The crucial quarter century is from 1945 to the designation of the polytechnics at the end of the 1960s. Technology after the Second World War was "in the news", and recommendations for higher technological education in and outside the universities came from individuals, organisations, governments and reports in the 1950s. A White Paper…

This paper revisits the crucial period following the Arab oil boycott of 1973, when the welfare state in the UK finally collapsed along with the heavy industrial base upon which it rested. Unlike the post-war welfare-state "settlement", the new post-welfare market state was imposed by Margaret Thatcher's governments. It was marked for…

Longitudinal research, conducted between 1999 and 2002, tracked the academic progress of a small sample of mature students entering the University of Tasmania, Australia, from a disadvantaged region of Tasmania to pursue degrees in accounting and education. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine the impact of alternative…

The authors consider two quality-related aspects of large employers' apprenticeship programmes. The first is their contribution to national educational objectives, including the creation and strengthening of ladders of vocational attainment. Such ladders already exist in apprenticeship's traditional domains, but the prospects for their wider…

The Higher Secondary Vocational Education programme in India was introduced in 1976-77, to boost the supply of manpower trained to an intermediate skill level. This paper uses data collected during a study of the impact of vocational business courses in the three states of Kerala, Goa and Haryana. The study collected information on a range of…

Studies of learning transfer within the paradigm of cognitive psychology suggest that transfer of learning from one task to another occurs rarely. Within a situated learning paradigm the idea of learning transfer can become even more problematic. Courses of initial teacher education comprise school-based and higher education institution…

This article questions the concept of "education for employment", which constructs a discourse of individual and societal benefit in a knowledge-driven economy. Recent policy emphasis in the European Union promotes the expansion of higher education and short-cycle vocational awards such as the intermediate two-year Foundation Degree…

In this article I draw attention to the current legitimising of new forms of identity of vocational and higher education learners. Using identity as a lens for examining pedagogy I focus on one of these new forms--the learner-worker identity. I examine one teaching and learning practice portfolio development, by discussing the program within which…

The Consortium for Post-Compulsory Education and Training (CPCET) is a single subject consortium of further education and higher education providers of professional development relating to in-service teacher training for the whole of the post-compulsory sector. Involving more than 30 partners spread across the North of England, CPCET evolved from…

This article is based on questionnaire data collected in November and December 2001 as part of the first year of fieldwork for the Economic and Social Research Council funded research project "Transforming Learning Cultures in FE" (TLCFE). In this initial survey, 229 questionnaires were returned from 15 learning sites in four further…

The Foundation Degree was introduced into the United Kingdom awards system by the Government in 2000 as part of a wider strategy to widen participation and to enhance the development of vocational awards at higher education level. The award was controversially called a "degree," despite the fact it was of only 2 years duration and not at…

This article offers three interrelated arguments for the adoption of a cultural approach to the study of learning. It then presents some early analyses of data from a case study of one learning site, concerned with the assessment of learning in the workplace. These analyses show how the shape of the learning site--for example, the nature of…

This article analyses the progress made in transforming the public further education and training college system in South Africa in the first decade of democracy. It charts the evolution of policy for the sector and how it relates to broader policy development in South Africa. It examines the extent to which policy has been implemented and…

Job descriptions of eight British business students employed in various settings were compared to National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) management standards. Five students were able to complete work for assessment; three were recommended for NVQs. The project demonstrated the utility of NVQs in the business studies degree program. (SK)

Adult students training to be teachers initially reproduced aspects of their former workplace culture in the education classroom. Narrative helped generate a more open learning climate that facilitated transformative learning. In addition to authentic workplace learning, a sequestered classroom environment proved essential for the development of…