| Summary: | This Ph.D. research compares the relevance of the secondary school Technical and Vocational Education Initiatives (TVEI) for low attaining students in Scotland and Ontario, Canada from 1984 to 1990. Larger trading markets and the new technologies have created economic pressures resulting in unemployment, particularly of youth, in many post-industrialised countries. Education has had to respond to political pressures directed at the preparation of secondary school students for their future, and for the world of work. For these reasons education modified curricula structures providing technical education. As curricula implementation occurred across the two education systems in the late eighties, these modifications became the focus of each system. Technical education, because it provides usable skills, is more relevant to the learning of low attaining students. This comparative study informs policy and education regarding the impact of these changes on low attaining students. The definition of these students is as foundation level students in Scotland with attainments of level 5, 6, or 7. In Ontario, the definition of these students is as basic level with low attainments in elementary school. The case study method provides for examination of each education system and a comparison of them to identify the practices in each system. Triangulation of: interviews of education administrators for technical education, examination of documents, and questionnaires developed for schoolteachers, examine the relevance of the curricula developed. The certification attained is less than that provided to 90% of low attaining students in Germany, who are certified with a combination of schooling and apprenticeship training. The issues raised by the new curricula changes are equitable treatment and opportunity for attainment and employability for students. If their circumstances are to be improved, the employability of low attaining students remains an area of policy interest.
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