The English Vocational Education and Training Policy Debate--Fragile 'Technologies' or Opening the 'Black Box': Two competing visions of where we go next

This article reviews current English Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy. It argues that policy now stands at a decisive juncture, torn between two competing models. The first is traditional, and relies on yet more institutional change and increases in the supply of skills. Its embodiment is the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The other model for policy comes from the Cabinet Office Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU)'s work on workforce development. This posits a need to tackle issues about demand for and use of skills in the workplace, and for marrying skills policies with wider business support and development. The article reviews the prospects for the LSC and identifies a number of weaknesses inherent in its supply-led approach. The article argues that, for a variety of reasons, the PIU's broader analysis may be likely to gain greater influence, but that it will also need to overcome significant barriers embedded in the current ideological and institutional fabric in England.