Editorial

Citation

McCracken, M. (2011), "Editorial", Education + Training, Vol. 53 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2011.00453aaa.002

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Education + Training, Volume 53, Issue 1

I am writing this editorial on the 21 October 2010, my first since taking over as Editor of Education + Training from Rick Holden (more on Rick later). For those of you who are familiar with political and economic issues in the UK you will know that this is the day after what has popularly become known as “Axe Wednesday”, where the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced cuts in public spending of up to £81 billion over four years. Obviously these cuts will touch every household in the UK to some extent, but for those of us interested in education and training issues, our interest will focus on how budgetary cuts will affect vocational education and training opportunities. Indeed, already we are beginning to see the fall-out from the comprehensive spending review statement with news of over 100 redundancies amongst lecturing and support staff in the largest further and higher education college in Northern Ireland (Rutherford, 2010). As well as the potential for job losses in the sector, commentators have focused on the implications of cuts for course provision, with some noting that reductions in numbers and types of courses will be inevitable, especially for those seeking to participate in adult education.

However, on a brighter note, speculation is increasing that apprenticeships for both the young and old will become more important as their popularity increases amongst large employers such as British Telecom (Peacock, 2010) who need to effectively equip learners with practical vocational skills for the future.

In the higher education (HE) sector too, seismic changes are afoot as a result of the recently published Browne Review into University funding, with the headline recommendation being that the government-imposed £3,290 per year cap on student fees is lifted leaving universities free to set their own rates for courses. Whilst on one side such a change may well provide a boost in income and allow for greater flexibility, which ultimately would allow UK universities to continue to compete with the best in the world, there are many who fear that potential students from less well off backgrounds will suffer and be either forced out of HE altogether or base their application decisions on price rather than on course content and future career ambition. In addition, the jury is still out on whether such changes will mean that private sector providers will enter the market and compete mainly on the basis of price. On a more positive note, potential learners may benefit from more choice in terms of innovative delivery (online-based) and course flexibility (condensed two-year degree courses).

Ultimately, at the time of writing this editorial piece, it is not entirely clear what the implications of such fundamental changes in funding arrangements will have for either the further and higher or the HE sectors in the UK (it should be noted that similar issues are arising around the world as a result of the global recession). However, with increasing unemployment in many sectors, potentially fewer educational and training opportunities for those leaving school, and spiralling student debt, as researchers in this field we will need to ensure that our studies are useful for students, academics, educators, practitioners, and policy makers. Hence, it is against this background that I would hope to see Education + Training fulfilling its full potential as a journal that provides a platform where empirical research on all educational issues for young adults can be disseminated and debated constructively.

It is useful to note, at this point, that in the year ahead we have four special issues which I am certain will help to fuel debate and arouse interest. For example, in issue Nos 2/3 Tom Bourner and Juliet Millican, from the University of Brighton, are editing a double special issue on “Student learning from community engagement”. This is a timely topic, given the scenario mentioned above, where universities are increasingly going to need to illustrate their positive impact for a range of stakeholders. I am sure that the papers published in this special issue will provide examples of best practice as to how educators may better design relevant courses and modules to stimulate engagement from our local communities.

For the second special issue (issue 5) Dr Ghulam Nabi, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and Professor Francisco Liñán, University of Seville, Spain, will provide the editorial expertise on the subject of “Graduate entrepreneurship in developing countries: intentions and education”. Again this special issue provides us with a very topical theme, given the issues revolving around increasing numbers of graduates but potentially declining traditional employment opportunities. By disseminating research explicitly from developing nations in Europe, Asia (East, Central, South), Africa (North and Sub-Saharan), Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean, it is hoped that we may learn lessons about how educational programmes might be better designed to allow entrepreneurial-minded students to develop and flourish and become the next wealth creators that our economies desperately need.

Turning away from graduate level educational provision, our third special issue (issue 7) edited by Matilda Gosling and Kate Shoesmith (City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development (CSD) will be devoted to “The role of vocational education and training in developing social inclusion”. I must admit that I am particularly looking forward to receiving the papers in this area, given my own research interest surrounding employability and social exclusion. As the guest editors have noted in their call for papers, the provision of good quality education has the potential to raise marginalized groups out of poverty and to allow them to “participate more fully in economic and social life of society”. I hope that this special issue has the potential to stimulate much debate about what exactly we as educators can do to help the most vulnerable in society to fulfil their true potential.

In the final special issue we return to the significant theme of student entrepreneurship education, under the editorial stewardship of Professor Harry Matlay, Birmingham City University, who has consistently provided high quality and high impact special issues for the last 12 years. I am sure that given the growing body of empirically rigorous research in this area of academic endeavour this special issue will build on the earlier themes discussed in issue 5 and add to the academic debate in this area.

So as we can see we have an interesting and diverse set of special issues planned for the volume. In terms of this issue I am sure that the five papers that follow will also make a significant contribution. In our first paper Ruth Bridgstock provides us with evidence from Australia relating to the future skills sets of graduates in the creative industries. One of the most interesting findings was the need for such graduates to engage in career planning and management so that they can successfully establish themselves in their chosen sectors. Given the aforementioned changes relating to HE (in the UK and elsewhere) the findings from this study should provide much food for thought for those preparing graduates for their future careers, given the increasing need to get their careers “up and running” as quickly as possible due to the burgeoning debt levels they may have incurred on leaving university.

Our second paper, by Jim Hlavac, Jim Peterson and Matthew Piscioneri, also reporting on research from Australia in relation to arts students, discusses how such students allocate time for study. Perhaps the most interesting finding from this study for me was that students with fewer “extra-curricular obligations” did not automatically devote a higher number of hours to their studies. Again, given the changing higher education landscape, such research will become increasingly important as students choose (or are forced) to work more hours to fund their time at university.

Our third paper from researchers based in Canada (Michaela Hynie, Krista Jensen, Michael Johnny, Jane Wedlock and David Phipps), also addresses the theme of student employment and more specifically the value of student internships for local communities. This research clearly illustrates that a series of benefits can accrue for students when they engage in the internship process in terms of both skill enhancement and relationship building in employing organizations. Again such research is useful when we consider how important the ability to network effectively will be for students to further their future career prospects.

Continuing on the theme of enhancing employability, the fourth paper from Brenda Margaret Little, discusses issues surrounding UK government strategies to promote and enhance HE students’ employability skills. Looking specifically at foundations degrees, the paper presents interesting findings which clearly illustrate the benefits of such programmes in building confidence for students already in employment. However, the paper also reiterates previous warnings that for such degrees to be truly useful, the learning gained must be linked better to the workplace setting, for both students and their organizations to fully attain the advantages from HE participation.

Our final paper in this issue from Sheldene Simola examines the “Relationship between occupational commitment and ascribed importance of organisational characteristics”. Again this paper falls within the employability realm but the author’s main finding illustrates that for MBA students in their first full-time job after graduation, affective occupational commitment was positively related to the opportunities they had within employing organization for further professional development. Such research again has implications for organizations that clearly need to consider how effective human resource development strategies can clearly signal the value they place on their new graduates’ employees.

Before I sign off from this first editorial, it is important to let our readers know that we have now moved over to Scholar One – Manuscript Central, which I am sure will be a positive move for Education + Training and will make things a lot easier administratively for contributors and reviewers. At the beginning of this piece I also mentioned the former editor – Rick Holden, at this point I want to thank Rick again for his enormous contribution to the journal and I hope that I, with the help of the editorial board members, editors of special interest issues and paper reviewers will continue the excellent work based upon the solid foundations he has provided.

Martin McCracken