Bathmaker, Ann-Marie

English

University Technical Colleges (UTCs), introduced in 2010, represent anew form of vocational education for young people in England. Theycontribute to an increasingly complex landscape of education andtraining, promoted as a creative means of meeting the diverseeducational needs of young people (Fuller and Unwin, Lond Rev Educ9(2):191–204, 2011). UTCs respond in particular to national andinternational policy agendas that seek to promote participation in STEMsubjects (science, technology, engineering, and maths). They have beenchampioned by the UK’s Edge Foundation as providing a “highlyregarded” course of study “with clear progression routes into highereducation or further learning in work,” especially careers in technicianand degree level engineering.However, there is very limited research evidence to show whetheryoung people and their parents understand the different optionsavailable, how decisions to attend a UTC are made, nor whether theeducation offered in these new institutions enhances or conversely limitsthe opportunities of students who attend them.This chapter draws on data from a project that carried out detailed casestudies in two UTCs in England during 2014. The project addressed thefollowing core question:What impact does vocational diversification in the form of UTCs have on thedecision- making and experience of boys and girls from different classbackgrounds?The research used a holistic approach focusing on the whole institutionin relation to the introduction and development of new educationalpolicies. This encompassed analysis of “the situated, material,professional and external dimensions” (Braun et al., Discourse 32(4):585–596, 2011, p. 585) of the schools, recognizing the schools’origins (and that of their communities), their ethos and culture, theirphysical environment and resources, and their staff, students, and families as well as external influences. The chapter offers an analysis ofpolicy enactments (Ball et al., How schools do policy: policy enactmentsin secondary schools. Routledge, 2011) in the two case study institutionsand considers how these enactments may reinforce or challenge historicalpatterns of gender and class divisions in vocational education in England

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Vocational diversification and influences of social class and gender in educational decision-making:the case of university technical colleges in England

http://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/58197600/Bathmaker_Vocational_diversification_and_influences_Handbook_of_Vocational_Education_and_Training_2019.pdf

Vocational diversification and influences of social class and gender in educational decision-making:the case of university technical colleges in England

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