Article 2012

Are we there yet?: Vocational education at crossroads

Local Economy
Journal · Vol. 27 · Issue 3 · pp. 227-231
Abstract

There is widespread acknowledgement that the vocational education system in Britain needs to be much more effective. Its attractiveness and quality impacts on business, young people and communities alike. Many attempts have been made at reform, with a continuously changing institutional and funding landscape being one of the major consequences. The latest of the reforms is the Wolf Review, which concludes that vocational education is failing thousands of young people because it is not leading to university or a job. Despite being wide ranging in its scope, with some positive proposals, the proposed improvements to vocational education will generate mixed results unless other real challenges, such as the focus on quantity rather than quality, a voluntary approach to skills investment by employers and competition based largely on price, are tackled. © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Vocational education Skills Apprenticeships youth unemployment 14 to 19 education employer investment in skills industrial competitiveness Wolf Review

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Talent Economy, Potters Bar, United Kingdom
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
References 8 References
1 Bodies of Knowledge how the Learning Sciences could Transform Practical and Vocational Education, (2010)
2 Autumn Statement Cm 8231, (2011)
3 Plan for Growth, (2011)
4 Hodgson, Ann, Education and training 14-19: Curriculum, qualifications and organization, Education and Training 14-19: Curriculum, Qualifications and Organization, pp. 1-160, (2008)
5 Apprenticeships and Higher Education Good Sound Bites Bad Policy Making, (2011)
6 Outcomes and Processes in Vocational Learning A Review of the Literature, (2004)
7 Industrial Democracy, (1897)
8 Review of Vocational Education the Wolf Report, (2011)
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