Table Of ContentVocationalism in Further and
Higher Education
Vocationalism in Further and Higher Education presents a collection of research-
based papers on the ‘English model’ of vocationalism and higher education. It
argues that negative societal and political perceptions have hindered the debate
about the significance and relevance of vocational education and training provi-
sion to learning, work and the economy. In this book, the writers offer unique
solutions to the difficult questions that have emerged from their investigations
into vocationalism in England.
This edited collection brings together a group of academic experts to report
and discuss their findings from many years of evidence-based research on voca-
tionalism at three levels: macro (national and policy making), meso (programmes
and organization), and micro (individual learning and teaching). Chapters
explore the key issues relating to the topic, such as policies, curriculum, learning
and teaching and work contexts. The book reflects on the diversity of related
programmes and discusses the applicability and relevance of the term ‘vocational-
ism’ in the light of current developments relating to higher vocational education,
including occupation, employability and professionalism.
This book is a timely contribution to the debate on the ‘English model’ of
vocational education and will be an essential resource for researchers, practition-
ers and postgraduate students in the fields of vocational education, technical and
vocational education and training, work-based learning, politics and policy of
education, teaching and learning, higher education and curriculum and pedagogy.
Sai Loo is an academic at the UCL Institute of Education, University College
London.
Jill Jameson is Professor of Education, Chair of the Centre for Leadership and
Enterprise, Faculty of Education and Health, University of Greenwich.
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Vocationalism in Further and
Higher Education
Policy, Programmes and Pedagogy
Edited by Sai Loo and Jill Jameson
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 selection and editorial matter, Sai Loo and Jill Jameson;
individual chapters, the contributors.
The right of the editors to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Loo, Sai, editor. | Jameson, Jill, editor.
Title: Vocationalism in further and higher education : policy,
programmes and pedagogy / edited by Sai Loo and Jill Jameson.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016014919 | ISBN 9781138947047 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9781315670331 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Vocational education—England. | Occupational training—
England. | Education, Higher—Aims and objectives—England.
Classification: LCC LC1047.G7 V64 2016 | DDC 374/.0130942—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016014919
ISBN: 978-1-138-94704-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-67033-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Lists of figures, maps, tables or cases vii
Acknowledgements viii
List of contributors ix
1 Introduction: vocationalism in the English context 1
SAI LOO AND JILL JAMESON
SECTION 1
Policy 7
2 Still asking: a new direction for vocational learning or
another great training robbery? Further research into and
analysis of the contemporary reinvention of apprenticeships
in relation to further and higher education 9
PATRICK AINLEY AND MARTIN ALLEN
3 Merger talk in further education: of whales and minnows,
rhetoric and reality 22
GEOFFREY ELLIOTT
4 Groundhog Day again: making sense of a complicated
mess: HIVE-PED research on FE student and apprentice
progression to higher education in England 37
JILL JAMESON, HUGH JOSLIN AND SHARON SMITH
SECTION 2
Programmes 51
5 A question of identity: does it do what it says on the tin? 53
PRUE HUDDLESTON
vi Contents
6 Links between concepts of skill, concepts of occupation and
the training system: a case study of Australia 65
ERICA SMITH
7 Training of FE teachers with occupational/vocational
experiences: an approach using collaboration and evidence-
based research 78
SAI LOO
SECTION 3
Pedagogy 91
8 “It’s all about work”: new times, post-Fordism and
vocational pedagogy 93
JAMES AVIS
9 Constructions of knowledge through practice in general
vocational education in England 106
ANN-MARIE BATHMAKER
10 Higher vocational learning and knowledgeable practice:
the newly qualified practitioner at work 117
KAREN EVANS
11 Conclusion: global perspectives on vocationalism and the
English model 131
JILL JAMESON AND SAI LOO
Index 141
Figures, maps, tables or cases
Figures
4.1 The post-compulsory education system in England 39
4.2 Advanced level apprenticeships progression in England
2006–07 to 2012–13 44
9.1 Instructions listed on the board for science practical task 111
Tables
5.1 Characteristics of 16–19 study programmes 56
6.1 State of Victoria. Funded enrolments and funding rates
2011 and 2013, selected courses ordered by proportion
of female enrolments 70
7.1 Details of participants 81
9.1 General vocational qualifications in England 1970s–2010s 108
9.2 School and college research sites 110
Acknowledgements
The journey of this edited book started when the Convenors of the British Edu-
cational Research Association (BERA) Post-Compulsory and Lifelong Learning
Special Interest Group, Bronwen Maxwell (then current), Sai Loo (current),
Kevin Orr (outgoing) and Jonathan Tummons (current) coordinated a series
of three events to commemorate BERA’s fortieth anniversary in 2014. Experts
in the field of vocational education and training were invited over the academic
year 2014–15. These were held in three locations: UCL Institute of Education,
University College London; the University of Birmingham; and the University
of Durham. Six of these contributors have included chapters in this edited book.
Jill Jameson, previously a Convenor of the BERA Post-Compulsory and Lifelong
Learning Special Interest Group, is now a Convenor of the Educational Tech-
nology Special Interest Group and Principal Investigator for the ESRC Higher
Vocational Education and Pedagogy (HIVE-PED) Research Seminar Series. She
joined Sai Loo as a co-editor to support the writing and publication of the book,
bringing in additional chapters from the HIVE-PED Seminar events.
In addition to the contributions of the Convenors and contributors, we were
very lucky to have the full support of Nick Johnson, executive director of BERA
in the publication of this book, and we thank Nick for his kind support.
We also thank the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for fund-
ing for the Higher Vocational Education and Pedagogy (HIVE-PED) Research
Seminar Series and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS),
which funded research presentations and findings that led to or are closely related
to several chapters in this book.
We particularly acknowledge and thank all of the chapter authors and the par-
ticipants in the various research projects on vocationalism reported herein, the
reviewers, Denis Gleeson, Yvonne Hillier and Ian McNay for their support, as
well as the editors of Routledge, Clare Ashworth and Thomas Storr, for bringing
this book to fruition.
Contributors
Professor Patrick Ainley is Professor of Training and Education at the Univer-
sity of Greenwich School of Education and Training and a Visiting Fellow at
New College, Oxford University. His books include The Betrayal of a Genera-
tion: How education is failing young people, Policy Press 2016; Learning Policy,
Towards the Certified Society, Macmillan 1999; Apprenticeship: Towards a New
Paradigm of Learning (edited with Helen Rainbird), Kogan Page 1999; The
Business of Learning, Staff and Student Experiences of Further Education in the
1990s (with Bill Bailey), Cassell 1997; Degrees of Difference, Higher Educa-
tion in the 1990s, Lawrence and Wishart 1994; Class and Skill, Cassell 1993;
Training for the Future: The rise and fall of the Manpower Services Commis-
sion (with Mark Corney), Cassell 1990; From School to YTS, Open Univer-
sity Press 1988; with Martin Allen, Education Make You Fick, Innit?, Tufnell
Press 2007; and Lost Generation? New strategies for youth and education, Con-
tinuum March 2010. You can find him on Facebook and/or follow him on
Twitter as @Olloverkrumwall.
Dr Martin Allen has taught in secondary, post-16 and higher education. He
was active in the National Union of Teachers for many years. His research
on apprenticeships can be downloaded from www.radicaledbks.com. Patrick
blogs with Martin Allen at http://radicaled.wordpress.com/, where their
latest publications can be freely downloaded: The Great Reversal, Young
people, education and employment in a declining economy (124 pages, ISBN
978–0–9575538–0–4) and Education Beyond the Coalition, Reclaiming the
Agenda edited with Patrick Ainely (182 pp, ISBN 978–0–9575538–2–80).
Also, Another Great Training Robbery or a Real Alternative for Young People?
Apprenticeships at the start of the 21st century. ISBN 978–0–9575538–4–2,
pp. 23.
Professor James Avis is Professor of Post-Compulsory Education and Train-
ing at the University of Huddersfield. His research interests lie in post-
compulsory education and lifelong learning. He has written extensively on
the policy contextualisation of further education, having addressed cur-
riculum issues, methodological questions and teacher professionalism, as
