaged households, and that students in vocational courses are more likely to be male, urban, and from households whose principal occupation is blue-collar. Children from households belonging to higher socio-economic status and pursuing white-collar jobs are more likely to participate in general and professional education as compared to VET because of higher status assigned to the former in the society. These findings call for fine-tuning of current polices of promotion of VET in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skills training in the informal economy, known as informal apprenticeship, caters to the skills needs of millions of young people in the Global South. While it predates the development of formal Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems, it was not until the 'discovery' of the informal economy in the 1970s that attention was drawn to this important system of training. Despite the importance of informal apprenticeship, it is striking that there has been a paucity of academic research on education and training and the informal economy this millennium. Whilst there have continued to be papers written by staff of international development agencies, academic accounts are now rare. This paper explores the role of informal apprenticeship in the human development of informal apprentices. It presents new data on informal apprenticeship and engages with earlier academic and international policy papers on informal apprenticeship, in an attempt to open new ways of theorising and understanding informal apprenticeship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A global transition to low-carbon, resource-efficient economies is occurring in response to risks posed by climate change and environmental degradation. Hydrogen is proposed as a zero-carbon substitute for natural gas with the potential to reduce carbon emissions in homes and businesses. Trades, including gasfitting, will be affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy and require upskilling to develop competencies to work with hydrogen to ensure safety and support domestic uptake. Understanding the training needs of trades practitioners is essential to the successful transition to a zero-carbon economy. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of Australian gasfitters, exploring what motivates gasfitters to participate in training, what informs their ongoing learning and what their preferences are for hydrogen training. Most gasfitters are either self-employed or work in small businesses, and, as such, this context presents both challenges and opportunities to consider in upskilling strategies. Drawing on interview findings and literature on small business learning, the paper presents considerations to inform training approaches and policies in the transition to hydrogen and also, more broadly, for upskilling other small trade businesses similarly affected by a shift to low-carbon and green technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While enjoying the respect and prestige in some countries, in others, despite being a significant educational sector, vocational education continues to suffer from low status and negative societal sentiments. Vocational education in China has been positioned at the bottom of the educational hierarchy, absorbing the 'left-over' students with 'less good' academic records. Addressing the research gap concerning the limited philosophical discourses about the academic/vocational divide from non-Western traditions, this paper seeks to explore the philosophical and historical heritage of the academic/vocational divide and how Confucianism may contribute to this divide and shaped the hierarchy of work in China. The Confucian literati, as 'the privileged other', determined the social rank of 'those who labour with their strength' and 'those who labour with their minds' through the Imperial Examination System. By using institutional logics theory, the paper explores how the legacy of these views may have negatively impacted on the standing of occupations and vocational education in contemporary Chinese society and argues that an alternative philosophical orientation is needed to counter the long-standing consequences for vocational education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twelve qualitative case studies in German and Canadian hospitals and IT companies were used in this mixed-methods study analysing the labour market outcomes of immigrants. The reported case studies investigate the immigrants' recognition, integration process and the usability of foreign qualifications, skills and work experiences in the labour market. Furthermore, the strategies and rationales of employers and employees within the recruiting process are analysed. Here, the focus lies on the transferability and obstacles of cultural and social capital across country borders as well as the relevant framework conditions. This paper refers to Bourdieu's approach towards different types of capital as well as the rational choice theory. The results demonstrate that immigrants in both countries face more obstacles accessing the labour market within the health sector than within the IT sector. The context of the recruiting situation strongly affects the strategies and behaviour of the employers or the recruiters. Within these sector- and country-specific confines, individual factors determine the immigrants' labour market success. Furthermore, the sector and the country affect the relevance of each individual factor in the recruiting process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colleges are important providers of vocational education and training and in some countries they are the major provider. Although the international literature on colleges has grown considerably in the past two decades, it still consists primarily of qualitative descriptions of college sectors in different countries. Quantitative studies of differences in the activity mix of colleges in different countries could improve knowledge of international variation in the roles of colleges and provide a stronger foundation for study of the sources and consequences of variation in college roles. After reviewing different methodological frameworks for comparative analysis of college activity, the research reported here employs one of these frameworks to analyse differences in the activity mix of colleges in five countries. In addition to finding some noteworthy differences among the five countries, the paper also identified several problems of comparability of college data from different countries. The paper concludes that the development of internationally comparable data on colleges would require leadership by international organisations and agencies and is an undertaking well worth pursuing both for the benefits that it could bring to those whom colleges serve and for its contribution to the advancement of comparative study of vocational education and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at tensions arising in the educational thought of late antiquity from the conflict between assumptions regarding the low worth of practical knowledge and the contribution practical education can make to the wider purposes educational thinkers assigned to learning. Drawing on the educational writings of Augustine, Martianus Cappella and Boethius, I argue that there are vagaries and contradictions in their depreciation of the practical and a fuller, more hopeful, appreciation of the potential of practical education emerges. This assertion has contemporary significance due to the ancient binary's foundational and contemporary status as a tool of legitimation to reinforce the lower status of the practical and justify societal and economic determinants at the base of educational stratifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When women enter occupations that have historically and traditionally been the realm of men, they face a multitude of barriers that make their experience difficult and that contribute to a gender-segregated workforce. Vocational Education and Training (VET) is the entryway to employment in the skilled trades, and VET providers have a role in introducing students to the industry, in the formation of occupational identity and occupational behaviours, establishing workplace cultures and standards of professionalism. Furthermore, VET has a moral and legal obligation to provide a safe classroom for all students. This paper reflects on the role of VET in perpetuating gender segregation in the skilled trades in Australia. We report on a qualitative research project with tradeswomen, apprentices, industry and government representatives that found that significant barriers confront tradeswomen apprentices in VET institutions. The study found that VET has the capacity to normalise the tokenism of women and contribute to gender harassment. We argue that a VET classroom environment where gender inequalities and harassment are normalised, and a gender biased apprenticeship system, contribute to gender segregation in the skilled trades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The special issue (SI) TVET race and ethnicity in the global south and north closes with a critical review of debates that address race/ethnicity and TVET'. These debates focus on the crisis of care, decolonisation and whiteness as well as the manner in which we conceptualise TVET. The paper was developed in response to the special issue but also by wider debates about race, ethnicity and TVET. In a short review paper, such as this it is only feasible to signal and touch on a number of debates that could contribute towards re-thinking TVET and its wider social purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The VET sector can be located as one that sits within the intersections of the racial and spatial in addition to the classed; the traditional focus of research concerns. There is a direct correlation between towns and cities with high levels of deprivation and the recruitment of racialised and other marginalised groups into general further education colleges. This paper considers the intertwined nature of the racial and spatial and its implications for South Asian Muslim women students in VET spaces in terms of identity construction and possible futures. This paper critiques how geographical location and educational settings highlight the complex factors encountered by diasporic communities; patterns of historical migration; the educational space as a third space); the role of teachers as mentors. These factors contributed to students developing fluid and dynamic identities rooted in a critical self-awareness whilst resisting Western-centric notions of success. Whilst this created a self-realised agency in the narratives of South Asian Muslim women, it also created a cultural hauntology in the absence of a third space. This has various implications for future VET research in terms of how students from ethnically diverse groups, create or engage with a third space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the influence of course design on the capability of a vocational college to implement a student-centred learning approach to enhance academic student engagement. It is based on an action research project involving a course redesign within a vocational agricultural education setting that created a more student-centred approach and in turn enhanced academic student engagement compared to its traditional delivery. Phase 1 of research looked at academic student engagement in a traditional lecture format utilising a multi-methodological analysis. This analysis identified that one type of module presented a significant challenge with 0/16 classes rated as 'high engagement', primarily due to the subject content. Phase 2 redesigned a module of this type using a more student-centred learning approach to evaluate if this could enhance academic student engagement. Observations carried out on 24 classes of the redesigned module rated 21/24 as 'high engagement'. The redesign process enabled the use of a more student-centred learning approach albeit limited by requirements to comply with traditional quality assurance requirements of the current course design. This action research contributes a greater understanding of how the principles of course design need to be considered in seeking to enhance academic student engagement in vocational education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main challenges in modern labour markets is to improve the mobility and employability of workers among workplaces, jobs and roles. This paper explores the factors that might influence people's beliefs about and attitudes towards the mechanisms for improving employability through training. We develop a research model and test it in Israel using surveys that were distributed at two points in time – before and during an acute crisis in the labour market – the Covid-19 pandemic. Perceptions about personal mobility and employability and prior educational experience play a major role in explaining citizens' attitudes towards training. Beliefs about the effectiveness of government training providers as well as employment security are relatively marginal in explaining the demand for training. Policy implications follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For refugee migrants, proficiency in the language of their host country is a significant factor affecting their chance of integration and employment in their new society. For this reason, many Western nations provide host-country language training for such migrants. Australia thus offers English language training within its Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector to assist in refugee settlement. This study draws on qualitative interview data collected from a group of male Muslim refugee migrants attending these Australian training programs. Applying a Bourdieusian analysis to the data, the study's findings suggest that language training alone does not meet their linguistic and vocational needs. The paper argues first that the current language training programs need to be reconceptualised to consider the intersection of language training, work experience and vocational qualification; and second, that there must be a confluence of these three factors if refugee migrants are to have any chance of gaining meaningful employment opportunities. The notion of capital as 'vocational currency' is proposed as a new term to identify the complex relationships within this confluence. The article concludes with discussion of the implications of this study for language training within these VET programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares within-country programmes of initial vocational education and training (IVET) in Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany and their outcomes. Specifically, it aims to analyse and compare the labour market success of graduates of different tracks at the ISCED 3 level in both early and later stages of their careers. The comparison is based on the analysis of PIAAC 2013 OECD study data. A composite multidimensional indicator was constructed to measure labour market success and subsequently used as a dependent variable in regression models. The results indicate that in the systems with dual IVET at the ISCED 3 level (Germany and Austria), graduates are indeed more successful at the labour market than their counterparts with other ISCED 3 tracks. However, their advantage diminishes in later stages of the career. Additionally, in Austria, the success of dual education young graduates is mediated by individual characteristics. In the system with only school-based IVET (the Czech Republic), this track does not guarantee substantively higher labour market success for young graduates compared to other ISCED 3 tracks and also to those with lower education. Czech apprentices in the later stages of career succeed even less than those with below ISCED 3 education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With evidence of global climate change and ongoing ecological degradation, there is an urgent need to give more attention to sustainability within VET to ensure that VET does not remain complicit in reproducing the unjust and unsustainable trajectories of current economic and development pathways. At present, the VET literature does not adequately address these issues, hence the need for this special issue. In response, this paper offers a meta-reflective 'landscape view' of the sustainability within the VET 'field of knowledge' as it is emerging. Here, we use landscape review as a multi-dimensional, 'outside-in' view that provides a basis for understanding the broad context and helps to inform actionable next steps. This analysis we believe helps to highlight the key emerging priorities as well as what paths VET is taking on the journey to sustainability. The analysis shows that while some progress has been made in policy and practice related to the 'greening' of VET, much of the current response within VET to the environmental challenge reflects a minimalist reformist approach, characterised by 'bolt-ons' to existing institutional structures and curricula whilst leaving the fundamental beliefs in productivism, industrialisation and growth in place. Yet, as argued by researchers working on green economy, these beliefs are often complicit in co-creation of the environmental crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, drawing on an extensive research project across three countries (VET Africa 4.0 Collective 2023), we produce an emerging argument that it is necessary to rethink and reframe VET logics and approaches in a warming future dominated by informality and mass unemployment. Currently,neither the formal VET college or workplace are adequately set up to provide the type(s) of VET that are in demand or needed for just transitioning and sustainable futures. We acknowledge the importance of political economy accounts in developing a richer understanding of VET, but suggest these are not sufficient for dealing with the existential and practical crisis of the climate emergency. We note that many scholars have sought to address this tension in the academic literature by adopting a political ecology account that reframes the theoretical and political challenge. This leads us to call for a political-economy-ecology account of VET. Although we acknowledge the limited nature of our approach here, we offer some thoughts for VET analysis with reflection on these theoretical issues applied to four cases studies from Uganda and South Africa of VET provisioning in oil, transport, water and food (which materially shape our cases). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With ever-increasing focus from policymakers on the potential of vocational education to provide skills for livelihoods and sustainability in the rural economy, this study set out to investigate attempts at curriculum reform by agricultural technical and vocational education and training providers in the context of the dual crisis – 'climate and economic' – in Zimbabwe. The question addressed is: How should the agricultural vocational education and training curriculum respond to the climate and economic crisis to ensure sustainability? The paper highlights enablers and barriers to curriculum responsiveness. Moll's model of curriculum responsiveness provided analytical lenses for the study. Data collection was through semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, document analysis and observations, and analysed thematically. The study revealed that the climate crisis in Zimbabwe has affected both government and non-government vocational training centres in several ways. However, the curriculum was 'one-size fits all', focused on the needs of a formal labour market. Such a labour market has been decimated by the economic crisis and climate break down. Hence, providers of agricultural vocational education in rural areas ought to consider re-engineering the curriculum to be more responsive to a range of drivers, including climate change, especially within the rural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on findings of a study that examined challenges to innovation and the greening of economies identified by businesses, TVET institutions, and other organisations with the aim to formulate options for strategic actions to increase 'sustainable competitiveness' of Hong Kong SAR, China as measured by The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index (GSCI). This article focuses on Hong Kong but refers to Denmark (one of the Nordic countries participated in the study) as it scores much higher than China on the GSCI. The assumption of this study is that Denmark's experience can help formulate policies and the strategic actions required for building sustainable development (SD) solutions for economic green growth through innovation and skills development in Hong Kong. The study used a qualitative methodology. Data was collected through desk-top research and interviews with stakeholders from both settings. The results identified a clear distinction between innovation and greening in terms of education and skills, the business sectors involved, support modalities (policies), investment, as well as culture in both Denmark and Hong Kong SAR. Despite the very different approaches to innovation and variations in both industry structure and the environment for training and skills development, the challenges to industry and their implications for TVET in terms of greening and innovation were found to be very similar in the two contexts. Thus, contrary to the study's assumptions, this article discusses the similar policy responses to these 'green' challenges for both contexts, as well as recommended policy goals and strategic actions with implications for TVET that can support green innovation in both settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a critical assessment of equality policies from a theoretical standpoint. As an analytical proposal, this idea is exemplified within the educational context of Vocational Education and Training in Spain, specifically in the Region of Valencia. We have analysed Order 85/2016, insofar as it establishes mechanisms that seek to encourage access by women to professional fields which have been historically and culturally masculinised. Our analysis is based on two key questions: Does this policy succeed in increasing the number of women who undertake studies in masculinised professional fields? Is providing access to training sufficient to drive changes in gender relations? To approach these questions, we have reviewed the theoretical framework that gives rise to public policy and performed a comparative analysis of the number of enrolments registered since these mechanisms came into force. Our findings have led us to conclude that not only does this policy fail to fulfil its goal of encouraging women to enrol in certain studies, but its theoretical implications have paradoxically been found to heighten the gender divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learner agency, often understood in terms of self-direction and negotiated engagement, is considered important in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Yet nurturing and supporting agency is resource-intensive and difficult. In this paper, we consider learner agency for online TVET—a setting where content delivery models can be experienced as stultifying. We document the design and evaluation of specific task designs using the method and principle of double-stimulation, where prompts help participants to reconceptualise problematic situations and break out of conflicting motives. We draw on data from a research-intervention with adult learners undertaking a facilities management diploma online, while working. We explore how, across nine online workshops, task designs engendered transformative agency: the ability to collaboratively diverge from instructional intent, question dilemmatic conditions, and propose and enact change. We claim (1) that specific double-stimulation tasks encouraged participants to engage in understanding institutional practice, exposing conflict, and enacting change; (2) that participants came to view their own problematic conditions as stimuli for resistance, criticism, and development; and (3) that online resources were crucial for highlighting evidence of failure and learners' potential roles in change. Our findings are of importance to help learners set and evaluate their own learning agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the recent policy reform of occupational qualifications in South Africa is not substantially different from previous qualifications composed of unit standards and learning outcomes. The transition to democracy in the 1990s saw the introduction of a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for post-school education. The framework adopted a model similar to competency-based training (CBT), where qualifications used unit standards and learning outcomes as a design template. Many problems ensued; amongst other concerns, researchers demonstrated that unit standards fragment learning by focusing on task performance at the expense of knowledge. Substantial changes were made in 2009, including the introduction of the Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework of the revised NQF. Occupational qualifications are designed using a template to standardise the format of occupational standards and knowledge, practical skills, and work experience modules for the curriculum framework. For policymakers, occupational standards represent broad notions of competence based on occupational practice. The development of an occupational qualification is guided by a template for the process of deriving the curriculum framework from occupational standards. However, my research suggests that occupational qualifications based on occupational standards are further elaborated work tasks that are then used to develop curriculum framework contents, which further entrenches CBT approaches and their associated problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vocational knowledge originates from both research and from practice, each of which is transformed across several epistemic levels to become vocational knowledge. The several transformations of research to vocational knowledge have been described by Young and Bernstein as recontextualisations. Less well described are the successive transformations of practice to become vocational knowledge. This paper observes that practical knowledge has to be transformed across several epistemic levels to become vocational knowledge. It examines different types of literature on European artillery in the early modern period: scholarly books on ballistics which were printed in Latin, gunners' manuals which were manuscripts in the vernacular, and artillery books for non specialist readers which were printed in the vernacular. It finds that practical knowledge didn't have to be transformed just to apply it to a new context. Knowledge is transformed to a different epistemic level when it is expressed for use by a different type of actor for a qualitatively different purpose from the initial use. The paper concludes by arguing that vocational colleges and institutes have a potentially valuable role in developing vocational knowledge from practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel education framework for a gender-inclusive, development oriented approach is investigated within the context of a non-formal vocational education and training programme implemented in rural India. Analysis of the two-year intervention that delivered vocational and life skills education to women in rural India has led to a framework that combines theories of women's empowerment and transformative learning. The results from this analysis indicate that by fusing women's empowerment with transformative learning, the objectives of VET can more effectively be achieved, while also making such programmes more accessible and supportive of marginal groups. Insights from this study hold potential for informing a scalable education intervention design geared towards women's empowerment and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) have both an educational and professional function. Although employer engagement is necessary to execute the latter function effectively, employer engagement remains a problem for most TVET institutions. This research investigates employer engagement in upper secondary TVET schools in Ghana. The analysis of this paper is based on existing employer engagement literature and empirical data collected through semi-structured interviews with three employers, two headmasters and two policymakers. The analysis reveals two key themes: 'Not engaging with Upper Secondary TVET Schools', which discusses how some multinational food and consumer products manufacturing industries did not engage with upper secondary TVET schools, and 'Engaging with Upper Secondary TVET Schools', which discusses seven identified employer engagement activities. Overall, the findings are worrying and, if not rectified, will render upper secondary TVET school learners disadvantaged in advanced technical, technological and employability skills desirable in the labour market. To rectify these concerns, the Government of Ghana should establish and implement a robust national employer engagement-oriented education framework. Second, there is an urgent need for further empirical qualitative and quantitative research in Ghana to inform the design and implementation of a national employer engagement in education framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining the quality and comparability of qualifications has become a major priority for vocational education and training (VET) systems world-wide, especially for those countries which have decentralised assessment and reporting systems. In the absence of external examinations, one policy solution to align the assessment standards of different providers is the introduction of assessment moderation. Yet there has been little, if any, research conducted in VET that has examined different approaches to moderation for quality control purposes. By drawing on lessons learnt in a range of settings (i.e. schools, vocational and higher education), this paper identifies the optimal conditions for undertaking social, external and statistical moderation approaches to quality control. It also identifies a range of potential system level factors that could hinder implementation within the context of the Australian VET sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the experience of local and Syrian refugee women enrolled on a skills development programme in rural Jordan from a capability perspective. It explores the value of the capability approach as an evaluative framework: one which opposes the dominant econometric lens traditionally used to evaluate skills development interventions. In doing so, it advocates the use of this approach for providing a holistic view of the outcomes of skills development programmes for women, who, in Jordan – as elsewhere in the Global South – are often prevented from participating in the formal labour market, but who may nevertheless stand to gain from skills development interventions. This paper argues that the selected skills development programme in north Jordan contributed significantly to the wellbeing and personal development of the women enrolled. However, it finds that the programme was largely unable to overcome the many barriers to local and Syrian refugee women finding fulfiling employment, as many of them wished to do. It argues that this is indicative of wider socioeconomic challenges in the region which it would be unreasonable to expect a skills development programme to offset and which should not negate the other human development outcomes of the programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual academic achievement is highly valued in Chinese society, with vocational education students positioned at the bottom of the educational hierarchy and suffering considerable societal prejudice. In this paper we present new findings from the choice-making experiences of students in two vocational education colleges in China, how they are perceived by their teachers, and how, in the context of their negatively-stereotyped status, they perceive themselves. Drawing on the Marxist notion of false consciousness to help understand the agency of these students, we found that almost all perceived themselves as being agentic and having control over their destiny. They felt they only had themselves to blame for the stereotyping to which they were subjected. One student had not adopted this mindset and was critical of the exam system. We argue that the perceived agency of the majority of the students resonates strongly with the neoliberal values which are associated with responsibilisation, and which have been encouraged in China since the 1970s with the beginning of the Reform Era. The evidence from our study also suggests, however, that it is possible for young people , by their own efforts, to move away from the state of false consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines three interrelated factors outside of formal provision of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in sub-Saharan Africa that have undermined TVET systems. The first is the process, pace, and levels of industrialisation, which has had a direct effect on TVET provision: low numbers of well-paying jobs requiring technical expertise. This has an indirect effect, which is the second crucial factor: lack of economic development and change in labour markets. There are very few jobs that would be considered 'middle class' or 'mid-level' in wealthy countries. Most people are in survivalist work. An international consensus since the 2000s on palliative approaches to development which address the effects but not the causes of the lack of economic development in Africa has resulted in mass poor quality provision of education—the third factor. Education systems are rapidly expanding and achievement levels rising, in the context of very little possibility of labour market rewards for most people, and substantial labour market rewards confined mainly to graduates. This reinforces deeply embedded cultural preferences for general education, which originate in the type of education systems established by colonial powers, as well as the relationships between educational credentials and elite jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the philosophical trajectory and practices in fashion education. It examines to what extent participatory action research (PAR) can contribute to the advancement of vocational education by emancipating practice-based skills and knowledge co-created by students, faculty members, and market practitioners. While the fashion market is dynamically reshaping today's fashion pedagogy by imparting new skills and abilities to students, this investigation aims to highlight the limitations of the Bauhaus tradition as a top-down approach aimed at continually producing work-ready graduates for junior positions. Drawing upon the findings yielded by our experimental project fashionthnography.com, the analyses presented in this paper elucidate to what extent PAR can meet the intended goal of equipping the students with a higher level of working capabilities and creativity, as well as greater cultural appreciation. This study contributes to the expansion of vocational education and training, as its findings indicate that we need to embrace practice-based knowledge co-creation for long-term success in both industry and academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black and minority ethnic students (BME) are a significant constituency in vocational education and training (VET) and FE in England. Despite this recent research on race and VET has become a marginal concern. Insofar as current VET research addresses social justice, race appears to be a supplementary concern. Although there is a substantial literature addressing race and education, this focuses primarily on schools and higher education. This paper examines why there is a need to develop a research agenda that analyses participation, outcomes and experiences of BME VET students, particularly those on ‘non-advanced’ programmes (equivalent to European Qualification Framework Level 1–3) with uncertain labour market outcomes and who are arguably being ‘warehoused’ in low status courses. The paper reflects on the historically specific reasons for the dearth of research on race and VET, drawing on a scoping exercise of the literature to evidence this. We conclude by offering a provisional analysis that identifies recent shifts in participation among BME groups, locating this in its socio-economic and historical context. Our analysis reaffirms that VET remains a significant educational site for BME groups, but it is a complex racialised site which makes the current neglect of race and VET in academic research deeply problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses attempts to renew apprenticeship over the last three decades in three liberal market economies – US, England and Australia. We conceptualise institutional renewal as entailing both revival, or growth in apprentice starts, and extension, or widening its occupational base. The paper contributes to the literature by considering reasons for the attempted renewal and offering an assessment of the outcomes of renewal. It also contributes to research at the intersection of institutional and comparative training literature by developing the concept of institutional renewal and applying it to apprenticeship. It is concluded that in quantitative terms renewal had some success in England and Australia, but the effect of intervention is more uncertain in the US. The paper also identifies a paradox that policies to promote apprenticeships have undermined the quality of training in England and Australia, leading to questions about the sustainability of renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper performs a critical examination of the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF), which was accompanied by an Inspection Handbook for Further Education and Skills, and argues that this policy document reinforces the neoliberal project in education. Drawing on concepts from Michel Foucault's analysis of the nature and effects of marketisation and surveillance in education, this analysis reveals how these mechanics influence the ultimate meaning of teaching and learning in Further Education (FE). I use Foucault's analytical tools, archaeology and genealogy to critique the Framework as a neoliberal form of disciplinary power, particularly the methods used to scrutinise pedagogical operations in FE colleges, and the particular types of knowledge considered beneficial vis-à-vis meeting the regulatory demands of the agency, as well as providing a means for understanding the discourses of standardisation and accountability. The Ofsted inspection paradigm, I argue, could be viewed as a specific technology of power pertaining to an economic rationality that seeks disciplined institutions that produce disciplined and responsible consumers for a cost–transaction society. My thesis is that the new EIF intensifies the significance of business-like standardisation that fails to adopt a relational perspective in terms of valuing education for the sake of cultivating intellectual participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the costs and benefits of dual training programmes for companies in Chile. The model has three main components: (1) the costs that arise during the programme (training, student labour, administrative, and educational supplies), (2) the benefits that companies receive during the programme in terms of student's productivity, and (3) the potential benefits that companies can obtain in hiring and adjustment savings if students are hired after the programme. Using an online survey, we estimate that Chilean companies that participate incur net costs of US$3,200 per student per year in training; however, most companies declared to be satisfied with dual training. We simulate two scenarios under which dual training is cost effective. Public policies to promote early adjustment such that students arrive at companies better prepared and can allocate more time to productive tasks should be considered to decrease the net cost of training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes two contributions to the literature on social stratification in vocational attainment. First, we evaluate whether labour market literacy, as measured by knowledge about earnings in different occupations, is socially stratified. Second, we analyse whether differences in expected earnings between high-income and low-income occupations contribute to the social stratification in vocational aspirations and attainment using serial mediation based on data from the German National Educational Panel Study. We find that students are well informed about earnings, on average, but substantially underestimate earnings in some occupations. Students from low socio-economic status (SES) families underestimate earnings more than those from high SES families, particularly earnings in high-status occupations. Therefore, low SES students expect smaller earning differences between high-income and low-income occupations than high-SES students. In turn, small expected differences between high-income and low-income occupations are associated with lower vocational aspirations as well as attainments. Differences in expected earnings of high-income and low-income occupations mediate 4% of the differences in vocational aspirations by parental SES and 2% of the differences in vocational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disparity in educational and career outcomes between rural, regional and remote (RRR) students and their metropolitan counterparts persists despite successive federal and state government initiatives. In this paper, we will present a study that highlights one important, yet overlooked, avenue to improve outcomes for RRR students: early-stage careers education. Informed by interviews conducted with RRR principals and deputy principals from Victoria and Queensland (n = 10), we present a new approach to the delivery and content of careers education in RRR contexts. The approach advocates for a purposeful programme from Year 7, which includes the engagement of key influencers such as parents/carers, peers and local industry, as well as tailoring activities to also reflect regional job trends and pathways. The broader implications of our findings to curriculum design are also presented and challenge the prevailing approach of Year 9/10 as the optimal period to immerse careers education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest in educational and professional aspirations of students transiting to post-secondary education has gained prominence in academic debates and policy agendas internationally. Political interventions for raising aspirations quite often draw on narrow instrumental and rationalistic assumptions of individual decision-making that, as we will argue, do not capture adequately the meanings students attribute to these aspirations. By means of in-depth interviews and combining a critical realist approach to social action with capabilities approach, the paper explores the educational and professional aspirations of students at the end of secondary TVET in Chile. We consider that high educational aspirations of secondary TVET students in Chile need to be understood as a reflexive response to significantly high social inequalities in the country, the precarity of working conditions in a highly liberalised labour market, and the enduring neoliberal tenet of meritocracy. We also argue that understanding aspirations is key to reimagine TVET's roles and purposes at individual, institutional and national levels, towards fairer opportunities for human development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether there is or should be a relation between 'occupation' and 'qualification' is a contested issue in vocational education and training (VET). The privileged shelter of structured occupational labour markets stands pitted against the near impossibility of access by those at the margins of employment opportunities. This paper investigates the relation between occupation and qualification, conceptually and empirically. The key finding is that the relation manifests in labour-market specific ways in relation to two types of occupational qualification. One qualification type references 'whole' occupations and the other dilutes occupation into an ideology of occupationalism, while drawing on the discursive resources of 'occupation' to mask the segmentalist logic of 'unitised' or part-qualifications. For those desperately seeking to become employable, 'occupation' may well have greater appeal than 'competence' as labour market currency but it is the nature of the qualification to which 'occupation' is linked that ultimately determines its labour market efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vocational education and training (VET) is linked to many social and economic goals. Yet despite the high policy ambitions, it often remains a sector with a low(er) social standing. This paper is based on empirical data collected through interviews and focus groups with over 250 young women and men aged 16–18 in 34 VET schools in Romania. It aims to gain a better understanding of their perceived reasons for being in VET and seeks to find out the extent to which VET involved an element of choice. The paper explores a large array of circumstances that bring young people into VET, which are not limited to the need to acquire skills. These issues include localism, family obligations and the priorities of powerful 'others': schools, employers, etc. It argues that, despite young people actively searching for elements of choice, VET in Romania is more a story of capability deprivation. This paper questions a policy discourse that prioritises the need for skills at the expense of engaging meaningfully with young people's social worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, Lithuania entered a new stage of the vocational education and training (VET) curriculum reform with the introduction of the national competence-based qualifications standards and the modularisation of the VET curriculum on the basis of these standards. Competence in Lithuania is understood holistically as a 'totality' of knowledge, skills and attitudes. The statements of competencies in the standards mainly reflect work processes and it is the role of curriculum designers and vocational education and training teachers (VET teachers) to 'uncover' all domains of competency in learning outcomes, learning assignments and assessment criteria. In the Lithuanian context, the modularisation of VET programmes challenges integration of theory and practice within and between different modules and calls for more intensive cooperation of teachers in planning and implementing instruction. This paper aims to explore how knowledge representation has changed in the Lithuanian national and school VET curricula, how changes brought by the curriculum reform reflect in everyday work of VET teachers and, consequently, what challenges vocational teachers face in learners' knowledge formation. The paper is based on content analysis of the national and school level curriculum documents and semi-structured interviews with VET teachers and administrative staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the experience of community college career and technical education (CTE) industry advisory committee members. Using the qualitative research tradition phenomenology, participants included advisory committee chairs and institutional programme department chairs to help create a composite description of their lived experience. Themes inlcuded, effectiveness is not about complacent governance, board members are not given adequate time to review material before a meeting, board recommendations are not being implemented, and members feel that they are not truly integrated into the academic culture. Community colleges could use the data to revise their advisory committee policies and meeting governance. Another implication of the research is that appropriate and effective industry advisory partnerships strengthen the institution's position in the community and career and technical programming. not intergrating meaninful industry partnerships into developing abd facilitating CTE programming will result in outdated curriculum and graduates who hold competencies and skills that do not align with industry needs. This paper contributes to the literature about the value of community college CTE programmes in society and the importance of industry – institutional partnerships regarding technical curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]