Bridging the Liberal/Vocational Divide: an examination of recent British and American versions of an old debate

abstract

This paper examines recent British and American discourses on the question of the efficacy of bridging the liberal/vocational divide in the curriculum of secondary schools. It proceeds from a conceptual frame consisting of strongly taken positions on both sides of the question. In both countries it is shown that the discourse springs from the need to make secondary school vocational education more responsive to the needs of contemporary work places. The article traces the lineage of the more enduring philosophical aspects of the discourse to the thought of Dewey, Whitehead and Wamock. It contends that dualistic curricula take their cue from class rigidities in society, and that while the economic climate now makes all education vocationalist, until schools become more truly egalitarian, offering a common liberal or general curriculum to all, the efforts of the current movement will amount to nought.