Mismatched perceptions and expectations: An exploration of stakeholders' views of key and technical skills in vocational education and training
Saunders, M, Skinner, D and Beresford, R (2005) Mismatched perceptions and expectations: An exploration of stakeholders' views of key and technical skills in vocational education and training Journal of European Industrial Training, 29 (5). 369 - 382.
JEITSeptember04__final_version_.pdf - Accepted Version
To explore potential mismatches between stakeholders’ perceptions and expectations of key and technical skills needed for an advanced modern apprentice within the UK.
Using data collected from the automotive sector, the Template Process is used to establish lecturer, student and employee stakeholder group’s expectations of a person taking up employment alongside an advanced modern apprenticeship or as an advanced modern apprentice. Perceptions of the extent to which expectations are met and their relative importance are assessed.
All stakeholders acknowledge that a skills gap exists across key and technical skills. However whilst students’ focus on technical skills, lecturers and employees place greatest emphasis on key skills and their ability to transfer them.
Although this research is based on the UK automotive sector, the findings emphasises the importance of key skills and understanding as part of students’ learning. Research is needed to establish why students appear to under value these and establish whether similar patterns exist in other sectors.
The voluntarist approach to UK vocational education and training has, when combined with the need for further education colleges to be economically viable, resulted in courses that appear attractive but do not always meet the automotive sector’s needs. Research is needed to establish whether this is occurring across other sectors.
This Template Process offers an new technique to explore stakeholders’ perceptions and expectations. The findings provide new insights into the mismatches between expectations of the stakeholders in vocational education and training.
|Divisions:||Faculty of Business, Economics and Law > Surrey Business School|
|Depositing User:||Dr Maria Rodriguez-Marquez|
|Date Deposited:||15 Dec 2010 14:59|
|Last Modified:||23 Sep 2013 18:40|
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