Yes / This article evaluates the British system of NVQs, focusing on their capacity to increase skill levels. It reviews the way NVQs were designed and argues that they are ill-equipped to encourage knowledge and skills, partly because they simply replicate the weaknesses which currently exist in the labour market and partly because of the focus on observed workplace behaviours. NVQs were intended to be 'employer-led' and the assumptions underpinning their design are unitarist. In contrast, the German apprenticeship system is developed and implemented by pluralist consortia and results in qualifications that are far better equipped to support skill levels.

Yes / The Management NVQs were (according to their proponents) designed to provide a new mechanism for certifying workplace competence. Centred on descriptions of practice in the workplace they offered a qualifications route that could be accessed by all. This article draws on an in-depth study of the implementation of NVQs in three private sector organisations. It argues that, in practice, this competence-based format is highly problematic. Candidates are required to work towards criteria that may not match their roles and responsibilities, developmental work is systemically discouraged and work is routinised. The article concludes by arguing that these flaws are structural ones which may be expected to continue as long as NVQs continue to attempt to distil the essence of occupations into `standards¿.

Yes / This article explores the use made of humour in three different private sector organisations. It draws on observations of managers working towards a management qualification and, from the jokes they exchange, it argues that studying humour may offer insights into sentiments not easily articulated in `serious¿ conversation. Humour¿s ambiguity enables contentious statements to be made without fear of recrimination. Equally, constructing jokes by juxtaposing two different frames of reference provides a glimpse of alternative (and shared) perceptions of `reality¿. This sensitivity to complexity makes humour a particularly appropriate vehicle for conveying ambitions, subversions, triumphs and failures and this article considers some of the `serious¿ messages underlying the jokes.

During the 2000s, the former UK Government introduced the Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) in an attempt to increase the relevance of qualifications and the qualification level of the UK labour force (HMSO 2006). However views about the value of the QCF and qualifications generally are contested. Through longitudinal case study research, the thesis finds a vocational purpose for qualifications that supports a culture of continuous improvement. This results in models that contribute to thinking about vocational learning and the role of qualifications, and provide a conceptional bridge between paradigms of workplace learning and concepts of organisational excellence. The thesis explores common understanding of learning and skills to explain issues relating to National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and the QCF. In particular the thesis identifies significant implementation problems for the QCF due to differing ontological and epistemological understanding of the meaning of skills and their measurement, and requirements for different delivery and assessment models. In addition, the study identifies that rapidly changing organisational arrangements and regulation hinder the establishment of a more diverse and inclusive QCF. The thesis concludes that the QCF best fits Hager’s (2002) concept of learning that encompasses learning of many different kinds. Also the QCF is valuable as a flexible framework that establishes a degree of order in complex, rapidly changing learning environments. However the qualifications require broadly specified assessment criteria, and links to external communities of practice and associated learning packages.

There has been an increasing amount of interest shown in vocational education and apprenticeships in the early twenty-first century by successive governments and other parties connected with occupational training. However, the English further education sector has been described as ‘chronically under-researched’ (James and Biesta, 2007: 7), particularly in regard to narrative accounts of college education and pedagogy (Richardson, 2007) and there has been very little empirical research on pathways into the plumbing profession. This study explored teachers’ and students’ perceptions and experiences of both full-time college courses and apprenticeships in plumbing in order to deepen understanding of these particular types of vocational preparation. It also endeavoured to investigate whether the two different routes into plumbing appeared fit for purpose. Within an interpretive framework, data were collected using two main research methods. Ethnographic snapshot observations were recorded during lessons in three further education colleges and at the workplaces of five plumbing students and formal 1:1 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 tutors and 14 students. The data were thematically analysed. From the many issues relating to the opportunities offered and the challenges posed by the different pathways into plumbing that this study identified, three key findings emerged. First, there was strong evidence of a dislocation between theory and practical learning, both within the college setting for full-time students and between the workplace and college settings for apprenticed learners. This had implications for both the quality of learning and the learners’ levels of motivation. Second, the study revealed the importance of supervised work experience that was centred on long-term acquisition of knowledge and relationship development for apprentices with support from their college tutors and co-workers. Finally, the findings showed the importance of authentic assessment. It was found that simulations in college could not adequately replicate the experience of doing the job in the real world. Given the inherent risks and problems regularly encountered in the plumbing profession, this signalled significant health and safety implications.