Choosing GNVQ

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Abstract
This article critically examines claims that young people can be empowered by making the choice to study for General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs), as opposed to A levels. It is based upon the stories of four young people who enrolled on GNVQs at the age of 16 +. Drawing on earlier research into Training Credits, this paper re‐examines the ways in which career/education choices are actually made, and argues that such choices are locked within the cultures in which young people have lived their lives and in their, often unequal, interactions, negotiations and sometimes struggles with educational providers. The choices are interpenetrated by issues of status and prestige, as between GNVQ and A levels and between different types of post‐16 educational institution. Not only do markets and choices not in themselves empower, they impact on and interpenetrate issues of empowerment in the ongoing education on a GNVQ.

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