Higher Vocational Qualifications: Differing Approaches Within the United Kingdom to Meeting Skills Needs for the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

This chapter considers how the very different policy and historical contexts within Scotland and England have resulted in differing approaches to the development of higher vocational qualifications. In this respect it will develop the overall theme of this book by considering how a ‘home international’ comparison within the United Kingdom provides opportunities for policy learning. We will contrast the ‘managed’ approach to the development of skills policy in Scotland with the more marketized approach which has been influential in England, and consider this with particular reference to the development of Degree Apprenticeships in England and Graduate Apprenticeships in Scotland. This chapter will examine the extent to which these qualifications have the potential to make a significant contribution to meeting emerging skills needs, and problems associated with graduate underemployment. We will consider how the differing policy approaches and historical contexts are leading to quite different patterns of provision and their implications for meeting skills needs. The extent to which these developments are being located in the college or university sectors will be considered and the implications of this for the types of courses and the approaches to skills development which are emerging. In this context it will also be useful to examine the roles of these qualifications in meeting the needs of young entrants to the workforce and also older employees. Whilst practices in the two nations currently have a different focus, renewed interest in Scotland in the ‘new lifelong learning’ of older workers may lead to closer alignment.