ABSTRACT. This paper reports on on-going research into the further investment in Japanese learning of Indonesian vocational college graduates through study abroad program in Japan. In recent years, studying at Japanese language and vocational schools while working part-time in Japan has gained popularity among Indonesian vocational college graduates major in Japanese language. Japanese economic development and advanced technology have been one of the main factors that attracted many Indonesians to immigrate to Japan either for work or study. The influence of Japanese soft power through cultural diplomacy and official development assistance (ODA) program on Indonesia has also been viewed positively by most Indonesians (Han, 2015). Many Indonesians came to pursue their study in Japanese universities with scholarship from Japanese as well as Indonesian governments. Furthermore, Indonesia has the highest ratio of Japanese government scholarship recipients (Ikegami, 2009).

In 2008, Japanese government made plan to increase the number of foreign students to 300,000 by the year 2020, simplifying the procedure for obtaining student visa and adding part-time work permit up to 28 hours per week. As a consequence, the number of pre-college students, as well as Japanese language schools was increased significantly (Chiavacci, 2012; Shiho 2015). Many of them were self-financed and therefore need to do part-time work, usually in low-paid, low-skill jobs. However, doubts and criticism concerning their real intention for coming to Japan, whether to work or to study, remain (Ishikawa, 2006; Shiho, 2015) and Japanese language schools are considered to be a front of importing cheap labors (The Japan Times, 3 January 2017). Furthermore, around 60 percent of their graduates ended up in vocational schools (Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education, 2014), despite poor quality of education and the uncertainty of employment after graduated (Liu-Farrer, 2011). As a country with the second biggest Japanese learners in the world after China (The Japan Foundation, 2013), Indonesia is one of the significant players as well.

Researcher conducted semi structured interviews with 5 Indonesian learners of Japanese. The study focuses on two research questions. Firstly, how learners’ imagined community and identity related to their further investment in Japanese learning. Secondly, how learners position themselves within the new context of study abroad and student worker phenomenon in Japan. This paper reports on the findings of the first and second phase of data collection and examines ideology, identity, and capital issues learners deal with in the language learning’s investment, and their influence on the meaning-making process of Japanese learning.

ABSTRACT. The protracted nature of the Syrian conflict has directed attention to policies designed to empower refugees to integrate socially and economically in host societies, at least temporarily, while preparing for repatriation (World Bank 2015). Repatriation is preferred by most refugees once the ‘push factors’ that forced them to leave their country have evaporated (Gibney 2014), and is advocated by international institutions (UNHCR 2008). Education and skills development for young people are at the heart of these efforts (Deane 2016). However, while there is a plethora of studies focussing on the formal curriculum provisions that apply to children 4-17 years old, there is a scarcity of theoretical reflections and empirical investigations on the personal development and educational needs of young adults. Comparative research on forced displacement and education, in particular, ‘is very limited; on youth it is almost non-existent’ (Chatty 2007:2). This paper proposes a new interdisciplinary theoretical synthesis to overcome the limitations of existing scholarship. Theoretical approaches from education (King Beach, 2003; Doyle, 2012; Lally and Doyle, 2012), economics (Schultz 1961; Becker 1962; 1994; Mincer, 1981) and sociology (Beck 1992; Sennett 1998; Furlong & Cartmel 1997; Taylor-Gooby & Cebulla 2010) will be explored for their relevance and utility in identifying and deconstructing young refugees’ past learning and training experiences, their acquisition of new skills, and their transition and integration into new learning and training situations. Empirically, original data are analysed from face-to-face interviews with 500 Syrian refugees aged 18-32 years in each of the following three host states: a neighbouring host state (Lebanon), the main entry point to Europe (Greece), and a north European destination state (the UK). The surveys, to be conducted in March/April 2017, are part of a larger ESRC/AHRC funded-project on the experiences, skills and aspirations of young Syrian refugees, who have been forcibly displaced by the conflict in their home country, and the corresponding attitudes and belief structures of the host population in the three receiving states.(see www.RefugeePolitics.net). By analysing in a comparative context the aspirations and training needs of young refugees, this paper aims to simultaneously fill a gap in existing knowledge and focus attention on a demographic whose skills are key to economic prosperity. Our comparative approach will allow us to explore whether the currently observed limited impact of Syrian refugees on the labour market, including in culturally similar countries like Jordan (Fakih & Ibrahim 2016), can be explained by their lack of required skills that would be suited to the opportunities that exist in host countries or by constraints and barriers they face when they get there.

ABSTRACT. This paper takes up a question posed by Hage (2014) that asks what are the continuities and changes in Australian racism? The rationale and context for posing this question is that in spite of Australian vocational education and training (VET) operating within national policies that advance multiculturalism and require training organisations to adhere to human rights legislation, including the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975, there is growing evidence of racism in the tertiary sector (Graycar 2010). Recent migrants, such as skilled migrants from non Anglo-European backgrounds, those from refugee backgrounds and international students, are being judged and assigned to VET programmes according to their ethnicity and perceived deficiencies in English language ability rather than according to their skills (see for example Tran 2017; the Authors 2017). In considering this issue, the paper the builds on research in Europe (Chadderton and Edmonds 2014; Chadderton and Wischmann 2014) and revisits research conducted by the authors of this paper in order to develop a conceptual framework to research and analyse race and ethnicity in VET. Chadderton and her colleagues have drawn on Critical Race Theory (CRT) to argue that racialised norms appear to shape expectations of who fits where in labour markets and vocational training systems with consequences for undermining popular notions of what constitutes career ‘choices’. Similarly, Brigham (2013) describes how subtle forms of racism endure in educational institutions and argues that there is a need for adult educators to use CRT to theorise and confront such practices, particularly through the use of narratives and counter storytelling. And in higher education, Pilkington (2013) has analysed the dynamics of institutional racism in order to sensitise us to the overwhelming Whiteness of universities and their practices in sustaining White privilege. Informed by this literature, this paper revisits qualitative empirical work conducted in Australia to reconsider how CRT might provide a conceptual framework that acknowledges that racism is an enduring facet of institutional structures and practices in cultures pervaded by White supremacy, even though there are legal measures to restrict explicit racial abuse within these organisations, as is the case in Australian VET. Through applying this conceptual framework the paper contests different understandings of racism and seeks to develop non-racist practices and structures in education and training.

ABSTRACT. This paper analyses changes to the governance of the apprenticeship system in British Columbia in Canada from 1997 – 2004. It analyses the nature of the institutional change process by which the apprenticeship system adapted to significant restructuring and deregulation following the election of a Liberal provincial government in 2001. A key change introduced in 2001 was the deregulation of compulsory certificates of qualifications for the ‘compulsory’ trades in the construction industry. These legislative changes reflected changes in the nature of the social partnerships underpinning the apprenticeship system and in the balance of power between social partners.

The paper uses complementary theoretical frameworks to analyse these changes. It uses Raffe and colleagues’ (1994) conceptual framework of intrinsic and institutional logics to understand how the changes were enacted and mediated by different social partners. It uses the Varieties of Capitalism (Hall and Soskice 2001) and skills ecosystems (Wheelahan and Moodie 2016) literature to analyse the tensions between BC’s liberal market economy on the one hand, and its more regulated and coordinated system of apprenticeships on the other. It finds the outcome is undermining the long-term viability of the apprenticeship system in BC, and its capacity to meet future skill needs.

ABSTRACT. At international level, there has been an increased interest in dual training structures. This is due to the fact that states whose vocational education and training (VET) system is predominantly school-based have a high youth unemployment rate. Numerous countries are currently attempting to introduce dual VET structures with the prime goal being the reduction of youth unemployment. VET is an interface between the world of education and the labour market. This is reflected in the cooperation between the different actors and their respective roles in the system. It also gives new impulses for comparative VET research. Within the project, this is examined more closely using the example of the development of training regulations, a core element of VET. The focus is on the analysis of four countries with a dual VET system (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark) and two countries with a school-based VET system (Portugal, Slovakia). But already with regard to countries with dual systems, specific questions arise: What is meant by a dual VET system? Is there only one dual system, which is the same for all countries or are there different ones? If so, what are the differences in terms of governance and cooperation? What kinds of actors are involved, when and how? Based on the VET systems of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark, we want to answer these questions, analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the individual systems and identify similarities and differences. First analyses show that in countries with dual VET systems differences concerning responsibilities exist. If one considers the different development phases of training regulations, it can be seen that social partners are involved in at least one phase in all four countries. However, the exact nature of this inclusion is clearly different. Within the conference, the focus lies on countries with a dual system. But we will briefly introduce facts from Portugal and Slovakia, since they show a completely different picture. In Portugal, the social partners - employers who are represented in the various economic associations and trade unions - have only an advisory role in the definition of the basic principles of VET. In Slovakia, the system is undergoing a change due to current reforms. Examining these and observing the changes can provide interesting information for other contexts. In order to clarify the situation in Portugal and Slovakia, case studies are planned for 2017 in two sectors.

ABSTRACT. For the last fifteen years completion rates in Danish vocational education and training (VET) has stayed on a rather low level. In 2014, only half of the students enrolled in a vocational program on upper secondary level, graduated from the program (Flarup et al 2016). In Denmark, like in other European countries, the low completion rate has raised consider-able concern at the political level (Jørgensen 2011; Lamb & Markussen 2011).

In 2014, a new reform of VET was decided by a broad political coalition in the Danish Parliament. This recent reform is based on four clear objectives. For each objective additional result targets are set. The objectives and targets are: 1) More students should choose to start a VET immediately following form level 9 or 10. 2) More people should complete a VET. 3) The VETs must challenge all students in order for them to reach their fullest potential. 4) The trust and well-being of students enrolled in the VETs must be strengthened. We focus on target 1, 2 and 4.

The reform is being implemented in a field of VET that can be characterized by four logics of governance. Firstly, a governance logic characterized by institutional independence of vocational colleges combined with state funding through a taximeter scheme (pay per student). Secondly, party governance system involving labor market partners at both national and local level formalized through a national Council for Vocational Training and 50 local trade committees as well as local education committees at each college. The third governance logic is based on a decentralized quality management system at each college. Each college has set up its own system of quality developments and quality assurances. The fourth governance logic is performance management conducted by the national level towards the colleges; cf. the four above-mentioned reform targets.

The question we address in the paper is how these four logics of governance affect the implementation of the VET reform. The hypothesis is that different logics affect practices at local level in different aspects and that these aspects might cause unintended consequences. Theoretically, we draw on different management and governance theories, e.g. performance management. Empirically, the study is based on surveys to teachers and students at all Danish vocational colleges and interviews with school leaders, teachers and students at six colleges (cases). Our contribution, empirically as well as theoretically, is to show how the different logics of governance interact and with what consequences.

ABSTRACT. What is called in the UK “higher education in further education” (Bathmaker, 2016; Parry, 2012) has been increasingly important in the USA and Canada since 2000 (Skolnik, 2009). Colleges in the USA and in many Canadian provinces have long offered the associate degree, from which England borrowed the foundation degree. Since few North American universities offer associate degrees this has been consistent with longstanding sectoral boundaries. But those boundaries were contentiously transgressed when colleges started offering bachelor degrees, which raised much of the university opposition and concerns about academic drift familiar in the UK and other countries.

Colleges in Canada’s biggest province of Ontario are more similar to those in the UK and Australia in being established with a very separate mission from universities, without the transfer function which is common in three other Canadian provinces and USA states, and with no authority to offer associate degrees. But the Ontario Government’s postsecondary education policy has recently grown more similar to other North American jurisdictions. It has expected its colleges to adopt a more coordinated role with universities, and in 2000 it granted colleges authority to offer baccalaureates. There is some evidence that Ontario colleges’ baccalaureates are displacing their 3-year diplomas, which are distinctive of, if not unique to, Ontario (Skolnik, 2009: 140-1).

Two rationales often provided for this development are expanding student access to baccalaureates and serving the needs of economic development (Galea, 2015; Panacci, 2014), reflecting the government’s broad social and economic priorities (Fisher, Rubenson, Jones & Shanahan, 2009).

This paper examines the development and outcomes of Ontario college baccalaureates, and addresses the following questions: Have college baccalaureates expanded access to baccalaureates? Have their labour market outcomes contributed to economic development? Two sources of data were used for the analysis: Ontario college Graduate and Employer Survey and Student Satisfaction Survey data collected in 2015-16 and interviews of 25 baccalaureate students at five degree-granting Ontario colleges.

The study found that college baccalaureates have mainly enrolled different types of students; they have provided access to baccalaureates to students who face financial, geographic and academic barriers; most college baccalaureate students plan to pursue further studies after graduation; and college baccalaureate graduates have better employment outcomes than diploma and certificate graduates. The paper concludes that college baccalaureates have contributed to baccalaureate attainment within the province and played an important role in enhancing the labour market outcomes of college graduates.

ABSTRACT. The call for change in engineering education in the UK is illustrative of the tension that there has always been between the acquisition of domain knowledge, traditionally associated with academic study in F&HE, and the development of the range of activities that make up an occupational practice. These activities include the discourse, ways of knowing and thinking and sociocultural practices that exist alongside technical capacities, knowledge and occupational identities. Additional demands from industry stakeholders have also been placed on F&HE in the shape of requirements to develop students so-called transferable skills i.e. communication, team working, problem solving and solution-finding. In the UK, these areas of skills development have been highlighted by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) as fundamental to the success of future engineering projects. This is because it is commonplace to work in multi-disciplinary settings, collaborating with other professionals in time-bound projects. A key challenge facing F&HE institutions was identified by the RAE in 2010 as one concerned with achieving the right balance between the development of students’ scientific and technical understanding and the practical application of this understanding to problem solving. An engineering graduate with the required combination can be understood to be ‘work-ready’ (Jollands et al, 2012). In engineering education, Project-based Learning (PjBL) in inter/multi-disciplinary groups is an approach adopted by some F&HE engineering departments to provide students with authentic learning experiences to facilitate both the transition to 21st century workplaces. Such curriculum developments provide opportunities for students to engage in authentic projects in ways that aim to reflect the working practices in engineering. This paper will draw on interim findings from two studies: one focusing on engineering undergraduates’ experiences of multi-disciplinary PjBL and one on a graduate induction programme at a large engineering consultancy company. In both contexts PjBL is central to the learning activities. Based on observations of PjBL practice and interviews, the paper will examine the contribution PjBL makes to the initial professional development of under/graduates and identify the nature of the learning in project groups. It will conclude by highlighting the importance of i) strong mediation of learning in PjBL and ii) the development of pedagogic research to inform practice in the area. Finally, it will consider the extent to which work-readiness is, indeed, an achievable and/or desirable aspiration for engineering education. Jollands, M., Jolly, J. and T. Molyneaux (2012) Project-Based Learning as a Contributing Factor to Graduates' Work Readiness. European Journal of Engineering Education, 37 (2): 143–154

ABSTRACT. This paper reports on a small-scale study funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation that examined the development of degree apprenticeships in England, and discusses how degree apprenticeships are located within the 'technical/vocational' and 'higher' dimensions of the English education system. Drawing on interviews conducted with representatives of employers, professional bodies and educational institutions in the aerospace and construction sectors, a series of related factors are identified that demonstrate the tensions involved with the implementation of new forms of higher vocational/technical education. These factors have some parallels with similar previous initiatives in England, but yet are manifested in particular ways. The areas of tension and ambiguity briefly examined here are around (i) the concept of occupation in the development of apprenticeship standards, (ii) the nature and scale of employer involvement, (iii) the role of government, (iv) the role of professional bodies, (v) the nature of the curriculum and (vi) recruitment to, and progression from, the degree apprenticeships.

Degree apprenticeships are located within an uncertain space between 'higher' and 'technical' forms of education, and could be seen both as an extension of the ‘technical’ into a ‘higher’ territory (i.e. higher technical) or as an a ‘technical’ element of higher education (i.e. technical higher), both in terms of institutional arrangements and in terms of the purpose of the programmes. In some sectors, the initiative may be potentially undermined by the lack of clear progression routes from other apprenticeships, by lack of comprehensive sectoral coverage (including SMEs), by the contingent involvement of higher education institutions, and by tensions around the forms of knowledge that degree apprenticeships should contain. A recent report by Wolf et al. (2016) claims that ‘there are no clear mechanisms for developing apprenticeships as a major tertiary-level alternative’ and that ‘it would be impossible to drive general tertiary reform through the apprenticeship programme’ (p.10). We would suggest that our recent research has some sympathy with these claims, although it is important to note that some higher-level apprenticeship structures (i.e. Construction) contain the Higher National Certificates that Wolf et al. (2016) wish to foreground as the bedrock of a resurgent English higher technical education. Moreover, the curriculum structures developed in degree apprenticeship projects could play a role in shaping technical formation in workplaces, whatever institutional structures emerge in the future.

Wolf, A., Dominguez-Reig, G. and Sellen, P. 2016. Remaking Tertiary Education. London: EPI/KCL.

ABSTRACT. This paper reports on an investigation into what motivates lecturers to succeed in undertaking professional teaching qualifications and the interpretation of those findings with respect to selected models of motivation.

Various factors may affect motivation to succeed on these programmes. When undertaking teaching qualifications lecturers may be at different chronological points of their careers; some being newly appointed whereas others may have been in post for many years. Differing influences come from undertaking the programme through professional development and because employers or national bodies insist that all professionals should have a teaching qualification.

Studying for qualifications needs to fit in with the workloads of both full-time and part-time lecturers and a lack of remission time may be a contributory factor. Many are directed on to the programme by their college to meet national recommended percentages of qualified staff. This raises questions of control, and whether the participants are willingly undertaking the programme or are only taking part because they are obliged to do so. Further, the holding of a recognised teaching qualification can be seen as a contributory factor towards job security, or as a means of securing new or permanent work.

Recognition as professionals and as being qualified have potential to be important motivators. Also, interactions with fellow participants, with colleagues and with family and friends are likely to influence motivation to undertake the programme and once on the programme to continue and succeed. Participants vary greatly in terms of previous educational experience, qualifications, professional area, age, self-efficacy and own expectations of how well they will perform on the programme, and these are also factors which may affect motivation.

The models of motivation considered are Cognitive dissonance, Mruk’s Self-Esteem and Behaviour as a Co-constitutive process, Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Continuum, and Socio-dynamic perspectives such as those presented by Bourdieu. The participants in the study were students who had recently graduated on the Teaching Qualification in Further Education (TQFE), the formally recognised teaching qualification for lecturers in the college sector in Scotland. A qualitative approach is taken through the use of interviews, and judgments are made with regards the generalisation of the findings to other professional qualifications. Both deductive and inductive analysis are used on the collected data and an analytical framework is used to match information gathered from the lecturers to the models of motivation and self-esteem.

ABSTRACT. The professional identity of teachers within Further Education in England has long been a problematic issue. The introduction of national occupational standards in 1990 shaped emerging ideas regarding professional identity but subsequent redefinitions of professional standards and eventual de-regulation have served to confuse rather than consolidate the notion of a professional educator in Further Education. For those who teach mathematics, professional identities are further complicated by their association with an academic subject situated within a vocational environment and by the effects on collective identity resulting from the dispersion or centralisation of these teachers within college structures.

Professional identity is considered here as the part of identity that a person constructs in relation to their profession or occupation. Identity offers a useful bridge to explain the shaping of an individual by collective discourses and the reciprocal merging of individual views into a community voice (Sfard & Prusak, 2005). Within this study, social interactions are viewed as the fundamental influences that shape both individual and collective identities but narrative is considered as the place where identity is actually constructed. Narrative is therefore used by the researcher for this analysis of professional identity, with the understanding that these identities are uniquely created by individuals for the situation. Data from interviews with thirty mathematics teachers from five colleges is analysed using a framework based on three areas that have been identified as primary influences on teachers’ identities: professional, local and personal (Day, Sammons & Stobart, 2007). For each of these categories we examine how the individual functions as part of a social community and highlight key events within the narrative or ‘leading activities’ that have been influential in shaping ‘leading identities’(Black et al., 2010).

The results show that these teachers generally provided coherent individual accounts of who they were but there was no strong shared sense of professional identity. In individual narratives they often constructed a ‘leading professional identity’ that was connected to critical experiences in the past but there was little evidence of a collective discourse. The focus on individuality and weak collective identities is pertinent to the current recruitment challenges facing Further Education colleges in England and highlights issues that need to be addressed to ensure mathematics teaching in Further Education becomes an attractive career option.

ABSTRACT. A recent survey of industrial employees in Norway found that between 32 and 57 per cent had been involved in developing new products, services or processes (Solem et al 2016). The same study found that 89 per cent of employees thought that the ability to come up with new ideas and suggest changes in working processes was an important ability and many expected that it would become increasingly important in the future. We would like to understand more about the involvement of apprentices in industrial innovation processes. Innovation studies have not traditionally seen apprentices as a source of innovation but have concentrated on the role of management, project teams, learning organisations or entrepreneurs (Olsen & Solberg 2012). Since the advent of the concept of Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) (Lave & Wenger 1991) many studies have been carried out on groups of employees, or communities of practice to understand how they provide a learning environment for apprentices or trainees. One of the mechanisms Lave and Wenger identify is a temporary role which the apprentice can have, that of a legitimate participant, exposed to the reality of activity, but without the responsibility or the full understanding which usually goes along with it. In this paper we take this concept and discuss if this might also be used to characterise the potential for the apprentices to participate in innovation processes. Can participation help apprentices to learn to think and behave like innovators? (Billett 2012) Can apprentices contribute with ideas or examples, can they find ways of making their know-how useful in the development of new products or processes? We draw upon studies of employee-driven innovation (Høyrup 2012), that is innovation which does not have its origins in the R&D lab, but which typically arises from workers who see potential for improvements or who offer more radical ways of viewing products and processes in the work situation. Based on these theories we analyse interview and survey data from Norwegian cases and discuss the potential role for these apprentices in driving innovations and how their tasks and involvement in activities might influence this.

ABSTRACT. Skill mismatching, defined as the discrepancy between the skills possessed by workers and those required to perform their jobs, is a current issue in the public debate. It is argued that national governments cannot limit their skills policies to educate and train individuals, but also ensure that available higher skills are used effectively, so no investment is wasted. During the last decade in Chile, enrolment in tertiary VET grew faster than in universities, due to the extension of public funding. Since students from middle and lower income families are more likely to enroll in this sector, inequality in access of higher education decreased in this period. Presently, VET institutions enroll 44 percent of all students in higher education. This is not true in other Latin American countries where the tertiary level is still dominated by universities and by students from more affluent families. However to enhance the opportunities of lower income segments of the population, improving their skills through more education and training is only the first step. The major challenge for policymakers is to match their skills and qualifications to those required for the labor market. This paper examines in the Chilean context skill and qualification mismatch among higher education graduates, both from universities and VET institutions, using the newly available PIAAC data set. The focus is on graduates from professions in STEM subjects such as Technology and Engineering since they are instrumental in increasing technological and innovative capacity of the economy. Skill mismatch is computed accordingly to the OECD methodology that uses information about skill proficiency. Qualification mismatch results from a comparison between the formal education qualifications held by employees and the qualifications required by their jobs. The results show that in terms of qualification matching, STEM university graduates are over-qualified to a greater extent than STEM VET graduates (40% and 30%, respectively). The trend is reversed and the gap in larger in terms of the over-skills mismatch between STEM graduates from both higher education sectors. Regrettably, close to half of workers who completed their studies in VET institution are over-skilled in their current labor position. On the other hand, only one in five university graduates are in the same condition. Our hypothesis is that graduates from less prestigious universities tend to fill the scarce medium skilled positions of the Chilean labor market at the expense of vocational graduates who are in turn relegated to lower skilled jobs.

ABSTRACT. This paper will offer insights into the complex ways in which social structures remain heavily influential in limiting agency and choice in the social context of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Saudi Arabia, despite the introduction of policies that are heavily informed by the global youth and education discourse which emphasises competition, choice and agency in a global knowledge economy.

The extent of the availability of different opportunities can be viewed as subjective and dependent on whether the young person’s internalized dispositions lead them to view these as appropriate for him/her to pursue, which leads back to the global debate about young people’s agency within today’s global constraints.

ABSTRACT. This paper challenges uniform approaches to employability for HE students, arguing that mature students have very different needs in this regard. The stratification of HE means that, in spite of efforts to enhance the employability of students, some are more ‘employable’ than others, thanks to the social and economic privileges of their background, further enhanced by the choice of elite HE institutions available to them. Within a highly differentiated HE system, college-based HE or Higher VET is positioned as low status (Parry et al., 2012), and outcomes for participants in this type of HE are likely to be far less assured.  Nevertheless, policy makers continue to treat the supposed lack of ‘employability’ in graduates as the main barrier to securing successful employment and improving life chances. Enhancing the employability of students has therefore remained a central focus of both government policy and institutional practice.

For mature students participating in HE, the problem with current definitions of employability is that they are typically associated with enabling younger graduates to gain initial entry to the labour market, and practices associated with employability reflect this (Little, 2011). However, many mature students already have a wealth of experience in the labour market, and may already be employed in the industry related to their studies. Employability, or more accurately for them, enhancing employability, may therefore hold very different meanings for them, and their needs in this regard may be quite different. To evidence this, this paper considers the operationalization of employability as a concept from the perspective of four mature students undertaking Higher VET.  This also reveals the effect they perceive Higher VET has had on their working lives.  

ABSTRACT. The structural changes in the work world since the 1980s have prompted new forms of work organization involving increasing demands for flexibility, skill development, and responsible autonomy. This presentation examines these work demands from a sociological perspective that focuses on their impact on retail apprentices’ professional identity development. Professional identities evolve within social relations and in the process of making sense of learning and working experiences. Individuals do not simply adapt smoothly to work and learning affordances, but actively negotiate them to find a balance with their interests and dispositions. We aim to understand apprentices’ subjective experiences of working and training life, and the meaning-making that comes with them, in an occupation with difficult working conditions. Retail work involves irregular work schedules and long fragmented workdays with evening and weekend shifts, low wages, and mainly part-time employment. Retail apprentices study 1.5 days per week in a VET school and learn while working 3.5 days in a retail shop. In-depth interviews with 25 apprentices and six focus groups were conducted in three Swiss VET schools. This research was mainly carried out in first-year classes (involving over 65 apprentices in total) and included observations. The data was analyzed according to the coding methodology developed by Grounded Theory. Focusing on apprentices’ perspectives on the demands for employability, flexibility, and responsible autonomy made it possible to understand the challenges and possibilities they perceive in their situation. Although the apprentices identify with retail work, they have internalized the view that they have to adapt to labour market changes and thus see retail work as a professional stepping-stone. Remarkably, the apprentices see employability demands less as a burden than as an opportunity for professional reorientation, and thus for moving on to better jobs. However, they see flexibility demands (e.g. flextime scheduling) more ambivalently, oscillating between accepting retail work affordances and recognizing their own personal needs. Apprentices question their identification with retail work if it affects their social life too strongly and if they have to withstand too much stress and pressure. Responsible autonomy is a precondition for learning and a source of self-esteem, which necessarily fosters professional identification. But not all apprentices were able to cope with open-ended tasks and poor supervision. Apprentices’ ability to adapt to contemporary labour market demands depends on not only their skills and capacities, but also whether companies understand apprentices to be learners of an occupation or (cheap) employees.

ABSTRACT. Initial Vocational Education and Training in Portugal is, in a wide sense, discredited. The theory of social representations from Serge Moscovici is used to analyse the social image that people linked to a specific training modality in Portugal have of VET. This paper refers to a PhD research on a Dual IVET modality in Portugal denominated «Apprenticeship Courses», integrated on what is denominated, on a European Level, as “Apprenticeship-type schemes”. One of the aims of this research is to learn about how the participants perceive the social representations of this training modality, how they understand it and what they suggest as arrangements for improving and/or changing the way society sees this courses, according to their perception. This paper draws on the answers given by young apprentices and by the principals of the training centres to this topic. The data presented is based on a preliminary analysis of 54 semi structured interviews with young people and of semi structured interviews with 9 directors (principals) of the training centres where the young participants were enrolled. The interviews were held in nine training centres in the district of Porto, North Portugal. Young apprentices perceive a negative representation of the courses by society in general – which they refer normally to other young people attending mainstream education and some friends, as well as their parents or other relatives. They mention they were told vocational courses are for “dumb people” that want to finish the 12th grade “without doing nothing”, meaning without studying. This reflected also the representation of most of themselves before enrolling the course. As for the principals, their broad impression concerning the social representations of general society is of a negative aspect. It is related to an idea that AC are an easier and shorter form of completing upper secondary education and therefore sought only by young people that do not like to study or do not have ability to it. This emerges as a strong opposition between mainstream education and VET, perceived the first as the privileged via for completing upper secondary education. The unawareness of the courses – namely how they function, the performance of students who attend it, the work-based training, and the job opportunities which they provide – is pointed by either the young interviewees and the principals as the main hindrance to a positive social representation. The divulgation of Apprenticeship Courses in the mass media, specially in the television, is the main suggestion from the participants to improve its social image.

ABSTRACT. Portugal has carried out some educational reforms as a way of providing adequate educational responses to students who have difficulties of performance and inclusion in school life. The creation of vocational courses for youngsters from the age of 13 is one of the answers. However, European educational policy discussion about the creation of vocational courses is based around the social consequences for the students: vocational education as a form of inclusion or social exclusion? More than giving an answer, this communication intend to present an unprecedented study carried out in Portugal with institutionalized youngsters following legal decisions in five educational centers, attending courses of vocational Education and Training for Adults (EFA), and to reflect under their perception if the vocational education promote opportunities to acquire the necessary knowledge for a sustained transition to work life, as subject and actors of their own and social life design. For this communication the data are drawn from semi-structured interviews with 15 portuguese institutionalized youngsters, all male, with an average age of 16 years old. All participants were attending EFA courses to obtain equivalency to the 9th grade, as well as a professional certification. The EFA courses attended were on the follow professional certifications: Kitchen, Waiter, Woodwork,, Hotel Maintenance Operator, Gardening and Green Spaces, Painting and Construction, Electricity Facilities, Installation and Computers Repair. The main idea associated to these courses is the principle of acquisition of several competences and knowledge’s that can support news forms of identities. Participants, in an initial phase, were selected in relation of the course attended and their availability and willingness to participate in this study. Youngsters were interviewed on a one–one basis and the interviews took place in an office at the educational centers during the classes hours. The format of the interview was open-ended, and covered the following topics: (a) Do you consider to be important the vocational training provided in the educational center(s)?; (b) Do you think that the training you are receiving and already received is going to meet what you would like to do as a job/profession? ; (c) Do you consider that attending vocational training in the center (s) can be a good way of deciding what might be your professional life? All the youngsters’ answers were undoubtedly their true opinion. Attending EFA courses were a form of vocational exploration, promoter of personal, professional and social development where social inclusion is a reality.

ABSTRACT. Against a backdrop of increased commitment by the Sustainable Development Goals to increase enrolment in Vocational Education, this paper examines the extent to which Vocational Education reinforces or addresses inequalities inherent in the communities that South African TVET college learners come from and the ways in which these inequalities affect students aspirations for what constitutes college success. This paper draws from a larger study in which dialogues were undertaken with South African Technical Vocational Education and Training college (TVET) college students in two poverty stricken South African communities. Established in the Freirian sense as ‘learning circles’, the TVET college students who participated in the learning circles were encouraged to identify and discuss over a series of four meetings, the ways in which their situatedness within their communities shape and affect their understanding and experience of TVET colleges. The generic themes identified in these ‘learning circles’ were then further tested in ten in-depth interviews with learners located at one TVET college. Despite commitments to rapidly expand participation in TVET colleges, a large literature exists that talks to the extent to which TVET reproduces inequality through providing poor quality education and training. In the South African context, the success rates of TVET colleges have been described as ‘dismal’ and have been a source of policy intervention and concern. Against this backdrop, the paper examines the extent and manner in which learners’ aspirations for college success is shaped by the experience(s) of TVET college learners within their community and – vice versa – how these aspirations are then reshaped or confirmed by their experience(s) at college. Located within the broader discussion of equality and inequality in Vocational Education and Training (VET), the study draws on the capabilities approach, deepened by critical realism, to argue that the situatedness of learners affects significantly their ability to ‘take up’ the capability (or opportunity) provided by the TVET college(s) which, in turn, affects their functionings (achievements). The paper shows that structural contexts only partially shape the aspirations of learners which are formed and reformed as learners manoeuvre through the TVET college system in interesting and important ways. It further highlights that limiting understandings of ‘success’ to narrow notions of pass and throughput rates loses sight of the complex and multiple aspirations that students have, the ways in which their situatedness frames their understanding and experience(s) within the TVET colleges and the extent to which they are able to achieve the aspired ‘success’ as described in their terms.

ABSTRACT. The common inclusive and egalitarian education systems of the Nordic countries have been conceptual-ised as a ‘Nordic model’ of education associated with a universal welfare state and non-selective, com-prehensive schooling (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Antikainen, 2010). This paper examines the role of VET in the realisation of the key aims of the Nordic model, social inclusion and social equality in education. The Nordic countries have developed divergent VET-system, some based mainly on apprenticeship and col-lective skill formation and others mainly as statist skill regimes with school-based VET-systems. Despite the differences, the Nordic countries share egalitarian policy aims, and the Nordic VET-system can be seen as representing different solutions to some common challenges in the pursuit of these aims (Bloss-ing et al., 2014). The aim of social inclusion has mainly focussed on proving access to employment for early school leavers and young people not opting for higher education. To support this aim, VET has given priority to create close link to the labour market. The aim of social equality in education has mainly focussed on widening the access to higher education for young people from non-academic backgrounds. To support this aim, VET has given priority to form links with general education and provide eligibility for higher education. The question is if it is possible to combine these two aims at the same time in the Nordic VET-systems. This paper examines two Nordic VET-system, Denmark and Sweden that represent two opposite solu-tions the double challenge of qualifying for skilled employment and providing access to higher education. The Swedish governments have been most consistent and successful in pursuing the Nordic idea of the comprehensive upper secondary school. After a reform in 1991, VET in Sweden is part of a three-year non-selective and integrated Gymnasium, which offers eligibility for higher education for all young peo-ple. However, after the reform the non-completion rate in the integrated Gymnasium increased strongly, which can be seen as an indicator of reduced social inclusion. In Denmark as a contrast, the idea of a comprehensive upper secondary school was rejected in the early 1970s, and the apprenticeship model was preserved and modernised. The apprenticeship model is very efficient in supporting young peoples´ transition from school to work. This includes a large group of young people who failed in elementary school and benefit from VET as an alternative learning environment to the ‘bookish’ upper secondary schools. However, this model involve a diversion of the students from higher education and tend to increase the social selection of students according to the socio-economic status of their parents. The paper discuss this trade-off between social inclusion and social equality and the opportunities to learn from the Nordic attempt to manage the dilemma.

ABSTRACT. Higher Order Thinking is known as an important factor that enables a student to solve engineering drawing problems. Infusing them while teaching the subject may enhance students’ higher order thinking skills, however no research has been done in infusing higher order thinking skills in teaching engineering drawing. This study aimed to examine how higher order thinking skills infused in Engineering Drawing affected students’ higher order thinking. Quasi-experimental with non-equivalent control group design was conducted on the two study group from two different Technical Matriculation College for 8 weeks. Control group with 29 students and treatment group consist of 31 students were selected as samples. Two teaching methods, which are Conventional approach and Infusion approach, were used while teaching Engineering Drawing for control group and treatment group.

Conventional approach when teaching engineering drawing for control group using lecture and drills question that collected from past years exam questions. The aim of this teaching approach is the mastery of drawing techniques and familiarizing the exam answers formatted among students. As for treatment group, they were given with questions consists of problems relating to application of engineering drawing in real world situations. This method was meant for them to use the drawing techniques learned as well as higher order thinking skills taught to solve the problems. Pre-test for control group and treatment group followed by intervention for 8 weeks was conducted. After the intervention completed, the post-test for control group and treatment was conducted. The judgment made by comparing the results of pre-test and post-test of higher order thinking between control group and treatment group. Cornell Critical Thinking Test was used as a test instrument in pre-test and post-test.

Pre-test shows that there is no significant different in higher order thinking skills between control group and treatment group. After 8 weeks intervention, the post-test result for treatment group shows an increase in the higher order thinking skills mean score. However control group Comparing the result in post-test between the two groups shows that treatment group was significantly higher in higher order thinking skills compared to control group.

ABSTRACT. There has been growing recognition that nurturing students’ creative potential is a valuable, yet often unrealized, educational goal. Much of the research focusing on creativity is concerned with the individuals’ intellectual skills promoting creativity, such as divergent thinking. In VET there is little research done so far on creativity development as a competence that supports innovation at the workplace. Moving towards a focus at team effort at the workplace requires an understanding of social practice and inter-subjectivity which needs to be experienced within VET as supportive of creative processes and innovative practice.

The subject of inquiry is to elaborate on the questions of creativity unleashing and enhancement in the field of VET. How can schools provide opportunities for choice, imagination, and exploration as a collaborative endeavor within their curricula?

In order to develop the creative potential among VET students to shape their work in creative ways pedagogical methods need to be explored and possibly further developed in collaboration with teachers. Creativity-supportive practices include (a) explicitly teaching for creative thinking, (b) providing opportunities for choice and discovery, (c) encouraging students’ intrinsic motivation, (d) establishing a creativity-supportive learning environment, and (e) providing opportunities for students to use their imagination while learning to develop aspirational commitment. In order to support this practice VET institutions are challenged to strike the balance between providing structure and freedom so that students feel supported and encouraged to take the risks that exploration entails. In addition, the learning environment in vocational schools as much as the learning culture at the workplace need to support creative expression. Not much is known yet about how to incorporate creativity in everyday teaching in VET and how students learn to be creative at the workplace. This involves using activities that lead to the development of multiple ideas, problem definition, the use of analogies and evaluating ideas and products that students generate.

The paper to be presented will outline the results of a literature review which builds the foundation for a research project concerned with the study of creativity development within the higher VET programs for tourism in Switzerland. It will provide first results from an inquisitive study into creative practices at selected higher VET institutions and outlines some didactic considerations for shaping VET instruction. The research contributes to our understanding of creativity development and creative processes among students and teachers in VET.

ABSTRACT. Creativity and the curriculum: a glass half empty? Professor Prue Huddleston (University of Warwick) and Dr Heidi Ashton (Buckinghamshire New University)

Background The creative and cultural sector makes a significant contribution to the economy (5.2% of the UK economy and accounts for 8.8% of the labour market [DCMS, 2015]). It has seen the highest growth since 2010 recession, (GVA) increased by 8.9% compared to 4.6% for the UK overall. Employment within the sector is characterised by free-lance, short-term contracts, predominantly in small enterprises, often working alone. Those working within the sector require knowledge, skills and experience beyond pure technical expertise, including the ability to network effectively, to work in changing contexts, to maintain ‘portfolio’ work, in short ‘working hard to get work’. In contrast the design of the secondary school curriculum, over the past twenty years, has eschewed the types of programmes and activities that might engender the development and sustenance of such knowledge and skills. ‘While the compelling need for creativity, care and compassion across the world has been growing, the greatest global educational trend of the past two decades ran completely contrary to it, driven by the promise of short term results.’ (Hargreaves, 2016) Research focus Our research attempts to unpick the nature of these two potentially different worlds (at a time when employers are being urged to engage with education). Why are these two world views at odds with each other? Given the changing nature and composition of labour markets, how well does the school curriculum prepare young people for non-linear career trajectories? What can be learnt from the types of knowledge and skills required within the creative and cultural sector that are transferable to other contexts and are valued by employers? Why should the demise of curricular activities within creative subjects be of concern to the economy and society more generally? Research approach Data are gathered from interviews with professionals working within the creative and cultural sector identifying the knowledge, skills and attributes required to work there and describing the realities of a ‘portfolio’ life. This is supplemented with evidence from Sector Skills reports and from independent reviews and commissions. In parallel, consideration of recent curriculum ‘reforms’ identifies reasons for possible mismatches between the prescribed curriculum, which is increasingly subject driven, where practical learning has been downgraded and where assessment focuses upon written, externally set tests and examinations. Conclusions The data suggest some compelling reasons to challenge the status quo and to provide a much broader offering of creative opportunities for all young people within the compulsory school curriculum, and more widely, in order to develop the creative skills necessary to survive in precarious labour markets.

ABSTRACT. Given the unfolding political and economic landscape in the UK post-Brexit it is useful to try to make sense of data and perspectives on the question of young people’s training and employment opportunities, and skills shortages The 2016 UK Sainsbury report on technical training pointed to a serious shortage of technicians in industry at a time when over 400,000 16-24 year olds are unemployed. The report expressed incredulity that these young people may not have the ability or motivation to train as technicians, given the chance. The Government Green Paper (2017) on ‘Building our Industrial Strategy’ notes that too many people do not have the education and skills they need to be able to command a good wage. Set in the context of post-Brexit, the Green Paper argues that reliance on flows of migrant labour has increased as a result of the failure to address skills shortages. Tholen (2013) and Leonard (2016) note that many graduates are finding it difficult to enter the profession or sector for which they aspired on starting out at university. One in five young people is unemployed and many more underemployed (Bell and Blanchflower, 2013) with Wolf (2015) arguing that employers rely on being able to choose from a huge supply of other countries’ trained ex-apprentices. Meanwhile, Wadsworth et al (2016) argue that the areas of the UK with large increases in EU immigration did not suffer greater falls in the jobs of UK-born workers. A key focus of the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper (2017) Strategy is ‘Developing Skills’, including helping young people to develop the skills needed for the future for example through investment in further education and apprenticeships, and closer links with employers through a new apprenticeship levy. In construction, for example, government figures show nearly 12% of the construction industry’s 2.1 million workers come from abroad – mainly from the EU. A Construction Industry Training Board report (2016) says that an additional 224,000 new recruits are needed by 2019, and argues that the indications are the skills shortage, post Brexit, will now get worse. In engineering, Brexit has exacerbated the concern that there is a shortage of UK-produced skilled engineers at all levels. The Royal Academy of Engineers (RAE) argues that this, combined with the government’s Industrial Strategy creates an imperative to refocus efforts on boosting the supply of UK homegrown talent to tackle the skills crisis (RAE, 2016, p6). Utilising secondary data from for example the Labour Force Survey and the Employer Skills Survey and documentary analysis of recent reports such as CEDEFOP’s Matching skills and jobs in Europe (2015) and the Royal Academy of Engineers (2016), this paper investigates young people’s training and employment opportunities in the UK and attempts to disentangle these from the sometimes contradictory evidence and perspectives on migrant-related skills shortages in the context of Brexit.

ABSTRACT. In this, the 21st century, we frequently refer to operating in a contested environment, as we face a technology dominated, global, multinational world. In this busy world, national and international agendas prioritise the development of skilled workers and countries and coalitions of countries continue to announce goals for a skilled workforce in order to be more competitive in global economic markets. These goals are juxtaposed by critique that VET is expensive and not sufficiently linked to areas of labour market need. As noted by Colebatch (1997), policy is not simply goals that have been announced, but also the activity of participants, and the structures that emerge. Perceptions also have a part: certainly in Australia, social and public images of VET are viewed by critics as flawed, especially in relation to quality and promotion of equality.

The Australian VET policy context has been one of constant tinkering by governments changing the institutional context of VET from public to private, from collaborative to competitive, from affordable to expensive for learners, to a predominantly casualised workforce of teachers/trainers with minimum qualification requirements, and to a much publicised lack of organisational quality. The policy process has indeed been altered by the involvement of the private sector (Ball, 2012).

Whilst similar to the education policy directions of England for example, the Australian VET agenda over the past decade seems very far from the goals expressed in The European Commission’s Education and Training Strategic Framework 2020. This establishes common objectives including lifelong learning, improving quality, promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship.

This paper draws upon qualitative research into VET in Australia including studies of the preparation of VET teachers/trainers, utilisation of competency based training to meet employer demands, and the impact of privatisation of training on public institutions, teachers and learners. VET projects conducted in Asia, the Pacific and Europe also contribute examples. Educational transfer, relevance, quality and value have emerged as issues.

How does the minimalisation of VET position Australia in this century? How does its organisation and delivery of VET compare with those of European countries? Drawing upon the cautionary tales provided by the Australian VET ‘misadventures’, this paper explores the shifts in the denationalization of the Australian state in VET and considers how it may be reimagined for a more capable future.

A discussion of these policy and practice developments and shifts will be facilitated as part of the presentation. References:

Ball, S. J., (2012) Global Education Inc New Policy Networks and Neo – Liberal Imaginary, Routledge, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon

Colebatch, H.K., (1997) Policy, 3rd edition, Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education, Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK

ABSTRACT. This paper makes a contribution to the emerging literature on skills eco-systems, particularly Hodgson and Spour’s concept of ‘expansive eco-systems’. It is also about the furniture industry, which has witnessed dramatic changes since the 1990s with the advent of low-cost Chinese exports. One major change has been a transformed labour process, with design capabilities becoming the most prized asset. Old craft models of manufacture are in decline, at least in the Anglo-Saxon world. They are being replaced by largescale mass customization plants which seek to compete with the Chinese on the basis of large volumes, higher quality, good design and competitive price. In addition, in the successful furniture regions of the world, the small family owned ‘craft’ firms of yesteryear have been upgraded to become high-skilled design-intensive ‘bespoke’ furniture firms who manufacture small batches of high quality products for top-of-the-range niche markets. This paper focuses on the role played by design in the rise of these bespoke furniture firms. The focus here will be on two furniture industry case studies – one being George, in the Southern Cape, South Africa, and the other High Wycombe, in Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. Both towns have served as historically significant furniture clusters. However, both industries are currently in severe decline. A manifestation of this decline is the collapse of polytechnic-type support to both locales, specifically in the form of furniture design education and training. Such design training has been shut down, or is not available, a reality in sharp contradiction to the important role being given to ‘design capabilities’ in the industrial policy arena as a key factor in determining the international competitiveness of furniture firms. This polarization between furniture firms and ET institutions in both locales suggests a malfunctioning and restrictive skills ecosystem unable to go beyond its current low-skill ‘lock-in’. The paper considers ways in which this ‘stasis’ could be turned-around – becoming more expansive - especially in building a design-intensive bespoke furniture sub-sector in both settings. A focus on the institutional structure of the skills eco-system in both settings is proposed. The role of industrial policy is key, particularly the implementation of more effective ‘furniture cluster’ policies. What seems to be required in this turnaround is a combination of polytechnic education and industrial cluster policies that build both collective learning in and between firms as well as rekindle the offering of formal qualifications provided by polytechnic institutions in expert programmes that develop high quality furniture-specific design capability. This is work-in-progress in a field (research on furniture) that has been totally ignored by academic scholarship in both national settings over the past decades.

ABSTRACT. Law does not operate in a vacuum in neatly delineated areas of law yet it is taught like this on many law degrees. Whilst this method of teaching can provide knowledge of legal rules and the specific skills to meticulously research, interpret and apply the law, it does not usually highlight how messy the law can be and the detrimental impact it can have upon people’s lives. The vocational stage of training for solicitors does go some way to providing an idea of practising the law, however real life experience does not form any requirement. The only real life experiential learning for prospective solicitors is spent during time on a training contract often based in a legal firm under the supervision of a solicitor and away from any educational establishment. ***Not complete abstract***

Full Abstract attached as PDF

ABSTRACT. This study examines the mechanisms of curriculum change in engineering education in Canada using theoretical perspectives from the sociology of the professions and higher education. It highlights professional accreditation as a key process that links education to work, and challenges traditional assumptions about accreditation’s influence in the academy.

The new-Weberian perspective on professions foregrounds social closure, whereby professions gain monopolies on their occupation through state legislation (Saks 2016). Within this framework, higher education has an important role to play in legitimizing and restricting entry to the profession (Abbott 1988). Professionals demand technical autonomy in their work because of their claims to expert knowledge which combines formal, abstract principles learned in university with application to concrete problems in the world of practice (Gorman and Sandefur 2011). But how do faculty members in research universities reconcile their knowledge with that of professionals in industry? And how are changes in the organizational world of work translated into the university programs?

This paper takes up these questions by looking at the case of engineering in Canada. Recent research signals that the knowledge base of engineering in Canada is changing (Adams, Livingstone and Sawchuk 2016). University engineering programs and their curricula are a crucial input and socializing process for the profession, and yet engineering faculty members have very different interests than the engineers who comprise the professional associations and the accreditation board. This paper argues that the culture of academic engineering departments is a powerful and vastly overlooked determinant of curriculum governance that deserves equal weight to accreditation in understanding attempts to change curriculum.

First, I use the sociology of professions to frame the importance of social closure, professional knowledge and authority. Second, I use Abbott’s (2002) work on academic disciplines the sociology of work and occupations and Clark’s (1987) work on the sociology of higher education to foreground departments and their culture as an important social structure within the university (Hearn 2007). Third, I foreground accreditation as a crucial process by which licensed engineering professionals in industry seek to influence unionized engineering professors in universities (Harvey 2004). By examining the specific mechanics of new accreditation requirements in Canada (Engineers Canada 2016), I show how faculty members use departmental structures to avoid substantial changes to curriculum. Faculty in departments play a gatekeeper role through curriculum committees and faculty council, protecting the theoretical knowledge base from which professional engineers draw their legitimacy.

*NOTE: Full references are included in uploaded PDF version of the abstract.

ABSTRACT. For over a century education for employment has moved from informal learning in the workplace to institutional, classroom-based settings. These changes variously reflect advances in knowledge required for specific areas of employment and popular aspirations to progress to higher levels of learning. Recent policies in several countries have sought to reverse this trend. These have included a widespread emphasis on work-related learning in such policy statements as the Riga declaration of EU ministers (European Commission 2015); and a transfer of resources to apprenticeship learning and ‘alternance’ arrangements in European VET systems. In an apparent extension to these developments, UK policymakers have moved to extend work placements for 16-19 students to those on full-time programmes other than the academic 'A-level' track. Earlier proposals for work-based learning in 16-19 'study programmes' (DfE 2013) have been further developed in the Sainsbury Review and Skills Plan (DfE 2016a, 2016b) into a comprehensive proposal for substantial work placements. This extends the experience of learning in the workplace to students whose courses are classroom-based and, despite their vocational focus, lead less directly to employment and frequently to progression into higher education. The rationale for these programmes has varied between emphasis on skills development and broader socialisation into workplace norms and behaviours. The former has been developed with greater coherence in relation to specialised areas of employment, where skills and resources may be unavailable for teaching new techniques used in developing industries. For other fields of employment, colleges may provide safer environments for the practice of occupational skills than exist in workplaces with greater emphasis on performativity. In these cases workplace learning rather serves the promotion of desired behaviours and characteristics for employment in the service economy. This paper draws on a study of work placement practices on contemporary 16-19 programmes exploring the experiences and perceptions of employers, education professionals, learners, and employees across a selection of the proposed 'technical routes' designated in the Sainsbury Review. The work experience on offer emerged as sharply differentiated across institutions, subject areas and employment contexts. Nevertheless, a re-conceptualisation of work as a locus for systematic learning is already precipitating significant changes in educational practice and in the organisation of VET, including new challenges for teaching professionals in colleges and new roles for workplace trainers.