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This paper explores the influence of two government departments, the Department of Employment and the Department of Education and Science (now the Department for Education), on post‐16 provision during the last decade. In acknowledging the underlying move to vocationalizing the post‐16 curriculum and processes, two new concepts are introduced for distinguishing those policies intended for the short‐term control of entry to the labour market, regulatory vocationalism, and those longer‐term policies of anticipatory vocationalism intended to raise the skill and knowledge base of the workforce for an uncertain and highly competitive economic and employment future. The paper examines the main instruments of policy from A New Training Initiative: A Programme for Action (DE/DES, 1981) to Education and Training for the 21st Century (DES/DE, 1991), arguing that over the decade it has been the immediate social and political contexts which have largely determined policy towards post‐16 provision and therefore led to a period of superficially episodic initiatives. However, it is further argued that whereas the rhetoric of policy is shifting towards a longer‐term vision, the changes in education and training infrastructure are only compatible with short‐term concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers a number of explanations promoted by governments over the last two decades to explain Britain's economic decline. It is argued that the explanations are only partially based in economic realities and are contrived to legitimise broader agendas for policy initiatives. The inadequacy of the education and training system emerges as a recurrent theme and has, as a consequence, been subjected to considerable change. However, other explanations for economic decline have been offered: lack of enterprise, lack of flexibility in the workforce and lack of competitiveness. These explanations are examined for their coherence and continuity and for their implications for education and training. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One of the responsibilities of the DES is to plan for the recruitment and training of an appropriately qualified teaching force to meet the needs of our schools. Recent policy has paid considerable attention to the congruence between the training and qualifications of teachers and their teaching programmes; the term used to describe this relationship is ‘match’. Match can be investigated with respect to various aspects of a teacher's qualifications and training; the subject content, the age‐phase trained for, the professional aspect of the training. This paper concentrates on one aspect of match, that of the subject content of the initial qualification with the subsequent teaching programmes within the secondary sector. It is argued that during the next decade demographic and economic factors will pose considerable challenges to the recruitment and maintenance of an appropriately matched teaching force. Furthermore it is argued that many of the current Government policies may well exacerbate the problem by weakening local authority discretion in the deployment of teachers and also by rendering teaching a less secure and attractive career. This paper argues for a better understanding of how teachers are deployed within schools and authorities, it also argues for an urgent review of policies involving the teaching force and suggests some policy options open to Government. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]