ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns what Hodkinson calls progressive vocationalism, with its student-centred focus. He identifies two ideal types: the progressive trainer and the traditional trainer. The progressive trainer is primarily concerned with a student-centred view of vocationalism. Vocationalism seems to have been peripheral to the concerns of mainstream Physical Education, and there is little case study material available to help us tease out the relationships between these domains and how they relate to issues of equality. The Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) was a precursor of the centralized political control of the school curriculum now seen in the National Curriculum, although in other respects the principles of the National Curriculum and TVEI are at odds. One important lesson from pre-vocationalism may be that teaching styles and pupil-teacher relationships are of paramount importance if we wish to take empowerment seriously. Pre-vocational courses are low-status and for less able students.
