Vocational and general technology education

Abstract

This chapter explores the interactions between vocational and general approaches to Technology Education, proposing that the vocational-general divide is not always clear. Often, this reflects the tension between training for specific skills competencies, and educating for more generic core competencies. With schools increasingly being held accountable for the performance of their graduates, and rising unemployment, Technology Education as strictly general education is being questioned and vocational education is being infused with liberal arts characteristics. Globalisation, rapid changes in technologies and work places, and growing understanding of the nature of learning and transfer of learning will all influence the future Technology Education curriculum. While integration of vocational and general approaches is problematic at the level of single classes, at the programme level it may provide meaningful education pathways.