Gender issues in vocational education and training and workplace achievement of 14–19 year olds: an EOC perspective

The role of education and training historically was to prepare men and women for different roles beyond schooling. Despite equality legislation in 1975, designed to secure wider opportunities for women in society and in the workplace, progress towards achieving equality in employment–with the exception of entry into the lower levels of some professions–has been slow and traditional patterns of occu‐ pational segregation remain. Traditional attitudes and expectations have proved diffi‐ cult to change. This is reflected in the participation rates of men and women in vocational education and training programmes currently on offer to young people. The compulsory education system has seen the removal of structural barriers to equality and access to all subjects has provided girls with the opportunity to achieve well and outperform boys even in non‐traditional subjects such as maths, science and technology. Disappointingly, however, academic gains have not been marked by wider vocational choice within and beyond schooling where stereotyping in option, subject, training and employment decisions is still overt. In this article, we use the examples of Part 1 GNVQs, further education, Modern Apprenticeships and National Traineeships to illustrate the current extent of stereo‐ typing and segregation in vocational education and training. We argue that it is of par‐ ticular concern that these recent policy initiatives reinforce rather than challenge stereotyping and that 25 years after the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA), vocational education and training provide young people with narrow and segregated routeways while delivering to industry limited and gender‐based pools of talent. We recognize that young people, women particularly, are disadvantaged as a result, and their poten‐ tial for career development and economic independence is reduced. We argue that gender stereotyping is a barrier to equality which should be addressed in all new education and training policy development, such as the review of the National Curriculum, and should be included in government policy direction to vocational education and training providers. We use the example of TVEI to show how good practice can be promoted in education and training in schools and we identify and recommend the use of good practice strategies in vocational education and training, particularly the positive action provisions of the SDA.