Markets and vouchers: the inadequacy of individualist policies for vocational education and training in England and Wales

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Abstract
We argue that recent changes to vocational education and training policy in England and Wales amount to a new policy paradigm. Some key components of this paradigm are outlined, within the recent historical context in which they evolved. The central principles are of voluntarism, training markets, individual responsibility for learning and payment against measured outcomes. An early example of this new paradigm in practice is the Training (or Youth) Credits initiative, which is a voucher‐driven programme of work‐based training for school leavers. We report on a research investigation into one of the early Training Credit pilot schemes and analyse the implications of the findings for the new paradigm. We discovered complex and culturally grounded actions and interactions which were very different from the simplistic, technical assumptions underpinning the new policies. We also found that elements of the new paradigm threatened to reduce training quality, despite the rhetorical intention to improve it. We draw on the work of Bourdieu and Strauss to begin a theoretical examination of choices and career development, as revealed in the research. We conclude by briefly examining possible reasons for the dominance of this new, untested policy paradigm.