The failure of competence‐based qualifications: an analysis of work‐based vocational education policy in Scotland

Abstract

This article critically explores the gap between the policy and practice of competence-based Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs). It shows how SVQs have become an 'institutionally led' low-skill work-based qualification in danger of being marginalized within a unified post-16 education and training framework. From a labour market perspective, the free market credentialist practices championed over the last two decades have clearly failed to bring together the supply and demand side of the educational equation. The issues are illustrated through an analysis of vocational qualifications and labour market datasets for Scotland. It develops the argument for a more devolved and integrated vocational qualification structure that brings together the academic and vocational curriculum within single awards. The paper provides the first detailed analysis of SVQ policy and practice in the competencebased literature

The vocational–academic divide in neoliberal upper secondary curricula: the Swedish case

“…Brockmann 2012). In this approach market principles steer vocational education which often has a focus on relatively lowskilled work-based learning (Canning 1998;Wheelahan 2007). A curriculum based on market principles in this way can be described as Competency Based Training (CBT) (Weelahan 2007) or neo-liberal CBT (Hodge 2016): that is, what constitutes relevant knowledge is determined by notions of competence (Bernstein 2000) or employability (Weelahan 2010).…”

The 'Home International' Comparisons in Vocational Qualifications

“…A number of key variables, including the education system, competition from other quali cations, economic conditions and occupational strata, also come into play. Given the concentration of NVQs and SVQs into a number of occupations, mainly in low-level service jobs (Canning, 1998), it is unsurprising that a relatively educated workforce, of the type seen in London and Scotland has less use for them than other, less academically-quali ed, regions. We thus see little merit in simply comparing England and Scotland across-the-board.…”

Modern apprenticeships in Scotland

“…The programme was established as the responsibility of the Enterprise Network 2 and delivered through the Local Enterprise Companies (LECs), which were existing providers of low-level training for the unemployed (Canning, 1998). Apprenticeship, thus, became closely aligned with supply-side labour-market interventions delivered through quasi-employer representatives funded by government: a far cry from the demand-led traditional apprenticeship models of the past.…”