ABSTRACT
In the main body of this book we have provided an account of how the reforms to vocational qualifications were planned, developed and implemented in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s, up to the establishment of the QCA in October 1997. There are, however, a number of key, overarching issues that have had a significant effect in shaping the way in which the reforms progressed. They are: the low status accorded to vocational forms of education; the renewed ethos of voluntarism in labour market policy; the extent to which the authority and power of the state have become centralized; and the matter of coherence and consistency in the formulation and delivery of policy within government. The analysis of each of these themes that now follows has three purposes. First, it will allow us to highlight not only those factors that have impeded the progress of the N/SVQ and GNVQ policies, but also those responsible for the resilience of the reforms despite the considerable amount of criticism they have attracted. Second, the example of vocational qualifications policy can be presented as an instructive case study of the significance of the above issues in the advancement of education and employment policy, indeed public policy more generally in some instances, during the 1980s and 1990s. Third, the more analytical, thematic approach adopted in this chapter points to the importance of institutional and political factors in determining the way in which vocational qualifications policy progressed, something that will be further explored in the conclusion of this book.
