BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:690@ukfiet.org
DTSTART:20241114T150000Z
DTEND:20241114T150000Z
DTSTAMP:20241113T085625Z
URL:https://www.ukfiet.org/events/why-policy-is-not-just-collective-halluc
 ination-glacier-international-webinar-series/
SUMMARY:Why policy is not just collective hallucination - GLACIER internati
 onal webinar series
DESCRIPTION:14 November\, 2024\, 15:00\nREGISTER HERE\n*Link to join the we
 binar will be sent to all registered participants by 11am (UK) on the day 
 of the event*\nGlasgow Network for Comparative and International Education
  Research (GLACIER) presents:\nProfessor Stephanie Allais\, University of 
 the Witswatersrand\, will lead this webinar which reflects on three decade
 s of work at the policy/research interface in various aspects of post-scho
 ol education and training\, mainly in South Africa but also in other Afric
 an countries. The central conundrum\, when looking at vocational education
  and youth unemployment\, and in searching for solutions in skills trainin
 g\, is why governments\, donors\, and development agencies continue to pus
 h policies and interventions that have clearly failed\, or\, at best\, hav
 e no evidence of success\, and further\, that can be pulled apart conceptu
 ally. Competence-based training and occupational standards as mechanisms f
 or workplace-relevance\; quality assurance regimes as ways to improve qual
 ity\; qualifications frameworks as silver bullets for mobility\, articulat
 ion\, quality\; are included in the policies under consideration\, as well
  as many skills interventions for youth employment. To do things different
 ly\, we have to understand not just why the policy interventions fail\, bu
 t why they continue to be pushed despite lack of evidence in their favour\
 , and lack of clear conceptual rationale. Policy\, like theory\, is a simp
 lification of the world\, abstracted from the messiness of the real world.
  Policy makers operate in a complex world with so many moving points beyon
 d their control. Perhaps this leads to operating as if policy IS the real 
 world\, or focusing only on developing policy and not thinking about what 
 implementation means. Unfortunately\, at this point it becomes a self-cont
 ained world and we can’t learn. This is not only a challenge for policy 
 makers\, but also for researchers. Many policy evaluations and academic st
 udies remain at the level of collecting little pieces of data that don’t
  feed into a coherent view of the phenomenon under investigation\, and the
 ir influence is therefore fragmented rather than developmental. The revers
 e is also true: many policy evaluations and academic studies fall into the
  reverse trap—remaining in love with themselves as an abstraction from t
 he world\, impervious to data. The challenge is improving the interface be
 tween theory\, policy\, and data\, to learn and build robust knowledge abo
 ut change.\nBiography:\nStephanie Matseleng Allais is Research Chair of Sk
 ills Development and Professor of Education at the Centre for Researching 
 Education and Labour\, University of the Witwatersrand\, where she researc
 hes international education and development\, focused on education/ work r
 elationships. Her books include Knowledge\, Curriculum\, and Preparation f
 or Work (Brill/SENSE) with Yael Shalem\, and Selling Education Out: Nation
 al Qualifications Frameworks and the abandonment of Knowledge (Sense). She
  is an editor of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training\, and on
  the editorial boards of various other journals. Previously\, she was a fe
 llow at the Centre for Educational Sociology at the University of Edinburg
 h\, and a researcher at the International Labour Organization.
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.ukfiet.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/1
 1/GLACIER-14-11-24.jpg
CATEGORIES:Webinar
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR