Search results

This chapter, based on a study carried out in East Germany, examines relationships between policy-as-espoused, policy-as-enacted and policy-as-experienced in the labour markets of the 'new Lander'. Linked to earlier studies, it enables comparisons of vocational training and apprenticeships with West Germany and England. An insight into the transition to the new Lander is provided as seen through the eyes of key players, including young adults and vocational trainers, and attempts to show the strengths and limitations of the dual system of training and employment. The potential for the emergence of new models and the wider significance of these findings for Europe are also discussed.

The phrase 'Cinderella service' was coined by the ex-Minister of Education, Kenneth Baker, in 1989 reflecting the lack of government attention and focus on the further education (FE) sector. This position underwent significant change as a consequence of the Further and Higher Education (FHE) Act of 1992 and the subsequent formation of the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC). The purpose of this chapter is to examine the consequences of incorporation for colleges relating to their changed status with focus on the funding methodology which facilitated independence. This is compared to the previous system which operated through Local Education Authorities. The discussion is based on the author's field research into the policy-making aspects of the FHE Act and seeks to discover whether what has happened in practice is what was originally intended. The implications of funding in terms of the effects they have on middle managers are also discussed using one college as an example.

This chapter reviews the impact so far, of the new Labour government's educational policy on further education in England. The Report of the Select Committee on Education and Employment (1998) and evidence from various stakeholders involved in the further education (FE) sector are used by the authors to provide a picture of the contemporary condition of the colleges and to examine whether the government's policies provide a coherent and secure future for them. Key issues to emerge so far suggest a need for more funding for the FE sector and better national strategic leadership and local management of resources.

The increase in participation in post-compulsory education and training in Britain coincided with the introduction of the General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) by the then Conservative government. This chapter, based on a paper first published in 1995, analyses the ideological rationale for and consequences of GNVQ as a means of restructuring mass education and training in England and Wales. The focus is on four issues: GNVQ, ideology and the tripartite hierarchy of educational provision in Britain; the nature of learning experiences in GNVQs and what counts as quality learning; the relationship between the knowledge and content of GNVQs, employers, the labour market and upskilling the workforce; and the importance of addressing wider educational issues beyond economic rationalism. The authors conclude that the GNVQ has failed to achieve parity of esteem with A-levels.

This book, part of the Higher education policy series, provides an overview of post-compulsory education in the United Kingdom (UK). It provides an analysis of trends and policies affecting both teachers and teacher trainers and includes an Anglo-German comparison of vocational education and transitions in employment. The chapters are: The changing framework of post-16 education - the rhetoric of reform / Colin Griffin and David Gray; Vocational education and training into the new millennium / Clyde Chitty; Further education under new Labour: rhetoric and reality / Bill Bailey and Patrick Ainley; Lifelong learning - an agenda for a late-modern future / Peter Jarvis; Vocational training, career guidance, work and citizenship: education in democracy / Barry Hutchinson; Ideology and curriculum policy under the old and new conservatives: GNVQ revisited / Denis Gleeson and Phil Hodkinson; Inclusive lifelong learning or stratified lifelong learning? Educational policy developments in late modernity / Martin Dyke; The management of teaching in further education: issues from a case study / Geoffrey Elliott; Cinderella FE - you shall go to the ball! / Don Bradley; Ethos as tradition and ethos in practice: sixth form colleges after incorporation / John Robinson; Mass market higher education / Gareth Williams; Accrediting lectures using competence-based approaches: a cautionary tale / Geoffrey Elliott; Towards professionalism: teaching in further education / Norman Lucas; Finding new ways to work: learning and risk in changing labour markets / Karen Evans, Martina Behrens and Jens Kaluza.