Vocationalism - Historical Background and Social Perception - Essay Example

Introduction Vocationalism, sometimes identified as "the over-promotion of the work-related aims of secondary and tertiary education at the expensesof the civic, aesthetic, and moral purposes"1, has been an important part of the British educational policy for over 20 years. This essay provides a comparative analysis of the German and British vocational education to identify the main differences between them. Two questions are to be answered in the essay. The first question, "In what respect is the German system of vocational education supposed to be superior to our own" requires to determine the criteria of so-called 'superiority'. For example, perceiving vocational education as a way to provide population with jobs and thus supply skilled workers to industry would be logically coherent with the definition of vocationalism given above. However, such scope of the research would be useless, because the main question becomes pointless: UK had lower unemployment rate under 25 year-olds than Germany in 2004 (12.1% against 15.1% correspondingly2). Another view is applied in this essay: integration of vocational education into the social life of the country. Vocational education cannot be measured by sole employment rates, as it is only one of many factors determining employment. One may argue that detachment of vocational system from the workplace in the UK is not a weakness but a peculiarity developed within a historical process. Indeed, one system of vocational education cannot be compared to another without assessing them in contexts of their countries. Three main differences between German and British vocational education are identified, and observed one after another: socialisation, companies' participation, and the structure of education. Regardless of the term referred to them it is argued that gaps found within those differences would have increased the quality of vocational education in the UK if minimised. Finally, the illustrations from the labour market present evidences for those differences, thus answering the second question: "What are the evidences (if any) of the German superiority" Historical Background The differences between English and German systems of vocational education are conditioned with historical background dating back to the times of Industrial Revolution. Germany is a more industrialised country than Britain, therefore its demand in vocational students is higher. German vocational school has more than a century of training experience, it provides apprentices with a rich training content and theoretical education well connected to a practice in companies. The successes of industrialisation achieved without any serious input from education in England have served as a base for the belief that formal education is not helpful in providing preparation for future work3. The delay of development of vocational education in England had its consequences. For example, following the 1944 Education Act only half the local authorities required to set up technical schools actually did so, with the result that at their peak only 3-5% of the school population attended technical secondary schools4. Social Perception Historical distinctions of vocational education in the UK and Germany have led to different social perception of apprenticeship in these two countries. English vocational education has significant difficulties in retaining learners as they age, and, additionally, it appears to be ineffective in attracting the least well qualified5. Particularly, in-company training appears to be almost completely forgotten, while the school-based vocational courses at colleges and university courses are in much higher demand than non-academic in-company training. This contrasts with the situation in Germany6. German society has a positive experience of cooperation between schooling institutions and business companies supported with a long history. British students attracted by comprehensive secondary system, low interest of companies for participation in vocational education on-site, and ineffective reforms trying to improve this situation are the keys to negative social perception of vocational education. Involvement of Companies While in Germany, it is a common practice of companies designing training courses for apprenticeship, and determining the number of learners in correspondence with the current labour market needs, English educational system does not stimulate enterprises to participate in vocational training. Years of laissez-faire policy, which was statutory until 1964, have made the impact on the present state of vocational education: only about 5 per cent of sixteen year olds were participating in employer-funded training in 20027. Interestingly, both Britain and Germany experience the same problem of the decline in the number of companies training8, which arises from the growing costs to employers of training due to both more time spent in theoretical training away from the workplace and higher apprentice wages9. Integrity of Education While the German dual system of education is highly structured, the English system is extremely heterogeneous, presenting a great number of institutions proposing alternative ways of education10. There is an odd controversy in both systems: German vocational learning, including its institutions and teaching methods, has a strong structure in spite of its close ties to business and market dependence; and English vocational education has for decades suffered from excessive market orientation combined with companies' reluctance to provide training11. The result is as follows: the UK system currently has two academic paths and one mainly vocational. There are no clear institutional stipulations, legal regulations on training. Therefore various training providers act more or less autonomously, competing against one another in a variety of ways. It is also important to notice that secondary education in Germany is selective while it is comprehensive in the UK. That is one of the reasons why alternative ways like vocational education are more frequently used in Germany than in the UK. When British students always can use the 'academic' path of education, German secondary schools are not accessible for some of youth, which then continue their education in vocational system. Evidences from the Labour Market The introduction of the Modern Apprenticeship in the UK was supposed to raise the vocational education. "However, British apprenticeship performs poorly, in terms of rates of qualification and completion, as well as in breadth and depth of training, relative to its German counterpart, despite the provision by Modern Apprenticeship of substantial government financial support."12 British vocational education suffers both from insufficient learners' participation, and mismatches of popular specializations and of those demanded by labour market. Due to flexibility used as a guiding principle in the UK, workers are relatively exposed to market forces. In contrast, German policies adhere to comparatively high degrees of protection and welfare, and flexibility has been utilised as a controlled experiment only13. Conclusion Evidences provided in the previous paragraph, indicate that German system of vocational education, although faces similar problems to the British one, is indeed superior in relating vocational education to work and life of students. It is suggested, that the main reasons underlying this superiority are as follows: German system provides better socialization than the British one; it involves companies into participation more actively, and finally it is strongly structured in compare to the British system. Bibliography Aldcroft, D.H. (1992). Education, Training and Economic Performance 1944-1990. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Deissinger, T. (2004) "Apprenticeship systems in England and Germany: decline and survival". In Towards a History of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Europe in a Comparative Perspective. Vol. 1: The Rise of National VET Systems in a Comparative Perspective. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, p.13. Retrieved March 2, 2006 from http://www2.trainingvillage.gr/etv/publication/download/panorama/5153_1_en.pdf Deissinger, T. (2000). "Current Problems and Developments of VET in Germany-The Educational Case for Modernisation". Australian Journal of Adult Learning, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp.5-32. Deissinger, T. (1994). The Evolution of the Modern Vocational Training Systems in England and Germany: a Comparative View. Journal of Comparative Education, Vol. 24, No 1, pp. 17-36. Hanf, G. (2004). "Introduction." In Towards a History of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Europe in a Comparative Perspective. Vol. 1: The Rise of National VET Systems in a Comparative Perspective. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Retrieved March 2, 2006 from http://www2.trainingvillage.gr/etv/publication/download/panorama/5153_1_en.pdf Hayward, G. (2004). "Vocationalism and the Decline of Vocational Learning in England". Berufs- and Wirtschaftspadagogik Online. Iss. 7, December. Retrieved March 2, 2006 from http://www.bwpat.de/7eu/hayward_uk_bwpat7.shtml Hayward, G. (2004). "Introduction: A Century of Vocationalism". Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 30, Iss. 1, pp. 3-12. Regini, M. (2000) Between Deregulation and Social Pacts: the Responses of European Economies to Globalization. Politics and Society, Vol. 28, Iss. 1, pp. 5-33. Ryan,P. and Unwin, L. (2001) "Apprenticeship in the British 'Training Market'". National Institute Economic Review, p. 99. Wagner, K. (1999). "The German Apprenticeship System under Strain". In The German Skills Machine, Sustaining Comparative Advantage in a Global Economy, ed. Pepper Culpepper and David Finegold. 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