HOW STANDARDS ‘TRAVEL AND CHANGE BETWEEN CONTEXTS: NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR TVET TEACHER EDUCATION IN THE UK
ABSTRACT: This paper focuses
on the development and growth of standard-led reform and regulation of TVET
teachers and trainers in the UK by developing a theoretical discussion and
critique of standards that has a wider relevance to that in other countries. It
shows how standards-led regulation in the UK has moved from a permissive to a
more rigid approach where new standards have been defined. The study also
illustrates how standards are mediated and interpreted differently within the
diverse contexts and communities of practice by developing a critique of the
standards-led model, an attempt to codify both situated and non-situated
knowledge. Here, standards are treated as decontextualised, vertical knowledge
simply applicable across diverse contexts, subjects/vocational practices,
learning in the workplace and training TVET teachers. Within the diverse
practices of TVET teachers and teacher educators, different types of
understandings exist and different types of knowledge and pedagogy are learnt,
used and transformed. Not only do attempts to deal with the complex zone of
professional practice by standards fail to address the inherent ambiguity of
standards, but also lead to a bureaucratic, competency-based framework which
marginalizes professional knowledge and understanding.
Author: Norman Lucas
Journal Code: jppendidikangg120025
