In 2010, the Department for Education in England decided to reform the vocational qualifications offered in secondary education (i.e., for 14-18 year olds) in order to increase their rigour and status. They set out new criteria that vocational qualifications needed to meet, which changed their nature in fundamental ways (e.g., content, assessment…

Cambridge Technicals are vocational qualifications offered by OCR at Levels 2 and 3, for students aged 16 and above. They are designed with the workplace in mind and provide an alternative to A levels. The successful completion of a Cambridge Technical can provide opportunities to progress into employment, onto professional development programmes…

Vocational education and training has received substantial policy attention in recent years that is paired with the ambition for the UK to become a leading country for jobs, productivity and skills. Recommendations from two recent reviews form the basis for substantial policy reforms within the 14-19 curriculum. Discourse of employer engagement…

This report presents papers on the vocational qualifications systems in Sweden, France, the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany, and England and Wales. An introduction (Russ Russell) looks at common themes. The paper on Sweden (Gun Cardell) addresses vocational education opportunities, curriculum and standards, costs, youth and…

Analyzes the objective dimension of teachers' careers showing how 530 British male/female teachers are distributed throughout the pay scale and promotions making up the formal structure of teaching. Indicates length of experience is the rewarding but not the sole factor in bureaucratic structure and differential male/female career achievements.…

A project examined how General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) are evolving and how far their development is in line with the objectives originally set out for them by the government. Information was collected from institutions in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which began offering GNVQs in 1993-94. The survey examined the five…

This monograph contains six papers examining the field of adult education, especially in Finland and England. It explores how the body of knowledge and theory on adult education has developed and suggests where the profession of adult education and its students are headed. Titles and authors are as follows: "Legitimization in Adult Education:…

Although the National Targets for Education and Training in England and Wales include indicators for lifelong learning, and the progress towards the targets set for these indicators has been lauded by politicians and other observers, much of this apparent progress is actually accounted for by changes in these same indicators. However, once the…

In January 2003, a national working group was established to review past and current credit developments in England and recommend ways of taking learning credit developments forward in the future. The Learning Skill and Development Agency's case for credit was said to rest on the objectives of recognizing achievement and motivating learners and…

This book contains the following chapters: "The Demarcation Issue: Introduction" (Wim J. Nijhof, Jan N. Streumer); "Qualifying for the Future" (Wim J. Nijhof); "The Many Meanings of Occupational Competence and Qualification" (Per-Erik Ellstroem); "Qualification and Labour Markets: Institutionalisation and…