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Professor Lorna Unwin OBE (1953-2024)
It is with great sadness that JVET remembers Lorna Unwin, who was editor of this journal from 2011 to 2014.
In what follows, we will follow the fairly standard path of such memorials, recounting Lorna’s career in brief before turning to the more important consideration of what she meant as a person. I will write something at that point as someone she mentored in a brief but intense period before giving the floor to those who knew Lorna far better than me both as a person and an academic.
Lorna was an eminent academic figure in the study of vocational education and training. Importantly, this was enriched by a grounding in the realities of the field in her native England. Before joining academia, she was a teacher of English and General Studies at Barnsley College of Technology; a tutor for the Sainsbury supermarket chain on the British government’s Youth Training Scheme and a trainer of other workplace supervisors; and a tutor for the Workers Educational Association. During her later academic career, she continued a strong engagement with policy and practice communities. The list is exhaustive (and perhaps exhausting for those with less energy than Lorna) but includes serving as an expert panel member for the UK Commission for Education and Skills; advisor to the Commission on Adult Vocational Education and Training; chair of the Commission of Inquiry into Group Training Associations; a member of the Skills Commission All-Party Parliamentary Group; and a council member at Oldham College. She also wrote an important textbook for college lecturers - Teaching and Learning in Further Education. It was entirely appropriate, therefore, that she should be given the national award of an OBE in 2014.
Transferring to higher education in 1987, she held posts at the Open University, Sheffield and Leicester before moving to the Institute of Education, University of London in 2006 to the Chair of Vocational Education, serving also from 2008 to 2012 as Deputy Director of the ESRC-funded Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economics and Societies.
Lorna was an expert on English vocational education and training, with a strong interest both in the historical development of the college sector but also in learning in workplaces, including studies of apprenticeship and other modes of developing occupational expertise. Throughout this, she always maintained and insisted upon the need to see vocational learning and participation as sites of broader human development.
My interactions with others who knew Lorna better than me all speak to her academic rigour, her passion for an often-neglected field, but above all else to her personal warmth and generosity.
Professor Simon McGrath, JVET editor-in-chief
Writing as one of the few editors of JVET not to have a strong grounding in the English college system out of which the journal initially sprung, I want to acknowledge Lorna as my first key guide to this tradition. In my very first months as Research Director for VET/Skills in the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa I was immensely lucky to have Lorna join my team as a visiting professor. Together we went on to collaborate on two books on the South African system, but I learnt immeasurably from her about the English system, about the wider field of VET research but above all else about how to be an expert who wore their expertise in a very human and approachable way that allowed others to learn safely.
Simon McGrath (JVET editor-in-chief and co-author with Lorna)
Writing as one of the few editors of JVET not to have a strong grounding in the English college system out of which the journal initially sprung, I want to acknowledge Lorna as my first key guide to this tradition. In my very first months as Research Director for VET/Skills in the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa I was immensely lucky to have Lorna join my team as a visiting professor. Together we went on to collaborate on two books on the South African system, but I learnt immeasurably from her about the English system, about the wider field of VET research but above all else about how to be an expert who wore their expertise in a very human and approachable way that allowed others to learn safely
David Guile (JVET Advisory Board member, colleague and family friend)
My collaboration and friendship with Lorna stretched over nearly 40 years. As an early career researcher, I was hugely impressed from the outset by Lorna’s knowledge, understanding, wisdom and commitment to vocational education and training, and am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from her. Lorna’s great enthusiasm and genuine respect for the field were infectious. She really cared about individuals, whether they were novices or more experienced workers, and how they could be supported to develop their occupational expertise. It was a huge privilege to collaborate with Lorna and have the opportunity to witness her outstanding ability to mentor more junior colleagues, advise peers and engage with policymakers and practitioners. She was an amazing, generous person to work with, always positive, open to ideas and new ways of conceptualising and explaining empirical findings. She wrote beautifully, using her deep understanding to explore complex issues in an accessible style and always fiercely determined that her outputs should never forget to address the ‘so what’ question: identifying the implications of her research were never secondary concerns. Lorna’s sustained achievements as an exemplary researcher and tremendous academic leader are remarkable. Her positive impact on the field of VET and workplace learning have left an indelible and enduring legacy across the worlds of research, policy and practice. From a personal perspective, Lorna has left me with so many treasured memories. It is hard to accept that she is no longer with us.
Alison Fuller (former JVET Editor and member of the Management Committee, colleague, co-author and friend)
I met Lorna in the early 1990s through the VET Forum hosted at Warwick University. I was immediately struck by her knowledge, expertise and, above all, enthusiasm for the FE college sector: a rare thing and a beacon of light for someone who had travelled a similar career path to Lorna - from further education, company training, outreach education and higher education. The enthusiasm was infectious, and we began a collaboration and friendship cemented in the publication of Teaching and Learning in Further Education (1997) and subsequent editions. Lorna was the best possible person to work with, never afraid to challenge, to dig deep into “what lies beneath”and most importantly to consider the impact on teachers and learners of the changing policy environment. She gave unstintingly of her time and care to ensure that all had a voice, for those whose voices were forgotten, or considered less important. This is illustrated by her work as a college governor, and in her contribution to our understanding of the developmental opportunities of workplace learning. The joy of working with Lorna was exemplified in what would prematurely become our last collaboration: Curriculum in FE Colleges over Time: illustrations of change and continuity (Edge Foundation). Crawling on hands and knees in the attic of Westminster College we trawled through an archival treasure chest: old timetables, contracts of employment for renowned chefs, schemes of work from the early 20th century. It was not just a serious piece of work, it was fun. It always was working with her. I shall miss her personal support and friendship – that I can no longer lift the phone, on hearing the latest policy pronouncement for the FE sector and ask: “what do you think?”.
Prue Huddleston (JVET Editorial Board member, colleague, co-author and friend)
April 2024
JVET Paper of the Year 2023
JVET Editorial Management Committee (EMC) is delighted to announce the winners of its annual Paper of the Year prize awards.
JVET EMC awarded the first place for papers published in 2023 to “Understanding aspirations: why do secondary TVET students aim so high in Chile?” authored by Alice Aldinucci, Oscar Valiente, Scott Hurrell and Adrián Zancajo.
Comments from the EMC on the winning paper included:
I think it is a beautifully theorised paper
Engages with a wide range of theoretical ideas - a well-crafted paper
This study examines what informs individuals' aspirations associated with VET, within the context of a very unequal society. The analysis of individual and social influences is carefully conceptualised and the findings around "the interplay between agential and structural factors at the roots of differential aspiration development" are balanced and carefully explained. This article reveals a lot about Chile, the role of VET for society and individual, and what shapes aspirations.
I liked the theoretical framing and the way in which the paper seeks to take our thinking forward theoretically with regard to understanding aspirations.
Second place was awarded to “The (un)making of Dutch ‘care girls’: An ethnographic study on aspirations, internship experiences and labour market perspectives” by authors Talitha Stem and Elif Keskiner.
Comments from EMC members included:
It's a very interesting and carefully written study that foregrounds some central concerns about the role that VET plays in society, in relation to the specific expertise of VET programmes juxtaposed with people's actual work, in the under-researched area of social reproduction work.
This paper revisits a well-established literature and offers a fresh take on it by exploration of a different context.
A relatively rare example of an ethnographic study based on extensive field work in VET, important topic and insights, well grounded in previous research
April 2023
Paper of the Year 2022
Expertise as a ‘capacity for action’: reframing vocational knowledge from the perspective of work by David Guile and Lorna Unwin published in the Journal of Vocational Education and Training Vol. 74 (1) and Teaching art and design in a digital age: challenges facing Ugandan teacher educators by Wycliff Edwin Tusiime, Monica Johannesen and Greta Björk Gudmundsdottir published in Vol. 74 (4) have been awarded joint 1st place for the JVET 2022 Paper of the Year award.
Comments on Expertise as a ‘capacity for action’: reframing vocational knowledge from the perspective of work from members of the JVET Editorial Management Committee included:
“A conceptually strong paper, it contributes to aligning theoretical perspective on expertise with changing working conditions.
“A significant contribution to the discussion on professional expertise.”
“A strong theoretical contribution to VET field, with potential for application to different VET contexts.”
“A substantive paper by two major names that reframes a major concern that they have worked on in the light of recent technological changes to offer a new way of seeing.
Comments on Teaching art and design in a digital age: challenges facing Ugandan teacher educators from members of the JVET Editorial Management Committee included:
“This paper addresses an area of key concern for the future of VET in developing countries and offers considered strategies in the face of challenges. I think JVET should be focusing and highlighting, where possible, on the enhancement of VET in such situations.”
“Well designed research informed by theory.”
“A carefully prepared paper offering rich insights into this topic.”
The Paper of the Year prizes are awarded annually by JVET’s Editorial Management Committee.
09 April 2022
JVET’s Editorial Management Committee (EMC) has announced two joint winners of the JVET Paper of the Year award 2021.
The annual award recognises the standout papers of the previous year and this time, the winners share the prize this year as equal first place. The EMC extends its warmest congratulations to the authors. You can view the winning papers on the links below and both are Free to Access.
Jeanne Gamble
The EMC was struck by this paper’s depth of analysis linking patterns of VET to their material and socio-political foundations. They admired its strong theoretical perspective combined with meticulous historical tracing, providing a fascinating and illuminating account of the development of South African apprenticeship policy under apartheid and apartheid's enduring legacy. It is also, however, a revealing analysis of the complexity of what is entailed in ubiquitous but often unexamined terms like employer demand and employability.
Katherine Marie Caves, Severin Baumann & Ursula Renold
The EMC found this paper to be an ambitious, broadly-scoped, rigorous and concise paper. The literature review addresses the importance of examining how change and reform might be manifest in theory and practice. The EMC found it to be a well written and accessible account which is a source for VET educators and researchers now and, no doubt, will continue to be for some time in the future.
28 September 2021
JVET editors prepare for team transition
L-R top row: Leesa, Stephanie, Kevin
L-R bottom row: Simon, Jim, Ann-Marie
The handover process for the upcoming change in editorship is underway. The first of many international calls took place 28.09.2021 to smooth the process, share thoughts, ideas and innovations. Professor Leesa Wheelahan, Professor Kevin Orr and Professor Ann-Marie Bathmaker are preparing the way for Professor Simon McGrath, Dr Jim Hordern and Professor Stephanie Matseleng Allais to take up their new editor roles from 1 January 2021. A huge debt of gratitude goes to Leesa, Ann-Marie and Kevin for all that they have brought to the team, the Journal and Conferences in the field of vocational education and training. Leesa, Ann-Marie and Kevin will remain on the Editorial Management Committee and as such, very much remain guiding forces for positive moves forward. A warm welcome to their new roles goes to Simon, Jim and Stephanie! Meet the new Editors here.
25 June 2021
JVET celebrates award of its top two papers of the year
JVET’s Editorial Management Committee (EMC) have announced their selection of the top 2 papers published in the Journal in 2020.
First place in the annual award programme is awarded to Dr Don Zoellner, Charles Darwin University, for his paper: Institutional logics: reconceptualising ‘public providers’ in post-open market technical and vocational education and training.
The EMC cited the paper for its timeliness, its ability to bring back an interesting approach to the VET research agenda and for providing evidence that conceptual papers are still relevant in VET-research to aid future thinking in the field.
The panel felt that it was an excellent paper in addressing the effect of post neo-liberalism and revisiting social democracy and that it helps to extend theorising about the nature of markets in VET, the relationship between public and private VET and links with government policy and transition systems.
The judges also appreciated the fact that it is a well-theorised paper on a major national reform programme with international implications and that its perceptive use of the concept of institutional logic would enable readers to better understand important political and cultural changes in VET.
The paper nominated to receive the 2nd place award is by Nora Kolkin Sarastuen, Oslo Metropolitan University: From vocational worker to vocational teacher: a study of identity transition and loss.
The EMC nominated the paper for award for its discussion on a highly important topic in VET, its well-developed research, and interesting insights on teacher recruitment and training in Norway,
The panel felt that the paper offers a novel contribution in its focus on identity transitions highlighting, through findings and analysis from a rigorous empirical study, the significance of the concept of 'detachment' for identity formation.
The paper was well-constructed and theorised and concludes by signalling the implications for the education of vocational teachers. Whilst the empirical project was located in Norway, the conceptualisation and findings are felt to have broader and generic relevance.
Both papers are free to access until 31 December 2021.
01 March 2021
We are delighted to welcome aboard three new members of the Editorial Management Committee and two new colleagues as members of JVET’s editorial board. Professor Stephanie Allais, Professor Susan James Relly and Dr. Holly Henderson join the EMC with immediate effect. Professor Charlotte Chadderton and Dr Oscar Valiente join as members of JVET’s editorial board. Leesa Wheelahan, Editor, commented: “We are delighted to welcome the latest members to the EMC and our wider Editorial Board and are hugely confident that their experience and networks will contribute much to our development plans.”