Early reforms and subsequent developments

Ever since the Elementary Education Act (1870), governments have sought to use education as a means of meeting the needs of employers. However, the beginning of modem UK educational policy was marked by the Education Act (1944) legislating for free education for all with the leaving age extended to age 15. Within this vision there was the beginning of a recognition of the fact that there was an underlying need to tackle the post­ war economic skills’ shortage with a curriculum which had both relevance and was suited to the ability of the learner. In 1951, access to grammar or secondary modern schools was determined by the outcome of the 11 plus examination. The small minority who passed and proceeded to grammar schools then had the opportunity of taking GCE O levels and finally A levels. Such a system was a suitable route for progression into university or in to higher level business and commerce positions. The system neglected to address the needs and

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prospects of the majority of children, deemed failures at the age of 11 due to their not passing the 11 Plus examination. The curriculum to be followed by them in secondary

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modem schools was seen as second best to what was offered by grammar schools and it was not possible to transfer from secondary modem into a grammar school.

Governmental desire for education to link closely with industry carried on through

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the 1960s and 70s. In 1976, Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan inaugurated ‘the great debate’ (Callaghan, 1976) emphasising the need for a practical application of education to serve the needs of industry. In a period of rising unemployment and the apparent decline of Britain’s economy, the concern was that education was failing to produce appropriately skilled and motivated young workers. Callaghan stated that there needed to be improved relations between industry and education (Callaghan, 1976). Margaret Thatcher’s incoming 1979 Conservative Government developed the idea of ‘vocationalism’ further as a political response to the needs of the economy which fitted well with the New Right’s attempt to instil a belief in entrepreneurialism and individual effort. The concept also served the purpose of reducing the role of the ‘liberal’ educational establishment and instead allowed business to have more influence over education/training. As part of the core curriculum all children were to have some vocationally related craft, design or technology education along with a period of work experience. There were critics of this new government intervention, some believing that it was more motivated by a means of maintaining and even extending social inequalities rather than equipping pupils for adult life (Brown, 1987). Brown concluded by saying that things could only get worse with vocationalism seen as a solution for the working class, echoing Willis’s (1977) earlier claim that social engineering enabled schools to fit the working class for working class jobs (Willis, 1977).

The Technical Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) provided funding to develop innovative new models of vocational education from 1983. The initiative aimed to

influence and encourage schools to adopt a more vocationally orientated curriculum through a system of financial and other incentives but most of these were stopped by the introduction of the 1988 Education Reform Act which established the new GCSE as the entitlement pathway for all school students. Butcher asserted that in spite of the fact that many schools accessed a range of vocational programmes throughout the 1990s, this was ‘virtually untouched in the literature’ (Butcher, 2004, p.30). He suggested that this may be because of ‘continuing doubt as to whether vocational courses are proper activities for a school sixth form’ (Butcher, 2004, p.30). It was noted that the success of General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) could be attributed to the fact that schools received valuable ‘on roll’ income for offering such courses (Butcher, 2004, p.31) which meant that additional funding would be given to schools if they had students enrolled on such courses. There was, therefore, considerable confusion and inconsistency surrounding vocational education in schools throughout this period.

An underlying premise of this thesis is that much government curriculum intervention over the past twenty-five years, some relating to the inconsistencies mentioned above, has been directly associated with the economic and societal changes associated with

globalisation. Three key drivers of globalization have been identified (Lauder et al, 2006). These are:

• Development of technology and the knowledge economy; • Dominance of the USA;

The most apparent of these is the fact that the economic prosperity of Western developed economies is seen as being dependent on the creation of highly skilled jobs while lesser skilled work can be carried out much more effectively in low wage economies. While, it has been argued that globalization is not irreversible, particularly in relation to free trade and financial markets (James, 2001) there are clear effects on young people in the UK and their educational choices and future employment prospects. It is for this reason that a study on vocationalism and young people’s achievement is a highly relevant educational and political issue.