The UK Government’s latest measures to strengthen further education, skills and ‘higher technical education’ follow a widely trailed international pattern mapped out by the OECD and international bodies, which emphasises industrial skill requirements. Yet successful forms of vocational education have either sought to complement skills development through broader educational understandings and practices, or to embed these within the vocational. This seminar takes as its starting point the contradiction between the global myth of German dual apprenticeship and Germany’s critical tradition of vocational education, recognising student personhood and constructing theoretical foundations around vocational subjects. Building on these and related international traditions, our work theorises the possibility of moving beyond a binary academic-vocational distinction, arguing for more critical attention to the practices and forces that can give rise to a more socially just vocational education.

Bill Esmond’s work examines the policies, structures, institutions and discourses that shape education, work and their boundaries internationally. His recent publications discuss the stratification of vocational education and training (VET) and its theoretical traditions in different countries. He is Professor of Professional Education and Training at the University of Derby, following a career that has spanned education, training and industry.