Preparation for Life?: Vocationalism & the Equal Opportunities Challenge

by Sue Heath

For much of this century, vocational education has been based on the assumption that boys and girls have very different vocational concerns. The Technical and Vocational Education Initiative, which championed the cause of new vocationalism in schools during the 1980s and early 1990s, appeared to present a direct challenge to the gendered underpinnings of earlier schemes, by including a high profile commitment to equal opportunities for boys and girls. Using the TVEI as a case study exemplar, this book aims to tease out the tensions which exist between vocationalism and the promotion of greater gender equality in education and the labour market. The author argues that at a time when greater emphasis is being placed on equal opportunities initiatives which are aimed at boys, continuing inequalities affecting women in the labour market need to be kept at the forefront of debates on gender and education.

218 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997