This paper reviews, from 1990-2010, the place of different aspects of skill in the literature associated with the influential world conferences of Jomtien and Dakar. It then looks at the particular history of the treatment of skill within the series of global monitoring reports (GMRs) from 2002-2010. The GMR was one of the key mechanisms set up,…

Vocational education and training (VET) has returned to the list of policy priorities for education in Africa after an absence of a quarter of a century, yet there has been no new research that overturns the existing orthodox position that such provision, whether during or after schooling, is inefficient and ineffective. This paper addresses this…

Since the opening up of private universities and colleges in the Kuwait education system in the late 1990s, there has been an explosion of tertiary institutions (both domestic and international) established in the country, with many of them offering vocational education and training. The move towards vocational and educational training forms part…

This study explores the present conditions and emerging issues about the future of vocational teacher education in Turkey. The paper discusses the background and historic legacies that have led to the restructuring of Faculties of Teacher Education in Turkey. The influence of the reforms from the foundation of the Turkish Republic are discussed as…

In 1983, a competency-based vocational education (CBVE) program began in Croydon Park College of TAFE, South Australia. This was six years before the Australian State Ministers of Vocational Education and Training decreed competency-based training (CBT) to be the national training imperative. Two reports were produced in 1985 and 1987, based on…

Intervention in vocational education and training by the federal level of government in Australia (the Commonwealth) expanded exponentially in the last quarter of the 20th century, after halting and intermittent involvement in earlier decades. Such intervention in a field of public policy once considered the exclusive preserve of the States…

A brief history of Chinese industry involvement in vocational education and training is presented, including discussion of emerging industry arrangements in the market oriented Chinese economy. Industry involvement in vocational education and training is then considered in more detail, including the role of industry associations and newly created…

This article explores some different ways of providing vocational qualifications, specifically for young people who do not go directly to university from school. The examples of Germany and Australia are discussed and show that historical, political, economic and social factors influence the preferred modes of training and their relative perceived…

In New Zealand the most important institutions that are responsible for the delivery of vocational education and training programs are the government owned and operated tertiary education institutions known as polytechnics. The New Zealand polytechnics deliver programs at the certificate, diploma and degree level. During the course of the 1990s,…

In line with other Western nations, the 1980s and 1990s saw a significant increase in the number of TAFE graduates wanting to transfer to university. As a consequence, recent times have evidenced increased co-operation between universities and TAFE institutes and the emergence of alternative university-entry programs (e.g. degree-articulation…

The 1980s saw recession and substantial levels of unemployment in developed countries, followed by increasing globalisation of trade and an intensification of international economic competition. As a result of these pressures, a "restructuring" of industry seemed an imperative in a number of developed countries in the late 1980s. As this economic…