Dr Andrew McCoshan, Centre for Education and Industry,
University of Warwick
"The Wolf Report - Perspectives from Europe"
Abstract: The Wolf Report puts forward
both strong criticism of and radical proposals for VET in
England. Her analysis of staying-on becoming the norm and the
proposal that there should be a heavier emphasis on WRL and WBL at
16-18 rather than 14-16 prompts us to think how our educational
system might best adapt to this approach. To make her case,
Wolf borrows from a variety of countries. Are there any
further insights we can gain from looking more closely at European
experience? We can do this in two ways. First, we can
look at the thrust of EU policy - in many ways the 'collective
wisdom' of Member State policy and practice - to see what sorts of
policies are being driven forward, their rationale and intended
effects. Second, we can look at some of the experiences of
individual countries to see what lessons they might have and
whether they would point to a re-tuned or radically different set
of conclusions to those Wolf proposes.
Biography: Dr Andrew McCoshan is an
Associate Fellow at the University of Warwick, Centre for Education
and Industry. Most recently, he has been lead author of
studies for the European Commission on VET pathways, the role of
VET in tackling social disadvantage, and on entrepreneurship
education, and is currently working on studies of learning outcomes
in VET curricula for Cedefop (The European Centre for the
Development of Vocational Training) and a comparative analysis of
the experience of VET students in seven EU Member States.
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