This book is open access under a CC-BY license. The volume presents papers on vocational education, project-based learning and science didactic approaches, illustrating with sample cases, and with a special focus on Central Asian states. Thematically embedded in the area of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), the book examines the following main topics: project-based learning (PBL), specific didactics with a linkage to food technologies and laboratory didactics, media and new technologies in TVET, evaluation of competencies including aspects of measurement, examination issues, and labour market and private sector issues in TVET, and research methods with a focus on empirical research and the role of scientific networks. It presents outcomes from TVET programmes at various universities, colleges, and teacher training institutes in Central Asia.

This book discusses what constitutes vocational education as well as its key purposes, objects, formation and practices. In short, it seeks to outline and elaborate the nature of the project of vocational education. It addresses a significant gap in the available literature by providing a single text that elaborates the scope and diversity of the sector, its key objectives (i.e. vocations and occupations), its formation and development as an education sector, and the scope of its purposes and considerations in the curriculum. The volume achieves these objectives by discussing and defining the concept of vocational education as being that form of education that seeks to advise individuals about, prepare them for, and further develop their capacities to perform the kinds of occupations that societies require and individuals need to participate in—and through which they often come to define themselves. In particular, it discusses the distinctions between occupations as a largely social fact and vocations as being a socially shaped outcome assented to by individuals. As people identify closely with the kinds of occupations they engage in, the standing of, and the effectiveness of vocational education is central to individuals’ well-being, competence and progress. Ultimately, this book argues that the provision of vocational education needs to realise important personal and social goals.

Vocational education and training (VET) have a key role to play in raising skill levels and improving a society’s productivity. In this important new book, a team of international experts argue that too often national VET policy has been formulated in ignorance of historical and political developments in other countries and without proper consideration of the social objectives that it might help achieve. Examining a wide range of contrasting international approaches and development strategies, this book demonstrates the central role of the state in implementing an effective system of VET and assesses the extent to which different VET policies can promote equality in the labour market and social justice. Key themes include: the broader educational and social aims of VET the nature of learning in vocational contexts the historical development of VET in the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere. Including a full range of case-studies and practical examples, this book is essential reading for all students, researchers and practitioners with an interest in vocational education and training, industrial and labour relations or social policy.

Teachers and Teaching in Vocational and Professional Education introduces a critical understanding of how teachers deliver occupational or vocational courses at various academic levels. Including wider coverage of work-related programmes and based on empirical research, this book uses the term occupation-related to refer to programmes spanning several academic levels and education sectors, including the further and higher education sectors. The book disassociates the English context of work-related studies, where issues of the academic-vocational division and socio-cultural dimensions have hampered critical investigations of this under-researched topic. Also, it offers a conceptual framework from the perspectives of teachers in their teaching and work-related settings derived from the understanding and development of Bernstein’s recontextualization process. Teachers and Teaching in Vocational and Professional Education will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduates who are engaged in the study of education and occupation-related programmes. The programme areas include accounting, dental hygiene, equine studies, fashion and textiles, health and social care, medical training of clinicians and emergency medicine, and travel and tourism.

A collection of the theories, practices, and policies of vocational education and training written by international experts The Wiley Handbook of Vocational Education and Training offers an in-depth guide to the theories, practices, and policies of vocational education and training (VET). With contributions from a panel of leading international scholars, the Handbook contains 27 authoritative essays from a wide range of disciplines. The contributors present an integrated analysis of the complex and dynamic field of VET. Drawing on the most recent research, thinking, and practice in the field, the book explores the key debates about the role of VET in the education and training systems of various nations. The Handbook reveals how expertise is developed in an age of considerable transformation in work processes, work organization, and occupational identities. The authors also examine many of the challenges of vocational education and training such as the impact of digital technologies on employment, the demand for (re)training in the context of extended working lives, the emergence of learning regions and skill ecosystems, and the professional development of vocational teachers and trainers. This important text: Offers an original view of VET’s role in both the initial and continuing development of expertise Examines the theories and concepts that underpin international perspectives and explores the differences about the purposes of VET Presents various models of learning used in VET, including apprenticeship, and their relationship with general education Explores how VET is shaped in different ways by the political economy of different countries Reviews how developments in digital technologies are changing VET practice Discusses the challenges for universities offering higher vocational education programs Draws on both recent research as well as historical accounts Written for students, researchers, and scholars in the fields of educational studies, human resource development, social policy, political economy, labor market economics, industrial relations, sociology, The Wiley Handbook of Vocational Education and Training offers an international perspective on the topic of VET.

One of the most important routes to employment within the social welfare sector worldwide is higher education, which equips students not only with the knowledge for employment, but with the tools to use and build on this knowledge. During the last few decades there has been an academic drift in professional education, especially for many shorter professional programmes. Many of these shorter programmes have left the realm of vocational education to enter higher education. On the one hand, graduates are confronted by an increased demand for research and evidence-based knowledge, and on the other, they are criticised for lacking the knowledge and skills relevant for professional work. From Vocational to Professional Education presents new research into programmes suggesting how best to prepare students for professional work and addresses the challenges facing the education of professionals for social welfare. The book identifies and clarifies key problems, as well as outlining the political and historical context in which they are embedded. Chapters discuss theoretical and analytical ways to address these challenges and suggest recommendations for the further development of education for professional practice. Based on comprehensive longitudinal research data, the book will appeal to policy makers, leaders of higher education, and teachers and researchers involved in programmes qualifying students for professional work.