Open and Flexible Learning in Vocational Education and Training

Judith Calder, Ann McCollum

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135365332
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This text reviews the strategies adopted in a range of behaviourist approaches to the setting and realization of standards - identifying the background from which they emerged and ways in which they might be further developed.

Chapter 1

The looming crisis

Background

A general consensus is emerging that there has been a major growth in the use of open, flexible and distance methods for vocational education and training. Alternative forms of education and training provision are increasingly being seen as more effective than traditional forms in meeting the specific education and training needs of a wide range of people. This growth has been driven by an underlying and growing concern regarding the accessibility, and the provision of practical vocational education and training, which is relevant to the needs of employers and the national economy. It is claimed that 70 per cent of companies are now engaged in some form of open learning and furthermore that open learning is now embedded in the workplace.

… open and distance learning has become embedded in the workplace, with larger companies establishing open learning centres which have in some cases expanded opportunity beyond the company’s immediate needs on the grounds that a learning organization represents a company objective whatever the area of training (Tait, 1992).

In order to understand how and why this has come about, it is necessary to identify the fundamental shifts that have taken place within vocational education and training. These shifts have taken place not only within the UK but also on a worldwide basis and have prompted industry and governments alike to invest in the development of open and distance learning programmes. The opening chapter explores the importance of open, flexible and distance education to vocational education and training.

Firstly, the key economic and political forces underlying the shifts, which have taken place in vocational education and training, are examined; in particular the critical issues at the heart of vocational education and training such as the need to provide relevant workplace-based training, the need to expand provision and participation and the need for a flexible workforce. The chapter then moves on to consider the crisis in vocational education and training and the pressure to adopt radical measures such as open, flexible and distance approaches to training provision. It is concluded by considering the shifting boundaries in relation to training providers and training sites, the switch in focus on to the learner and learning outcomes and the critical tensions, which are accompanying the displacement of traditional approaches by open, flexible and distance methods.

Education, training and the economy

Globalization

The expansion of vocational education and training in the UK represents the attempts by government and industry to respond to the profound changes that have taken place in the global economy. The market-driven nature of current globalization has fed upon ‘the growth of world trade, the emergence of internationalized knowledge systems, the changing patterns of communication, the penetration of technology into the social fabric of communities, production, consumption and the promotion of internationalism as a cultural value’ (Dhanarajan, 1997). As the president of the Commonwealth of Learning pointed out in a major speech in Kuala Lumpur in November 1997, deregulation has reduced national governments’ control over the movement and value of currency and control over foreign investments while globalizing competition among workforces. Capital now flows to wherever competent labour is cheapest and least subject to regulation. As he concluded ‘The result is reflected in the greater vocationalisation of our education systems and, more importantly, puts pressure on the system to provide retraining for those whose jobs are lost and to develop training programmes in communities where jobs move into’ (Dhanarajan, 1997).

Similar points have also been made by other authorities. Capitalism is again revolutionizing the instruments of production, as Forrester et al., 1995 state ‘there has been a major shift in the spatial organization of capital… (and) a qualitative shift in production methods in the advanced industrial countries’. These shifts are characterized by post-Fordist principles of ‘diversity, differentiation and fragmentation’ and as technology, production systems and organizational structures have become more complicated, so there has been a parallel increase in the need to augment experiences of education and work (Tuijnman, 1992). Thus, as Edwards (1991) argues, the post-Fordist shifts in the economy are paralleled by similar shifts in education and training. An Australian Report (National Board of Employment, 1992) is cited by Edwards as identifying the typical pressures and constraints which have led to these shifts:

the pressure of increasing students numbers; the unmet demands for new buildings; a ‘shortage’ of academic staff (or, more likely, academic posts!); and the pressures to serve industry, to become more entrepreneurial and to export education. These factors are echoed elsewhere around the globe, resulting in a general shift towards technologically mediated and flexible forms of delivery to the extent where it is possible to argue that ‘the boundary between “distance education” and “conventional education” is likely to disappear’… (Edwards, 1997).

The expansion of vocational education and training has thus been accompanied by qualitative shifts in its nature. A key theme in the debates on vocational education and training revolves around the need for a workforce that can cope with the changing demands of the international economic environment. A country’s workforce is seen as a critical success factor in its international competitiveness, and vocational education and training is seen as crucial in the development of a multi-skilled workforce.

Western European trends in training provision

In a review of adult education and training in Europe, Tuijnman draws on a range of studies carried out throughout Europe to identify general trends in European training, and while he states that countries are moving in different directions, the one common trend he identifies is the marked quantitative growth in vocational education and training. Thus, the concerns of governments and employers alike about vocational training have been reflected by an increased investment in this area. A number of European studies have argued that economic success depends on having a competitive ‘high-tech’ industry, and that previous under-investment in vocational education and training have undermined European efforts to respond to changing economic conditions, thus most European countries are now placing a ‘heavy emphasis on policies to improve job training’ (Tuijnman, 1992).

Over the past decades, the UK government’s approach to vocational education and training has been distinctive from most other European countries in one key respect, namely that individual employers take primary responsibility for training their employees. It is they who choose how much (and whether) to invest in training. Thus, while many other European countries provide legislative backing to training, the UK has had no mechanisms to ensure minimum standards or levels of provision in training. Until the change in Government policy announced in December 1997, in which employers are obliged to offer young workers a day a week paid leave for study, companies chose whether or not to opt in to government training initiatives and standards such as NVQs, the Investors in People Initiative and the National Education and Training Targets (NETTs). As Forrester et al. (1995) observed (Example 1.1):

The small number of employers involved in the new training system are often self-selected enthusiasts and are in no way representative of most British companies, and in particular, of small and medium sized enterprises.

Governments in countries such as France and Germany have taken a strong role in creating training structures and providing legislative back-up. France for example has provided individual rights to training leave, and has a remissible training levy on all employers. In Germany there is compulsory employer membership of training bodies (Keep, 1993)(Example 1.1). The UK Government, however, persisted with voluntarist training schemes despite calls from major employers and bodies such as the Institute of Directors for government legislation which establishes compulsory minimum standards of training (Keep, 1993) (Example 1.1).

Example 1.1: Western European trends in training provision

• In 1991 the National Institute of Adult and Continuing Education stated that 70 per cent of employees had had no recent training or education opportunities at work (Forrester et al., 1995).

• In 1991 an Employment Department report ‘Skills needs in Britain’ found that 29 per cent of British companies have no training plan and 34 per cent have no training budget (Forrester et al., 1995).

• In Germany, about 67 per cent of all workers possess vocational qualifications; in the UK the figure is about 36 per cent (Keep, 1993).

In comparison with other European countries then, vocational education and training in Britain is very poor in terms of levels of provision and participation in training and also in terms of the organization and management of training.

While many argue that the perceived link between the economy and education and training is both overstated and simplistic, nevertheless, this view has gained such currency in the UK that it has largely circumscribed the discourse, the direction and the development of vocational education in the 1990s. For example, the need for both quantitative and qualitative changes in vocational training has been expressed by the House of Lords Select Committee on training, the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee, the Confederation of British Industry and the National Institute of Adult and Continuing Education (Forrester et al., 1995). However, the extent to which a government can rely on education and training to deliver growth should be questioned. Others point out that while the view that inadequate vocational education has been a major factor in Britain’s poor economic performance has become widely accepted, it has not necessarily been proven (Forrester et al., 1995). What is quite clear, however, is that the acceptance of this view has had a profound impact upon the nature of vocational education and training in the UK. As Esland states (Forrester et al., 1995):

The displacement of responsibility for economic failure and decline from the political and economic arenas to the educational and training institutions… has had the effect of distorting public policy debate about the relationship between economic change, education and employment… It has also provided legitimation of the imposition of a market forces model on the education provided by schools and colleges.

The changing employment context, characterized by post-Fordist patterns of production and organization requires new working methods, and the key features repeatedly identified of the ideal 1990s’ workforce are flexibility, adaptability and multiple skills (Forrester et al., 1995). The learning requirements of the workforce revolve around the need for continuous training in a wider range of skills which serve to increase ‘the adaptability of the employee to changing production methods’ (Forrester et al., 1995).

The vocational education and training crisis

The UK Government response to the perceived crisis in vocational training has been characterized by three key interlocking features:

• firstly, the marketplace is viewed as the key instrument in the delivery of appropriate training

• secondly, the government has taken further steps to devolve responsibility for training to employers and employees

• lastly, given the emphasis on the labour force as a key factor in economic success, training is increasingly being viewed in highly instrumental terms.

Because public education is seen as having failed to provide appropriate education and training which meets employers’ needs, there has been a shift towards work-based learning. In order to redress the mismatch between adult education provision and the education and training needs of the workforce, employers have been urged to take primary responsibility for funding and directly providing training. Thus, the workplace itself has become the site of learning, and rather than the government legislating to ensure that training does take place, the marketplace is viewed as the central means by which to ensure training needs will be met:

The basic idea is that the matching of demand and supply of adult education and training should be left to the play of market forces (Tuijnman, 1992).

Thus, the government sought to substantially expand vocational education and training without incurring additional expenditure which would instead be borne by employers and individuals. As the Government White Paper for Employment for the 1990s so clearly states:

employers as both providers and consumers of training have the primary responsibility for ensuring that our labour force has the skills to support an expanding economy (cited in Forrester et al., 1995).

The TUC questions whether individual investment decisions can provide the trained workforce that the economy needs (Tuckett, 1991). This concern is strongly reinforced by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which is highly critical of single employer financing of training, both because it tends to result in a narrow form of job-specific training, and also in training opportunities which tend to be restricted to a small proportion of the workforce (Forrester et al., 1995). While the government has developed national systems of qualifications (NVQs) and national standards and targets for training (NETTs), in practice levels of training provision vary widely and the quality and quantity of training programmes within various companies and sectors are far from standardized. The nature and extent of training opportunities available in companies are solely dependent upon the individual employer’s attitudes to training. Thus, while some major companies such as Ford and Rover offer examples of attempts to broaden training efforts and ‘emphasise the motivational benefits of training for all levels of the workforce at all stages of their working lives’ (Keep, 1993), the overall consensus is that British companies are failing to invest adequately in vocational education and training. However, there is some compelling evidence that companies have not only begun to invest more in training, but also that the status of training is rising, with training now playing a central role in company development (Saggers, 1994). As shown in Example 1.2 a training survey was carried out in 1994, which included the following findings:

Example 1.2: A new wave of training

• 68 per cent of companies had increased levels of training in the previous two years

• 58 per cent of firms had a board member with defined responsibility for training

• 61 per cent said training had been instigated to improve quality

• 59 per cent said restructuring was the catalyst for training

• 65 per cent said they had increased the level of line manager involvement in training.

Source: Saggers (1994)

One of the stated aims in the recent developments in vocational education and training has been to expand the provision of and participation in training, and to enhance the accessibility and flexibility of training. However, many recent studies argue that the limited opportunities available for vocational education and training actually serve to marginalize the majority of the workforce who have either limited or n...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Series editor’s foreword
• Preface
• 1. The looming crisis
• 2. The major stakeholders
• 3. What problem is being solved?
• 4. Open, flexible and distance options
• 5. The effectiveness of open and flexible approaches
• 6. Selecting and implementing appropriate solutions
• 7. Critical issues
• References
• Index