This paper explores graduates' views on the relationship between higher education and employment. It draws on a major European study involving graduates five years after graduation and highlights similarities and differences between UK graduates' experiences and their European counterparts. Specifically, we address questions raised in the study…

This paper presents some of the findings of an evaluation of the development of the first fourteen 14-19 Diplomas in England. It focuses on the question whether the government's aim to develop the new qualifications in an employer-led way has been fulfilled. In order to answer this question, the paper evaluates the contributions of employers in…

Despite their generally higher educational attainment, young women are characterised by lower labour market positions than men in Belgium. Using regression and decomposition analyses on data from the longitudinal SONAR survey on the transition from school to work, we examine to what extent subject choice and processes of family formation can…

This article explores the characteristics, destinations and progression routes of early school leavers--specifically "exceptional entry winter leavers"--in Scotland. Exceptional entry allows students to enter college in the term before their statutory school leaving date--such young people attend college while formally remaining the responsibility…

The "gap year" is defined as a time between the end of school and the beginning of further studies in which young people engage in a variety of activities, including paid or voluntary work. "Gapping" is a significant trend globally for young people deferring formal study after completing school, before commencing further or higher education. A…

Researching how people are educated for practice has often been seen as problematic. We recommend qualitative approaches that draw on hermeneutic phenomenology and narrative inquiry. It is our intention to outline approaches that we believe can be used in an emerging research agenda. We begin by examining assumptions underlying much workplace…

This paper analyses the effectiveness of non-formal schools for working children in Jalandhar, Punjab, India, in mainstreaming child labourers into the formal education system through incentivised, informal schooling. Using a family fixed effects model and sibling data as an equivalent population comparison group, I find that the non-formal…

This article discusses forms of "boundary-work" in school-based training for industrial work or, put another way, discourse and practices that cross, blur or reinforce boundaries between school and industry. The discussion builds on two ethnographic studies, one conducted in the 1980s and one in 2006, to provide insights on continuity and change…

This paper is based on a small-scale mixed-method research project, which was located in south-east England and was funded by the British Academy. The project, investigated the factors that affected young people's decisions not to progress to higher education (HE) after following a Level 3 vocational pathway in upper secondary education. Set…

This paper has been prompted by the challenges created by recent proposed reforms to social care services in the UK services which are being "modernised", a term ubiquitous in policy documents but difficult to define with confidence. Government modernisation and e-government programmes highlight with renewed urgency the need for social care…

Hospitals, and surgical operating theatres (OTs) in particular, are environments in which inter-professional teamwork and learning are essential to secure patient safety and effective practice. However, it has been revealed in many studies that inter-professional collaborative work in hospital organisations faces many challenges and constraints.…

Research has shown that the majority of school students combine full-time education with part-time employment. To date educationalists have paid little attention to this, in part due to the negative views about the "quality" of such work and its effect on educational attainment. In this research, a case study approach is used to explore the…

This article aims to analyse how structural decoupling, which is an especially relevant problem for school-based vocational education and training (VET) systems, reveals itself in the assessment of practical training. Niklas Luhmann's social system theory has been applied to the analysis of assessment practices as a communication act between the…

This paper highlights critical shortcomings in the approach to apprenticeship in England and argues that the proposed Apprenticeship Framework is unlikely to fulfil its stated aims of enhancing quality and quantity. The key weaknesses identified are a clear definition of what constitutes an apprenticeship framework, an educational component,…

Student employment has been treated as a homogeneous category in studying the effects of doing part-time jobs on student academic performance or social life. In the present study, using data collected from a well-known public university in Macau, we treat student employment as a heterogeneous experience and compare the relative importance of…