JVET EVENTS & OPEN CALLS

With thanks to colleagues from around the globe who joined JVET and the LLAKES Institute, in person and online, on Friday 22 May 2026 to celebrate JVET’s 250th Edition.

To mark the event, JVET hosted two lively debates. The first debate focussed on The Capabilities Approach, and was chaired by Simon McGrath with Leesa Wheelahan and Stephanie Allais putting forward their viewpoints.

With over 50 people in person and over 100 joining the event online, the JVET team was delighted to host the event and welcomed the range of diverse views, comments and viewpoints explored throughout the day. It was an great showcase for the JVET community to come together and examine key theories, the challenges and the future shape for VET.

With thanks to all that attended this celebratory event and for the lively participation and feedback received. 

If you couldn’t make the event or would like to revisit it, you can now view the event presentations below.

The JVET 250th Edition event presented an ideal opportunity for two new books from the VET community to be launched.

Beyond Skills: A Capability Conception of Vocational Education, by Leesa Wheelahan and Gavin Moodie, published by Brill/SENSE.

This book argues that a new ‘social settlement’ is needed in vocational education, one which is based on a broader understanding of occupations and preparation for work. It argues for more expansive understandings of the purposes of vocational education which includes support for human flourishing, social justice, social inclusion, and sustainability.

Emancipation and vocational education: Skills, Bildung and the subject, by Bill Esmond, Johannes Schmees, and Volker Wedekind, published by Routledge. 

This book challenges the economistic neoliberal rationale for vocational education, drawing critically on neglected bodies of theory, especially from Germany but also the global South, to explore the possibilities for critical thinking and emancipatory practice within vocational space.

International perspectives on academisation, tertiarisation and hybridisation of vocational education: Between problem-solving, imitation and/or unintended consequences

Guest Editors: Junmin Li, TU Dortmund University; Germany; Johannes K. Schmees, University of Derby, United Kingdom; Ann-Marie Bathmaker, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

Cooperative universities in Germany, higher and degree apprenticeships in the United Kingdom, Associate Degrees in the Netherlands and vocational universities in China; these developments manifest a significant trend of academisation, tertiarisation and hybridisation of vocational education and, reshape traditional boundaries between vocational and higher education.

This special issue will offer a critical examination of the evolving landscape. Building on Criblez (2010), we define the tertiarisation of vocational education as a process whereby vocational qualifications are developed at tertiary level without acquiring academic status. Tertiarisation aims to elevate the status of vocational education, enhance the attractiveness of vocational pathways, and increase the social and economic benefits associated with them (Deißinger & Ott, 2016). 

Deadline for 500 word abstracts - 29 May 2026. Details and submission instructions here

Monday 5 October  2026; 09:00 - 17:00; University of Glasgow

The JVET Early Career Researcher (ECR) Day Conference 2026, hosted by Journal of Vocational Education and Training will take place at the School of Education, University of Glasgow. The event is supported by the Skills and Livelihoods for Better Futures Interdisciplinary Research Network.

We welcome contributions that examine VET across diverse contexts, with particular attention to comparative perspectives, learner experiences, and the relationship between education, work, and society. We encourage work that engages with developments in VET as it strives to meet the challenges of technological change, climate transitions, and political uncertainty.

Participation and Application Process
Attendance at the conference will be by an application process. Successful applicants will be notified and invited to participate in the event.

Abstract Submission Guidelines
Deadline: 30 June 2026
Submission: Abstracts of up to 400 words
Bursaries: A limited number of full bursaries are available. (NB. We cannot provide bursaries for poster only participants.)

Submit here