This theoretical paper seeks to problematise conceptualisations of vocational education and training (VET) and its relationship with Just transitions and neo-liberalism.

It addresses 4 Key issues:

1. It examines differing conceptualisations of VET and their ideological significance.
2. It relates the Eurocentric conceptualisation of VET to constructions of policy science.
3. It suggests doxic conceptualisations of VET have difficulty in accommodating wagelessness.
4. It examines ‘just transitions’ concern with the marginalised alongside an expanded understanding of VET

Neo-liberalism provides a backdrop to the paper.

The paper calls for an expansive conceptualisation of vocational education and training (VET) that moves beyond a narrow instrumentalism lodged within a redundant neo-liberalism that stresses the needs of employers and the labour market. Monk et al (2023) draw our attention to the increasing presence of VET research and researchers from the global south in the leading VET journals. In much the same way as the salience of the global south has previously been played down in VET, so too have questions of race and ethnicity, and the climate emergency. These currents rest alongside a literature that addresses ‘just transitions’ (Spours & Grainger, 2023). It is only recently that such questions have come to the fore in VET journals located in the global north (Avis, 2023ab; Avis et al, 2017; Avis et al, 2023; Monk et al 2023; VET4 2023). Stomporowski (2023) calls for a revival of VET analyses and for the development of a critical-ecological theory of VET. This paper initially engages with VET and its social construction. There are two points to be made. Firstly, VET and its conceptualisation is a site of struggle. Secondly can VET be rid of its close association to the needs of employer and adopt an understanding that seeks to contribute to individual and social well-being. This is followed by a discussion of the capitalocene and its relationship to green agendas. This is accompanied by an analysis of leading supranational organisations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF), UNESCO, ILO and focuses on debates about education, sustainability and green agendas. The World Economic Forum is used as a key example. Somewhat counterintuitively, this section then leads into one that comments on the annual conference speeches in 2023 of leading British politicians. The importance of this is that these politician’s reprise many of the same themes as those of the supranational organisations. It is easy enough to criticise the narrow version of VET as being deeply conservative. The point is that we should be cautious about attributing an inherently progressive politics to expansive versions of ‘just transitions’ and VET. This is after all an empirical question that cannot be determined by theoretical fiat being a site of contestation and struggle shaped by the balance of power between capital and labour.

The paper is rooted in policy scholarship with its methodology set in a critical engagement with the relevant literature adopting an approach derived from critical theory. It seeks to engage with and critique key constructions of VET and is a theoretically focused paper that aims to ‘deconstruct’ the discourses used in the field. To that end the paper examines conceptualisations of the capitalocene and anthropocene, VET, ‘just transitions’ as well as the discourses that emanate from supranational organisations such as the world economic forum and the UN, ILO, etc. These are set alongside the discourses used in current research in the field that address social justice. For example, The World Economic Forum draws our attention to the polycrises facing the world, highlighting a number of well-known risks that include: the erosion of social cohesion, societal polarisation, rising inequality, the cost-of-living crisis, the climate emergency and so on. WEF argues these crises require societal intervention to ameliorate their impact. It calls for the development of a socially just society in which the excesses of neo-liberalism are addressed as well as an engagement with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In a similar vein WEF envisages an inclusive society in which no one is left behind and all talents are mobilised. Yet WEF is irrecoverably linked to the status quo and existing capitalist relations. This engagement with various discourses and understandings represents the critical methodology that the paper mobilises.

It is important to recognise that VET is both a resource and site of struggle which is set within a specific socio-economic context which frames the terrain in which it is placed and the affordances it offers. This is an empirical question that cannot be determined by theoretical fiat being a site of contestation and struggle. The conclusion brings together the divergent strands of the argument and considers the four key issues examined by the paper: 1. Differing conceptualisations of VET and their ideological significance. 2. Eurocentric conceptualisation of VET to constructions of policy science. 3. Doxic conceptualisations of VET and wagelessness. 4. ‘Just transitions’ concern with the marginalised alongside an expanded understanding of VET. Neo-liberalism has provided a backdrop to the paper..

Avis, J. (2023a): Reflections on bwp@ Special Issue 19. In: bwp@ Spezial 19: Retrieving and recontextualising VET theory. Edited by Esmond, B./Ketschau, T. J./Schmees, J. K./Steib, C./ Wedekind, V., 1-11. Online: https://www.bwpat.de/spezial19/avis_spezial19.pdf (30.08.2023). Avis, J. (2023b) A critical review of debates surrounding race/ethnicity and TVET, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 75 (1), 175-184. Avis, J., Mirchandani, K. and Warmington, P. (2017) Editorial, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 69 (3),287-291. Avis, J., Orr, K., Papier, J. and Warmington, P. (2023) Editorial: special issue TVET race and ethnicity in the global south and north, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 75 (1), 1-5. Monk, D. Molebatsi, P. McGrath, S. Metelerkamp, L. Adrupio, S. Openjuru, G. Robbins, G. and Tshabalala T. (2023): Beyond extractivism in vocational education and training research: Reflections on an international research project. In press Journal of vocational education and training. Spours, K. Grainger, P. (2023) The mediating role of further and higher education in a Just Transition social ecosystem, Journal of vocational education and training online 1-15 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13636820.2023.2258521 Stomporowski, S. (2023): Vocational training theory footprints in times of climate change – aspects of a critical ecological position. In: bwp@ Spezial 19: Retrieving and recontextualising VET theory. Edited by Esmond, B./Ketschau, T. J./Schmees, J. K./Steib, C./Wedekind, V., 1- 35. Online: https://www.bwpat.de/spezial19/stomporowski_en_spezial19.pdf (30.08.2023).