Transitioning Vocational Education and Training in Africa: A Social Skills Ecosystem Perspective VET Africa 4.0 Collective.
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Bristol University Press
Abstract
Editor's Preface
This is the first volume for the Bristol Studies in Comparative and International
Education (building upon the former Bristol Papers series) and one that
clearly demonstrates our commitment to ‘critically engage with education
and international development from a comparative and interdisciplinary
perspective’. In content, the book is ground-breaking for the ways in which
it challenges traditional, and often northern, conceptualizations of vocational
education and training (VET); insists upon analysing both VET and work in
broad, relational and inclusive ways; develops and applies original theoretical
contributions drawn from political ecology; and moves beyond ‘extractive’
modalities of research in this important arena. In terms of ‘process’, the book
has further distinction and originality due to the innovative ways in which
the 20 core authors/researchers have combined to form the VET Africa
4.0 Collective and wrestled with the decolonial challenges and dynamics of
coproduction and joint authorship within the context of an externally funded
international Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) partnership. For
those interested in learning from, and advancing, more equitable international
research partnerships, this book has much to offer readers across multiple
fields and disciplines.
The book is structured around three sections, the first of which establishes
the historical and theoretical context (Chapters 1–4) while introducing the
‘social ecosystems for skills’ model that underpins the overall framework
for the analysis. Section 2 (Chapters 5–8) develops and expands this model
through a detailed and critically reflexive examination of the empirical data
embedded within four contextually grounded South African and Ugandan
VET case studies. Section 3 (Chapter 9) reflects upon the implications of
the overall study for future research, policy and practice; and an important
and insightful ‘Afterword’ reflects on the collaborative, multilevel research
and writing process in ways that deserve close attention.
This is a complex and sophisticated analysis with theoretical and empirical
depth that provides an invaluable resource for all concerned with the future
of VET policy, practice and research worldwide. It is a collective book that
reimagines more democratic and relational futures for VET, challenges
dominant orthodoxies, engages with the implications of both decolonization and climate resilience for the future of skills development, and interrogates
the multiple power dynamics involved in advancing innovative international
research partnerships within, and beyond, the VET arena. To cite the authors
own words: ‘As university researchers, we must find ways of balancing the
immediacy of the funded project and the need for stronger and longer lasting bonds in the locations in which we research, while also forming new,
oftentimes nontraditional, relations across our institutions and our related
partner networks’ (afterword).
For these reasons, it is hard to imagine a more appropriate volume for
the launch of our renewed book series with Bristol University Press. I am,
therefore, more than pleased to recommend this work to readers interested
in the contemporary challenges faced by VET in Africa and worldwide; and,
most importantly, to all engaged with the theoretical and epistemological
implications of decolonization for interdisciplinary research, comparative
studies and international development.
Description
Book
Keywords
Social policy, Social works, Development aid, Social science, Sociology
Citation
McGrath, S., Openjuru, G. L., Lotz-Sisitka, H., Allais, S., Zeelen, J., Wedekind, V., ... & Openjuru, M. (2022). Transitioning Vocational Education and Training in Africa: A Social Skills Ecosystem Perspective VET Africa 4.0 Collective (p. 232). Bristol University Press.