ABSTRACT
Many commentators of different theoretical persuasions agree that there have been strong links between education and the world of work, and that to a large extent the education system has been determined, or at least constrained, by the economic order. The bond between qualifications and jobs, described in the previous chapter, has been one aspect of this close relationship. We agree with this view. At the same time, however, it would be wrong to see Secondary-Education as having been wholly determined by economic forces. The aims and objectives of Secondary-Education have not always coincided with those of employers, and the outcomes of education have not always been those which employers would have wanted. In this chapter we suggest that there are structural explanations for this relative autonomy, which have to do with the nature of selection, respectively, for employment and for university.
