Vocational education of young adults in England: a systemic analysis of teaching–learning transactions that facilitate self-directed learning

Abstract

Fostering the skills necessary for self-directed learning is an important endeavour of vocational education and training in many contexts internationally. However, there is a distinct lack of studies that investigate the extent to which facilitation of self-directed learning is present within vocational education and training in different contexts. An exploratory thematic qualitative analysis of inspectors’ comments within general Further Education college Ofsted inspection reports was conducted to investigate the balance of control of the learning process between teacher and learner within vocational education and training of young adults in England. A clear difference between outstanding and inadequate provision is reported. Inadequate provision was overwhelmingly teacher-directed. Outstanding provision reflected a collaborative relationship between teacher and learner in directing the learning process, despite the Ofsted framework not explicitly identifying the need for learner involvement in directing the learning process. The present paper offers insight into the understanding of how an effective balance of control of learning between teacher and learner may be realised in vocational education and training settings and highlights the need to consider the modulating role of contextual factors.

Keywords:

• Vocational education and training
• competence
• pedagogy
• further Education
• vet and development

Acknowledgements

The author would like to offer his sincere gratitude to Rolf Arnold, Matthias Rohs, Gina Morris and Leo Morris for their continued support. Special thanks to colleagues that gave fruitful feedback on manuscript drafts, including Dino Cubela, Bastian Steinmüller, and Jessica Neureuther who provided detailed critical comments.

Notes

1. The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) is a statistical framework that categories education into levels from 0 (early childhood) to 8 (doctoral level or equivalent) maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) 2012). The most recent version is ISCED 2011.