students and parents adverse reactions to increased amounts of time allocated to
production where this was seen to damage performance prospects in competitive
examinations for selection;
the limitations of school environment which precluded some kinds of activities - e.g.
insufficient tools and machinery, no accessible markets; lack of suitable land
(Gustafsson 1985);
the need to subsidise relatively inefficient production (directly or through discounting
labour costs), or provide protected markets (e.g. for furniture made by schools); the
fact that scarce production skills have an economic value and skilled practitioners
may be unwilling to share these with others or see their market undermined (Lewin
and Little 1984);
the over emphasis on production leading to the; subordination of learning to
repetitive: manufacturing tasks which provide little coherent skill acquisition
2.3.3 Purposes
Before examining some of the evidence on the effectiveness of technical and vocational
training it is important to extend discussion to consider the purposes of training. First a
distinction must be made between technical and vocational provision that is direct
towards training for specific jobs, and that aimed at more generalised skill up grading
with a flexible range of outcomes that can be utilised across a number of occupational
categories. The former is often more appropriate to employment in those parts of the
labour market where specialisation is well developed and trade skills are licensed. The
latter has attractions in areas where there is rapid change, such that specific skills are
soon outmoded by changes in the technology of production, and where occupational
opportunities are more commonly of a polyvalent rather than monovalent character. In
the poorest economies specialisation is often at an early stage and the number of job
opportunities are limited before particular specialised labour markets saturate. More
developed economies have more opportunities for specialisation and for those with a
flexible range of skills who may move from one occupation into others.
It is also important to distinguish between training as a preparation for existing jobs,
training intended to lead to job creation, and training designed to improve performance
on the job. Most technical and vocational training initiatives have been built on the first
or third assumptions. The first may focus on pre-career qualification that can be
wasteful if most graduates of courses do not enter occupations for which they have been
trained. The courses provided may become training to qualify to get a job, rather than
courses which actually deliver skills necessary for doing the job, unless there are close