ABSTRACT. Teachers´ work over the world has become more and more complex. Some global mechanisms, like policy transfer, global experts´ networks, comparative data sets (statistics, PISA, TALIS, PIIAC and others), managed by the transnational agencies, tend to create “global teacher policy” as a consequence of the global (neoliberal) education reform movement/GERM (e.g Sahlberg, 2010). The consequences of the neoliberal education reforms, like standardization tendencies, marketization and new public management in education, bring about growing visibility and external control of the teachers´ work, reducing teachers’ own control over the professional work, delimiting power and status of teachers´ occupation. These tendencies are rather well recognised in scholarly debated over teachers´ professionalism while considering teachers of general education. The discussion on characteristics of professionalism of vocational teachers has remained much more in the shadow. The aim of the paper is to compare the general education and vocational teachers´ commitment to their profession and beliefs about the status of their profession in the society. The TALIS 2013 data sets on perceptions of Estonian general education teachers has been compared with data from national survey conducted among vocational teachers, including comparable scales from the TALIS survey. The variables of the job satisfaction and self-efficacy as important work related attitudes will be compared and commonalities and discrepancies will be identified and possible explanations discussed. Our study revealed that vocational teachers´ commitment to their profession and self-efficacy beliefs are stronger than those of general education teachers. Moreover, vocational teachers tend to perceive the status of their professional higher than general education teachers. The possible explanations concern mainly the distinctive career paths and working contexts which construct professional identity of vocational teachers. Vocational teachers´ work is closely related to enterprises and labour market; they tend to feel themselves self-efficient and see themselves as shaping student lives through their work.

References: Sahlberg, P. (2010). Rethinking accountability in a knowledge society. Journal of Educational Change, 11(1), 45–61. doi:10.1007/s10833-008-9098-2 TALIS (2013). The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/edu/school/talis.htm

ABSTRACT. Proposed paper description

This proposed paper communicates the transition experiences of participants involved with the Career and Technology Studies (CTS) Bridge to Teacher Certification Program in Alberta, Canada. Since 2010, the Ministry of Education’s and the University of Alberta’s financial and institutional support respectively, and the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s backing and provincial school districts’ employment provisions, have contributed to the success of this program. The goal is to help select individuals with journey qualifications earn their Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degrees; the certification required to teach in Alberta’s elementary and secondary education system (i.e., kindergarten to grade 12). Other individuals with these same journeyed credentials are enrolled in the B.Ed. teacher program; however, because of timing and circumstances, are not a part of the bridging program cohort.

I use Schlossberg’s (1981) theory as the contextual framework to examine how these select vocationally-skilled and credentialed people transition to a teacher education program. Schlossberg outlines four factors that affects someone’s ability to work with the transitions: situation, self, social support, and strategies. These factors form the lens from which to examine statistics and pertinent literature (e.g., scholarly journals, books, government policy documents and reports, school district documents, etc.), and participants’ articulation of their transition experiences. Candidates for this study are those who are/were participants of the Alberta Education’s CTS Bridge to Teacher Certification Program and enrolled at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Education B.Ed. four-year degree program.

The key data collection method for this study was 20 face-to face and/or telephone audio-taped interviews that were 60 to 90 minutes in length. For this proposed paper, three to five participants’ experiences will be studied. An aim of this proposed paper is to expose the vocational knowledge and pedagogy for a diverse group of individuals with unique skills, talents, and knowledge as they transition to teachers. These individuals are bridging from one, two, or more credentialed and established careers/occupations to the teacher profession. There is much to learn about how to best draw on these existing talents to advance their teacher education in ways that will positively transfer or bridge forward to their future teacher careers. Of utmost importance is how these individuals will contribute to their secondary students’ learning, knowledge, and skill development. It is in the engagement with transitions in the context of situation, self, social support, and strategies that we can begin to study and understand the positioning of vocational knowledge and pedagogy for second-career teachers.

References

Scholossberg, N. (1981). Model for analyzing human adaptation to transition. The Counseling Psychologist, 9(2), 2-18.

ABSTRACT. This paper looks at the impact of the financial crisis in Ireland on those working within the FE(T) sector in the State. The data shows that many believe that they have or had no control or say in how the sector dealt with the whole financial burden placed upon the State in relation to cuts in education. Lillis and Morgan (2012) suggest that, ‘Regardless of economic fortunes, investment in education remains a constant in terms of its perceived value to Ireland and it is seen as critical to the economic recovery of the country. Ireland has one of the highest educational participation rates in the world, is considered to have the ‘most employable’ graduates in Europe and produces more graduates per 1000 inhabitants than any other European country (p.2).

Mercille and Murphy (2015) suggest, ‘Ireland has been a poster child for the implementation of fiscal consolidation. Whereas a number of countries initially responded to the 2008–9 financial crisis through Keynesian measures, Ireland immediately started to implement austerity on its own’ (p.4). The fiscal austerity reforms happened within the context of a €67.5 billion International Monetary Fund (EU-IMF) bailout, which conditionality required ‘structural reforms’, in particular, within the public sector and education. Though Ireland has now left the bailout programme it is still subject to regular monitoring from the EMF (European Monetary Fund) and the IMF, and austerity continues to be implemented (ibid). The scale of this change should not be understated. Between 2008 and 2015, it has amounted to approximately 20% of the Irish GDP, almost €32 billion, of which 30% is accounted for by spending cuts and tax increases (Fiscal Advisory Council, 2014, p.9). Ireland has always has a strong national opinion on the value of education and its link to the economy.

From late 2007 Ireland was impacted by one of the most severe economic and social shrinkages in the international and European financial crisis. ‘The banking crash was one of the largest in modern history and the costs of the crisis were being imposed by both Irish governments and the IMF/EU/ECB ‘Troika’ on to the majority of the population - low and middle income households’ (Ahearne.R. 2015, p4). There were austerity Budgets implemented from 2008 to 2014, along with conditions imposed as part of the international bailout from 2010 to 2013. Most of these included cuts to public spending, social welfare and increasing of taxes (some of these in the form of stealth taxes), predominantly on middle and low income households, of over €30 billion (ibid).

This paper highlights to views and experiences of teaching and training and management staff working within the Further Education (and Training) sector in Ireland during this period.

ABSTRACT. Dr. Stephanie Conein / Henrik Schwarz

Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Germany Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BiBB)

Vocational training of IT-professionals – reshaping occupations for the future

Since their introduction in 1997, the four German IT occupations (IT-specialist (m/f) with two different specialisations (a) system integration, (b) application development; IT-systems electronics technician (m/f); IT-system support specialist (m/f), selling hard- and software; IT-officer (m/f), buying hard- and software, training of staff) are writing a success story with about 15.000 new training contracts per year. By combining common, broad-based IT core qualifications with profound specialist qualifications the training occupations met the needs of the economy. Nevertheless the rapid development of technology during the last 20 years concerning hard- and software, data storage, IT security etc. are leading to new and complex demands on the IT-professionals. Therefore in March 2015, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) charged the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) with the evaluation of the existing IT occupations to decide whether there is a need to revise (Schwarz, 2015). Central issues were:

• contents and objectives, • required profiles, structure and design, • further education and permeability between VET and the academic system.

The evaluation was divided into three phases (Conein & Schwarz, 2015), one exploratory, one qualitative and one quantitative phase of data collection. Methods used were document analysis, semi-structured, guideline based expert interviews as well as an online survey with more than 6000 participants. Findings suggest that although there is an overall satisfaction with the training among all target groups some contents are outdated and obsolete. On the other hand new contents due to the technological development should be added, e.g. IT security, cloud computing, big data etc.. Moreover personal competences will play an increasing role. According to the human resources managers and company managers further education and training is very important to the professionals. In contrast the participation in training is rather low and mainly covered by purchasing certificates. In addition, it is necessary to revise the existing occupational profiles. The number of occupations could be reduced e.g. by combining the two more business-oriented occupations. Furthermore reshaping the examinations seems to be necessary. Finally the cooperation of in-company training and vocational schools should be improved.

References CONEIN, S. & SCHWARZ, H. (2015). IT-Berufe auf dem Prüfstand. BWP, 2, 58-59. – URL www.bibb.de/bwp-7872 SCHWARZ, H. u. a.. Voruntersuchung IT-Berufe, Projektbeschreibung. Bonn 2015 - URL https://www2.bibb.de/bibbtools/tools/dapro/data/documents/pdf/at_42497.pdf

ABSTRACT. In Switzerland, vocational education and training (VET), and in particular the dual system, is the most frequently chosen path for young people leaving lower-secondary education. This system is based on alternating periods of learning and work in school and at the workplace. In this Swiss dual-track VET programmes, a specific population plays a key role in the training process of apprentices and occupies a pivotal position, participating both in the training and in the production sphere: on-the-job trainers. However, there have been very few studies of this group. On the theoretical level, this contribution refers to the sociology of work, in particular theories about changes in work, professional identity and commitment to work and it aims to shed light on the impact of changes in the current working context on on-the-job trainers’ trajectories and on how they deal with them. More precisely, it aims to study how on-the-job trainers talk about their experiences and to analyze the impact of changes in work on this issue. This paper draws on a PhD thesis focused on on-the-job trainers’ trajectories in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and carried out within a broader research project (Projet FNS100017_153323). This study uses qualitative methods and data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with on-the-job trainers (N=80) and focus groups (N=4) were organized with future on-the-job trainers (N=28) working in companies of different sizes from a variety of sectors. Our preliminary results highlight the variety of ways in which on-the-job trainers develop their duties according to their professional identity and their commitment to work. Some demonstrate strong professional identity and engagement at work, which they want to transmit to their apprentices. Others also have a strong professional identity, but it is used to help them to endure their difficult working conditions. In these situations, the on-the-job trainers’ position offers them some room for manoeuvre. Finally, some trainers are committed to their work without necessarily having a strong professional identity. Becoming on-the-job trainers seems a way to find a new sense of meaning for them. These first lines of analysis offer an opportunity to think about what this position means to the on-the-job trainers and the impact of changes in the current working context on their experiences.

ABSTRACT. This paper reports on the results of an investigation into the claim (Young, 2009) that the influence of knowledge has become weakened in vocational education policy. The study was based on an analysis of a corpus of Australian policy documents from 1969 to 2013 (Corbel, 2014). The study developed an innovative ‘critical phraseology’ methodology based on the notion of the ‘key phrase’. Although key phrases are often formulaic, or not immediately obvious in a text, they help shape discourse by establishing and reinforcing unconscious assumptions. Critical phraseological analysis investigates underlying power relationships in texts by identifying and examining the structure and sequencing of these key phrases. The study found that meanings of knowledge in vocationalist discourse are not primarily constructed through clear denotation and reference to conceptual senses of the word itself, but through the association of knowledge with a range of other words in recurring phrasal patterns. However the word knowledge was far less influential in the policy corpus than skills, which has a far greater range and frequency of phrasal patterns than knowledge. This is theorised as being due to the way the word skill aligns conceptually with the performativity required of an instrumentalist ideology; the way it forms phrases easily and has many collocations; and how it exhibits far greater ability to form new words. The high occurrence of both sequences, 'knowledge and skills' and 'skills and knowledge', suggests that knowledge is not emptied of meaning in these phrases, however. This could indicate that the phrase is a site of contestation over the dominance of skills in vocationalist discourse. The paper suggests that a critical phraseological addition to established policy analysis can provide insights into how discourse achieves its effects in policy texts. The paper concludes that an analysis of key phrases in vocational education policy could also provide insights into the functioning of Bernstein’s ‘language device’ (Bernstein, 2000) at the micro level of cultural reproduction. Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity (2nd ed.). Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield. Corbel, C. (2014). The missing ‘voice’ of knowledge in knowledge and skills. In E. Rata & B. Barrett (Eds.), The future of knowledge and the curriculum (pp. 104-119). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Young, M. (2009). Education, globalisation and the 'voice of knowledge'. Journal of Education and Work, 22(3), 193-204.

ABSTRACT. The presentation explores tendencies of de-linking the ideological foundation of a modern capitalism and the interests of companies which represent the capitalistic centres until today. One explanation is the formation of an elitist labour market segment including its own requirements for qualifications and competences and which is bound to a few multinational companies.

Under the conditions of the predominant capitalist system that consists of a project-based working structure and is unfolding network-like, the modern employee entrepreneur is to be considered successful when they are involved into the world of work in a holistic way (instead of focussing on qualifications only). Therefore, mobility (among others) becomes a core competence (Boltanski/Chiapello, 2003) and is the key phenomenon to be analysed in the presentation. This phenomenon becomes visible not only in the management literature of Boltanski and Chiapello, but also with a view to the rise of so-called international qualifications such as the Microsoft Certified Professionals, which are offered by European institutions as well as by multinational companies (Cedefop, 2012). In 2014, the world´s largest business-oriented social network service LinkedIn stated that mobility is more relevant in high-income sectors and high-income positions than in other sectors and positions (Ahearne, 2014). In 2015, the stepstone ‘skilled employees atlas’ (an overview of demand developments of professionals in Germany) states that top managers and young professionals are more mobile than other workforce groups (StepStone, 2015).

The presentation will focus on this issue from two sides: In their theory of capitalism, Boltanski and Chiapello describe this phenomenon as the “net-human”. Net-humans are able to increase their recruiting-capital in a networked and project-based world. Furthermore, this includes a decline of dependency on the company. However, from a labour market theory perspective disputes arises in this context. From a company perspective, it is necessary to keep down the recruitment costs and to retain high-qualified employees as long as possible.

The presentation will follow the question how a new labour-market segment arises. It will be shown which areas are affected and what are the characteristic qualifications and job positions and how the above-mentioned two-side-focus is useful.

ABSTRACT. The tertiary education sector has been developing comparatively dynamically in recent years. Numerous countries are introducing or expanding educational programmes that contain both vocational and academic elements. A wide range of models has evolved from the desire to create stronger links between academic and professional/practice-related learning, increase permeability and make the pathway of vocational education more attractive. The momentum in the changes in the tertiary education and training sector is evident e.g. in the introduction of the so-called Degree Apprenticeships in the United Kingdom at the end of 2014 and the call for “New Apprenticeships” also on tertiary levels in Ireland in 2015. Nevertheless the vocational elements in tertiary education, often equated with higher or even university education, remain prevalently unnoticed and hidden behind a debate on “academisation”. They are also only partly visible in international education statistics. The project that forms basis for this conference input may contribute to a changed and updated perception of vocational education and training by revealing work-based learning models as a parameter of innovation in tertiary education. It analyses and compares models and functions of work-based learning programmes in the tertiary education sector of selected European countries. It´s a research project of the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) that started in 2014 (https://www.bibb.de/de/24108.php). The challenge but at the same time the strength of the project in terms of content is its cross-sector approach taken in relation to education and training. No other study is known which investigates and compares formats of training programmes both from the higher education area as well as the higher level vocational education and training area. Other studies focus either on “higher vocational education and training” or on higher education sector programmes. The research project is designed as a qualitative, exploratory study, including six country specific case studies conducted in 2015/16 (Austria, England, France, Ireland, Norway and Poland) capturing the views of five groups of stakeholders i.e. learners and companies, education institutions as well as researchers and policy representatives.

The conference contribution will give examples for the invisibility of vocational elements on tertiary level in international education statistics. This is followed by a comparison on policy developments based on the outcomes and analysis of the conducted case studies.

ABSTRACT. The Apprenticeship Levy will be introduced by the UK Government in 2017. It represents, arguably, the most substantial policy affecting participation in vocational education and training (VET) in England for several decades. In summary, employers with a payroll over ₤3m will be required to pay a levy of 0.5% of their pay bill. The levy can be reclaimed by employers if they train apprentices. While it is intended to increase employers’ investments in human capital through apprenticeships, there is no guarantee that the levy will achieve this. It is known that the cost to the employer of training an apprentice, especially at higher levels, is much greater than the direct training cost the state has funded and will now finance through the levy. So if there is no business demand for taking on apprentices, then it may be that the employer prefers to pay the levy, accepting it as a cost and possibly offsetting it through savings elsewhere in the business. Alternatively, some employers may game the system, using it, for example, training existing employees as apprentices simply to reclaim their levy payment without it increasing skills development in the business or upskilling employees. Or the levy may have the intended impact of increasing employer investment in human capital. Based on case study research conducted with employers during the first half of 2016, the paper explores what employers reported as their likely responses to the introduction of the levy alongside the rationale for their responses. The research demonstrates that in sectors of the economy where apprenticeships at Level 3 are well established, the levy is likely to have relatively little impact on apprenticeship provision because the amount employers reclaim will represent a small percentage of the overall cost of training an apprentice. These employers tend to be confident that they will retain their apprentice post-training and thereby realise a return on their investment. In contrast, in other sectors of the economy, the employer is more concerned with avoiding a net cost at the end of the training period because they are less certain that they will retain their apprentice. For such employers, the levy payment may be more problematic. This is often the case for Level 2 apprenticeships in sectors such as retailing and hospitality and here the employer’s levy payment can run into the £millions. The paper research draws upon the authors’ report, produced for the Department for Education.

ABSTRACT. Vocational education and training models have been conceptualised in a variety of ways, often distinguishing generic employability skills that raise awareness of the world of work from specific job-related competencies required for a career in a particular vocational sector. As a consequence, there are a plethora of labels used to capture these models (from ‘vocationally related’ or ‘pre-vocational’ to 'weak’ or ‘strong’ vocational learning).

Amongst other things, these models are differentiated by how they contextualise learning content and knowledge, and, in particular, the extent to which the workplace is considered central to the learning process. For example, some models locate substantial elements of learning outside of the workplace, using simulated activities or work placements to integrate vocational content knowledge and practice. Whilst it is argued that this hybrid model enhances vocational learning (e.g. Schaap et al., 2011) , it also treats the transfer of content from one context (the location of learning) to another (the location of practice) as unproblematic.

One concern is that the notion of transfer can underplay the importance of the implicit cultural practices of the workplace that influence professional performance. The ability to perceive and accommodate such practices as a form of workplace socialisation is an important element of learning that cannot be covered in vocational learning programmes outside of the workplace. This is because cultural practices are simultaneously constituted and reinforced through the fluid interactions of those engaged in professional practice, making such practices difficult to observe and articulate.

At the same time, this doesn’t mean that such practices are not possible to evidence. For example, an ethnomethodological perspective argues that taken for granted and culturally defined behaviours are often patterned, and that their underpinning organisational frameworks can be observed through careful observation. Our study used such a perspective to explore socialisation and the underlying organisational mechanisms that underpin young people’s informal learning interactions in a skatepark. Our observations suggest that the skatepark, similar to a workplace, is a complex, rule governed culture that is constituted by the interactions that take place within it. Close observation of this informal learning space allows insight into the specific cultural norms and participatory rules that enable engagement and learning to take place. At the same time, these insights suggest that vocational learning programmes need to give learners the opportunity to develop their contextual acuity of the workplace to complement their content knowledge.

ABSTRACT. Analogies are drawn between the “hard problem” of philosophy of mind (Chalmers, 1996) consisting in the attempts to reconcile mental and physical phenomena and the similarly long-standing intractability of a core problem in vocational education and training (VET) concerning the vocational/academic divide and the inferior status of vocational studies in systems of education. Previous reconciliation strategies in relation to upgrading vocationalism have included recommendations for VET curriculum and assessment reform, changes in the nature and organisation of apprenticeships, new forms of partnerships between employers and trainers, and suggestions for alternative philosophical perspectives on the nature of work, training and education. Staying mainly within this latter philosophical domain, it is suggested here that recent work on conceptions of craft and craftworking – particularly the links between intellectual, ethical and manual activity (Sennett, 2009; Crawford, 2009; Marchand, 2016) – offer valuable insights which can inform the perennial debate on these issues. Reflections on the central problems in consciousness studies (Strawson, 2016) may also help to illuminate the re-imagining and potential dissolution of the traditional dualisms of theory and practice, thinking and doing, the intellectual and the practical which are at the heart of the vocational/academic divide. _________________________________________________________________________ Chalmers, D. (1996) The Conscious Mind (Oxford, Oxford University Press) Crawford, Matthew B. (2009). Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work (New York, Penguin Press) Marchand, Trevor H.J. (Ed)(2016) Craftwork as Problem Solving (Farnham, Ashgate) Sennett, R.(2009) The Craftsman (London, Penguin Books) Strawson, G. (2016) Consciousness Isn’t a Mystery. It’s Matter.; New York Times, 16/5/16 (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/opinion/consciousness-isnt-a-mystery-its-matter.html; accessed 6/10/16

ABSTRACT. After the 1970 UK General Election the incoming Conservative Government initiated a regular review and assessment of the efficiency of departmental programmes. Announced in the White Paper ‘The Reorganisation of Central Government’, this was intended to kick-start a new style of government and to increase the ability of the Treasury to evaluate public expenditure in relation to policies. Central to this were Programme Analysis Reviews (PARS) conducted by departments, jointly or separately, while in Whitehall they were coordinated by the Central Policy Review Staff and the Treasury. The PARs took place in secret, the officials and others involved being subject to the terms of the Official Secrets Act. This paper is based on one such PAR, ’16-19 Year Olds: Getting Ready for Work’, conducted by the Department for Employment and the Department for Education and Science between 1973 and 1975. Prominent in this PAR was concern about those 16-19 year olds who at the time received no further education or training after leaving school. The procedures in setting up the PAR between two departments with different traditions and cultures will be considered, along with official assumptions about the purposes and provision of education and training. This will be followed by an outline of the materials generated for analysis and of the proposals for development. We will conclude with a look at the PAR’s final stage, a large conference of the ‘Good and the Great’, at which the decision to set up a pilot programme of ‘Unified Vocational Preparation’ and the establishment of the Further Education Curriculum Review and Development Unit was announced. At the conference no mention was made of the genesis of the proposals.

ABSTRACT. In Romania the gap between villages and towns was deepened with the diffusion of the market economy after the fall of centralized economy. The downturn in the development of rural areas is determined by a mixture of factors: socio-demographic, economic, educational, cultural, etc. Rural areas witnessed the ageing of labour force, a low efficiency of farming and the underemployment, leading to poverty. In families with low socio-educational level, parents consider that education cannot increase the likelihood of a better future for their children. Recently, international big industrial companies from abroad who invested in Romania face the shortage of human resources while searching for qualified employees. The lack of well-trained young people reflect the difficulties of VET system to provide suitable and sufficient graduates for the industries emerging in the developed regions of Romania. This study explores the vision of rural youth from VET schools on their experiences during the training trajectory and on their future prospects on the labour market. The qualitative analysis is grounded on a research including semi-structured interviews/ focus groups with young people (16-18 years old) from villages, attending VET secondary schools in Romania. Discourses of rural youth reflect different educational careers and a blend of shortcomings and opportunities during their educational trajectory. Apparently, youth from intact families and who help parents in agricultural activities have a work culture and capitalize work-based training, mostly already being part-time employed or with the promise of a full-time job at the end of school. Alternatively, youth from dysfunctional and poor families usually get in a VET school based on geographical proximity, not on personal choice. As families may disregard education or may not afford its costs, these youth are more exposed to school failure and drop-out. Still, there is a large share of youth who consider VET system as an inferior educational path. Youth who are content during the VET studies are confident they will acquire good jobs in the international companies in Romania that will allow them a decent living standard. This tendency creates a tension between the new opportunities to get employed in industries versus the opportunity to use their skills to streamline activities in agriculture, a crucial economic sector of Romania. Thus, despite a relatively numerous young population in countryside, with a chance to be trained in agriculture, there is a certain resistance in returning to farming, a mentality less likely to disappear in the near future.

ABSTRACT. Since early 90s, Romania’s vocational education and training (VET) witnessed successive reforms, all without the capacity to significantly increase its attractiveness among young people. At present, the VET system navigates an environment permeated by powerful discourses: employers’ demand for skilled workforce, European and national policies, media success stories. Despite the programmatic drive to reshape its image, VET remains severely underfunded, often at the intersection of competing interests and loaded with a discrediting societal bias.

This research examines young people’s narratives on the rationales for attending a VET school in Romania. It explores young people’s social worlds and their articulation with the VET system. The presentation is based on a research project that included semi-structured interviews/ focus groups with over 250 young people (16-18 years old) from 33 VET schools in Romania. These are secondary schools that combine teaching with work-based training and are not a direct route to university.

The research unfolds a large array of circumstances that bring young people in VET, which are not limited to the need to acquire skills. It argues that a policy drive to attract more people in this education sector needs to start from a more informed understanding of who young people from VET are and what are the social dynamics that lead them towards this sector. The research interrogates a policy discourse that prioritizes skills at the expense of engaging meaningfully with young people’s personal and civic lives. It argues that requiring some young people as young as 15 to make an occupational choice is both professionally and personally limiting. Also, it is positioning young people in VET at disadvantage in comparison with their peers from high school, where a sense of experimentation is inherent.

At a next stage, by placing young people’s needs and expectations at its core, the research looks for better ways of designing the VET system in Romania. It analyses previous debates on the relation between vocational and liberal education and makes a case for incorporating elements of liberal education in VET, in ways that are perceived as relevant by young people themselves.

ABSTRACT. Creativity is considered one of the necessary competences for the future. Robots will increasingly take over existing human jobs. What will be left to us humans is the ability to think creatively about the human condition, to handle complex situations without clear vantage points and goals in mind, and to collaborate across lines of responsibilities in our organisations. This developing situation should attract the attention of those involved in VET. This keynote presentation will link crafts, vocational education and training and creativity which have a lot in common. In this, the pragmatist idea of an epistemology of the hand will stand out as a central concept, inspired by Dewey and present-day pragmatists, and by empirical studies of vocational education and training. Dewey argued that people know different things, and that everything we know – if it is to deserve the term knowledge – must have some connection with practical action. We should count something as knowledge only if it enables us to make a fruitful difference to human experience. This links with an understanding of creative actions as those actions that make an impact in and on the world. A practical implication of this would be that VET must teach its students to act creatively, to judge and handle complex problems in the real world and to make an impact on it.

ABSTRACT. This paper conceptualizes and advocates intercultural ethics in education. It takes a step beyond competence-based approaches towards interculturality and linear notions of ethics. Critical and reflexive interculturalism as the theoretical approach is complemented with Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical hermeneutics of the (ethical) self and amended with Emmanuel Levinas’ and Buddhist perspectives on ethics. This serves as a framework to examine instances of vocational education and training (VET) teachers’ ethically caring work with diverse students.  The qualitative data of this study consists of ten interviews and 85 open questions from educators in five Finnish upper secondary VET institutions in the metropolitan area of Helsinki, Finland. This study focuses on the (VET) educators’ role in promoting ethically caring teaching-learning conditions and facilitating social wellbeing for all involved.

ABSTRACT. This paper sets out to explore a possible conceptual framework to identify different kinds of knowledge and its components in the workplace. It is based on research into a Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) pilot project aimed at drawing out the knowledge of machine operators who operate a high-speed packaging line in Cape Town, South Africa. The pilot project is focused on aligning and accrediting that knowledge to an appropriate occupational qualification in order to assist the operators in achieving the qualification based on their prior workplace knowledge. The paper will first contextualise and discuss the significance of RPL in the South African context, and then address the question of how to identify knowledge within the workplace. This discussion draws on the work of both Gamble (2016) and Winch (2012) and will attempt to develop a conceptual framework that is capable of identifying the different types of knowledge that could be encountered, and providing a way of operationalising these conceptual categories so that they can be related to the empirical data gathered during the RPL pilot project. Working from the context of the workplace, the conceptual framework attempts to extrapolate from the workplace knowledge back to the occupational qualification, instead of drawing on the qualification to determine the workplace knowledge.

ABSTRACT. At a time when apprenticeship-based work-based learning programmes are again enjoying policy popularity in England, it is worth taking a look at how these might develop in the future and in particular how they might impact on the semi-professions (Etzioni 1986). In this respect we will look at teaching.

On the one hand, Higher Apprenticeships are being encouraged in sectors where qualifications at Level 4 and above are required. They can take up to five years to complete, but vary from sector to sector. They are being encouraged as an alternative to conventional higher education study and do not incur student debt. Such qualifications are not merely a substitute for graduate level recruitment but can also assist in the development of a higher technician workforce where one did not previously exist.

However, the Apprenticeship Framework is a very flexible instrument and can be used in more than one way. One interesting example is the proposed level 7 apprenticeship in teaching. This is a one year qualification which does not require a prior level 6 qualification. On achieving the apprenticeship in teaching, the apprentice gains qualified teacher status (QTS). The apprenticeship in teaching will eventually be accredited by schools or multi-academy trusts (MATs) and, if successful, could provide a considerable proportion of the schoolteaching workforce in the future. Given that currently formal teacher education requires a level 6 initial qualification, but does not issue in a level 7 one at exit, this is a radical departure. Twenty per cent of an apprentice’s time will be spent learning off the job, although there are no requirements in the consultation document as to academic content.

The apprenticeship in teaching raises the intriguing possibility that semi-professions like nursing and teaching, which now require a level 6 qualification in England might be subject to a de-academisation process, leading to less rigorous entry requirements than are currently needed. The apprenticeship levy may well encourage this development. In our presentation we examine the possible consequences for teaching in England of the adoption of an apprenticeship framework for initial qualification. We contrast the proposed apprenticeship with the well-established workplace based route into teaching in Germany (the Referendariat) which requires a Masters level qualification before entry. We discuss the likely reasons for this major divergence in work-based learning routes in the two countries and examine the likely trajectory of other semi-professions such as nursing.

Etzioni, A. (1969) The Semi-Professions and Their Organization, New York: Free Press, 1969.

ABSTRACT. Within vocational education assessment is well understood as an integral part of the learning process. In this Singapore-based project, however, we move away from the notion of assessment as measurement only within educational providers to one that conceives of assessment as also enhancing and/or enabling learning within authentic workplace contexts. We examine different assessment approaches (summative, formative and sustainable) in relation to the changing nature of work (globalisation, increasing casualisation, portfolio employment, and so on) and national policy thrusts such as ‘SkillsFuture’. Using selected case studies we investigate the ways assessment has been carried out in various professional contexts where the conditions of and for learning are dynamic and the learning practices complex, and we highlight the inter-related dimensions of assessment, learning and work as well as the challenges for assessment to enable ongoing learning and productive work to co-exist. We reveal and explore the complexities that engender development of a professional ‘sense’ of contextualised learning through formal and informal assessment feedback; for example, taste amongst cooks in a food and beverage chain , ‘leadership’ amongst Officer Cadets learning to become Rota Commanders in a fire-fighting unit, and enhanced training skills for workplace learning facilitators,.

We suggest that good assessment practices are those that are integrated and intentionally designed into the curriculum and learning system. Assessment when thoughtfully designed could lead to greater professionalisation and understanding of work that develops judgment for the criteria and required standards of performance, capacity to learn beyond the immediate course/training, and engaged learning. Approaches like formative and sustainable assessment embody and express some of these ideals and objectives but our findings suggest that these assessment approaches have to be adapted to each learning context where we need to pay attention to, and make sense of the dynamic realities in order for these approaches to become effective practice. Therefore, we distinguish between what is idealised and that which is actually carried out, and develop an awareness of assessment practices as emergent and sustainable, systems of learning as dynamic, and we focus on the effectivities of assessment of, for and as learning. What are perhaps less distinguishable and visible include how learners, instructors and/or designers understand or recognise what they are doing and/or learning; for example, the deeply embedded systems of knowledge used that are implicit and/or sometimes embodied in the ways of doing and knowing, and the attending values, attitudes and perspectives that learners, instructors and/or designers have about assessment and learning.

ABSTRACT. Ofqual is responsible for regulating vocational qualifications in England, to ensure that they are sufficiently valid and trusted. In 2014, Ofqual changed its regulatory approach. Previously, Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) ‘rule books’ determined many details of how vocational qualifications were to be designed, developed and delivered. In 2014, Ofqual announced its intention to ‘tear up’ those rule books and, instead, to put validity at the heart of what we do.

By the ‘validity’ of a particular qualification, Ofqual means the degree to which it is possible to measure what that qualification needs to measure, by implementing its assessment procedure. This assumes that all qualifications are designed to measure a certain kind of proficiency (i.e. a certain constellation of learning outcomes) and that the first step in designing any qualification is to specify what it is that needs to be measured. Specifying a proficiency involves: first, identifying a target proficiency; and, second, communicating it to stakeholders.

The QCF ‘rule books’ included some fairly explicit guidance on specifying proficiency constructs in terms of learning outcomes and assessment criteria. Now that these rule books have been abandoned, there are no such guidelines, which permits awarding organisations to adopt different approaches, and which raises the question of how to distinguish between good and bad approaches to proficiency specification.

This presentation will explain how ‘proficiency specification’ constitutes the first step in a five-step validation argument concerning vocational qualifications. It will consider potential threats to validity that might arise during this step, with a view to identifying criteria for distinguishing between good and bad approaches.

ABSTRACT. Over the years, computer based assessment has increasingly been used as organisations that are responsible for administering assessments become more capable and learners become more comfortable using technology. Many benefits of using computer based assessment are apparent and widely recognised, including greater flexibility, lower administrative burden and costs, quicker results reporting, and improved security when compared with the paper-based equivalent. Nonetheless, there are still organisations that are not fully equipped to assess all their learners using computers. Hence, a paper version of an exam is sometimes offered simultaneously alongside the computer based assessment to fill this gap.

However, test developers face several challenges in producing exams that are comparable on both computer and paper. The comparability of assessments administered in different modes may be impacted by mode effects, which could include factors such as testing conditions, test questions, learner groups, computer familiarity, computer experience and attitude to computers. Where the same assessment is concurrently administered by computer and paper, comparability studies are recommended to help evaluate and minimise the impact of mode effects because these can affect learner responses and outcomes, and compromise the validity of the assessment. Comparable assessments should lead to the same outcome or results for a candidate regardless of the mode of delivery.

City & Guilds, a vocational awarding organisation in the UK with customers across the world, has a number of assessments which are offered simultaneously on both computer and paper. Although certain good practice already exists in minimising differences and ensuring comparability between modes, City & Guilds understands the importance of comparability for assessments to be valid and fair, and that without comparability certain learners may be disadvantaged. Therefore, a study was initiated to explore the feasibility of using quantitative approaches, in addition to those already being used within the organisation, to explore comparability of computer and paper examinations. This paper aims to present some of the empirical findings from this study, which are based on an evaluation of actual learner performance on examinations offered on both computer and paper. It also aims to discuss some of the practical constraints and difficulties of conducting comparability studies and embedding these into business operations.

ABSTRACT. In modern and globalized economies, people find themselves in an increasingly complex and risky marketplace. The (still ongoing) financial and economic crisis has made it evident how crucial financial literacy is (e.g. Atkinson & Messy, 2012). However, numerous international large-scale studies have shown that all over the world, a large portion of the population has substantial knowledge gaps when it comes to understanding basic financial concepts and applying them to every day financial tasks (e.g. Atkinson & Messy, 2012; Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011). Many concepts of financial literacy have focused on personal financial management (Aprea et al., 2015). Recent contributions do, however, emphasize the importance of financial literacy not only in a personal but also in a business context. Businesses and entrepreneurship are seen as the backbone of the economy and together with other factors, financial literacy is considered to play an important role for business and entrepreneurial success (OECD/GFLEC, 2015). But which financial skills are actually needed in a business context and what kind of fi-nancial education does it take to enable people to acquire these skills? To address this question an empirical research study on the levels of financial literacy of young people across Europe based on the perspectives of the business and finance community was conducted. Members of the business and fianace community were asked to identify the financial skills enterprises need young people to be equipped with when starting their work lives. By analysing their perceptions, this contribution offers insights into the need for financial literacy in a business context. The findings include an analysis of content areas within which financial skills are said to be needed, differentiating between young people’s career aspiration for either becoming an employee or an entrepreneur. By comparing the identified needs for financial literacy to the respondents’ evaluation of young people’s actual skills, the study reveals a considerable gap across almost all content areas identified. To address this gap, the study also provides insights into the business and finance community’s views on the ‘Who’ and ‘How’ of financial education tailored for the young. The findings suggest that schools have not reached their full potential yet, but other stakeholders are considered to have the capability to assist and contribute to financial education as well. The results complement prior research by pinpointing financial content areas within which young people need to be skilled when starting their work lives. By offering insights into the business stakeholders’ needs and their per-spectives on providing financial education, the results provide a foundation for increased cooperation between different stakeholders involved in financial education.

ABSTRACT. In Switzerland, the most influential further education programmes were merged to form “professional education and training”, short PET. These include professional examinations and colleges of higher VET education and are located at tertiary level. Similar programmes also exist in Germany and Austria but are not united under a certain term by law. The principal idea of providing opportunities for further qualification beyond initial VET unites all programs. However, how these programs are embedded with the VET systems and how permeability between VET and academic education is enabled differs largely between the three nations. Internationalisation processes, amongst others supported by the European Union, are putting pressure on those systems as most European countries have higher percentages of common tertiary degrees but do not recognise the higher VET qualifications as equal. The presentation will be concerned with the systematic institutional comparison of the three approaches and the challenges that internationalization processes create for these Systems (addressing issues such as history of the creation of higher VET, legal foundations, structural conditions including access, graduation requirements, transition into jobs, role of social partners, financing). It will further substantiate the positive outlook on the institutionalization of professional or higher VET and explain why this form of education is addressing the needs of the labour market appropriately. Results of the comparison show that each of the three German-speaking countries has, in its own way, adapted to the challenges that internationalisation and higher demands on the labour market impose. The Swiss federal government has created a new sector to the Swiss tertiary education system by uniting vocational examinations and vocational schools in PET. This system is strongly promoted as an equal alternative to Tertiary A education. Contrary to this action, the German and also the Austrian government are following the European Union’s goals of higher percentages in academic degrees. At the same time however, they also have examinations and schools for further vocational education and training that are supposed to increase professional perspectives for everyone. Another difference is that all three countries offer professional examinations for master craftsmen which are ranked differently in the three countries and even within Switzerland and partly within Germany. While they are located on the same ISCED level as a Bachelor’s degree in Switzerland, and in the case of the Advanced Federal Diplomas of Higher Education even on the same level as an academic Master’s, the master craftsperson examinations in Austria are ranked on the level of short-cycle tertiary education in the ISCED ranking and are often referred to as post-secondary. This example mirrors the challenges in capturing and appropriately ranking further vocational qualifications in comparison to academic programs.

ABSTRACT. Swiss VET is very popular with 2/3 of the young people choosing to engage in a professional education after school. In this track, a majority choose dual VET, which offers a central position to the companies. This position within the system emphasizes the essential tension of the dual VET between two different logics, production and training. The research, this contribution is based on (FNS 100017_153323), aims to focus on on-the-job trainers, key actors of the dual system. Focusing on them is particularly relevant as they occupy a pivotal position as workers and trainers; it allows to question the tension mentioned above in their everyday working life and analyze it, so as to identify its main paradoxes.

On the theoretical level, this contribution refers to the sociology of work. We’ll focus on everyday working-life constraints, on how on-the-job trainers deal with them. Without focusing on the organizational level, the specific characteristics of the companies (size, sector, etc.) will be considered so as to identify the production/training’s tension. The originality here is to discuss it from on-the-job trainers’ perspective, while literature has focused on the apprentices.

The research is based on qualitative methods and data. 80 semi-structured interviews and 35 observations were conducted in companies of different sizes and belonging to various sectors of activity in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. These data have been subjected to content analysis with NVivo.

Our analyses confirm the recurrence of the production/training’s tension in the trainers’ everyday working life. This appear through their discourse about cumbersome administrative work tied to training an apprentice, their complaints concerning the lack of time, or the difficulties they have in dealing with their two hats. Our results also point out that most of the time production has the supremacy: even in big companies having training centers untied to the production sites, labour market’s typical logics (productivity, efficiency, competition) can be found. Therefore, we can formulate a hypothesis: the tension is not between training and producing, but between training to produce and acting in production. Although, training is a major concern in the trainers discourse. Indeed, training is part of their hybrid professional identity, it gives meaning to their everyday job, makes tolerable their working conditions (marked by fragmentation, lack of time and recognition), and a symbolic recognition.

Our analyses allow us to refine our understanding of VET. If production is central for the companies, training (or the discourse on training) is essential for on-the-job trainers.

ABSTRACT. This paper presents a contemporary methodology through which to examine career trajectories of mature teaching assistants (TAs), who intend to be classroom teachers following 5-6 years of part-time higher education (HE) in England. The methodology employs a life course research design to consider the TAs’ past and current experiences and their future hopes, through Sparkes and Hodkinson’s (1997) Careership theory. The authors have recommended that this theory, which critically examines the role of structure, agency and unpredictable decisions and events, is ripe for developing in differing contexts. Here, Careership theory is extended by paralleling critical contemporary discourses of economic precariousness (Standing, 2016) and work-life injustices in the public sphere (Weeks, 2011) to expose social and political contexts that influence the flow, stagnation or slippery movement that is experienced in the trajectory from TA to teacher. Data collection methods in this design included sets of interviews that engaged TAs with a low-directed mapping technique (Riuz-Primo et al, 2001). This ideographic method tracks significant events in their personal and professional lives, which they perceive to have influenced their career direction. This is overlaid with a measure (a high/low line across the timeline of the map) to indicate life satisfaction levels. Including a textual analysis of an existing written reflexive study, completed by all the TAs at the end of their undergraduate study, served to intersect and enrich the interview data. Whilst the data collected are individualised and idiosyncratic, it is argued they can also be representative of collective accounts. The purpose of proposing this design is ultimately aimed at unveiling the challenges that are faced by TAs in navigating their careers, exposing the power relations therein and determining whether the HE experience for these educators has been a significant factor in reaching their career goals. The methodological design could provide a useful tool for critically examining other contexts. References

Riuz-Primo, M. A., Shavelson, R. J., Li, M., & Schultz, S. E. (2001). On the validity of cognitive interpretations of sc. Educational Assessment, 7(2), 99-141.

Sparkes, A., & Hodkinson, P. (1997). Careership: A sociological theory of career decision making. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 18(1), 29-44. doi:10.1080/0142569970180102

Standing, G. (2016). The corruption of capitalism: Why rentiers thrive and work does not pay. London: Biteback Publishing.

Weeks, K. (2011). The problem with work. US: Duke University Press.

ABSTRACT. Since 2009 the UK FE and VET sector has seen numbers of adult learners (over 25s) diminishing. Primarily this can be attributed to drastic funding cuts to adult education budgets and the introduction of adult learning loans (AOC, 2015). The opportunities for adult learners to re-engage with VET particularly at lower levels are reducing. Arguably, these policy changes have disproportionately affected adult women learners for a number of important reasons. Firstly, women learners accounted for the majority of adults who were in the sector; related to this point there is plentiful evidence to support the personal, social and financial benefits of learning for adult women (Brine and Waller, 2004; Merrill, 2000; Skeggs, 2000; Waller, 2010; Wright, 2013). Yet in spite of this, the voices of women learners particularly those on lower level VET provision are absent in recent research and policy.

This paper draws on a small-scale pilot study with adult women learners investigating why they choose to re-engage with VET courses. It revealed the ways that the recent funding cuts would impact their ability to participate in VET. Typically the learning careers of these learners were not linear (Crossan, Field, Gallacher & Merrill, 2003), this was often attributed to key life events interrupting their education and employment in negative ways. Decisions to re-engage in education were motivated by a desire to realise their potential or escape unhappy situations. Yet the women learners’ re-entry into VET was cautious; even those who had previously achieved advanced level qualifications enrolled on lower level programmes first. Women learners acknowledged that they were ‘taking a step back’ and ‘taking longer to finish’, but argue that they did so in order to gain the confidence and skills they felt they needed to benefit fully from their training. The situation was compounded for newly migrated women learners who had in some cases spent many years completing ESOL language provision prior to VET. I argue that VET in the FE sector offers hope for women learners who face multiple vulnerabilities, a valuable chance to escape the traps of low paid insecure work and unhappy relationships. However, funding cuts to lower level vocational courses and ESOL programmes are significantly eroding these opportunities.

ABSTRACT. We examine an innovative youth entrepreneurship programme developed by a regional polytechnic in New Zealand. The program leverages two key features of polytechnics in New Zealand: the use of competency based pedagogy and the key role of polytechnics as mediators between the school and the workplace. Youth enterprise and youth enterprise training are the subject of increasing focus by policy makers and tertiary providers. There appear to be three drivers for this: Firstly, high levels of structural youth unemployment in OECD countries. In addition, in many developing countries opportunities for youth employment are constrained. Secondly, significant ongoing changes to patterns of work and job structures have impacted permanent employment opportunities for youth. Thirdly, drivers of regional growth have shifted from a focus on Fordist industries supported by an array of local support providers toward clustering and agglomeration of (typically) SME’s, with an emphasis on innovation and new firm foundation. The practitioner literature has responded by focussing on policy frameworks which can support the development of youth entrepreneurialism, in particular through the formal education system. The academic literature has focussed on exploring approaches to teaching entrepreneurialism, based in (primarily university) classroom environments. A range of evaluation studies have reported mixed outcomes. The Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) is a medium sized polytechnic based in the Hawkes Bay in New Zealand. EIT is the sole tertiary provider in the region that is continuing to adjust to major structural economic changes initiated in the 1980’s which saw the closure of several large Fordist factories with resulting structural unemployment. Over the past twenty years, several clusters of smaller specialist businesses have emerged. EIT has developed an innovative youth entrepreneurialism program: “Do a Business” which builds from EIT’s successful integration of work-based learning into the business studies curriculum. The program links into the emergent entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Hawkes Bay. Recent studies have shown that successful youth entrepreneurialism programs must include the development of competence and skill, effective business mentoring and seed funding. The EIT program supports the development of entrepreneurial competence through the provision of competency based training for students (and, where appropriate teachers), the provision of mentoring programs, and, through a seed fund, the provision of small grants. EIT will continue support for student businesses for those students who continue on to study at EIT. The programme may be of interest to VET institutions in both OECD and developing countries.

ABSTRACT. Financial criteria influence the content of vocational education, in a process mediated through participants´ interaction with objects, space and time. Building on empiric data from field studies conducted at an upper secondary vocational education school in Sweden, this study inquires how vocational teachers address financial questions in relation to material. The study contributes to a socio material analysis of material and other resources in teaching, as well as an empirical-based discussion of how different materials communicate financial educational content. Informed by a socio material approach (Fenwick, Nerland & Jensen, 2012), the investigation addresses the development of professional knowing in vocational teaching. Sensory ethnography methods (Pink, 2012; e.g. Rose,2016) has inspired the fieldwork and data production, of observations in two different floristry vocational education settings; school-based teaching and students participating in sales activities. A comparative approach serves to highlight similarities as well as differences regarding the making and selling of services, as taught in different school activities. The aim of the study is to analyse and compare access and use of objects and spaces for teaching/learning in vocational education, in order to provide detailed descriptions of how the financial structures impact what professional knowing students gain access to in vocational teaching. The analytical framework pays attention to the ‘everyday’ physical surrounding, with the intention to expand thinking about ‘taken-for-granted’ materials in teaching as well as to expose the financial curricula embedded in the material, spatial and temporal conditions of an education. In this study, it is assumed that the financial logics, of both school and a particular trade, interact to shape the form and content of the teaching and learning activities, thus conditioning professional knowing. The study present empirical examples of how financial systems impact teachers’ ways of planning, teaching, narrating professional knowing, and assessing student work.

ABSTRACT. The decisions we make when applying for a retirement savings account have long term implications on our ability to maintain a desired lifestyle when we cease work. With previous research demonstrating that the benefits of classroom-based adult education programs last less than two years, there is an opportunity to test whether ‘just in time’ financial education interventions delivered at the point a decision is being made, can influence knowledge and improve consumer choice. This paper therefore explores the effect of a ‘just in time’ financial education intervention for working age adults in Australia that aims to increase retirement savings know-how at point of sale and empower smarter decision making for consumers.

The paper discusses a pre-and-post-test randomised experiment on a ‘just in time’ financial education intervention run with 641 Australians aged between 25 and 54. Participants who received the ‘just in time’ financial education intervention increased their financial literacy test score by an average of 1.1 marks, demonstrating a significant uplift in financial literacy levels compared to the control group who were provided only with disclosure material and demonstrated no change between pre- and post-tests.

Given that the Australian superannuation choice environment facilitates either active, passive or autonomous default behaviour however, it is possible that due to apathy and attitude the educational intervention might not succeed in improving alignment between risk preferences and risk decisions. Analysis of experiment results demonstrates this risk is realised with a very weak correlation for both the treatment and control between risk attitude and risk choice. This result can possibly be attributed to a large number of individuals exercising passive default (believing a default choice is an investment recommendation) or autonomous default (individuals failing to engage with the decision at all).

We therefore restricted our analysis of decision making to active choice-makers only by identifying those who selected a non-default investment option. Our findings are that for active choice makers, treatment group participants who completed the ‘just in time’ intervention demonstrate a stronger correlation than the control between risk attitudes and risk-related decisions. We conclude that the ‘just in time’ financial education intervention is therefore shown to improve financial knowledge for all, and improve decision-making for more involved, individuals.

ABSTRACT. Around the world, empirical studies have repeatedly shown that large portions of the population lack basic financial knowledge and have troubles to deal with their financial affairs (e.g. OECD 2016, Lusardi & Mitchell 2011 and 2014). Whenever the implications of such findings are discussed, some people argue that financial literacy is a competence to be taught by parents and that it cannot be the task of teachers to compensate for all shortcomings of parental care. This contribution analyses different kinds of data in order to examine whether this is a valid argument in the field of financial education. The first source of data is based on two interview studies with students (aged 13-18) that explore their experiences with money, their money attitudes and their actual money management as well as their reasoning behind their financial decision-making. The second source of data is based on a survey conducted by the Austrian Central Bank using the OECD toolkit for measuring financial literacy among 2,000 Austrian households. The analysis gives an insight into the respondents' financial knowledge and their experience with financial products, their financial situation as well as their money attitudes and financial behavior (Greimel-Fuhrmann et al. 2016). The third source of data is an analysis of the curricula of Austrian schools in terms of economic education. It can be shown that the extent and importance that is given to economic education largely depends on the school type and on the educational focus of the specific school. The triangulation of these different sources of data will show that financial literacy is rarely fostered at home, also due to the fact that parents lack financial literacy themselves and would not be able to provide effective financial education to their children. Although children express their interest in money matters and their parents’ financial decisions, they often do not discuss their financial affairs within their families. Moreover, it can be shown that it is an educational objective of all types of Austrian schools to teach students the foundations of business and economics as well as enable them to become responsible and reflective economic citizens. Considering these results, it is beyond question that financial education has to be taught at school. The discussion should rather focus on how it can be delivered most effectively.

Greimel-Fuhrmann, B., Silgoner, M., Weber, R. & Taborsky, M. (2016). Financial Literacy in Austria. In: International Handbook of Financial Literacy. (eds. Aprea, C. et al.), Springer: Singapore, p. 251-262. Lusardi, A., & O. S. Mitchell. (2011). Financial Literacy around the World: An Overview. NBER Working Paper 17107. Lusardi, A., & O. S. Mitchell. (2014). The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence. Journal of Economic Literature 52(1), 5–44. OECD (2016). OECD/INFE International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy Competencies. Source: www.oecd.org

ABSTRACT. The paper has set itself a number of tasks. It considers analyses of FE teacher’s labour set within a performative context that stresses low trust relations, target setting and a ‘more for less’ working environment. The irony is that teachers labour is placed within a policy context in which the rhetoric of upskilling, creativity, autonomy and value addedness is hegemonic. Whilst the paper is set within an English context its argument extends beyond that setting to broader theoretical debates in Europe and US. The paper examines the wider political and socio-economic context in which education, and in particular VET, is placed. These arguments are set alongside a rather different literature that explores the ‘refusal of work’, engages with the salience of ‘anti-work’, and considers the significance of ‘busy-work’ and ‘bullshit’ jobs for the development of radical and revolutionary practices. The paper draws on the notion of bio-politics and power. These terms derive, from Foucault, have been marshalled by Hardt and Negri and mobilised by Fleming. In the paper these terms are used somewhat loosely to refer to the way in the current conjuncture ‘all of life is put to work’. It is suggested that the current conjuncture is qualitatively different to the preceding. As a result of class struggle and the refusal of work, Fordist models of industrial capitalism have been superseded by what has been described as immaterial, knowledge, or cognitive capitalism. This can be seen as capital’s response to class struggle, reflecting attempts to secure conditions favourable to the generation of surplus value. In relation to ‘anti-work’ theorisations, Hunnicutt’s discussion of the forgotten American dream is salutary. At the onset of industrial capitalism there was a concerted attempt to discipline workers so that they became habituated to the rhythms of the factory - immiseration being one tactic. Hunnicutt draws our attention to the struggles of American workers in the 19th and 20th century to reduce working hours and the exponential expansion of ‘free time’ – the ‘progressive shortening of the hours of labor’. The paper concludes by suggesting that a progressive politics necessitates the re-evaluation of VET as well as the way in which we understand teachers labour. This would require an ‘expansive’ politics that moves beyond the confines of education and teachers labour, suggesting a rethinking of what are emancipatory and revolutionary practices.

ABSTRACT. The literature on educational technology frequently fails to acknowledge that the shift from face-to-face to online learning is intensely political and deeply entwined with the complexities of everyday life (Selwyn, 2013). In contrast, this paper adopts a critical stance, exploring processes of symbolic violence within online social learning networks.  The shift online introduces what Bourdieu termed the ‘hiatus’ effect: taking learners into a novel situation, which presents them with different definitions of ‘the possible, the impossible and the probable,’ (Myles, 2010, p333). Change of this kind is potentially dangerous for a number of reasons. First, it can generate a mismatch between habitus and field, which provides a point of purchase upon which symbolic violence is able to operate. Second, learners carry into the field of academia, whether on or offline, the consequences of previous educational experiences, which have often been deeply problematic in ways that continue to impact on their participation. Third, the shift into an online medium means that communication may be compromised because it is disembodied; participants are stripped of the ability to convey meaning through non-verbal communication, which Butler (1993) identifies as a vital site of resistance. Fourth, the contributions of participants are eminently retrievable by others whom they cannot see, conferring a panopticonised character to participation, which further objectifies and disempowers them in the face of symbolic violence.

Drawing on data from participants in a larger study, I argue that this violence is traceable in the conversations that occur in a social network used as part of a vocational degree in a new University in the North of England.  A frequent use of Bourdieu in this kind of study is to trace domination through an analysis of hierarchical field structures rather than the utterances of participants (Myles, 2010).  However, interview data and participants’ written reflections reveal anxieties about ‘how to talk’ in the online environment.  Subsequent analysis of their online utterances reveal processes of allodoxia at work, in which they mimic or hypermimic dominant syntax.  Alternatively, they fall silent in a kind of resigned passivity.  

I conclude by arguing that the ostensibly democratizing and empowering shift into social learning networks can, at least in some instances, serve to produce and reproduce inequality because online participation is vexed in ways that are particular to such environments.

References

Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: on the discursive limits of “sex.” New York: Routledge.

Myles, J. (2010). Bourdieu, language and the media. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Selwyn, N. (2013). Distrusting Educational Technology: Critical Questions for Changing Times. Routledge.

ABSTRACT. Vocational teachers worldwide have faced radical changes in their work resulting from many parallel reform policies introduced during the recent decades. Especially experienced teachers may experience a conflict and resist changes in their immediate work environment. The aim of this paper is to understand what is the role of the nostalgia in the narratives of vocational teachers as a mechanism for resisting educational changes.

Nostalgia is seen as a psychological mechanism, which helps to sustain the integration of the personality by eliminating any pain related to the past and presenting it as a harmonious version of “golden age”. The concept of nostalgia has been discussed both in the context of teachers´ nostalgia as a mechanism for resisting educational changes (e.g. Goodson, Moore, Hargreaves, 2006) and as a nostalgia for Soviet past widespread in Eastern-European countries (Velikonja, 2009). We can argue that in the narratives of experienced Estonian vocational teachers those two versions of nostalgia have been intertwined.

This paper is based on the secondary analysis 33 semi-structured interviews conducted among Estonian vocational teachers. Thematic analysis method has been applied in analysing the interview data.

The central theme emerging from the narratives of vocational teachers is the status of vocational teachers that has been perceived as lower than in the Soviet time. It is also related to the low popularity of vocational education in society; in reality vocational schools can only attract those students not having enough academic abilities for academic track. Teachers were especially frustrated by students´ low level of key competences, but also motivation and work ethics. The new role as a “social worker” often revealed in the narratives of vocational teachers was regarded by some teachers as substantial part of their work, but resisted by other as something that is taking time that could be used for teaching. Some teachers also felt that their professional status have been diminished nowadays by students but also by parents seeing students as clients and teachers as customer service specialists. Especially experienced Russian teachers expressed nostalgia for “golden times” when both their profession and personal status was more valued in the society. Focus on teachers´ nostalgia enables us to better understand how and why the educational changes have often been resisted by some groups of teachers and what mechanisms could be built up to support teachers in adapting to changes.

References

Goodson, I., Moore, S., Hargreaves, A. (2006). Teacher Nostalgia and the Sustainability of Reform: The Generation and Degeneration of Teachers’ Missions, Memory, and Meaning. Educational Administration Quaterly, 42 (1), 42-61. Velikonja, M. (2009). Lost in Transition, Nostalgia for Socialism in Post-Soviet Countries. East-European Politics and Societies, 23(4), 535-551.

ABSTRACT. BTECs (provided by the Business and Technology Education Council) are vocational qualifications offered at different levels of the UK educational system. BTECs can be taken by secondary school students as an alternative to or alongside general qualifications, to both support progression into higher education and into the labour market. The uptake of BTECs has been steadily rising: in 2015 nearly 40% of English upper secondary school leavers held at least one BTEC, doubling the proportion recorded in 2008. However, recently concerns have been raised about the validity of BTECs, suggesting that these primarily internally examined qualifications may overestimate the true ability of students, which provides a possible explanation for their increasing uptake. This study focuses on perceptions surrounding BTECs. More specifically, our aim is to summarise perceptions which are expressed online (e.g. students’ blogs) and on social media websites (e.g. Twitter). A benefit of exploiting social media data rather than relying on opinions provided by people when specifically asked, is that it takes a more exploratory approach. This can result in extending the understanding of the perceptions which are being shared online in relation to BTECs. Although there is a potential limitation in focusing on perceptions shared by social media users, a group that may not be representative of the entire population, there is still the advantage of gathering information that is easily accessible to the general public. In order to do this, this study relies on two main strands of research. The first strand of research is a qualitative investigation of students’ blogs which will aim to identify the common themes that exist amongst students in their perceptions of BTECs. Preliminary results reveal that students that have taken BTECs often perceive them positively, regarding them as valuable preparation for higher education. Students that have chosen the general qualifications route (e.g. A levels) however, feel that these are more academically challenging than BTECs. The above findings were used to inform the second strand of research, a quantitative investigation of Twitter data. Exploiting Text Mining techniques makes it possible to analyse what people shared over recent years in relation to BTECs in order to reveal in a more systematic fashion the opinions that have been expressed and how perceptions have changed over time.

ABSTRACT. New Zealand’s industry training system was established in 1992, replacing the more traditional apprenticeship model. Key to the new system was that industry-led and owned bodies would set standards for their industries and make arrangements with employers and training providers to deliver skills for industry. Twenty-five years later, industry training remains a crucial component of vocational education and training in New Zealand. The role of industry training organisations (ITOs) in delivering relevant and timely skills for industry has withstood significant challenges, and has evolved and solidified as the sector has matured.

In this presentation, I first outline the key components of the industry training system; in short, that it is industry-led, that all trainees are in employment, and that ITOs arrange, rather than deliver training. These factors explain the prominence of the employer within the system; not only do employers have a direct role in setting industry standards, but the workplace is the predominant site of learning, with a much smaller, albeit important, role for institutional education providers.

Secondly, I outline the phases of maturation of the industry training system, examining the economic, social and political landscape surrounding each phase and the resultant policy settings and responses. These phases can be summarised as:

• 1992-1999: Burgeoning growth and an emphasis on participation • 2000-2008: Skills leadership, innovation and sector capability development • 2009-2012: Under threat – recession and review • 2013 to date: A renaissance - refinement and revitalisation.

Finally, I look at the challenges and opportunities for industry training, as the vocational education and training system as a whole grapples with profound societal and technological changes. These changes impact both on the way that work is organised and understood, and on the role of vocational educational and training in ensuring a skilled and productive workforce for the future.

ABSTRACT. In 2014 around 139,000 people participated in Industry Training in New Zealand, through traineeships and apprenticeships. These people work, generally in full time employment, and complete qualifications while they are working. From 2011 onwards, policy changes have looked to address the non-completion of industry training qualifications. However, while there has been some improvement in rates of completion for trainees and apprentices, non-completion has remained a concern with five-year cohort completion rates at 42 percent, lower than in other countries. In late 2014, this mixed-method research project explored the factors that contribute to the non-completion of Level 3 and 4 qualifications. Heathrose Research interviewed those more often ‘talked about’ than ‘talked to’, i.e. 114 trainees from a range of industries who did not complete their qualifications. Understanding the trainees’ perspectives provides insight into the intersection of their work, their training and their personal circumstances that have led to their non-completion. It highlights that for most of them there is no single factor, rather it is the interplay of factors at system, employer and personal levels where there is often a tipping point at which the training becomes too burdensome to complete. A key finding from the research was that one of the tipping points in the system was the assessment approach – the ‘bookwork’ as the trainees called it, which was generally completed outside of work time and with little support. However, workplaces provide authentic contexts for learning and as such provide a genuine context for assessing the progress, skills, knowledge and competencies of trainees. They provide opportunities for assessment that are fair and valid while at the same time being feasible to undertake and not overly onerous for trainees, employers and Industry Training Organisations (ITOs). A follow up study gave us the opportunity to explore good practices in on-job assessment which have the potential to remove the assessment burden. This built from the earlier work of Vaughan and Cameron (2010) who developed four principles for effective on-job assessment. The principles centre around ITOs having: • Partnerships and collaborative approaches • Assessment approaches that support learning and skill development • Qualified staff • Moderation systems. This presentation will discuss the key factors related to the non-completion of industry training qualifications in New Zealand and give examples of on-job assessment practices that have the potential to improve this situation.

ABSTRACT. This reports an analysis of the frequency of Canadians with various combinations of postsecondary qualifications by province, field of study of highest qualification, job skill level, industry, occupation and income decile. The study concentrates on outcomes for graduates with a trade and a college qualification, for those with a trade or a college qualification and a bachelor degree, and for those with a trade or a college qualification and a university qualification above a bachelor degree.

The study analyses data from the 2011 National Household Survey, which was a random sample conducted by Statistics Canada of 4.5 million households, which was 30% of all private dwellings occupied by13,320,614 usual residents. The survey collected data on whether people over age 15 in the household had a postsecondary education qualification and the broad level of any qualification, from which Statistics Canada derived combinations of qualifications.

The study finds considerable variation in the frequency of and combinations of postsecondary education qualifications. It also finds that different combinations of qualifications are associated with very different industries, job skill levels, occupations and income deciles, and that this varies by field of education of highest qualification. This suggests that while gaining multiple qualifications may be typical of particular occupations, it is not a characteristic of the whole economy and of all graduates and workers in all fields.

The paper argues that the norm of lifelong learning (Delors, 1996) has not (yet) been adopted throughout the nation, and that the information economy (Machlup, 1972 [1962]) is not economy wide, but confined to specific sectors. Further, the variation between provinces suggest that sectoral characteristics are specific to provinces or regions, or skills ecosystems (Finegold, 1999). The results are consistent with previous work which found little to no evidence that workers have seven different careers in a lifetime (Bailik, 2010) and with Yu, Bretherton, Schutz and Buchanan’s (2012) finding that while workers may change jobs frequently, especially during periods of economic downturn and instability, their occupations are relatively stable, particularly for those in higher level occupations.

The paper considers the nature of labour markets which encourage graduates to gain multiple vocational education and training (VET) qualifications and possible responses of VET institutions.

ABSTRACT. Increasingly in social science research, space is considered an influential enabler of social relationships, learning and assessment. In this paper we understand space, learning and assessment as relational, recognising that different spaces afford different approaches and performances. For Vocational Education and Training educators this is important as diverse spaces afford different opportunities for different pedagogies, learning and assessment. From our study, Assessment for the Changing Nature of Work, six dimensions emerged as particularly illuminating for understanding the learning and assessment dynamics of different spaces. The six dimensions are, alignment, feedback, judgement, authenticity, holism, and future-orientedness. These were developed from six case studies that spanned various professional and vocational work, educational and/or training institutions, and workplace settings. The aim of this paper is to look at the six dimensions of assessment and explore the learning and assessment affordances of different spaces in the study We define assessment as a process of making judgments; assessment is done with learners, not to or on learners. Judgments are made over time from multiple sources based on multiple forms of evidence. Assessment draws on a diverse and multifaceted range of activities, systems and actors working within and across multiple spaces that contributes to learners constant process of ‘becoming’ – a process that never ends. Be it summative, formative or sustainable, assessment signals to learners what is valued, and it directs learners’ attention and time to specific activities, concepts, values, and principles that constitute practice. In this way it can be seen as a core learning enabler or disabler depending on how the assessment is designed, delivered, and experienced. By applying the six dimensions of assessment, assessment shifts or expands from merely the procedural and instrumental to critical inquiry, reflexivity and creative possibilities. When designed in this integrated way, assessment has the potential to lead to greater professionalisation and understanding of work, enhance one’s capacity to learn beyond the immediate course/training, and enhance engaged learning. In the process assessment meets the challenges of the changing nature of work. The six dimensions of assessment identified through the data analysis are enacted differently in the different spaces, yet the common elements provide educators with a set of principles for designing assessment for the changing nature of work.

ABSTRACT. The shortcomings of aspects of current assessment practice in education are now widely accepted and well-documented through the work of the Assessment Reform Group (ARG). If we accept that such shortcomings in approaches to educational assessment and their consequences can potentially occur at all levels of the education system, then we can see that a sound grasp of assessment theory and practice is vital for teachers of vocational education as much as it is for teachers in any other sector of education. Literature from the field of research in assessment theory and practice in education draws attention to important relationships between teaching, learning and assessment (TLA). The same literature urges teachers and education leaders not to see TLA as separate entities, but as mutually interactive and interdependent components of good education and as a vehicle for the enhancement of student achievement. The ARG supports the view that when teaching learning and assessment are seen as integrated forms of good educational practice, the attainment of students can improve significantly. It appears as if current approaches to assessment in vocational education in England have become caught in the grip of assessment practices which prevailed in the period from the 1960s-1990s.This type of assessment practice is connected to a form of assessment often described as ‘occupational competence’. This approach to assessment reduces the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values underpinning ‘good’ practice in vocational education to a series of ‘Units’, ‘Elements’ and ‘Performance Criteria’, against which students are to be instrumentally assessed. Programmes or courses of ‘competence-based’ vocational education in England have subsequently become linked to a framework of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs). However, the educational value of such approaches has been called into question (see for example Hyland (1993, 1994, and 1998).

This paper aims to critically explore the nature, role and impact of current approaches to assessment in vocational education. It seeks to investigate through case study and other approaches to qualitative research, ways in which the principles of formative assessment might be used to improve approaches to assessment in vocational education in the context new Apprenticeships in Engineering.

ABSTRACT. This paper revisits the abolition of the colleges of education in England and Wales - specialist vocational teacher-training institutions once some 160 strong, which were effectively eradicated in the years after Margaret Thatcher’s 1972 White Paper Education: A Framework for Expansion. Its central argument is that the way in which change was enacted following the White Paper represented a significant break with the model of policymaking which had held sway since the end of World War Two. Whilst more far-reaching change would come following Mrs Thatcher’s ‘conversion’ to neoliberalism later in the decade, the fate of the colleges of education was, I argue, an important if largely overlooked episode in the history of education – especially in terms of violating the collaborative relationship between central government and local authorities which had, until that point, dominated education policy in post-war Britain. Whilst the fate of the colleges of education was obviously momentous for those directly affected, the central thesis of the paper is that the events which led to their destruction represented a significant break with the model of policymaking which had held sway since the end of World War Two. For thirty years before the colleges of education were dismantled education policy was basically ‘architectural’ in nature inasmuch as bureaucratic planning and collaborative, corporate decision-making was the accepted norm - such methods being closely associated with the post-war ‘settlement’ and the spirit of social partnership which characterised that time. In contrast, the years after the somewhat ironically entitled Framework for Expansion saw the colleges of education forced into an ‘organic’ fight for survival, a Darwinian struggle quite unlike previous approaches to policymaking, at least in the UK. Whilst it is acknowledged that much more extensive and radical change would be enacted after she became prime minister at the end of 1970s, the way in which the teacher-training colleges were treated does, I contend, provide significant insight into some of Margaret Thatcher’s attitudes, values and beliefs before that time. These, it is argued, included a disdain for civil servants and local authorities, and a cavalier disregard for established forms of bureaucratic decision-making which had dominated social policy in post-war Britain - sentiments which would later be revivified under the sign of neoliberalism.

ABSTRACT. Despite vocational education training (VET) being central to Australia's economic growth, relatively few studies have looked specifically at leadership skills required by senior managers to manage the competing dimensions of the sector. Senior managers in VET are often employed based on their vocational and teaching experience, rather than their management or leadership skills. This practice often results in senior managers being inadequately prepared for the role of leadership. Changes to government funded VET Fee Help student loans in 2013, previously only offered by public providers, now enables private for profit providers to offer student loans on the same basis as public providers. Subsequently these changes have increased competitiveness and commercial pressures within the sector with both public and private providers competing for the same government funding. Hence, the sector has moved from a traditional education focus to a more commercial business and service focus. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify leadership skills for senior managers to effectively manage the competitive environment and inform policy for the recruitment, professional development and succession planning criteria of leaders. Based on the theory of Leadership Skills Strataplex Model (LSSM) that elicits assumptions that leadership skills are categorised into four broad areas of cognitive, interpersonal, business and strategic skills, a quantitative study was conducted. Data was collected using an online survey completed by a purposive non-probability sample of 100 senior managers employed in Australian VET. The data was analysed using factor analysis (FA) with an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approach. The EFA was used early in the data analysis to identify themed leadership skill factors and the CFA statistically verified the results of the EFA. This approach determined if cognitive interpersonal business and strategic skills were empirically distinguishable leadership skills as indicated in the LSSM. The findings confirmed that cognitive, interpersonal, business and strategic skills were not imperatively distinctive leadership skills however, ‘business’, ‘problem solving’ and ‘strategic’ skills were. Identifying leadership skills emphasised that leaders within the sector can become better leaders as skills can be learned and recruitment, promotional and professional development criteria of senior managers can be improved with policies and practices focused on specific leadership skills. This study provided originality into the methodology to identify leadership skills in VET and provided valuable insight into the phenomenon of leadership within the context of skills

ABSTRACT. Polytechnic education, as a form of VET, has emerged in the postsecondary education systems in many parts of the world. Some jurisdictions, such as the UK and Finland, also witnessed rise and fall in labeling polytechnics. Historically, polytechnic education appeared in French secondary and postsecondary education shortly before the French Revolution and also prospered in the educational system of Soviet Russia in its first decades after the Russian Revolution. In North America, although polytechnics do not constitute a formal part of the postsecondary systems in the USA and Canada, the term “polytechnic” does represent a feature that some institutions identify closely with. In particular, in Canada a consortium of 12 postsecondary institutions from four provinces across the country advocates the benefits of polytechnic education and the interests of their members. Interestingly, most of these institutions do not make “polytechnic” explicit in their institutional identification.

This paper presents the findings from a historical and comparative analysis of the status and development of polytechnics in France, Russia, the UK, Finland and Canada. A distinction is made between the notion of “polytechnic” as a type of education and as a type of institution (Doern, 2008; Jones & Skolnik, 2009). Historical accounts and contemporary documents are the major sources for the inquiry. The analysis focused on the organizational and curricular features of polytechnics that emerged at different points in time and traced the contextual factors that gave rise to polytechnic institutions. The objective was to examine how polytechnic education was defined in different jurisdictions at different junctures and how polytechnic institutions fit the economic and social development of those jurisdictions.

The analysis concludes that polytechnic education represents an ideal type for the curricular and pedagogical principle of combining theoretical learning and practical application for the purpose of vocational or professional training; this ideal type is an educational goal that has persisted over time in history and will probably continue to exert considerable impact on teaching and learning in the future. However, the status of polytechnic institutions in the educational systems of most jurisdictions is less prestigious than universities. This perceived image may have hampered the organizational evolution as polytechnics.

References Doern, B. (2008). Polytechnics in higher education systems: A comparative review and policy implications for Ontario. Toronto, ON: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. Jones, G., & Skolnik, M. (2009). Degrees of opportunity: Broadening student access by increasing institutional differentiation in Ontario higher education. Toronto, ON: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

ABSTRACT. This paper draws on research into the progression of apprentices to higher education in England, specifically focusing on employability. ‘Apprenticeship’ is used to refer to training based on a combination of work-based and theoretical learning funded by the UK Government. Higher education is the term adopted to encompass all accredited learning beyond level 3, so that it includes not only full-time bachelor degrees but other higher level qualifications such as Foundation degrees (level 5).

The UK, like other advanced capitalist economies, has made a transition towards a knowledge-based economy (Druker, 1993) within which employability is now widely debated (Thoren, 2014). Whilst UK universities have increasingly been under pressure to equip students with more than just academic skills (Mason et al, 2009), the Government has set a target of 3 million new apprenticeships in England by 2020, including degree apprenticeships (Mirza-Davies, 2016; HEFCE, 2016).

The sample for this study consisted of nineteen individuals located in the south of England working in three broad sectors: computer science, engineering and childcare. The majority of participants were in their 20s (17) and male (15). Each participant was interviewed in-depth for approximately one to two hours enabling detailed investigation into their progression.

Given the role of work-based learning in apprenticeships it was not surprising to identify employability as a central theme. However, this research enabled a close examination of characteristics. Analysed according to a multidimensional construct of employability (Fugate et al., 2004), the data showed career identity to be particularly important for progression, despite it changing. Personal adaptability was also essential, determined by features such as knowledge about market opportunities. Directly linked to this was the extent to which the individuals invested in their human and social capital. However, these traits were mediated by other factors, such as employers’ perceptions of vocational qualifications. Overall the findings emphasise the need to regard employability as a lifelong process, rather than a fixed set of skills and attributes (HEA 2016). Furthermore, by acknowledging and rewarding these characteristics, employers and higher education institutions can encourage and support the progression of students with a vocational background.

ABSTRACT. Employability skills are considered in many countries to be important for workforce entrants. Accordingly, Governments have attempted to define employability skills as part of their workforce policies. While many issues could be examined regarding employability skills, in this study the focus was on what HR managers in Germany, Australia and the USA expect, as these individuals are arguably the most critical source of information given they make final judgements regarding appointment. Are trends in the three countries with regard to official definitions of employability skills as well as employers’ expectations of workforce entrants identifiable? Employability skills are conceptualised differently across nations. In Germany, Ausbildungsreife (vocational maturity) describes the expectations employers have about skills of school-leavers. Use of the term is therefore comparable to the English ‘employability’. The German Federal Labour Office defines Ausbildungsreife as the combination of basic knowledge (literacy, numeracy), psychological performance characteristics (logical thinking, command of language), physical characteristics (health, age-appropriate development), psychological characteristics of work habits and personality (teamworking skills, reliability, frustration tolerance, communication skills) and career choice maturity. In Australia, there are the Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework and the National Foundation Skills Strategy for Adults. Foundation skills are defined as the combination of English language, literacy and numeracy, and employability skills (collaboration, problem solving, self-management, learning and information and communication technology). In the USA, the National Network of Business and Industry Associations defines employability skills as: personal skills (integrity, initiative, dependability and reliability, adaptability, professionalism); people skills (teamwork, communication, respect); applied knowledge (reading, writing, mathematics, science, technology, critical thinking); and workplace skills (planning and organising, problem solving, decision making, business fundamentals, customer focus, working with tools and technology). The research reported here was qualitative, with the focus on understanding perspectives and meanings. Interviews were undertaken with HR managers in 30 small-to-medium companies, 10 in each country located in three centrally-located and mid-sized cities. Given differences in interpretation, whatever the official definition for employability skills was in each country was used in interviews. To focus the research, managers were asked to concentrate on two occupations in different industries: front-desk manager in the service industry and car mechanic in the metals industry. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis, a useful method for identifying and reporting patterns within data and in capturing intricacies of meaning, and themes then compared across countries.

ABSTRACT. While the literature considers education-employment linkage (EEL) an important characteristic of the institutional setting of vocational education and training, it provides surprising little guidance regarding the theoretical and empirical framework thereof. Hence, this paper develops a theoretical framework that defines EEL as the degree to which actors from the education system share power with actors from the employment system on matters of VET. In a VET program with high EEL, actors from both systems participate in designing and deciding upon the curriculum, applying the program and delivering it to students, and updating the curriculum based on feedback. Programs where either education actors or employment actors have most of the power and responsibility for VET have lower EEL. For example, a school-based VET program with informal advisory input from employers would have low linkage because school authorities make decisions and carry out training. Conversely, an on-the-job training program that is highly specific and has little general education content would have low EEL because companies are in charge. In order to measure EEL, we identify the processes in each of the CVC phases in which actors from the education and employment system can interact. Differentiating eleven processes enables us to develop a questionnaire that assesses the key characteristics or features determining EEL in each process. Due to the high number of identified features that might affect EEL, following a participatory method to create survey weights remains unfeasible. Therefore, we build upon the approach that determines weights based on the predictive power of each indicator for a target variable. A priori, this approach faces the challenge that EEL represents a latent variable. Hence, we suggest to determine the weights of features according to their explanatory power for EEL for how experts evaluate EEL overall. Thereby, we contribute to the literature on weighting schemes in composite indicators by proposing to combine information about features with expert opinions regarding the latent variable to distill endogenous feature weights. Surveying VET experts in 20 countries regarding the most prominent VET program in upper secondary education suggests that EEL is highest in the countries with a dual VET program Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany. It is lowest in the Asian countries Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.