Volker Wedekind

This book challenges the economistic neoliberal rationale for vocational education by drawing critically on emancipatory theoretical approaches, especially a body of German theory neglected almost entirely by contemporary accounts. Capitalising on the current under-theorisation of vocational education, this book reworks established perceptions of the role of vocational education under contemporary social, economic and political conditions. The book centres on pre-war and post-1960s emancipatory approaches to VET, examining the context of their emergence and their application to present-day contexts. Chapters discuss the role of neoliberalism in undermining the educational integrity of VET and other educational spaces, and examine the complex relations between education and skill formation in different societies. Applying its learning to contemporary VET in both the global North and South, the book ultimately provides foundations for critical thinking in vocational spaces. This book will be of interest to scholars, postgraduate students, and researchers involved in vocational, technical, professional and adult education, the theory of education, and more broadly the economisation of education under neoliberalism. With potential to reframe debates concerning specific approaches to VET that can be applied in the global South, the book has undoubted international appeal.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. The transition to more just and sustainable development requires radical change across a wide range of areas and particularly within the nexus between learning and work. This book takes an expansive view of vocational education and training that goes beyond the narrow focus of much of the current literature and policy debate. Drawing on case studies across rural and urban settings in Uganda and South Africa, the book offers a new way of seeing this issue through an exploration of the multiple ways in which people learn to have better livelihoods. Crucially, it explores learning that takes place informally online, within farmers’ groups, and in public and private educational institutions. Offering new insights and ways of thinking about this field, the book draws out clear implications for theory, policy and practice in Africa and beyond.