Reports the findings and conclusions of a study of five small businesses in the hotel and catering sector which had adopted national vocational qualifications (NVQs). Using an open system model, a comparative case study design and a range of data sources and methods of data collection within each organization, traces the preconditions, processes, outcomes and problems/issues associated with NVQ adoption and implementation. In a small business context, this is shown more likely to be successful where there is an existing training culture and infrastructure; where on‐the‐job training is positive, supportive and monitored; and where there is a senior management NVQ “champion” and an enthusiastic cadre of in‐house trainers and potential assessors. Shows that NVQs give a sharper focus to training activity, improve candidates’ perceived job satisfaction, morale and career prospects; enhance work flexibility and performance; and have a perceived, if hard‐to‐measure payoff in terms of business performance.

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Privilege is a dehumanizing social reality which is learned via social interaction and internalized as part of identity, contributing to the dynamic of privilege and oppression as practices of entitlement and domination. While privilege often appears as a taken-for-granted norm that cannot be changed, our identities and practices of privilege can be changed. This article offers a vision of border-crossing identity as a potential model for re-crafting identities of privilege, and advocates religious educational practices of conversion as a possible means for facilitating such a change. Utilizing a narrative-based qualitative study of persons who have sought such a transformation, this study seeks to identify a practical theological understanding of conversion as a starting point for crafting pedagogies for transformation for people with privilege.

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