The purpose of this article is to introduce a design-based research (DBR) approach developed in the field of vocational and continuing education, which is grounded in a pragmatic and phenomenologically inspired enactivist approach to activity. As a design-based methodology, our activity-centered and enactive DBR approach aims to generate knowledge…

"VET partnerships powering a dynamic workforce" is the theme for the 33rd National Vocational Education and Training (VET) Research Conference 'No Frills.' In keeping with the conference's theme, this discussion paper focuses on Australia's workforce demands and the importance of equipping the workforce with necessary skills through…

Over the past decade and a half, skill development has assumed critical importance in India's policy discourse. In this context, in 2016, a German inspired vocational training programme called Dual System of Training was adopted by the Indian government to ensure a judicious balance of classroom learning and on-the-job training for young people.…

The local market conditions for VET in Germany naturally affect the exportability of these educational products. In the rarest of cases, education and training products are transferable to foreign markets without any adaptation. The existing literature on international VET cooperation focuses on several transfer aspects as well as case studies of…

This article explores change possibilities towards status improvement in vocational education's social construction. Following other researchers, it assumes that higher-status vocational education should give vocational learners perspectives that would accord with their identities and desires, broadly ranging between working in a particular…

Dual vocational education and training (VET) has recently been introduced in Catalonia, as in the whole of Spain, and it should be the only VET system in the near future. However, Dual VET still coexists with traditional VET. The former has much more on-the-job training, companies are more involved in curricula design and training management, and…

This article is a case study of students' labor competence in two different educational tracks from the Guangxi University of Foreign Languages. According to research findings, there was no significant difference in the overall level of labor competence between ordinary undergraduates and vocational students, and there were disparities in labor…

Within vocational education and training (VET), mathematics learning is often complicated by students' problematic prior mathematics education experiences and associated low confidence and limited prerequisite knowledge. Teachers have insights into students' mathematics learning needs and appropriate curriculum and assessment responses, but their…

In this paper, which draws on two years of qualitative research, I examine the ways in which refugees are positioned and position themselves in job training programs and in their initial US jobs. I provide examples of how 'factishes', a combination of facts and fetishes, are fabricated and position the refugees, and those working with them, in…

The notion of "Bildung" has been booming in several European countries for almost twenty years now, but it has attracted little attention in vocational education. One reason for this is that "Bildung," the process of becoming human as a goal in itself, is understood in opposition to vocational education, which task would be to…

This research summary provides an overview of aspects of apprenticeships and traineeships in Australia. More particularly, it provides an overview of some of the more enduring issues, or what could be considered the 'pain points' associated with apprenticeships and traineeships. These include issues around congestion, harmonisation, apprenticeship…

In this paper, we address the debate on local skills ecosystems and informal learning. We use the social ecosystem model as a tool to help us analyse the role played by various actors in learning and skills ecosystems and highlight the role of informal learning in vocational education and training. We draw on the case of craft pottery to discuss…

Purpose: Given the exponential and massive technological disruption in work that Industry 4.0 will lead to, nowadays, authors and practitioners within the field of education and training are witnessing increased attention on the features of and threats to employability and integration in current labor transformations. The purpose of this paper is…

Background: Research on post-secondary training for individuals with intellectual disabilities has generally focused on programs, with little consideration of the structures and mechanisms that give rise to them. This article adopts a critical realist perspective to comparatively analyse and theorise about the contextual structures contributing to…

Background: Cultivating students' problem-solving knowledge and skills in the workspace has been regarded as a primary goal in technical and vocational education. To this end, students are usually guided to complete the learning of workspace knowledge and skills by following the question, prompt, interaction and evaluation (QPIE) procedure.…