International perspectives on vocational education: What can we learn from each other?

Abstract

The broad aim of Vocational Education and Training (VET) is to provide students with the technical skills and knowledge needed to enter the workforce. It exists for an extensive range of subject areas and may be delivered through many different kinds of training institutions and enterprises. Over the past four years, this huge area of education and assessment has received close scrutiny from the Government and others, as part of a broader review of education and skills among 14 to 19 year olds (Tomlinson, 2004; Department for Education and Skills, 2005). Given that this process has resulted in proposals for considerable reform of VET for this age group, we deemed it important to know more about the international context within which they are set. Who does VET affect globally, and what might we learn from the experiences of other countries? The aims of this project, therefore, were to identify and examine two main types of data: (i) on the extent of participation in VET and its associated assessment worldwide; and (ii) relating to key differences in the VET systems of different countries. There were three stages to the project:

A review of the quantitative data available. A review of other key literature. A discussion group at an international conference.

In this report, we summarise some of the main findings from each stage. We conclude that, in general, there is a paucity of internationally comparable quantitative data relating to vocational education and training.