Cathy Howieson

The Unification of Post-Compulsory Education: Towards a Conceptual Framework

The drive to ‘unify’post-compulsory education and training systems is one of the most important current developments in education policy. However the concept of ‘unification’ lacks clarity, is not widely recognised, and is pursued through different measures in different countries. In this paper we propose a conceptual framework with which to analyse the different meanings of and debates about unification. Using England and Scotland as examples, we show how the framework may be used to analyse existing systems, reform strategies, and processes and pressures for change. The framework is exploratory and will need to be tested and developed in relation to a wider variety of education systems.

Unifying Academic and Vocational Learning: The State of the Debate in England and Scotland

Abstract∗ This article illustrates the potential of ‘home international’ comparisons as a tool for analysing the education systems of the UK. Current policies for post‐compulsory education in Scotland and England seek to unify academic and vocational learning, but follow very different strategies. In Scotland the Higher Still reforms will bring academic and vocational education together in a unified system at 16‐plus; in England the Dearing Review proposes to retain a three‐track system based on A Levels, GNVQs and NVQs, but suggests measures to link them within a more unified framework. The paper compares the contexts of the ‘unification’ debate in the two countries, and describes how policies and debates have developed since the 1970s. The different histories of the unification debate in Scotland and England are reflected not only in different current policies but also in different concepts of a unified system. In England this concept is more political, radical and ambitious, but it focuses more on a cr...

The impact of a unified curriculum and qualifications system: the Higher Still reform of post‐16 education in Scotland

There is a cross‐national trend towards unified curriculum and qualifications frameworks in upper secondary education, but such reforms face epistemological, political and institutional barriers and ‘unification’ remains a contested issue in many countries, including England. This article examines the experience of the Scottish Higher Still reform, one of the most systematic examples of this trend. It presents data from an Economic and Social Research Council‐funded study which included case studies of schools and colleges, surveys of all secondary schools and colleges in Scotland, analyses of Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) data and interviews with key informants. Higher Stills climbing frame model of provision provided better learning opportunities for different types and levels of students, but its impact on attainment and parity of esteem were more limited. The article concludes that institutional barriers formed the biggest obstacles in the implementation phase, reflected in the contrasting ...

Unifying Academic and Vocational Learning and the idea of a Learning Society

Unifying academic and vocational learning and the concept of a learning society are two of the most important ideas shaping current debates about policies for post‐compulsory education. This paper offers a critical appraisal of the two ideas and their origins, and suggests how they might need to be reformulated if they are to play a more constructive role in policy formulation and analysis. The paper argues that both concepts are multidimensional and that they need to be seen in relationship to each other. It suggests that unifying academic and vocational learning can be seen as a possible means of achieving the goals of a learning society, and that the idea of a learning society itself is a way of conceptualizing future learning demands and their implications for the process of unification.

School students’ part‐time work: understanding what they do

Research has shown that the majority of school students combine full‐time education with part‐time employment. To date educationalists have paid little attention to this, in part due to the negative views about the ‘quality’ of such work and its effect on educational attainment. In this research, a case study approach is used to explore the potential range and breadth of activities carried out by such employees. A range of alternative data‐gathering techniques were used including event recording and work place observations. The findings highlight between job and within job category differences and suggest that many jobs are demanding and can result in skill attainment. The results are discussed in the context of debates about the potential educational value of such employment experiences.

The Third Face of Modules: Gendered Patterns of Participation and Progression in Scottish Vocational Education

Abstract The sociological literature on modularisation is currently underdeveloped. Much of the analytical writing that exists tends to emphasise one of two ‘faces’ of modules. Some writers see modules as an instrument of educational Taylorism, and claim that the detailed specification of modular curricula changes patterns of control, reduces professional autonomy and fragments the learning experience. Others see modules as a source of post‐modem flexibility, a means of individualising differentiation, integrating academic and vocational study and removing the barriers and disincentives to participation and progression associated with traditional course structures. In this paper we propose a third ‘face’ of modules: as a change agent whose effects are variable, conditional and typically small. We describe gender differences in young peoples participation and progression in the National Certificate, the system‐wide modular framework introduced in Scotland in 1984. These gender differences are similar to t...

New Perspectives on School Students’ Part-time Work

Most British school students now work part-time but part-time working remains a contested issue, especially in relation to its impact on school performance. This article suggests that the debate needs to be widened and that much of the discussion appears to consider school students’ part-time work as if it were the only source of out-of-school activity that might compete with school work. It aims to contribute to a wider picture by examining the relationship between students’ part-time employment, their educational commitments, social life and family roles and how this varies in respect of gender, ethnicity, social class and location. The findings suggest part-time work is not in itself inimical to educational engagement or to involvement in social and other activities. The article puts forward the idea of the ‘active student’ who not only works part-time but also participates in a range of other activities.

Working Pupils: Challenges and Potential

Successive governments, agencies and employer organisations have stressed the need for school leavers to be better prepared for working life, in particular, to achieve what are frequently termed employability skills; schools are expected to contribute to this policy agenda. Some academic commentators, however, criticise the concept of employability and schools’ role in it although others argue that the concept does have value and utility. While there are strongly held opposing stances on employability and employability skills, an aspect that has been largely ignored is the experience of the workplace that many pupils already have through their part-time employment while at school. This paper addresses this gap, drawing on a national study of pupils’ part-time employment to consider the place of part-time work in the employability skills policy agenda. It asks if schools should utilise the opportunities for skill development that much part-time work offers and whether employers should take more responsibility for the development of their ‘pupil workers’. It suggests that pupils’ part-time work may represent an opportunity for greater employer involvement in initial vocational education and training, constituting a small step in re-dressing the uneven balance of responsibility between education and employers that has developed in recent decades.

The paradox of Scotland: limited credit transfer in a credit-based lifelong learning system

On paper, Scotland has a highly permeable, unified system of lifelong learning underpinned by the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework. Recent reports suggest that the reality is less positive. This paper examines credit transfer in Scotland across three interfaces: between general and pre-vocational learning and vocational education and training (VET); within VET; and between VET and university degrees. It finds that credit transfer across the first two interfaces is limited; credit transfer at the third interface is more frequent but often problematic. One explanation is that the system is designed around credit accumulation rather than credit transfer; this, together with other features of the Scottish system, means that a degree of permeability is built in without the need for formal credit transfer. But a second explanation highlights the epistemological, institutional and political barriers to a unified system. The paper illustrates the importance of distinguishing among different types of credit system and the limitations of credit and qualifications frameworks as agents of change in the face of the institutional logics of national education and training systems. The capacity of cross-national credit systems to support mobility between national systems should not be exaggerated.

Career guidance in Scotland: retrospect and prospect

ABSTRACT Devolution of powers to Scotland has accentuated pre-existing divergence from the rest of the UK with respect to education, training and career guidance provision. Scotland now has an all-age national careers service—Careers Scotland. It is suggested that it is unlikely that a national, publicly-funded careers agency would have been established in the absence of devolution. The article outlines the development of career guidance in Scotland over the last 25 years and how the pre-existing Scottish context and the new context of devolution have impacted upon it. The role of Careers Scotland and its relationship with other providers of career guidance in Scotland are examined. Other key issues considered include: the allocation of resources based on need; relationships with local authorities and schools; and training and professional identities in an increasingly diverse UK guidance context.