The vocational curriculum in the lower secondary school: material and discursive practices

The rationale for the study is to enhance our understanding of how young people learn and engage with vocational subjects within the lower secondary years of compulsory education. The concept of pre‐vocational education has recently emerged to describe the initial transitional phase of preparing young people for employment in specific occupational areas in the UK. Although there has been extensive research undertaken in work‐based apprenticeship learning, very little research has emerged in pre‐vocational education among 14–16 year olds in schools. The research undertakes such an enquiry based upon a case study of North Lanarkshire secondary schools. This local authority has been selected as it has one of the highest rates of young people participating in pre‐vocational education in secondary education and has been identified by a recent OECD report as a potential exemplar of best practice in this field. However, concerns remain regarding how to integrate the pre‐vocational curriculum with the academic curriculum, whether pre‐vocational courses can engage high achievers and, more specifically, how effectively the subject is taught within schools.