Reflections on Colonial Legacy and Dependency in Indian Vocational Education and Training (VET): A societal and cultural perspective
The article by Singh examines centre-periphery relations in terms of colonial legacy in the field of technical and vocational education in India. Colonial neglect of vocational education had the effect of destroying existing indigenous systems of vocational learning that were embedded in distinctive local socioeconomic and cultural contexts. This legacy has continued even after India's Independence and is strongly reflected in manpower development plans and discourses of international agencies, which cater primarily to the needs of the formal economy. However, as the informal economy increasingly comes to be seen as the key ground both for economic growth and poverty eradication, so the ability of education and training to promote informal sector activities needs to come to the fore even further in government and agency concerns. The article draws upon empirical studies to provide a comprehensive picture of the educational processes and the competency people in the informal economy want, need and utilise. For, if vocational training and education is to cater to both the formal and informal labour markets, then it is necessary to learn from the periphery and to take into account the traditions and values of the system of vocational learning in working life. What the author describes for India has applicability for many countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Productivism, Vocational and Professional Education, and the Ecological Question
As the major supplier of skilled and certified labour, vocational and professional education (VPE) fuels the engine of economic growth. As such, it is directly implicated in the reproduction of productivism, the globally dominant ethos which presupposes that economic growth and paid work are permanent and necessary features of human existence, regardless of their consequences. This paper proposes that, in an era of eco-social risk, it is necessary to interrogate the truth-claims and normative assumptions that systematically configure VPE and its subjects for productivism. The role of productivism in the historical formation of VPE as an institution, and its constitutive effects on VPE policy and practice, are examined. In light of a critique of the logic and assumptions that underpin contemporary constructions of VPE, it is argued that productivism no longer provides a legitimate or sustainable basis for VPE. By problematizing the universal truths of productivism, it becomes possible to re-imagine VPE for alternative, post-productivist futures.
Globalization and the Internationalization of Legal Education in the United States: An Annotated Bibliography
Globalization and its influence on legal education is a topic of growing interest to the legal profession and to legal educators alike. The first articles on the subject appeared in the mid-1990s, and the frequency of publications has been increasing ever since. This bibliography provides annotations to English-language law journal articles published between 1995 and 2008 that focus on the impact of globalization on legal education in the United States.