Morality, Work and Employment: towards a values dimension in vocational education and training

Abstract

Abstract The marginalisation and neglect of values education at school level in England as a result of the pressures of the National Curriculum has been paralleled in post‐16 education by the spread of the competence‐based education and training (CBET) strategy which underpins the increasingly influential work of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ). This approach to vocational education and training (VET), if it allows for attention to values at all, results in a technical‐instrumental approach in which morality is interpreted as a “competence” designed to serve the needs of industry. In place of such an approach, an “education for work” programme‐‐based on a Deweyan conception of vocationalism‐‐is outlined, and full attention to the values dimension of work and employment is suggested. It is recommended that such a values‐based education for work core should form part of the 14‐19 curriculum for all students.