Abstract
This chapter raises some fundamental questions about the future development of TVET in response to learning challenges that arise in the new economy as part of globalization. It examines some implications of knowledge management for workers’ learning and identities. It takes as a case TVET in the software localization industry which plays a crucial role in the dissemination of cultures in electronic global communication. To date there are no published studies of TVET in this part of the knowledge economy, and more debate is needed in education about the learning implications of such knowledge work. The future education and training of workers is analysed in relation to globalization as a social and cultural phenomenon that interacts with power and operates through individual lives. The question for the development of TVET is how, among diverse trajectories, durable knowledge can be sustained and validated. The chapter points to a depoliticization of specifically feminized knowledge work in the localization industry: set in the home, it appears hidden from analytical view and seemingly outside struggles for power. Future TVET needs to respond to challenges drawn from the lack of equity in some knowledge supply chains.
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Notes
- 1.
http://www.lisa.org/ (last accessed 5.12.08)
- 2.
See the British Council’s summary of translation history: http://www.literarytranslation.com/art/history/ (last accessed: 5. 12.08)
- 3.
The gender balance is 68.7 per cent female (1875) and 31.3 per cent male (854), as confirmed in private email correspondence with Parveen Mann of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, dated 23.2.07.
- 4.
Here the customer tells Lucy that his web developer is not willing to work with her. To ‘post in’ is a metaphor taken from on-line discussions where you ‘post’ your comments to take part in the discussion.
- 5.
The ‘Code of Professional Conduct’: http://www.iti.org.uk/pdfs/newpdf/20FHCodeOfConductIndividual.pdf (last accessed 16.10.09)
- 6.
There have been moves to professionalize localization. TILP (The Institute of Localisation Professionals) the professional body has introduced a professional qualification in localization. The profession’s website is: http://www.tilponline.org/ (last accessed 16.10.09)
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Malcolm, I. (2011). TVET Identities in Knowledge Work: Gender and Learning in a Globalizing Industry. In: Catts, R., Falk, I., Wallace, R. (eds) Vocational Learning. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 13. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1539-4_8
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