In recent years, there has been a concern to re-negotiate the relationships been individual professionals working with the same people. So, for example, healthcare staff are expected to coordinate their activities and "work together." The end point is a collaborating together as a team of professionals often located in the same place.…

This article argues that once apprenticeship is conceptualised as a social model of learning, then it no longer follows that apprenticeship is an age- or phase-specific model of vocational formation. The article explores this claim through drawing on a case study of the design of a Foundation Degree (FD) in aircraft engineering, which was…

National and transnational qualifications frameworks are an increasingly present feature of the education and training landscape. The United Kingdom can be regarded as one of the pioneers of qualifications frameworks, with partial frameworks appearing from the mid-1980s onwards. However, approaches in England if not in the whole of the UK have…

Since 2001 there has been a renewed government focus on skills development and its relationship with combating unemployment in Ghana. Technical and vocational education and training (hereinafter; TVET), delivered through public and private schools, vocational training institutes and informal apprenticeship training, continues to be seen as an…

In this paper, the author reflects on some of the complexities involved in theorizing change and the policy process, stimulated by the framing offered by the Learning and Skills Sector (LSS) project and the detailed case studies it presents. Focusing on a period in the development of the LSS that has been characterized by a determined policy…

This paper examines data drawn from interviews with homeless people who were undertaking a "Clemente" programme offered by the Australian Catholic University in the Vincentian Village in East Sydney. The "Clemente" programme, conceptualised by Shorris, is based on the belief that an education in the humanities empowers people to engage in a more…

The title of this article came from a student who joined the author's PGCE tutor group in the second semester of last year. It was made during a group reflection activity. The title was fascinating, as was the response from other members of the group: "there's no hiding in here--we all talk." Collaborative journal writing between mentor and…

The notion of competence has received sustained and ongoing critical attention. Despite this, many important matters remain unclear. This article argues that much of the confusion can be traced to both proponents and opponents of competence variously sharing highly questionable assumptions about learning that revolve around viewing it as a…

The idea of general knowledge is often put forward as a desirable learning goal, in all sectors of education: in schools, universities and even in technical and further education, especially in a changing society. The promotion of such knowledge is usually in terms of its being different from and more desirable than other knowledge, such as…

This article focuses on the limitations and possibilities of teaching as a research-based activity in the current context of further education (FE) practice. The article argues that research can deliver real improvements in the quality of teaching and learning in further education. To enable this improvement to take place, the article suggests…

The terms roles, functions, and skills are based on different views of expertise. Functional analysis is normative and behaviorist. Skill analysis concentrates on interpersonal skills and the person in the role. Role analysis is the study of more than the job; it encompasses the human interactions involved in its performance. (SK)

Australian implementation of competency-based training fails to recognize that mere competency statements are inadequate as a basis for teaching. Many vocational teachers lack sufficient background in psychology for successful implementation. Good curriculum documents can help by incorporating key research on skill learning, transfer, expertise,…

Traces the origins of experiential learning in the work of Erasmus, Rousseau, and Dewey. Points out problems in Dewey's theory of experience. Explains four learning strategies that define experiential learning as meaningful learning. (SK)

Reviews developments in technical and vocational education in South Africa: National Qualifications Framework, Curriculum 2005,and enterprise development. Addresses issues of articulation, funding, and market responsiveness. Concludes that practices might be imposed from above and government agencies do not yet have the capacity to develop and…

Implementation of a career education program in Greek schools was hindered by the following: (1) an overambitious goal of developing personality for working life; (2) lack of technology; (3) content of teachers' guides; (4) attitudes that career education was a pseudosubject, add-on, or "play time"; and (5) inadequate teacher training. (SK)