In this thesis I investigated partnership working in the development and implementation of the 14-19 diploma in the North-East of England. The research encompassed the period from the implementation of the 14-19 diploma in 2008 to its withdrawal in 2013 by the Conservative-Liberal coalition government. The focus of my research was whether partnership was happening and how partnership working was viewed and undertaken by those involved. I used a mixed-methods approach to examine data from participants across North-East England, including diploma practitioners, learners, and parents to gain their perspective on diploma design and implementation. My methodology comprised electronic questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and a personal notebook supported by secondary research. I collected and analysed qualitative and quantitative data to investigate my two research questions:  Was partnership working taking place in the development and delivery of the diploma in the North-East of England?  What did ‘partnership’ mean to the stakeholders involved in the development and delivery of the diploma? I analysed the data in relation to these questions which allowed me to identify and discuss further themes from within the responses, including; competition, collaboration, and the specific nature of partnership working in education. I then considered these themes in terms of their effect on partnership working and how they related to theory explored in the literature review. From the data analysis I identified a new concept in relation to partnership working in education. I have contributed to the understanding of the development and implementation of the diploma in the region, to the understanding of partnership working in 14-19 education, and to wider partnership working knowledge. The results were particularly useful for exploring issues of competition and collaboration, and understanding how partnership work was viewed and used by practitioners, learners and parents involved with the 14-19 diploma.

This narrative inquiry grew from my concerns that the voices of dental practitioners were going unheard in movements to reform professional development, in particular through information and communication technology (ICT). Recently, professional development policy has been driven by calls for a greater use of ICT for education, healthcare and professional development. However, from casual conversations in my own practice and with colleagues, I noted tensions that raised questions on the rationale underpinning many of the changes taking place. I began to ask what we might understand by professional development, and how we might seek it through ICT. In turning to literature on professional development, dentistry was a relatively unexplored area. In addition, little was known about the actual experiences of those seeking professional development. My concerns and questions, combined with this lack of research in the field of dental professional development and the use of ICT, suggested the need to explore the experiences of dental practitioners undertaking professional development and to consider their views on ICT. My assumption is that experiences are embedded in everyday conversations and exchanges as the stories we tell each other. To be able to understand those experiences, I felt a need to access those conversations and exchanges. This meant going further than collecting data from tick boxes at the end of course evaluation sheets. Taking a narrative approach and using qualitative interviews, I collected the stories of nine dental professionals. In the conversations that took place, the participants and I explored and reflected on our own practice, professional development and ICT. Using a performative analysis (Riessman 2008), I reconstructed the stories through Davies and Harré’s (1999) metaphor of an ‘unfolding narrative’ (p.42), taking stories as an emergent process through interaction with different social and cultural representations. While the focus at the start of this study was on ICT, it rapidly became clear that the participants did not regard ICT as a central part of being a practitioner and indeed a professional. Accordingly, the study became one of exploring being a practitioner and a professional, and the influences of recent organisational and institutional changes and ICT moved from a central to a peripheral focus. From the resultant stories, I found three performances dominated in which practitioners developed ways of “being”, “instincts”, as I named them which emerged in response to a negotiation with policy, practice and paths of development. I identified those instincts emerging from a “professional self” constructed from policy through fixed predetermined paths. This contrasted with a “practitioner self” which drew from intuition, craft-like practices, and paths of development which were largely undetermined. I identified shifting positions and subjectivities as practitioners reflected on their values for practice and professional development. From those reflections, there was a questioning of the professional role, the way the dental professional might be represented, the way the practitioner self might develop and the way they might position themselves, in particular in expanded spaces for professional development through ICT. In order to interpret the resultant performances within both global and micro-contexts, I viewed them through a critical lens, interrogating the sociocultural and political environment. I found that representations of the professional role suggested a challenge for education, self-determination and development. As a result, I saw those participants sitting in a “liminal space”; a junction of sociocultural influences framed by policy, professional life, practice and ICT. This liminal space yielded a multitude of challenges, negotiations and possibilities as the ‘inevitable consequences of certain economic, social and political processes’ (Brookfield 1995, p.36). In conclusion, in the face of those framings and education, I propose a need for a “professional literacy” and a new professional narrative that considers the capabilities and possibilities for dialogue and, in the light of our practice and advancing technology, would take account of expanded and undetermined paths of professional development.

The theme of the research is the developments in education, particularly with refence to vocational education in the Federal Republic of Germany. During the 1950s the FGR underwent an economic miracle in the area of reconstruction following the devastation of the war years. As economic stability returned to the Republic the move towards reform in the educational sector began to develop. Whilst under occupation, the military authorities in each zone had supervised the reconstruction of the education system per se, but with little regard for the vocational sector, tending to leave that area to those who controlled its development in the past, namely the employers and their respective Chambers i.e. Industry and Handicraft. As the debate progressed over the form that the new educational system should take, it became apparent that there were almost irreconciable differences between the models favoured by the opposing political factions. Whilst the right wing looked to the past in the formation of its policies, as illustrated by the perpetuation of the old tripartite system, the left were seeking to broaden the educational choice of the majority who were restricted in their participation in higher education under both the existing and preceding systems. As the balance of power in the LAnder and Bund shifted during the late 1950s and early 1960s so the educational plans were modified. The left initially sought to influence general education in the political arenas, but later turned to the vocational education sector and the Berufsschule in order to increase the element of general education included in the curriculum. It was during this period that, on the one hand, the left were seeking to introduce the concept of equality of educational opportunity both in the general education system and the vocational sector, on the other hand, the right equally determined to maintain the status quo, that a further argument was being presented by the academics and social scientists. Namely, that the education system had lost sight of the traditional German values of neo-humanistic Bildung in its pursuit of a materialistic society. It is in the light of these widely differing views that the introduction of the Basic Vocational Training Year and the corresponding legal and political arguments surrounding its introduction are examined to establish its validity as a solution to the problems of the various participants in the debate.

This study set out to map the learning path taken by a group of learners popularly known as ‗NEET‘s (Not in Education, Employment or Training) on the first year of a Level One course. It charted their experiences through their own eyes and recorded their own perceptions and aspirations throughout their progress on the programme. Three sets of learners, numbering 36, were selected from the East London area in the UK at three different post-16 centres: a mainstream Further Education College, a private training provider and a ‗virtual‘ Pupil Referral Unit (PRU). The programme which they undertook was the then relatively new vocational Diploma in Construction and the Built Environment which had been launched in the UK as part of a new raft of post - 14 vocational qualifications partially been designed to meet the learning needs of disengaged learners. Nearly all of the learners succeeded in passing the first year of the programme. The study highlighted the significance of individualised pedagogy and the right vocational curriculum offer for these types of learners. Although the Diploma no longer exists, the study showed how the Diploma‘s approaches to applied and theoretical vocational learning offered distinct opportunities for learning to less motivated learners. It suggested that a focus on practical and generic learning in a real world context could provide opportunities for more innovative and holistic approaches to teaching and learning.

This thesis investigates the effect of social background on pupils’ choices of educational and career pathways. A group of 18 pupils, chosen from a single Comprehensive School in the North West of England, was followed from the ages of 13 to 16 as they encountered the options available to them when they chose their GCSE subjects. Data were collected principally through focus group interviews with the pupils. The interviews were timed to coincide with key stages in the options process before and after the choices were made. Additional interviews were carried out with individual parents and members of staff at the school. Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and cultural capital were used in the analysis of the data, which revealed evidence to support Bourdieu’s notion that forms of capital are reproduced through investment by the family. Pupils with disadvantaged backgrounds were less likely to opt for Higher Education especially if it involved study at a significant distance from home. A survey of the development of the English education system since the 1944 Education Act is used to support the conclusion that schools are also a significant agent for cultural reproduction. The school at the centre of the survey used data supplied and processed by the Fischer Family Trust to assist with the target setting process, and evidence suggested that this process was employed by the school as a mechanism to support progress towards targets set for it by the National Government. The support given to individual pupils to achieve targets set for them therefore became disconnected from the educational need of the individual.

La recherche a pour objet la professionnalisation de formateurs d’un dispositif de formation par alternance. Elle postule que l’élaboration et l’usage d’un Référentiel Personnel de l’Agir Professionnel (RPAP) constituent une façon de se professionnaliser. Les formateurs emploient le RPAP pour agir et/ou comprendre sur, hors, dans l’action et ce faisant construire sur elle du sens.L’auteur commence par étudier les deux dispositifs en jeu dans le contexte de la recherche : le dispositif de formation des Maisons Familiales Rurales (MFR) et le dispositif de professionnalisation de formateurs de cette institution. Il se dote, ensuite, d’un outillage conceptuel. Après avoir été construit et mis à l’épreuve, le référentiel personnel est considéré comme un outil de l’activité réflexive et un instrument du monde personnel des formateurs. La méthode retenue, une recherche en cours d’action, attribue au RPAP le statut d’objet frontière. L’objet est introduit dans le dispositif de professionnalisation afin d’étudier son influence sur l’une de ses propriétés, la réflexivité. Pour cela, des formateurs dits « novices » se prêtent à des entretiens d’auto-confrontation visant à appréhender leurs façons de mobiliser, hors et dans l’action pédagogique, leur référentiel personnel et d’en apprécier les effets sur l’agir professionnel. Un protocole similaire contribue à saisir en quoi et comment des formateurs dits « expérimentés » continuent à utiliser un RPAP. Après avoir «inventé » l’objet, la recherche fait du RPAP un artefact. Les résultats montrent que son usage relève de processus réflexifs pilotés par des schèmes d’action. Ces derniers mettent au travail des concepts pragmatiques qui concourent à la pragmatisation de savoirs théoriques et à l’émergence de savoirs d’action. Le RPAP joue un rôle d’instrument de médiation dans l’apprentissage et/ou le renforcement de savoirs et de gestes professionnels. Une synthèse propose des démarches d’expérimentation, de concrétisation et d’emploi du RPAP ainsi que de nouvelles pistes de recherche. / The focus of the research is the professionalization of trainers for alternance schemes. The hypothesis is that the construction and utilization of a Personal Professional Action Framework (PPAF) serves to professionalize the trainers. They use the PPAF to act and/or comprehend on/beyond/by doing, thereby giving the action meaning.We begin with an overview of the two schemes studied in this context: the alternance training scheme of the Maisons Familiales Rurales (rural vocational training centres) and the trainer-training schemes of these centres. We then present conceptual tools. Once the PPAF has been built and tested, it is reviewed as a tool for reflective activity and as an instrument in the personal repertory of the trainers. In our methodology of action research, the PPAF appears as a boundary object. The object is introduced into the professionalization scheme in order to study its influence on one of the scheme’s properties: reflexivity. To do this, “novice” trainers participated in self-confrontation interviews aimed at comprehending the ways in which they utilize (inside and outside of pedagogical action) their personal framework and to assess the effects on their professional action. A similar protocol helps to show to what extent and how “experienced” trainers continue to utilize a PPAF.Once the object has been “created”, the research treats the PPAF as an artefact. The results show that its utilization stems from a reflexive process guided by models of action. These models employ pragmatic concepts which contribute to transforming theory into practice and to establishing knowledge of action. The PPAF plays the role of a mediation tool for learning and/or reinforcing professional knowledge and actions. A summary proposes experimental approaches to building and employing the PPAF, along with new avenues for research.

The benefits of vocational education and, more specifically, the apprentice paradigm for the individual, the employer and for society as a whole have been accepted widely across many nations. These benefits have been delivered through a structured apprenticeship which has persisted for centuries, evolving from the early Guild system of indentured apprenticeship to the modern apprenticeship models operating in Japan and Ireland, on which this study has focused. This research examines the mechanics of the apprenticeship model in Japan and in Ireland, charting and analysing how both systems have evolved and adapted to economic, political and cultural challenges, exploring how both systems have responded in very different ways with some parallel outcomes. The five themes explored in this research emerged from an initial literature review of the topic, these themes are echoed throughout the various chapters to offer a multi-dimensional examination of the apprenticeship model. These themes frame the key areas of investigation explored through interviews which were conducted in both Japan and Ireland. The volume of extant research conducted on apprenticeship in each country was found to be surprisingly low, considering the long tradition of these august systems in both Ireland and Japan. A mix of documentary research and qualitative semi-structured interviews were employed to fully examine the paradigm of apprenticeship from an objective macro policy viewpoint down to the micro level narrative of those who had direct experience with the apprenticeship model. The sample consisted of educators, apprentices, Master crafts people and industry representatives to reflect the variance of views and experience of the actors involved in the delivery of apprenticeship. The main findings of the research demonstrated that the structure of the apprenticeship paradigm was not a formidable, durable, monolith which could weather the unrelenting march of progress through future generations, but, rather, the research revealed a delicate and fragile lacework of stakeholders, each of whom contributed to the overall form and shape of a training system embedded in societies who’s confidence in vocational education has changed quickly and without warning as the winds of fortune and taste have changed. The recommendations outlined offer a potential new model of apprenticeship which reinforces the view that this important form of education requires careful and constant curation through strong stewardship built on uncompromising quality assurance. Apprenticeship can only exist with an active public appreciation of the tangible historical value of past practices which can incubate the development of the highest levels of craft skills that the apprenticeship model can deliver to a nation. In this way the potential economic value of an idealized apprenticeship model can be realized to the benefit of the apprentice, employer and to society for centuries to come.

This study examines the Sector Skills Agreement (SSA) policy initiative, which was instigated by the „New Labour‟ Government in 2003. The policy was intended to create an employer demand-led system of curriculum development for education and training in the Learning and Skills Sector within the United Kingdom. Sector Skills Councils (SSC) were tasked with implementing this policy initiative. This study explores the reasons why the SSA policy initiative failed to achieve the ambitions that the Government had for it. The methodology utilised by this study was grounded in reflexivity, with the author acting as a participant/key informant in the primary data collection. The primary data underpinning this study was obtained predominantly from email correspondence and was complemented by documents emanating from the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) and the governments‟ of the devolved nations‟ of the UK and the then nine English regions, as well as the SSCs. The study argues that existing theorisations of policy fail to grasp the complexity of the processes surrounding the development of SSAs and consequently need to be developed further. Neo-pluralism provides a vehicle to advance theoretical understandings of policy processes in general and the SSA process in particular. The study concludes that a number of issues resulted in the failure of the SSA process, key amongst which was the involvement of the devolved nations and English regions of the UK in this process, whereby these constituencies appropriated the SSA to serve their own agendas, which were not those of the national government.

The introduction of the 14-19 Diploma into the English Qualifications framework was the most developed attempt at creating a vocational qualification which advanced beyond mere job training. The Diploma offered vocational education with occupational capacity, underpinned by functional skills and academic subject content. It was truly the first hybrid qualification that attempted to combine the hitherto separate vocational and academic curricula. This study examines the educational policies that led to the introduction of the Diploma and the reasons behind its ultimate failure and demise. The study comprises two parts. The first is an investigation into the continuing professional development needs that this new initiative created for teachers. This led to the publication in 2010 of a book, The Essential Guide to Teaching 14-19 Diplomas, a description and account of which is presented in this thesis. This book was the first of its kind aimed at supporting teachers working with the Diploma. The key research findings addressed were the need to understand the structure and constituent elements of the Diploma and to provide practical advice on how to deliver effective Initial Advice and Guidance (IAG), Personal Thinking and Learning Skills (PTLS) and Functional Skills. The second part of the study is concerned with the aftermath of the Diploma. This involved an examination of the professional ethos and standing of vocational subject teachers within the author’s consortium of colleges and schools involved in teacher training, and their reactions to the withdrawal of support for the qualification following the change of government in 2010. The study concludes with an analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews or ‘conversations’ with leading educationalists concerning their attitudes to, and involvement with, the development of the Diploma and any ‘lessons for the future’. The key findings from the second part of the study are there were several issues in the development and implementation of the Diploma that were critical factors leading to its demise. The first issue that arose from both the initial and final phases of the research was that the vocational Diploma was introduced very quickly following the rejection of Sir Mike Tomlinson’s proposals for linking academic and vocational learning. The qualification that was developed, the Vocational Diploma introduced in 2008, later renamed as the ‘Diploma’, only went part way to achieving the proposals put forward by Tomlinson. This was due to the complexity of collaboration between three sectors, pre- and post-compulsory education and employers, plus the complexity and breadth of the component parts of the qualification. Also arising from the research is that the rushed introduction did not allow the developers to pilot, review or consult effectively with the major stakeholders. The second issue, which is a thread throughout the research, is that the rush to implementation, coupled with the complexity of the qualification, demonstrated that there was a clear need for professional development within the teaching profession tasked with implementing the qualification. Indeed, the initial phase of the research highlights clear areas that teachers were unfamiliar with and were anxious about. The third issue that arises focuses on the demise of the qualification and the impact that it has had upon the teaching profession tasked with delivering it. The demise has created a certain disillusionment and loss of professional identity amongst the Diploma teachers and the teachers of vocational curriculum. There is now an uncertainty and mistrust in new vocational qualifications and there are real questions as to whether the Technical Baccalaureate, introduced in 2013, and the new 16-19 vocational study programmes are fit for purpose. The final issue is whether we should be looking back at the original proposals put forward by Tomlinson or whether we should be looking at a return to job-specific training. In conclusion, the common theme that arose from both sets of participants in the final stage of the study was of lost opportunities and the recognition that, after the demise of the diploma, there is a continuing state of policy confusion and that any new development needs to be from the ‘bottom up’.

This study is directed at improving quality of graduates coming out from the Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) system in Bahrain.The aim of TVE system is to equip the students with the skills, knowledge and work ethic required for various industries, such as electrical, electronic, telecommunications, building services, mechanical engineering and computer technology. The TVE system is a two-tier system of education comprising SBL (containing specialised technical modules delivered in the school environment) and WBL (including work placement periods) intended to equip the students/graduates with cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills essential for their future careers. Recent TVE studies have indicated that a gap exists between the students’ skills acquired during SBL and WBL study and the skills required by industrial companies in Bahrain. A novel employability skills model was developed based on extensive literature survey and exploratory studies conducted by the researcher. The skills gap was determined through quantitative and qualitative analysis of the responses of the stakeholders to Questionnaire 1. Furthermore, to interlink employability skills requirements with teaching and learning provisions within TVE, the researcher has integrated two-dimensional (2D)models for cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains within the existing provisions. For the above purpose a new 2D model for affective domain skills has been developed. With an aim to improve teaching and learning provisions, the correlation between the existing approaches of teaching and learning practised in TVE educational environment with students’ learning styles was examined using Questionnaire 2. All the above was used for structuring learning activities in engineering courses so that a better match between the employability skills model and skills taught during SBL and WBL could be achieved. To maximise the output from TVE system, a novel SWT (SBL-to-WBL Transition) module was designed and developed. This was to ensure that TVE students receive the necessary training required by industry before they go in work placement(included in WBL programme) which would enable them to perform at a very high level; within the industrial environment. The module design was based on the user-centered approach and included necessary elements to satisfy the requirements of the novel employability skills model and 2D models for cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. The developed SWT module contained five case studies which were related to real work examples. The learning activities included, challenged the students to recognise, make informed responses, and work comfortably with the diverse requirements of WBL environment. The user evaluation of the proposed e-learning package was done by the students and teachers who completed Questionnaire 3. Based on the above a new quality framework for online courses was developed. The modified framework extends the existing information quality frameworks by incorporating features associate with pedagogical and technological contexts. The framework would be useful in determining adequacy of the new SWT module in providing workplace proficiencies, preparing TVE students for work placement, providing effective teaching and learning methodologies, integrating innovative technology in the process of learning, meeting modern industrial needs, and offering a cooperative learning environment for TVE students. The proposed SWT module represents a major contribution to the improvement of TVE system in Bahrain because it challenges students and teachers to be capable of recognising, making informed response towards, and working comfortably with the diversity they encounter in WBL environment.