JVET Editors’ Keynote
L:R: Professor Leesa Wheelahan, Professor Kevin Orr, Professor Ann-Marie Bathmaker
Researching VET: looking back, moving forward
Keynote Abstract: A key theme in JVET is the role of vocational education in addressing social inequalities and social injustices in different national and international contexts. In this presentation, we consider how these concerns have been addressed in the journal. Firstly, we consider what theories and concepts have been used in JVET in recent years to better understand the purpose, position and practices of different forms of vocational education and training. Secondly, we examine what we can learn from the international scope of the journal, how the journal’s authors have examined and compared VET around the world and what this reveals about patterns in research and in VET practices. Finally, we draw attention to gaps in the way inequalities have been addressed in the journal, with a limited number of publications that focus for example on questions of gender, race and disability. We propose that in rebuilding after the pandemic, insights into vocational education and training are crucial across the globe to develop a more socially just future. For there can be no social justice without vocational education. Yet we cannot assume that vocational education always supports social justice outcomes.
Presentation at JVET Conference 2021
Presentation slides from JVET Conference 2021
Questions to the Editors at JVET Conference 2021
About Leesa Wheelahan: Professor Leesa Wheelahan is the editor of JVET. She is the William G. Davis Chair in Community College Leadership at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her research interests include tertiary education policy and the role of knowledge in curriculum. Her most recent work has critiqued the role of markets in vocational education, privatisation, competency-based training and the emergence of micro-credentials.: Professor Leon Tikly is UNESCO Chair in Inclusive, Good Quality Education and Global Chair in Education at the University of Bristol, alongside co-directing the Centre for International and Comparative Education in the School of Education.
About Kevin Orr: Professor Kevin Orr is associate editor of JVET and Professor of Work and Learning at the University of Huddersfield in the UK. His research has focussed on policy, provision and practice in the further education (FE) sector. He is interested in higher education provided in colleges and most recently he co-edited Caliban’s Dance: FE after The Tempest, which is a collection of essays that examine possible futures for FE.
About Ann-Marie Bathmaker: Professor Ann-Marie Bathmaker is associate editor of JVET. She is Professor of Vocational and Higher Education at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on questions of equity and inequalities in vocational, post-compulsory and higher education. Her most recent research focuses on governing practices in further education colleges, particularly in relation to questions of equality and diversity, and on social class, (in)equalities and social mobility in post-school and higher education, with research projects in England, Australia, South Africa and the island communities of the UK.
