ABSTRACT
New and distinctive forms of higher vocational education are growing rapidly across a range of countries, as demonstrated in the 2014 OECD review Skills Beyond School. In England, established college-based higher vocational education faces new times in the light of major policy changes during the second decade of the 21st century – a new Teaching Excellence Framework for higher education (HE), area reviews of further education and the Sainsbury review of vocational education, which has been referred to as a ‘technical and professional education revolution’. This chapter examines these developments in relation to two central themes: seeking distinction and addressing inequalities. The chapter presents an analysis of the evolving nature of college-based HE and considers this in relation to models of higher vocational education beyond England (German speaking DACH countries and the USA) to offer a critical consideration of the possibilities and constraints of achieving distinction and addressing inequalities through a newly conceived higher level technical and professional education.
