ABSTRACT
One of the main objectives of Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) was to develop a stronger relationship between schools and the labour market. The significance of TVEI’s manpower services commission (MSC) ‘pedigree’ is that it reflects the view that the DES was considered to be too cumbersome and resistant to change to be trusted with the responsibility for a major educational initiative. This chapter provides an overview of the mode of equal opportunities work which developed at the national level. It outlines the origins of TVEI, which emerged from the convergence of three strands of influence during the mid-1970s and early 1980s: the legacy of the ‘Great Debate’ on the aims of education, the impact of rising youth unemployment and increasing employer dissatisfaction with school leavers, and the ascendancy of the MSC. The chapter is concerned with the dominant mode of equal opportunities work which developed at the national level.
