Conclusion

This chapter draws together the discussion of whether or what kind of emancipatory practice is possible in vocational settings. It begins by reviewing our understandings of neoliberalism and hierarchical societies in the light of this study. It presents a framework that compares official discourses of vocational education to the critique interrogated in earlier chapters. The latter can be differentiated from a universalist and unitarist neoliberal discourse, either through commitment to a curriculum variously associated with access to a universalist canon and its civic dimension, or by their efforts to embed pedagogy in specific human contexts or ecologies. Moving beyond these approaches, we draw on our study to map out the potential lines of an emancipatory curriculum for vocational education, supported by a pedagogy based on the humanity of vocational students, the contested social relations of the workplace and the potential for these to bring together forces for educational and societal renewal.