Myths and Brands in Vocational Education - The 20th Anniversary Conference for Vocational Education and Training and Culture research network

Myths and Brands in Vocational Education - The 20th Anniversary Conference for Vocational Education and Training & Culture research network and the 2nd Conference for History of Vocational Education in Europe, 14-18 June, 2013, in Tampere, http://www.peda.net/veraja/uta/vetculture/

By 2013, the triumph of industry and market relevant learning in all education and in all parts of the world seems clear-cut. The different models of (vocational) education are on sale at the global skills mall, while traditional solutions in relating work and education lose their credibility. Researchers engage in ranking and bench-marking the educational systems and in developing quality assurance and evaluation tools for their transnational bargaining.

When the Vocational Education and Culture research network was initiated at the turn of the 1990s, research – especially historicizing and cross-cultural research - on vocational education gained hardly any interest in the academia. However, in a few years the situation changed dramatically. The number of studies assessing and comparing the countries’ performance in learning and qualification grew rapidly and new VET researchers mushroomed everywhere.

For revisiting the past 20 years of VET and VET research, we welcome abstracts and suggestions for panel discussions or symposia with a historicizing and a culturally contextualizing approach. Based on experiences from previous cooperation in the network, the myths and brands in vocational education might be clustered under such themes as 

1. Process of disciplinarization – narratives in (non)academization and research of vocational education

2. Concepts and ethics in transition – work, employment, occupation/vocation, skills, (vocational) education, training/teaching/skilling, growth/learning...

3. Transforming practices – questioning the distinctiveness of vocational pedagogy and curriculum

4. Reconfiguration of actors and agencies – ownership, negotiation and collective mobilization in vocational education

5. Changing structures and institutions – manifestations of hegemony and reconciliation in vocational education

6. Rescaling of governance – convergence and/or divergence of local, sub-national, national and supra-national management of vocational education 

Draft Programme

Please find the link to the VET and Culture network’s Intellectual Agenda, http://www.peda.net/veraja/uta/vetculture. Collaborative, cross-cultural and/or comparative analysis, as well as studies based on sex, age, ethnicity or other differences are welcome. 

Please send your abstract/proposal and if you want, indicate to which theme it relates to, by 1 December 2012, as email attachments (max 1 page, word or pdf-document) to Anja. Announcement of the acceptance of abstracts and suggestions, and more details about the programme as well as practical information will follow in January 2013. 

Inquiries and abstracts to Anja Heikkinen, anja.heikkinen@uta.fi.