ABSTRACT
This chapter will focus on the situation in Europe, with particular attention given to Britain. Apart from the historic failure to develop high quality apprenticeship pathways highlighted by Keep (2001), Britain is seen as representing a particular political direction within the strategic debates on ‘the way forward’ within the European Union. In contrast to the largely uncritical country and regional policy pronouncements of VET implicit in EU and member state policy documentation, this chapter argues that the present period is best characterised by doubt, uncertainty and wide-ranging debate. Some of the reasons behind this uncertainty – such as global economic and technological changes – are not particular to Europe and can be seen as important contextual features informing VET reform policies elsewhere, such as in Canada, Australia and South Africa (Keating et al. 2002). In other instances, such as the absorption of the new accession countries into the EU, there is obviously a particular regional dimension to the uncertainties. Wider socio-economic pressures together with new educational ideas are resulting in acute pressures for change but in directions that are unclear.
