The German vocational system has faced significant challenges since 1990, including the impact of German unification; challenges posed by globalisation and the shift from a production-based to a post-Fordist economy; changes related to the European Union, migration, and immigration; and demographic …
This paper summarises the debate on modularisation in initial vocational training provisions in Germany in the context of the German 'dual system'. This system has been increasingly criticised in recent years and the paper describes the on-going discussion regarding potential strategies for the mode…
The term 'learning' is now used to signal a range of political, social and economic aspirations. At the same time, the political, economic and cultural conditions under which learning occurs are changing. In these circumstances, it is appropriate to return to some fundamental questions about what le…
University adult education, with its roots in the Victorian reform of the ancient universities, was conceived and consumed as a political project and, until the present generation, has always carried progressive political connotations. This article surveys its history by examining four different pha…
This article looks at the link between the established tradition of a nation's vocational training system and the specific pattern of state or government involvement in the process of skill formation. It is based on the perception of the different features of the German and the English approach towa…
The recent Government White Paper on further education (now part of the Further and Higher Education Act) made a host of proposals designed to address some urgent issues in the post-compulsory sector, including the need to increase the post-16 participation rate and to upgrade generally vocational e…
The dual system for training young workers in West Germany has attracted much attention. This paper examines mechanisms for quality control within that system: entry qualifications; standards achieved on completing apprenticeships and process control procedures, e.g. the quality/qualifications of tr…
