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The purpose of this paper is to reconsider “technical” education on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the publication of the journal Education + Training.

The approach adopted is that of providing a historical perspective on technical education and higher education engagement with vocationalism, skills and employers. It draws from this the key developments and places these in the recent contemporary policy setting with the new skills agenda.

The findings are that the government has substituted technical education with “the skills agenda” and is applying it relentlessly across the whole education system, including schools, which in turn is leading to confusion, overlaps and needless competition. There is a need for a national debate on an integrated approach to practical learning wherever it takes place, while recognising that liberal education has its place in a developed society.

This paper is one of a series commissioned by the journal on its 50th anniversary. Its originality stems from the subject matter and the author's interpretation of past technical education and contemporary practice.

Does the choice between a general and a technical/professional education determine the quality of the labor market network that an individual will be able to exploit throughout his or her professional life? This paper examines the hypothesis that technical and professional tracks, because they involve fewer students who are in more regular contact with each other and focus on a common, relatively narrow subject, allow students to establish more effective networks to support them in their careers. We test whether the choice of educational track has an impact on the means by which jobs are obtained and on the time to the first job of at least six months, the percentage of time spent in employment later in the career and the earnings when employed later in the career in France. Our results suggest that the educational track determines the means of obtaining a job, but conditional on the manner in which the job was obtained, the track has no additional impact on the outcome variables for the first or later jobs. However, the link between technical/professional education and job obtainment via professional networks does not hold independent of the level of education. In particular, this effect seems pertinent only for students having obtained a professional or technical baccalauréat (relative to a general baccalauréat) or for students having obtained a degree from a “grande école” or engineering school (relative to graduate‐level university studies).

Many people are not only bewildered by the complexity of technical education, but unaware of its aims and total significance. This is unfortunate — particularly if they are concerned with technical students — for such an awareness is basic to purposeful, understanding teaching. The author describes a recent study aimed at supplying this philosophical background. (Conclusion next month)

Using sex education at Shepparton South Technical School (South Tech) as a prism, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the Victorian Technical Schools Division policies and practices during the 1970-1980s.

The paper draws on a documented history of South Tech by using a blended methodology consisting of interviews, media-centred debates and a range of documentary sources.

The Technical Director, Edward “Ted” Jackson's 1970 policy empowered principals as educational leaders, in partnership with their community, to develop courses responding to student needs. This paper analyses a controversy concerning sex education in 1980 that brought such courses under the scrutiny of the Victorian public.

Identifying the policies and practices of a sex education course that proved successful in the past enhances the development of contemporary courses.

Victoria's former secondary technical schools provide an important insight into current social and vocational problems.

The widespread introduction of “liberal” or “general” studies into technical courses has been one of the most conspicuous changes in further education in England and Wales during the post‐war years. The process has been marked by the setting‐up in many colleges of separate — often large — academic departments for the work, by the provision of facilities and amenities on a scale hitherto rare, and by the appointment of teaching staff in subject specialisms formerly uncommon in technical colleges. The whole operation has thereby altered not only the content and structure of most technical courses, but also the characteristics of many of the institutions themselves.

This study examines the Career and Technical Education (CTE)/Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) higher education sector by focusing on international education at a US community college. The purpose is to examine how internationalization at CTE/TVET institutions engages students, many of whom are rural, poor, refugees, immigrants, and students of color and minoritized status. Employing a mixed methods research design, descriptive statistics sketch the CTE student profile and surveys and personal interviews detail the importance of international experiences to CTE students. Findings show that CTE students participate in internationalization activities at a higher rate than non-CTE students. The impact of international experiences is significant in the areas of career relevance, personal impact and understanding of diversity. This study substantiates the importance of CTE/TVET internationalization and shows that internationalization is an effective vehicle for impact and inclusivity of historically under-represented students in international education.

This descriptive study explored how community colleges are teaching leadership in technical programs. Leadership education curricular offerings were identified via a survey and selected programs reviewed. 68 Deans, Directors, or Chairpersons of a Business, Management, or Technology program completed the survey, representing 61 community colleges. A review of four programs was conducted through web searches and interviews of leaders representing two of these programs were conducted. Leadership education is an emerging area for community colleges; one that is narrowly defined as workplace readiness, communication, and confidence building activities. There appears to be a need for technical programs to teach students leadership skills, as well as technical skills. Further research is needed to determine which leadership skills are needed for technologists at the community college level.

The main purpose of this paper is twofold: to present a proposal for a model of educational quality management system within a process approach context for technical universities, and a conceptual model of a performance measurement system (PMS) towards the assessment of the quality level of management, core and support processes.

The paper encompasses two main parts: a theoretical portion and a case study. Within the theoretical background, the authors discuss the issue of educational quality management supported on a process approach perspective as well as performance measurement system in high education (HE). The case study reports the development of the concept of performance measurement system for technical universities.

The proposed system of educational quality management supported on a process approach, together with a conceptual model of the performance measurement system, can be implemented in every technical university. The identification of processes in the education quality management system permitted the development of the PMS. The model covers 32 key performance indicators (KPIs) for management processes, 39 for core processes and 19 for supporting ones.

The proposed performance measurement system is limited in its focus on educational processes and support of these processes. The evaluation of scientific and research activity and aspects related to financial resources is not pursued.

Elaboration of a conceptual model of a performance measurement system towards the assessment of the quality level of management, core and support processes is dedicated to technical universities.

Much has been and is written about philosophies and fundamental beliefs in education as conducted in schools and in universities and other institutions of higher education. Little or nothing is published about non‐advanced further education, although this concerns hundreds of thousands of students, and even less about that part of further education which used to be called, and is still popularly known as, “technical education”. Yet in this, no less than in the other better known parts of the educational system, action is controlled and effort directed according to certain precepts, often not clearly recognised as such. This is the first of a series of articles in which an attempt will be made to identify the sources of such beliefs and to assess their validity in a modern context.