ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the process by which the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) has developed nationally since its launch in 1983. It also describes how Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) is being delivered in the City of Birmingham. The chapter explores the experience of Fox Hollies, a fifty-place secondary school for students with severe learning difficulties. The first TVEI pilot projects commenced in 1983 after the Manpower Services Commission invited Local Education Authorities to submit proposals for taking part. TVE sponsored Creative Arts initiatives have involved students in workshops with an Asian dance artist and drummer and with a musician who enabled them to create their own electronic music composition. Records of Achievement (ROA) are seen as having both formative and summative functions. ROAs are already proving very effective in helping students to understand their own needs and empowering them to negotiate their own learning.
