Abstract
The unfavorable comparisons between English and European vocational education and training (VET) systems made in the Wolf Report—and indeed in many national reviews of VET in Britain since the Royal Commission on Technical Education reported in 1884—point toward the low status of vocational pursuits in the United Kingdom compared with that in Continental Europe and elsewhere. In the light of these cultural differences, it is unlikely that structural, funding, or curriculum reforms alone will succeed in enhancing VET provision without corresponding changes in the value foundation of vocational studies. The reconstruction of VET requires a re-orientation of its foundational values if the reforms proposed by Wolf and others are to have any chance of lasting success. By the same token—although European and other national systems have their own peculiar problems—the global policy agenda concerned only with cognitive outcomes expressed as behaviorist skills and competences is, arguably, unlikely to meet the key challenges. A reconstructed model of VET needs to foreground the values, craft, and aesthetic features of vocationalism if the perennial problems are to be dealt with adequately. A reconstruction plan is suggested below, informed and inspired by the concept of “mindfulness”—non-judgmental, present-moment attention, and awareness—drawn from Buddhist contemplative traditions. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in areas such as psychology, psychotherapy, medical science, and education have grown exponentially over the last decade or so, and interesting work is now emerging in relation to the value of mindfulness in workplace training.
Highlights
The history of vocational studies in Britain over the last half century has been amply recorded by a number of commentators (Ainley, 1999; Evans, 1992; Hyland, 1999; Richardson, 2007; Winch, 2000) and can be characterized by a series of tragic narratives—mostly short-lived and inept tinkerings with stale and recycled ideas—which have all failed to solve the central problems of vocational education and training (VET) provision
In spite of what Keep (2006) has described as a “permanent revolution” (p. 47) in policy initiatives in recent times, the central problems are still with us, no doubt partly because of the strong centralist control of VET in Britain which, as Keep contends, effectively prevents the development of alternative planning and funding systems such as the ones operating in the state partnership models of Continental Europe
A reconstructed program for VET—foregrounding moral, aesthetic, and social-collective values underpinned by mindfulness practice—has been proposed as a way of remedying some of the persistent flaws and problems of provision in this sphere
Summary
The history of vocational studies in Britain over the last half century has been amply recorded by a number of commentators (Ainley, 1999; Evans, 1992; Hyland, 1999; Richardson, 2007; Winch, 2000) and can be characterized by a series of tragic narratives—mostly short-lived and inept tinkerings with stale and recycled ideas—which have all failed to solve the central problems of vocational education and training (VET) provision. Hyland and Winch (2007) formulated the key problems in terms of the “subordinate status of vocational studies, low employer investment in VET, a relatively low-skilled workforce and the lack of a national, coherent education and training system” (p. 2). Keywords vocational education and training (VET), education theory and practice, education, social sciences, moral/aesthetic education, craft skills, mindfulness and education
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