The centrality of vocational learning

Abstract This article explores the concept of the ‘vocational’ in contemporary educational discourses, and argues for the centrality of vocational aspects of learning in making meaning. The existing tensions are seen to lie between discourses that place the vocational at the bottom of a hierarchy of knowledge and value, and discourses concerning expectations for the vocational. It is argued that these tensions flow from a mistaken view of the vocational and vocational knowledge, especially those based on polarisations of behaviour and codification of the knowledge that is implied. The article reviews research findings on workplace activities and discusses them in terms of theoretical concepts about the development of meaning. The findings are interpreted as supporting the need to restore the vocational to its rightful place, as central to the ways in which individuals make meaning by engaging in significant activity.