Editorial

Citation

McCracken, M. (2014), "Editorial", Education + Training, Vol. 56 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-12-2013-0137

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: www.oecd.org/site/piaac/surveyofadultskills.htm (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