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This paper examines recent development in Apprenticeship training in England. Since the introduction of Modern Apprenticeships in the mid-1990s this form of training has been subject to much analysis and reform. This paper summarises the current situation and highlights some of the challenges and opportunities which face Apprenticeship over the short to medium term as it seeks to establish itself as a main alternative to the academic pathway through further education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper arises from my PhD thesis on the learner biographies of retail and motor vehicle maintenance apprentices in Germany and England which explores the interrelationship of social structures and individual agency in identity formation over time and in particular learning environments. The paper reports initial findings, focusing largely on the English case study of motor vehicle apprentices. It challenges common assumptions of young people in vocational education in England as second-chance learners being socialised into pursuing low-status occupations and invites reflection on the particular model of apprenticeship in England and its role in shaping young people's identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German and Swiss economies value skilled work highly and initial vocational education and training (IVET) has been the predominant traditional pathway into such work. However, concerns about a more ‘knowledge-based society’ and the ‘academic shift in the labour market’ are starting to undermine the status associated with those who complete IVET pathways and these former trainees also face competition from graduates from the relatively new Bachelor programmes in Switzerland and Germany. An international project investigated whether these developments pose a threat to developed IVET systems and whether companies are changing their recruitment strategies and how they rate the status of IVET. The findings from Germany and Switzerland were compared with the situation in England, the home of two-phase HE structures along with a very different tradition of vocational training. The findings from individual case studies in England, Germany and Switzerland are presented here, with the focus on the expectations of companies towards applicants with experience of IVET or Bachelor’s degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the growth of practitioner research in England through the creation of the Learning and Skills Research Network (LSRN) and identifies its effect on subsequent developments in what is generally known as the Lifelong Learning Sector (LLS). It offers an analysis of this development as a case study in developing practitioner research. Staff in further education (FE) and adult and community learning (ACL) are normally expected to focus on teaching and training rather than undertake research, in contrast with their counterparts in higher education (HE) where, particularly in the more traditional universities, staff are expected to undertake research as primary focus. The increasing focus on evidence-based policy making by government provides a growing impetus to foster research capability within the LLS. The large organisational structures that comprise the LLS today demand strong management of resources, human, capital and financial. For any government targets to be met, the sector needs to be galvanised into appropriate and effective action. To best achieve this requires research and development and the practitioners could benefit from this need to develop their own research skills in the creation of, and use of, research findings. The author argues that research in the LLS needs to be designed appropriately but also needs to be undertaken where the intervention and origination of targets and goals is not a political but a sector-led endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]