ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the influence which comparative research into vocational training has exercised upon United Kingdom policy formulation. It examines the fruits of the investment in terms of its effect upon policy formulation, discusses the problems that have hindered the translation of research findings into policy, and offers some suggestions about the shape of future research efforts in this area. The chapter focuses on comparative research in vocational training, with only passing reference to the vocational education side of the debate. It also reviews some of the problems that have occurred in attempting to translate the lessons of comparative research into policy. In assessing the influence of comparative research on policy making, a logical starting point is the nature and scope of the comparative research that has been available to the policy-making community. The resulting policy focus has been essentially ad hoc in nature.
