VET and Culture conference

Pathways, boundaries and barriers in Vocational Education and Training

Wednesday, 16th to Friday, 18th July 2025

University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby UK

In a time of social and political convulsion, exacerbated by climate crisis and conflict, vocational education and training (VET) is grasped as a solution by national governments and inter-governmental agencies across the world. Yet the traditional boundaries of VET systems are experiencing multiple forms of permeability, fluidity and erosion, with varying and complex consequences. Whilst VET prepares half Europe’s young people to training for established occupations, the nature of this work and certainties of education are suffering erosion and erasure.  

The boundaries of educational space, between institutional and workplace learning, vocational and higher education, adult education and VET, no longer possess the clear rationale of the past. Policymakers argue for the breaking down of barriers through more technical VET, more professionalised universities, or in the name of opening access. Yet boundaries, visible and invisible, between institutional types and sectors remain firmly in place, whilst barriers to progression by VET’s disadvantaged students, into highly skilled work or higher education, remain impenetrable.

In its last conference in Valencia, the VET & Culture network explored the relationships between ‘cultures of work and education’, exploring the ‘understandings and values of work taught and learned in adult and vocational education.’ The 32^nd meeting of the network will continue with this discussion whilst welcoming new contributions. It aims to extend its understandings of how cultures shape the persistent status divisions that have characterised education in Europe, and which are increasingly offered as recipes for developing countries. How might we critically analyse and reframe these divides in ways that contribute to meaningful educational experiences and work, and to fair, sustainable societies? The network invites scholars concerned with these challenges toparticipate and engage in this discussion in Derby, once the heartland of the industrial revolution in England and now at the nexus of advanced manufacturing and social exclusion.

Open Call 

We invite you to present theoretical, conceptual and empirical contributions to our discussion, either in the form of paper presentation or, preferably, as symposia or other forms of group discussion with like-minded colleagues. Formats include:

Proposals in any of these formats should be submitted to TVET_Research@derby.ac.uk as an abstract of between 500 and 1000 words, focus on the topic of the call, and have a theoretical and/or empirical foundation.

Key dates:

Scientific Committee, VET and Culture Conference