Transformation of the Turkish Vocational Training System: Capitalization, Modularization and Learning unto Death

Autor/in	Bulut, Ergin
Titel	Transformation of the Turkish Vocational Training System: Capitalization, Modularization and Learning unto Death
Quelle	In: Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 8 (2010) 1, S.361-388 (28 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1740-2743
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Educational Change; Vocational Education; Vocational High Schools; Lifelong Learning; Global Approach; School Business Relationship; Motor Vehicles; Blue Collar Occupations; Turkey; Turkey (Istanbul) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Bildungsreform; Ausbildung; Berufsbildung; Life-long learning; Lebenslanges Lernen; Globales Denken; Motor vehicle; Kraftwagen; Türkei
Abstract	This article scrutinizes the transformation of vocational training in Turkey. Entertaining the question, "Why did the vocational high schools become an issue in the country all of a sudden?", it aims to cover the social and economic dynamics behind this transformation. Establishing the link between Turkey's integration with the global economy and the general trends in global economy and education, it lays out the motive behind the attempts of capital to transform the current system towards a modular one, based on lifelong learning. Questioning the meaning of concepts such as "knowledge economy" and "lifelong learning", it seeks to decipher the implications of the creation of modular, lifelong learning blue-collar workers. The article aims to challenge the mainstream functionalist perspective on the vocational training system and underlines the political character of education in general and vocational education in particular. Based also on a field work carried out in Istanbul, the essay also seeks to find out the techniques and strategies used by capital in order to train loyal technicians. In this regard, this research suggests approaching the current integration of corporations and vocational schools within the context of the internationalization of capital, increasing demand for qualified labor and flexible markets which certainly require a cultural transformation of the minds of the youth and the normalization of social inequalities in their perception. Consequently, I argue that the current transformation represents nothing but a political integration of industry with education, driven by the desire of capital to train blue-collar workers in line with a flexible capital accumulation regime. Requiring a flexible and lifelong learning subjectivity, the changes in curriculum and training structure need to be understood as a class act rather than a neutral attempt to increase efficiency and prepare students for life, which already is discriminatory for the working class students under consideration. (Contains 25 footnotes.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Institute for Education Policy Studies. University of Northampton, School of Education, Boughton Green Road, Northampton, NN2 7AL, UK. Tel: +44-1273-270943; e-mail: ieps@ieps.org.uk; Web site: http://www.jceps.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10