While enjoying the respect and prestige in some countries, in others, despite being a significant educational sector, vocational education continues to suffer from low status and negative societal sentiments. Vocational education in China has been positioned at the bottom of the educational hierarchy, absorbing the 'left-over' students with 'less…

Recognising that many workers worldwide often face poverty and exploitation, the International Labour Organisation aims to promote decent and productive work opportunities for all. We conducted a scoping review to get an overall view of current academic literature on decent work and precarious work for samples of blue-collar workers. The studies…

'Continuous meritocracy' was introduced in Singapore to redefine the concepts of talent and ability in Singapore society. This expanded meaning of meritocracy serves as another way to further support the SkillsFuture Singapore movement (Skillsfuture Singapore, 2023b), which was launched in 2016. 'Continuous meritocracy' complements Work-Integrated…

This study explores the well-being (engagement) and work fulfilment of 628 blue-collar workers as outcomes of decent work, based on the Psychology of Working Theory and its target group. It takes a positive preventative approach and demonstrates the motivational role of work engagement and psychological ownership in contributing to the work…

In the Reform Era, the Chinese Government has placed great emphasis on the role of education in ensuring the economic success of individuals and of the country as a whole. While vocational and academic post-secondary qualifications are officially set at the same level, vocational education is positioned at the bottom of the educational hierarchy…

The main objective of this study was the design and validation of a mobile learning environment (ML) based on Augmented Reality (AR) visualization with the purpose of developing skilled trades in the field of carpentry in indigenous populations. A pedagogical model focused on lifelong learning was used, in order to promote the acquisition of…

The article investigates mechanisms of class reproduction by looking at school-to-work transitions of young blue-collar workers from Austria. The study adopts a Bourdieusian explanatory framework to show how working-class kids are guided towards picking up apprenticeship training instead of pursuing further education. Two classed dispositions are…

Blue-collar employment growth increases schooling opportunities by raising incomes, but also reduces incentives for some students to advance beyond compulsory education. These contradictory influences may help to explain relatively slow and uneven growth of progression to upper-secondary schooling in Vietnam, which has experienced a foreign…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore how an academic graduate from the cross field between the humanities and the social sciences and blue-collar workers learns to scaffold knowing in a small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME). Design/methodology/approach: A case study was conducted in an SME that employed the first academic graduate among the…

Livelihood participation among members of indigenous communities necessitates redefining of gender roles in indigenous communities. Utilising participatory rural appraisal (PRA) anchored on the principles of Social Identity Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT), this article draws on a study about adult Aeta women, one of the largest indigenous…

This article analyses labour market experiences of migrants of non-Nordic origin who have settled in the Faroe Islands, a small North Atlantic archipelago with a population of about 51,000 people. By examining the experiences of educated migrant workers who are employed in three different blue-collar workplaces: a cleaning company and two…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the qualification measures of 12 German multi-national companies (MNCs), all of which are present in China, India and Mexico. In particular, the transfer of dual initial training practices and further training measures are investigated. It examines the impact consistent training strategies across…

Despite excellent education and a rich working experience in their home countries, skilled expatriates struggle to find employment that matches their qualifications. This article goes beyond the dominant stress and emotions' perspective on underemployment and presents the challenges of skilled migrant labour through the lens of the Common In-group…

Many blue-collar jobs, most of which are performed by men, are likely to be displaced by automation. These workers will, therefore, need to be retrained and reskilled, many of them choosing for engineering education as mature students. This paper uses Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to draw a complex portrait of the experience of…

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the role of language in multilingual blue-collar workplaces by investigating how communication is realized in construction sites in Qatar. The State of Qatar offers a unique and, hence, very interesting setting for the linguistic investigation of migration-related issues, such as…