Inclusive vocational education and training: vision or illusion?

Danijela Makovec Radovan

Summary:  In addition to preparing students for working life and further education and learning, vocational and technical education and training (VET) also plays an important role in ensuring equitable and inclusive education. In this text, we develop the thesis that VET is a space in which individuals can fulfil their potential, but only if the conditions for this are also created at a systemic level. Throughout the discussion, we highlight three: The first is inclusion as a general pedagogical principle, which assumes that the existing, predominantly special educational responses to students who are often marginalised in practise build on and complement general, general pedagogical approaches and strategies that address all students (Bauman et al. 2022), or learners. The analysis shows that the understanding of inclusion at the level of addressing people with disabilities is still quite present in our country, and not as a concept in which we address all people who need support through inclusion. The second point of discussion is career guidance, which we see as one of the ways of realising an inclusive VET system in which everyone can develop their potential, but only if individuals are guided to it based on their interests and not only on their academic performance. In Slovenia, career guidance is established as a systemic measure, but there are a number of challenges in ensuring the quality of the service. For this reason, this article discusses its wider value, which can make a significant contribution to increasing participation in VET, developing skills and labour market efficiency, and improving social inclusion (Cedefop, 2020, p. 62). One of the most important prerequisites for the creation of inclusive and high -quality of VET is the provision of well-trained teachers, which is the third point mentioned above (Cedefop, 2020, p. 62). We therefore conclude the text with a discussion of the three types of teacher excellence in VET and how, despite a pronounced teacher shortage, system-level mechanisms can be put in place to provide them and thus ensure that VET provides a high-quality and inclusive system.