Vocational education is expensive
The incremental social benefits may not outweigh the costs
Vocational graduates may not follow the career for which they have been trained
Projections of demand for specific skill training are unreliable
Substitutability between vocational and non-vocational school graduates may be high
Vocational and technical education provided close to or within places of employment
is more likely to be successful than that provided elsewhere
Vocational and technical education may be more equitable and efficient when
privately financed.
First, no single approach can capture the range of possible training purposes and
delivery strategies available and indicate their relative attractiveness. It is clear that in
general, vocational and technical education can have a substantial role to play both in
the development of specific skills and in relation to flexible preparation of the
workforce for changing labour markets. But this will only be happen where a series of
conditions are met that justify the particular strategy employed.
Second, in devising appropriate strategies several considerations are important. These
include those noted in the box below.
avoiding assumptions which the weight of evidence usually, suggests are unfounded
(e.g. that vocational training changes attitudes to different types of employment and
that almost all trainees will necessarily follow the occupation they have trained for).
improving information on current patterns of supply and effective demand for
particular skills and more general technical abilities through tracer studies and
occupational training maps
establishing direct and indirect costs at an early stage and comparing these with other
delivery strategies directed towards the same ends.
identifying benefits on both conservative and optimistic assumptions about the
absorption and substitutability of trainees in the labour market.