Vocational Education and Training

Abstract

In this article we look at variations in the ways in which vocational education and training have been conceptualized across cultures and time. We illustrate how these concepts have been shaped by social, political and economic agendas, and how the agendas relate to the changing nature of work and constructions of what constitutes preparation of people for work. We explore contemporary concerns and emphases in theory and research, instancing, in particular, social and economic change, institutional structures, pedagogical complexity, learning pathways, and personal choice. We relate conceptualizations of vocational education and training to such polarized discourses as those of academic vs. vocational, theory vs. practice and knowledge vs. skills, which have had important implications for research perspectives, research tools, and conceptualizations of different kinds of knowledge. We suggest how future theory and research might bridge existing polarized discourses in order to develop further the conceptualization of vocational education and training.