1. Vocational education as a field of activity and inquiry Gareth Parry University of Sheffield g.w.parry@sheffield.ac.uk

2. Vocational majorities ‘Most English young people now take some vocational courses before they are 16; and post- 16 the majority follow courses which are largely or entirely vocational’ ‘English vocational education is extraordinarily complex and opaque’ (Wolf Report 2011)

3. VE as a field of activity need for a ‘common language’ ‘secret garden’ of higher vocational education national VET centre: ‘practice to theory’ and ‘using problems that have arisen in the workplace to set the research agenda’

4. VE as a field of inquiry ‘a research centre which will, for the first time, bring analytical and experimental capacity together to improve vocational education’ state of the art analysis of linked datasets experimentation and testing of effectiveness active engagement with partners

5. Couplings? young people and adults general and vocationally specific into and within work public and private provision economic and wider benefits basic, intermediate and higher

6. Expectations? independence, with steers and commissions comprehensiveness: scope and scale simplification: a high-order exercise evidence base: for theory, policy and practice

7. Centre for Global Higher Education ESRC/HEFCE social science centre funded for five years Global-national-local framework, referenced to UK Plural perspectives, mixed methods, three programmes of study

8. [I] From global to local 1.Wherein the public good? 2.What is industry engagement? 3.Effects of different loan schemes? 4.Common models of governance? 5.What returns to returning graduates?

9. [II] Social and economic impacts 1.Do recessions induce growth or contraction? 2.What gaps in participation? 3.Changing graduate labour markets? 4.Graduate attitudes to debt?

10. [III] From local to global 1.What alternative and emerging forms? 2.Are workforce roles diversifying? 3.What is student agency? 4.Which online designs are effective?