The Roles of Evaluation for Vocational Education and Training : Plain Talk in a Field of Dreams

While it is commonly believed that investment in vocational education and training is worthwhile, as it benefits individuals, enterprises and societies at large, it remains difficult to demonstrate precise returns to such training and scattered evaluations present disparate results. As a consequence, human resource development may lag behind investments which produce more tangible results. This text begins by examining the conceptual issues, then moves on to focus on the why and how of evaluation, and the presenting and judging of available results of evaluations. The discussion takes in the use and abuse of evaluation results in policy-making and the implications for evaluation of trends and issues in VET, such as decentralization, a declining role for the state, a shift towards work-based learning and a continued concern for meeting equity concerns through vocational education and training.