The paper compares and contrasts the policy context of Vocational Education Teacher Training (VETT) in Scotland and England by setting VETT within its wider socio-economic context, one emphasising lifelong learning and competitiveness. This facilitates a comparison of the two nations and enables an analysis of VETT responses to globalisation and lifelong learning. It allows an exploration of policy continuities and breaks across Scotland and England, leading to a consideration of the limits and possibilities of the different ‘solutions’ adopted, enabling an analysis of their progressive possibilities. Unlike other European responses, VETT in these nations is somewhat marginal having only recently become mandatory. The paper’s policy analysis is complemented by small scale illuminative case studies of VETT educators in Scotland and England, exploring the way policy is lived and mediated at the site of practice. Competitiveness is not only a feature of the policy context of Scotland and England but also of Europe (Avis, 2009; Dale and Robertson, 2009) being ‘the name of the game’ that informs state policy (Rustin, 1998:7). The presumption being that by developing human capital and the talents of all, economic and social well being will be enhanced (Scottish Government, 2007; BIS, 2009). Paradoxically, at a time of capitalist crisis this theme has been re-emphasised (BIS, 2009). Developing the skills of the workforce in a direction orientated towards emerging sectors of the economy is thought not only to provide the route out of the current recession but also towards a fairer society (Cabinet Office, 2008; Scottish Government; 2007). Vocational Education and Training (VET) in both nations is seen as pivotal to the skills agenda as well as to social cohesion and inclusion. Notably, there are significant differences in the scale and range of VET provision in these countries. There is comparative work analysing the VET sector as well as a body of work that develops an analysis of teacher training in Scotland and England (Brisard et al, 2007; Hodgson, et al, forthcoming). Little work has specifically addressed a comparative analysis of VETT. Nevertheless across these two nations, as well as elsewhere, there are similar sets of issues concerned with VETT, professionalism, skill development as well as the on-going professional development of VET teachers. We develop a comparative analysis of these themes, addressing the immediate policy context leading to a comparison of VETT in the two nations. Here questions of governance and regulation are raised. In England the use of occupational standards to underpin VETT has been criticised for mobilising a truncated and limited conceptualisation of teacher training, lodged within a more generalised critique of managerialism and performativity (Avis et al, 2010). In Scotland there is lesser emphasis upon the use of occupational standards which has resulted in particular forms of cross-institutional competition which have implications for the delivery of VETT. A comparative policy analysis supplemented by illuminative case studies enables an exploration of the limitations and possibilities for the development of progressive and radical practice across the two nations, possibilities that might be overlooked without these dimensions.

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