In a nation whose large-scale educational institutions often feature a “one size fits all” approach, vocational learning has been a kind of patch/ add-on to the main focus on higher ed. On one extreme there are advocates for everyone having some form of hands on learning, and/or corporations and small business taking on a much expanded “learning on the job” function.
On the other hand, there’s the “everyone should go to college” approach… and perhaps study a typical liberal arts curriculum. Some would say we need broad perspectives and open-minded citizens who can apply critical thinking, and the wisdom of the ages, to current conundrums. Which probably isn’t what a corporation would be interested in supplying?
This below might be somewhere in the middle.
One of the challenges of being amidst a broad disruption in what a “Job” will be, and what sort of tasks and learning will be required, is designing something other than a “one size fits all” approach. We’ll need at least some coherent theory on what higher ed forms are needed for various specific groups and jobs, which is presently hard to come by.
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Announcing-the-Partnership-to-Advance-Youth-Apprenticeship.pdf”]