Researching vocational education and training: An international perspective

Abstract

This article investigates a German initiative to fund a research programme on internationaldevelopment cooperation in vocational education and training (VET). It briefly describes the strandsof the programme and critically reflects on them. It is considered important that this programme beinitiated to stimulate research on international VET development cooperation because, while thereare institutes for and programmes on VET research, research on VET is modest in volume comparedwith that of educational research on elementary or secondary education. The article also considerspriority areas for VET research that are part of the programme and expands on these, using a numberof VET research themes and topics. An important conclusion is that in research on international VETdevelopment cooperation it is important to pursue a balanced approach by taking the practical,political, administrative and scientific factors into account. These factors all play a role at the national,regional and local levels. Too much pragmatism or too isolated a scientific specialisation should beavoided. Respectful cooperation between all the stakeholders is imperative, and is especiallyimportant in projects that combine researchers with a predominantly long-term perspective andteachers and managers with a mainly short-term outlook. Finally, I express the hope that morenational governments would follow the example of Germany. Their doing so would definitely raisethe profile of international VET research, which is absolutely needed.