Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: Education + Training, Volume 56, Issue 1.
For the first issue of the 2013 volume of Education+Training (Vol. 55 No. 1) I invited Professor Erica Smith, who after many years of service continues to play a vitally important role as Associate Editor, to write the introductory editorial. Erica outlined some interesting issues connected to her research in relation to the Indian Apprenticeship system and how there was a need for more global integration and sharing of best practice to allow individuals and organisations to fully realise the benefits of vocational education and training initiatives. Somewhat related to Erica's editorial, the recent publication (October 2013) of internationally comparative findings on literacy and numeracy levels amongst young adults by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2013) illustrates that we need to think globally when considering education and training issues. The findings from the report demonstrate that when global comparisons are made there are underlying educational deficiencies amongst young adults (16-24 years) in industrialised nations. For example, young adults in countries such as Spain, the USA and the UK fared particularly poorly when compared to their peers in nations such as Japan, Finland, South Korea and The Netherlands. Here in the UK (the survey included participants from England and Northern Ireland), the results were greeted with consternation given the fact that England came 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy out of 24 countries with many commentators arguing that if such low achievement perpetuates, then the ability of the UK to compete globally in higher skills sectors will be seriously eroded. There were also serious concerns about the fact that the UK was the only nation to take part in the study where younger participants appeared to do no better in comparison to older people in the 55-65-age range.
Given these results it is perhaps no surprise that employers in the UK have recently called for the UK Government to invest more in the kind of education that can enhance practical skills in the workplace (Burns, 2013). For the employers that took part in a City and Guilds survey related to the issue of vocational skills amongst young adults it was clear that they wanted to see more investment to enhance the value of vocational skills and develop apprenticeships so that they might become as attractive to young adults as the more academic A-Level examinations. A particularly interesting finding from the survey was that the vast majority of employers wanted to see better career advice to be given to young people about the value of vocational qualifications and how they could develop the kind of skills that are truly useful and applicable in businesses.
Whilst the findings from such surveys are vitally important and provide some much needed contextual data in relation to the education environment, it should be pointed out that they can only ever show broad patterns of what is happening. With this in mind researchers in the education and training field need to ensure that they carry out research which can enrich, illuminate and provide more nuanced findings on issues connected to vocational education and training issues for young people. I very much hope that Education+Training will continue to serve as a useful vessel for scholars in the area to communicate their research to as diverse an audience as possible in the higher and further education, and government and business communities. At this point it is useful to repeat the key aim of the journal, which is to “address the increasingly complex relationships between education, training and employment and the impact of these relationships on national and global labour markets” and I encourage all those who are involved in the journal including editorial board members and reviewers to publicise this aim widely. That said, I would also like to note that the journal is currently in a healthy position with many high quality and internationally diverse empirical as well as conceptual submissions having been submitted and accepted for publication over the past 12 months. To illustrate this,in this issue we are able to present academic papers from authors based in Australia (Jackson, Reibe and Sibson; Leveson and Joiner), the UK (Quinn, Goodwin and O’Connor; McKechnie, Howieson, Hobbs and Semple), Switzerland (Fournier and Ineson) and Syria (Ayoubi) and look forward to publishing contributions from authors located in Malaysia, Sweden, Canada, the USA, the UK, Ireland, Vietnam, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Australia and Kazakhstan in the forthcoming issues of this volume.
Also in this issue, as a result of the hard work of our book review editor Vicky Harte, we are able to publish two book reviews,the first from Pat McCauley who reviews “New Frontiers in HRD” edited by Jean Woodall, Monica Lee and Jim Stewart, and the second from Niki Kyriakidou who provides us with a useful commentary on the new book by Jeanine O’ Neil-Blackwell entitled“Engage: the trainers guide to learning styles”. We are pleased to announce that this book review feature will be a regular part of forthcoming issues and with that in mind I would ask you to forward any relevant titles which you feel should be reviewed to Vicky. Also in relation to this volume I want to note that we have three Special Issues planned. Therefore in Issue 2 guest edited by Dr Paul Jones (Plymouth University) and Dr Heather Skinner (University of Glamorgan) we have a collection of papers surrounding the theme of “E-learning Globalization: The impact of E-learning: what difference has it made?” whilst Issue 6,edited by Dr Vicky Duckworth, (Edge Hill University) and Dr Jonathan Tummons, (Durham University) is devoted to the subject of “Neo-liberalism and social justice in post-education and training”. Finally I would like to welcome back Professor Harry Matlay (University of the West of Scotland) to edit the final two issues in the volume (8 and 9) on the ever-popular issue of entrepreneurial education. Finally, I would like to reiterate my thanks to everyone associated with the journal, including the editorial advisory board, manuscript contributors and reviewers (reviewers for Vol. 55 listed below) as well as Tom, Kim,Sharon and Sophie at Emerald who work tirelessly for the journal.
Martin McCracken
References
Burns, J. (2013), “Boost vocational education, employers tell government”, BBC New: Education and Family, available at: www.bbc.co.uk/news/education (accessed 12 December 2012)OECD (2013), “Programme for the international assessment of adult competencies (PIAAC)”, available at: (accessed 12 December 2012)
Reviewers List
E+T reviewers for Volume 56
Armstrong, Gillian
University of Ulster
Avramenko, Alex
University of Abertay
Balan, Peter
University of South Australia
Barakat, Shima
University of Cambridge
Barrios, Isabel
University of Western Sydney
Beck, Vanessa
University of Leicester
Bishop, Daniel
University of Leicester
Boersma, Martijn
University of Technology Sydney
Bourner, Tom
University of Brighton
Brennan, Ross
University of Hertfordshire
Bridge, Simon
Simon Bridge Associates
Brown, Travor
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Bui, Hong
Bournemouth University
Cabras, Ignazio
University of York
Callanan, Gerard
West Chester University
Carbery, Ronan
University of Limerick
Clark, Andre
University of Glamorgan
Clarke, Nicholas
University of Southampton
Clarke, Thomas
University of Technology Sydney
Currie, Denise
Queens University Belfast
D’Annunzio-green, Norma
Edinburgh Napier University
Dalsgaard, Christian
Aarhus University
Davey, Todd
Münster University of Applied Sciences
Dobele, Angela
RMIT University Melbourne
Dodge, Bruce
CN Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
Du Plessis, Karin
Incolink Melbourne
Edwards, Louise-Jayne
University of Glamorgan
Edwards, Melissa
University of Technology Sydney
Farley, Heather
University of Ulster
Fearon, Colm
Canterbury University
Fisher, Ron
Griffith University
Fleming, Julie
CQ University Australia
Fuller, Alison
University of Southampton
Galloway, Laura
Herriot Watt University
Gannon, Judith
Oxford Brookes University
Garavan, Tom
Edinburgh Napier University
Gault, Jack
West Chester University
Gibb, Stephen
University of the West of Scotland
Gilbert, David
RMIT Melbourne
Goodwin, John
University of Leicester
Graff, Martin
University of Glamorgan
Graham, Christian
University of Maine
Greenbank, Paul
Edge Hill University
Greener, Sue
University of Brighton
Gupta, Nakul
Management Development Institute, Gurgaon
Hanlon, Dennis
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Harris, Margaret
University of Aberdeen
Hodge, Steven
University of Ballarat
Holden, Rick
Liverpool John Moores University
Humphreys, Paul
University of Ulster
Huq, Afreen
RMIT Melbourne
Hurst, Jessica
Iowa State University
Hynes, Briga
University of Limerick
Ismail, Mohd Zahari
Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin
Jackson, Denise
Edith Cowan University
Jones, Colin
University of Tasmania
Jones, Paul
University of Plymouth
Jugdev, Kam
Athabasca University
Jung, Jessica
Newcastle University
Kammermann, Marlise
Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training
Keep, Ewart
University of Oxford
Klobas, Jane
Bocconi University
Lean, Jonathan
University of Plymouth
Lee, Mark
Charles Sturt University
Leeds, Beverly
University of Central Lancashire
Lepistö, Jaana
University of Turku
Lindorff, Margaret
Monash University
Lindsay, Colin
University of Strathclyde
Mahmud, Muhammad Mu’az
Universit Putra Malaysia
Manley, Robert
Western Michigan University
Marhuenda, Fernando
University of Valencia
Martin, Gary
University of Ulster
Matlay, Harry
University of the West of Scotland
McCracken, Martin
University of Ulster
McCrory, Mark
University of Ulster
McGill, Tanya
Murdoch University
McGowan, Pauric
University of Ulster
McMahon-Beattie
University of Ulster
McPeake, Steve
University of Ulster
McQuaid, Ron
University of Stirling
Mehta , Arpita
Not affiilated
Metcalfe, Mike
University of South Australia
Miller, Christopher
University of Glamorgan
Millman, Cindy
Birmingham City University
Moizer, Jonathan
University of Plymouth
Murphy, Lyndon
University of South Wales
Newbery, Robert
University of Plymouth
O Flaherty, Joanne
University of Limerick
O’Kane, Paula
University of Otago
O’Connor, Henrietta
University of Leicester
Parfitt, Scott
University of Plymouth
Peachey, Paul
University of Glamorgan
Pearson, Margot
Australian National University
Pickernell, David
University of Glamorgan
Poropat, Arthur
Griffith University
Prowse, Alicia
Manchester Metropolitan University
Rae, David
University of Lincoln
Reid, Carol
University of Ulster
Reid, Kristen
Open University
Robotham, David
De Montford University
Sail, Rahim
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Sambrook, Sally
Bangor University
Sandelands, Eric
Corporate Learning Consultants
Sawang, Sukanlaya
Queensland University of Technology
Sharpe, Rhona
Oxford Brookes University
Shaw, Sue
Manchester Metropolitan University
Skinner, Heather
University of Glamorgan
Sloan, Diane
Northumbria University
Smith, Alison
University of Loughborough
Smith, Anne
Glasgow Caledonian University
Smith, Erica
University of Ballarat
Smith, Kelly
University of Huddersfield
Smith, Vikki
Nelson Thornes
Stalder, Barbara
University of Neuchâtel
Standing, Craig
Edith Cowan University
Taatila, Vesa
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
Teo, Stephen
Auckland University of Technology
Thomas, Brychan
University of Glamorgan
Thompson, John
University of Ulster
Tong, Kin
Multimedia University
Treanor, Lorna
Royal Veterinary College
Tucker, Jan
Ashford University
Tunstall, Richard
University of Leeds
Vilkinas, Tricia
University of South Australia
Wall, Tony
University of Ulster
Walsh, Frank
Waterford Institute of Technology
Weatherup, Robert
University of Ulster
White, Gareth
University of Glamorgan
Winterton, Jonathan
Toulouse Business School
Zheng, Vanessa
Sheffield Hallam University
Zinser, Richard
Western Michigan University
