ABSTRACT
Most of the research into choice at 16 in the UK has focused on progression into full-time, usually academic, pathways. The examination of choice of vocational and training routes has been less well developed, although a number of useful studies have emerged. Hodkinson and Sparkes (1994), for example, have focused on the decisions involved in the take up of training programmes, while Maguire, Macrae and Ball (2000) have looked at the process of choice in the wider context of the broad urban market place of London. Hemsley-Brown and Foskett (1999, 2000) have examined choice in relation to the take up of training programmes such as modern apprenticeships in two contrasting localities – Wiltshire, where the contrasts in economic character between the high-growth towns of the ‘M4 corridor’ and rural Wiltshire provide insights into sometimes contradictory choice processes; and inner London, where vocational training choice is made within a strongly multi-cultural, but working-class, community. In this chapter we shall examine choice in relation to vocational training, with a particular focus on choosing modern apprenticeships, to draw out some of the key aspects of training choice that distinguish it from academic pathway choice.
