Issues of identity and knowledge in the schooling of VET: a case study of lifelong learning

Abstract

This article discusses two school‐based case studies of vocational education and training in the areas of information technology and hospitality from the perspective of the agendas of ‘lifelong learning’. Lifelong learning can be seen as both a policy goal leading to institutional and programme reforms and as a process which fosters in learners identities that enable them to thrive in the circumstances of contemporary life. These case studies suggest that current approaches to vocational education and training in schools are enacting the first but not the second of these agendas. Institutional barriers are being removed and work placements drawn in to schooling programmes. However, the pedagogy, assessment and curriculum of the programmes emphasizes short‐term (and conflicting) knowledge objectives rather than orientations to flexible lifelong learning. We argue that it is teachers rather than the students who are thrust most forcibly into adopting new learner‐worker identities consonant with the attributes of ‘lifelong learners’ and the demands of the contemporary workplace.

Notes

Lyn Yates is a Professor of Education at the University of Melbourne. The main focus of her research has been on issues of knowledge, subjectivity, new social contexts, and inequalities in relation to the development of policy and practice in Australian schooling. She has worked particularly on gender issues, but also more widely on curriculum, methodology and theory, and, more recently, class.

Mark Tennant is Professor of Adult Education and Dean of the University Graduate School at the University of Technology, Sydney. His academic focus has been on developing a critical understanding of psychology in its application to pedagogy, with an emphasis on the interface of pedagogy, self and work in adult education contexts. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Mark Tennant is Professor of Adult Education and Dean of the University Graduate School at the University of Technology, Sydney. His academic focus has been on developing a critical understanding of psychology in its application to pedagogy, with an emphasis on the interface of pedagogy, self and work in adult education contexts. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Additional information

Notes on contributors

MARK TENNANT

Lyn Yates is a Professor of Education at the University of Melbourne. The main focus of her research has been on issues of knowledge, subjectivity, new social contexts, and inequalities in relation to the development of policy and practice in Australian schooling. She has worked particularly on gender issues, but also more widely on curriculum, methodology and theory, and, more recently, class. Mark Tennant is Professor of Adult Education and Dean of the University Graduate School at the University of Technology, Sydney. His academic focus has been on developing a critical understanding of psychology in its application to pedagogy, with an emphasis on the interface of pedagogy, self and work in adult education contexts. He can be contacted at [email protected]