Year: 1996
Type: article
Abstract: The introduction in the United Kingdom of the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) framework was heralded as a major improvement in the provision of vocational education and training. Through basing vocational awards on the achievement of occupationally defined competences, and through making their acquisition possible through work experience and work‐based assessment, the aspiration of providing a better trained, more flexible workforce, replete with transferable skills and a willingness to undergo regular retraining, was presented as readily attainable. Experience on the European Social Fund supported MENYU Project suggests that, in the NVQ framework, neglect of the educational dimensions necessarily inherent to vocational training, has rendered this aspiration unattainable. Furthermore, because of the impoverished view held of work, and of the trainee as person and as citizen, the NVQ framework is likely to contribute to the creation of a passive citizenry and to the growth of the non‐democratic state. Something of how and why this is so is presented in the paper.
Source: Pedagogy Culture and Society
Author: Barry Hutchinson
Institution: University of Ulster
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2000903834