This debate builds on our first volume ‘Debating the First Principles of English Vocational Education’ where we explore unresolved tensions around the esteem, position and delivery of high quality vocational education.
While there has been considerable debate over the principles and philosophy of academic education, much less debate has centred around vocational education, leading to a state of constant policy flux and instability across the sector. This report is part of a series which seeks to remedy this gap. Through this we hope to debate, question and challenge the underlying principles and philosophy of vocational education in order to move away from instability and towards a more settled vision of vocational education.
The first volume in this series opened up a lively debate about the key principles of English vocational education. We found a degree of consensus around the purpose of vocational education and the need to raise its status, noting the need to involve broader groups of policy makers and stakeholders to achieve change. The debate also sparked further questions to explore in further series:
- How to define vocational and academic education
- How vocational education can develop broad transferable skills needed for the fourth industrial revolution
- The key ingredients of a distinctive vocational pedagogy
- How to successfully assess vocational education
Editors
Chris Winch (Kings College London), Olly Newton