Open and Flexible Learning in Vocational Education and Training

Citation

(1999), "Open and Flexible Learning in Vocational Education and Training", Education + Training, Vol. 41 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.1999.00441aad.001

Open and Flexible Learning in Vocational Education and Training

Books

Open and Flexible Learning in Vocational Education and Training

Judith Calder and Ann McCollumKogan Page1998ISBN 0 7494 2172 X£18.99

Keywords Effectiveness, Learning, NVQs, Vocational training

The fundamental concern of this book, the latest in Kogan Page's valuable open and distance learning series, is to address the contribution which open, flexible and distance approaches to learning can make to vocational education and training (VET). A daunting task! The authors are fortunate in having a sound research base from which to mount their assault, having undertaken a major study on behalf of the Department for Education and Employment comparing the learning effectiveness of open and flexible learning methods with traditional methods in VET. It is a timely contribution to the field for even if you are one of those who subscribe to the view that the dust has begun to settle on the NVQ debate we have "The Learning Age" Green Paper and thereby a whole new set of questions and issues in relation to how non-traditional methods of learning may influence and impact upon the lifelong learning agenda.

It took me a while to come to terms with the conflation of the three terms: open, distance and flexible. The authors acknowledge the tensions but argue that in practice the terms have largely become synonymous. There are unresolved issues here but putting them to one side the strengths of the book are twofold. First, it is written in an accessible, easy to read style. This is enhanced by illustrations, drawn from the authors' research, which in the main genuinely serve to illustrate the key arguments being developed. Second, it brings a valuable sense of what is really happening in terms of the penetration of open, distance and flexible learning into different areas of VET. On its way it explodes some myths, such as the extent to which much that is proclaimed as open learning is not so in reality, and how much new technology is actually contributing to open learning provision. Similarly, it addresses the very real questions of the penetration of open, distance and flexible learning into what the authors call the "empty shell" of VET; those areas of VET which remain under-resourced and under-developed and which include occupational groups such as cleaners, care workers, warehouse workers, assembly line workers and clerical staff.

In large part, the anticipation with which I approached the text is rewarded by a down to earth and realistic assessment of the relationship between the complex world of VET and the equally complex world of open, distance and flexible learning. I remain disappointed by one aspect of the book. At times discussion of issues in relation to VET is not sufficiently juxtaposed with the questions and issues surrounding new approaches to the design and delivery of learning. A case in point is the NVQ system where the book fails to get to grips with the relationship between this key legacy of the Thatcher years and its implications for open, distance and flexible learning provision. Another is the imperative for organisations (and the implications for their HRD and training and development professionals) to develop a strategic response to the inter-relationship between VET and open learning. Of course, and as the authors rightly remind us, the reality of life in the vast majority of small firms means that any link between open, distance and flexible learning and their VET needs remains firmly, and uncomfortably, in something of a black hole.