Seminar: understanding vocational education and training

Wed 29 April 2015

Downing College

Time for upheaval? VET for construction in Britain in a historical and European context

All the political parties are lining up to make 'substantial contributions' to vocational education and training (VET). But the sheer complexity of VET makes for difficult policy formation, and the last two decades are littered with spectacular failures. This lecture will help bring people to an understanding of the subtlety and complexity of policy formation in VET, through a fascinating, in-depth look at a specific sector.

Professor Clarke will outline changes in VET and the labour process in the construction industry since WWII to show how the training system has become ever more inadequate to the further development of the sector and of a productive and engaged labour force.

From her detailed studies of construction across Europe she draws out the distinctive nature of the British system in its understanding of skills and competences, increasingly narrow qualifications, and employer-centred governance. This distinctiveness is attributed to the low labour market currency of qualifications and their weak educational content, as well as to the output-based wage system, unregulated employment, and fragmented character of the labour market.

Linda concludes with an inspiring sketch of what occupational qualifications need to look like if they are to act as a bridge between the education and labour market systems and meet the demands of a low energy future.

Cost: free