The future of vocational education and training in a changing world

Around the world, vocational education and training (VET) is characterised by a number of common trends, including the increasing use of technology, the growing importance of information and communications systems, and changes to national demographics. Situated at the interface between the education and training system and employment, VET has a role in meeting these changes and contributing to the transition from education to employment, and providing the next generation with skills relevant to employment and the economic situation. This volume contains 30 chapters that represent a...  [+] Show more

Around the world, vocational education and training (VET) is characterised by a number of common trends, including the increasing use of technology, the growing importance of information and communications systems, and changes to national demographics. Situated at the interface between the education and training system and employment, VET has a role in meeting these changes and contributing to the transition from education to employment, and providing the next generation with skills relevant to employment and the economic situation. This volume contains 30 chapters that represent a comprehensive overview of the current situation in VET, its strengths and weaknesses, and its prospects. Contributors from Canada, the USA, India, China, Japan and Korea, as well as from a number of European countries, focus on their national context and how it fits in to the bigger picture. The contributions combine theoretical discussions from various strands of VET research with evidence from country case studies and examples from current practice. The chapters are as follows: Part one 'Anglo-Saxon countries': Challenges and opportunities for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the United States / Christopher Zirkle and Lindsey Martin; Youth apprenticeships in Canada: context, structures and apprentices' experiences / Wolfgang Lehmann; Re-conceptualising vocational education: the transition from powerful to useful knowledge / Roy Canning; The transition from vocational to higher education from the perspective of higher education admission staff / Hubert Ertl, Geoff Hayward and John McLaughlin; Part two 'Asia including India': Development of TVET in China: issues and challenges / Weiping Shi; Challenges of vocational education and career education in high schools in Japan: from the viewpoint of career-competency formation for transition / Moriki Terada; Japan's public youth training programs, enterprise-sponsored training and the society of control / Toshiko Ito; (Vocational) education and social inequality as Japanese society makes the transition to a 'global society' / Mikiko Eswein; Trends and challenges of vocational education and training in Korea / Seung Il Na; Vocational education and training system (VET) in India / Rengan Venkatram; India's national skills development policy and implications for TVET and lifelong learning / Madhu Singh; Part three 'Continental Europe': Challenges for evidence-based policy in European education and training / Torsten Dunkel; Comparative analysis of VET curricula in Europe / Dietmar Frommberger and Lena Krichewsky; VET qualifications versus bachelor degrees?: recruitment at the intermediate qualification level: case studies from Germany, England and Switzerland / Ute Hippach-Schneider and Tanja Weigel; Perceptions of science and technology in developed and developing countries: challenges for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) / Frank Bunning and Claudia Kalisch; Georg Kerschensteiner and the plea for work-oriented and vocational education: Germanys' educational debates in an industrial age / Philipp Gonon; Reforming the VET system via national qualification frameworks?: a comparison of Germany and Austria / Thomas Deissinger; Vocational education and training in Poland during economic transition / Slawomir Kurek and Tomasz Rachwal; Best for the bright?: the pros and cons of the new Danish apprenticeship model / Vibe Aarkrog; Pre-vocational education in the curriculum and its teaching practice: a study of seven European countries / Susanne Berger and Matthias Pilz; Part four 'Global/theory': Are vocational qualifications vocational? / Jim Gallacher, Robert Ingram and Fiona Reeve; Apprenticeship: between theory and practice, school and workplace / Paul Ryan; Demarcations between vocational and academic education and how to overcome them / Felix Rauner; Varieties of competence: European perspectives / Jonathan Winterton; Potentials for change in education and training through interactions between credit systems and qualifications frameworks / Isabelle Le Mouillour; Patterns of recruitment and induction in selected European countries: first results of a feasibility study / Phillipp Grollmann and Marthe Geiben; Vocational education, poverty and power / Ute Clement; Bridging the gulf between the world of work and the world of learning: vocational education and training in comparative perspective / Kathrin Hockel; International comparative research into vocational training: methods and approaches / Matthias Pilz.