Advance Notice of Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training (JVET)

Guest Editors:
Junmin Li, TU Dortmund University; Germany
Johannes K. Schmees, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Ann-Marie Bathmaker, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

Cooperative universities in Germany, higher and degree apprenticeships in the United Kingdom, Associate Degrees in the Netherlands and vocational universities in China. These developments manifest a significant trend of academisation, tertiarisation and hybridisation of vocational education and, in consequence, reshape traditional boundaries between vocational and higher education.

Since the last JVET special issue on these phenomena (see Bathmaker, 2017), the topic has been picked up across the globe in academic discussions which include in-depth analyses of developments in different regions (see Gonon, Heikkinen & Kaiser, 2025; Lavender et al., 2024). In this upcoming special issue, we propose to take an international perspective on these shifts, changes and transformations. By taking an international perspective, we aim to identify common and divergent challenges and patterns, uncover drivers and influencers beyond the nation state as well as examine implications for learners, institutions, employers and policymakers across countries.

The call for papers opens at the beginning of 2026.  

To discuss a possible contribution in advance, please contact Johannes Schmees & Junmin Li - click below

Guest editors:
Leesa Wheelahan, University of Oxford, UK and University of Toronto, Canada
Stephanie Allais, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Chris Winch, Kings College London, UK
Paul Newton, Ofqual, University of Oxford, UK
Catherine Large, Ofqual, University of Oxford, UK
Rose Veitch, Kings College London, UK

Outcomes-based qualifications in vocational education are a ‘global phenomenon’ (CEDEFOP, 2024). While outcomes-based qualifications have their origins in Anglophone countries (Hodge, 2007; Newton, Curcin, Clarke, & Brylka, 2024a), they are now ubiquitous in countries in the global North and South, although the processes of policy diffusion differ in each case (Allais, 2014). They are part of the vocational education global ‘toolkit’ (Allais, 2025; McGrath, 2012) which policy-makers have used to for a range of purposes, underpinned by assumptions that may or may not be correct. Policy makers have seen them as tools to align the purposes and outcomes of vocational education with requirements of the labour market. Some believe that learning outcomes “influence the links and the collaboration between different stakeholders” such as employers, unions, government, and educational institutions (CEDEFOP, 2024, p.7). Further, some believe that learning outcomes increase the ‘transparency’ of qualifications’ purposes and outcomes; enable alignment between curriculum, processes of learning and assessment of learning; underpin systemic governance and quality assurance processes; and provide a framework for lifelong learning and learning pathways. The premise of the learning outcomes model of qualifications is that learning outcomes are the link between system governance, system design, qualification design, and micro-processes of pedagogy and assessment (Lassnigg, 2012). While ‘tight’ models of outcomes-based education tied to work-place requirements are most associated with vocational education, outcomes-based models of curriculum and qualifications are increasingly influential in schools and higher education, although in many cases the adherence to a learning outcome approach is little more than nominal. 

Deadline for 500 word abstracts - 2 February 2026