The differences among European VET systems, and the ways in which these converge on neoliberal lines, are often discussed as approaches to the transmission of occupational skills (Clarke & Winch, 2015; Greinert, 2010). However, these differences have also long included broader societal understandings, from state and collective bodies seeking to control behaviour as well as labour supply through early apprenticeships to the different types of socialisation underpinning contemporary VET (Esmond & Atkins, 2022; Lane, 1996; Wallis, 2008). In addition to such considerations in relation to core curricula, some countries teach specific 'civic' provision or general education subjects on both sides of the general education/vocational divide (Nylund et al., 2020; Suissa, 2015). These differences reflect the conceptual resources and understandings that VET research and underlying theory can supply.  

For example, Germany’s most important theoretical traditions extend from the foundations of vocational schooling by Kerschensteiner, Spranger and others to a critical emancipatory literature from the 1960s onwards (e.g. Blankertz, 1982). Berg-Brekkhus (2024) builds on cognate Scandinavian approaches to suggest a fusion with capability approaches. In English-speaking countries, market principles and a supply-side, human capital logic has dominated public policy and discourse since the end of the 1970s, extending market liberal principles that pre-date Adam Smith (1776). Notions of Bildung also conflict with the instrumental logic of skills acquisition (Gonon, 2009) whilst both obligations to the other, including in occupational settings and the widespread adoption of individual ‘competence’ approaches, all limit the possibilities of individual formation (Kutscha, 2023).  

These differences raise an overarching research question: 'How can vocational systems contribute, not simply to the concerns of employment, but to human flourishing, democratic societies and social justice?' (c.f. Esmond & Atkins, 2022). We draw on the above understandings of the relative significance of work skills and human considerations discussed above. 

In England, VET is overwhelmingly informed by a discourse of skill formation that overshadows other considerations, even when skills on offer are generic and carry little real exchange value. This reflects an underlying conception of the learner as a market actor, investing in and accumulating skills with an exchange value in labour markets. Nevertheless, at various moments, policymakers and VET actors have provided additions to the technical core of vocational study. From the 1950s, 'liberal studies' or ‘general studies’ were introduced as a compulsory element of courses in UK technical colleges, taught as an addition by specialist staff from non-technical backgrounds. From the 1980s this provision was nominally integrated into core curricula. (Esmond et al., 2024a). More recently, policymakers have given greater emphasis to so-called 'enrichment' activities that provide activities additional to the main curriculum organised through 'study programmes'. A funded study to gather data and analyse the nature, extent, resourcing and issues for this provision was carried out over 4 years across colleges in England and Wales, including both VET and general education provision (Esmond et al., 2024b). This provided an unusual opportunity to compare approaches to the development of the human subject across the general education/vocational divide. 

This paper reviews the findings of this study in relation to the broader context of European approaches to human and societal aspects of VET, how these shape the life-course of individuals and how these might be theorised. Our immediate focus is the distinctive way in which enrichment provision in different settings conceptualised the transitions of young people: in general education through a process of personal formation and in vocational education as a process of support for vocational studies and transitions into the workforce. We then reflect on how this can contribute to our general understanding of VET across national boundaries. 

This study ranged widely but here we are concerned with a specific area of inquiry: whether vocational pathways in England can contribute to human flourishing and to democratic societies, in order to facilitate comparisons with other countries. The four-year longitudinal study, aligned to young people’s transitions from education into employment, began with a preliminary survey of affiliates to the national representative body for colleges, following this up with interviews to select nine case studies for in-depth research. The case studies combined observation, documentary analysis and interviews, engaging variously with college managers, teaching and specialist enrichment staff, as well as students. We were able to build on these case studies through supplementary interviews with practitioners and students at other institutions we met during dissemination activities, enriching our understanding of each type. However, we also collected comparable data from other sites, especially in following up our second survey. This survey, attracting 109 responses, explored the way enrichment provision had changed in response to COVID-19, having expanded at most colleges surveyed whilst a minority experienced contraction. These approaches generated a considerable volume and variety of data which was subjected to multiple analytical techniques, including thematic analysis and comparison across sites. All records of research interactions were uploaded to a double password protected space, including interview transcripts, documentary evidence, photographs, field notes and visit summaries. This made it possible for all researchers to become immersed in all the data (Wellington, 2015, p. 73) and was complemented by regular review meetings, using the ‘constant comparative’ model (Corbin & Strauss, 2015). This gradually revealed the significance of different categories of enrichment and their relationship to specific settings. Our analytic procedures utilized an inductive approach unconstrained by either hypothesis or pre-set categories. Rather, we sought to identify and categorize emerging themes whilst acknowledging that data can only ever be partial, conditional and situated (Charmaz et al., 2018, p. 418). As our data collection and thematic analysis proceeded to the careful cross-checking of themes and categories, we reached what we can describe as its axial theme, in the classic manner of grounded theory. This emerged as the different ways in which enrichment relates to the main curriculum, either directly extending the subject (in GE) or diffused through cross-college approaches mediated by ‘learner support’ mechanisms (in VET) and corresponding approaches to the formation and transitions of young people on each side of the academic-vocational divide.

This study ranged widely but here we are concerned with a specific area of inquiry: whether vocational pathways in England can contribute to human flourishing and to democratic societies., in order to facilitate comparisons with other countries. Earlier accounts of liberal studies in the early post-war period have provided some evidence of a humanistic dimension to post-16 education. However, this was provided outside and largely separated from the technical core central to the curriculum, not unlike some civic provision in other European countries. Little evidence has been offered of this directly shaping vocational provision in the way that theorists of Berufsbildung might for example claim. A key finding demonstrated a significant difference between enrichment on general education pathways (represented in this study by sixth form colleges) and vocational pathways in further education colleges. Enrichment in the former settings provided general education with practical elements that extended the subject-based curriculum and contributed to the personal formation or autonomy of students. This integrating form of enrichment was only readily available to those on general education pathways. By contrast students on vocational pathways encountered enrichment as a disconnected addition to their studies, much as earlier students had experienced liberal studies. Evidence of enrichment specific to occupationally focused technical/vocational courses proved difficult to elicit for much of our study. Whilst colleges cited multiple interesting industry trips and visiting speakers, students found it difficult to distinguish these activities from their subject curriculum. Whilst enrichment remains a space of possibility, the practice we saw in our study, whilst intended to provide cultural breadth and new experiences, does not yet play an integrating and educational role for all its students. We believe that an enriched conceptualisation of the human possibilities of education and skills has a potential that is so far not realised in many international settings.

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