Quality control in the dual system of West Germany [1988]

In recent years economic need has again emerged as the major principle of educational policy. Numerous documents and ministerial speeches have declared that Britain is losing the competition for world markets and have argued that ‘education’ must serve the economy better than it has in the past. ¹ The policies that have followed from this assessment have sought to align the education system more closely with the economic system through a variety of structural and curriculum initiatives which are summarised in the term the ‘new vocationalism’. These initiatives have affected virtually every level of education omitting only the nursery schools. They include, for example, the Technical and Vocational education Initiative (TVEI), one of numerous schemes that link schools and industry, ² the Youth Training Scheme for young leavers, ‘new blood’ appointments in universities (which were overwhelmingly in technology and science) and various adult training schemes.