The literature of distance education is now vast. An Alta Vista search on the internet on the descriptors 'distance education' and 'distance learning' in November 1997 brought 154.921 hits and the list could doubtless be added to by using other similar descriptors to identify the literature of the field.

Nearly all of this literature develops after 1970, the date of the foundation of the European open universities and most of it is still in English, though there is a growing literature in Spanish and German.

What is needed here is an analysis of where the Voctade reports stand in relation to other surveys of provision of VET in the European Union, what lacunae does it fill, and how does it complement and how it is complemented by other studies.

Four volumes published in 1996-1997 are chosen to show the vacuum in the European documentation and in the literature of VET provision, which the Voctade study seeks to fill:

• Ant M, Kintzelé J, van Haecht A and Walther R (eds.) (1996) Access, quality, and volume of continuing vocational training in Europe. Berlin: Luchterhand. ISBN 3-472-02699-6.
• Lasonen J (ed) (1996) Reforming upper secondary education in Europe. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä: ISBN 951-34-0882-5
• Collis B (1996) Tele-learning in a digital world. The future of distance learning. London: Thompson. ISBN 1 8503 1574
• Hobsons (1997) Distance and supported open learning worldwide. Cambridge: Hobsons. ISBN 1 8607 453 1

The form of training provision on which the Voctade study concentrates is not presented or not adequately presented.

These two volumes are:
Lasonen J (ed) (1996) Reforming upper secondary education in Europe. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä: ISBN 951-34-0882-5
Ant M, Kintzelé J, van Haecht A and Walther R (eds.) (1996) Access, quality, and volume of continuing vocational training in Europe. Berlin: Luchterhand. ISBN 3-472-02699-6.

Both of these books make fundamental contributions to a new and emerging field of research, survey and analysis called Vocational Education and Training (VET).

The field of Vocational Education and Training (VET) is not well defined and the literature on this topic, at least in English, is sparse. There is little scientific analysis of where it begins; where it ends; what it shares with cognate fields of educational endeavour, or the boundaries that lie between VET and other forms of training provision

The Ant, Kintzelé, van Haecht, Walther book has 341 pages. It focuses on the continuing vocational training sector of the field of vocational education and training (VET).

Like the Voctade study, the Ant, Kintzelé, von Haecht, Walther book is grounded in article 127 of the Maastricht Treaty which emphasises 'the exchange of information and experiences on issues common to all the training systems of the member states' and of the White Paper view that 'the development of an education and training system of the quality required can only be achieved through the general application throughout the European Union of the best practice in the different states'.

Ant et al set out to define the area of education they are dealing with and divide it into four sections:

• companies
• employed individuals
• individuals on the labour market (not employed individuals)
• providers.

• for companies they focus on growth in productivity and competitiveness
• for individuals they deal with conditions of employment and professional mobility.

In their contribution to the establishment of a field of vocational education and training, Ant, Kintzelé, von Haecht and Walther establish five approaches for the continuing vocational training area:

• policies of national governments
• provision by companies
• provision for the employed
• provision for individuals on the labour market
• providers of continuing vocational training.

Their analysis of the responses on national policies lead to decisions on the relationship between initial and continuing vocational training; the relationship between continuing vocational training and adult education and leads to this conclusion:

In this study we have opted to open up the area to which continuing vocational training applies and to enlarge the restrictive definition given in the earlier publications, which limited its investigation to 'on the job training for those in work' and more precisely to 'further training paid for by a company for its own employees, or paid for independently by the self-employed.' Consequently, employees funding their own training and the unemployed were excluded.

Should we then perhaps take the argument radically further and talk of the relation between training and social exclusion? If we reply in the affirmative, this then implies that continuing vocational training cannot apply only to those in employment, funded at least partly by their employers. On the contrary, we would have to look at the manner in which business is involved in the training of those seeking work.

Important chapters follow on continuing vocational training in Europe that is company-based, in which the problem of certification for this type of training is highlighted (1996:133). The treatment of the provision of continuing vocational training for the employed raises concerns about certification:

A working individual who on his own initiative undertakes a training course almost always does so without any guarantee that this course will bring any advantage to his conditions at his place of work (promotion, salary rise, etc.) (1996:177).

The condition of the unemployed, employees at risk of becoming unemployed, and other groups is listed as follows:

Young people without qualifications or with a qualification that is of little use in finding a job, the unemployed, employees in re-conversion, women trying to get back to work, and to a lesser extent the physically and mentally handicapped, ethnic minorities, migrant workers, former prisoners, young people etc. leads to the conclusion: as far as training institutions are concerned, these are mainly public bodies (national offices in charge of overseeing unemployment and/or organising training for the unemployed and for the young without qualifications job agencies) which make use of their own training centres. (1996:220)

To these is added, to varying degree depending on the country, a part of the related sector such as education and training establishments, recognised centres etc., subsidised to this end by the government.

It is clear that this volume makes a major contribution to the delineation of the field of vocational education and training (VET) by focusing on the sector of continuing vocational education.

• Both studies deal with the provision of continuing vocational training in the EU, with particular emphasis on the provision of training for those in employment, those on the labour market and the training providers.
• The Ant et al. study deals with 12 countries, the Voctade study with 15.
• The Ant et al. study goes back to the FORCE programme in 1989; the Voctade project deliverables deals with 1995-1007.
• The Ant et al. data is comprehensive and exact to 1994; The Voctade final report in November 1997 provides 1997 data.
• The Ant et al. report does not seek to quantify in either statistical or financial terms the number of EU citizens enrolled in continuing vocational training programmes in the EU in any particular year.

It attempts to gauge the average fee volume for each group of providers for the year in question, so that the total market observatory of the volume of the market can be compiled, whether these fees are paid by citizens for their own training or whether the training of the citizen is subsidised in whole or in part by the taxes of all citizens.

There are, however, clear-cut differences:

• The Voctade project proposal claimed that distance training was the chosen form of vocational education and training for millions of EU citizens, the normal form of vocational training for hundreds of thousands of EU citizens and the only form of training for tens of thousands of EU citizens.
• It is the wish of the Voctade project to verify whether these propositions are accurate and to report on them.
• The Ant, Kintzelé, von Haecht and Walther volume has a clear focus on EU citizens travelling to training centres, government colleges or corporate facilities for training with instructors, mentors and facilitators. Reference to distance learning or training at a distance is marginal.

In the first chapter - Policies of Continuing Vocational Training, this document assesses the results of continuing vocational training policies in the Member States, the role of the State and the social partners.

This first point consists of a description of the public policies and wants to draw a general outline on the situation in the 12 Member States in 1994. The decision to distinguish four main sections (companies and continuing vocational training; the working population and continuing vocational training; and the provision of continuing vocational training), rests furthermore upon an implicit double hypothesis, that of initiative and available funding.

For the first axis - Companies and Continuing Vocational Training -, we are interested in the functioning of training from the point of view of companies, whose role is of prime importance. The underlying supposition is that the main impetus for continuing vocational training will come from the employers and that they will ensure its funding. It is clear that the interest for the decision makers rests in the need to know how this can be favoured or indeed facilitated and what the conditions are for carrying it out, funding it and assuring quality.

For the second axis - the Employed Individuals and Continuing Vocational Training - we see what the initiative to invest in continuing vocation training comes in essence from the economically active individual (worker, employee) himself. It may take place outside the framework of the company or it may be a form of further on-the-job- training. The funding may therefore come partly from the individual himself. It is important here, too, to know how is favoured and facilitated individual initiative, and how is guaranteed the quality of the training.

The third axis is that of individuals on the labour market, that is the long-term unemployed, young people with qualifications, women returning to work etc. In this case we may suppose that the initiative for supplying continuing vocational training will come from public authorities and that it will be financed by the State, even though one will have to ask how it is paid for.

The last axis is that how to structure supply in the continuing vocational training area. We are concerned mainly with examining the extent to which supply and demand match up and with defining the principal providers of continuing vocational training in relation to the concerned populations. The question of the quality of provision is self evident. If business and industry think of investment in continuing vocational training in terms of increasing profitability, the individuals involved, who are having to devote considerable personal energy and time to the project, will want to be reassured as to its worth for their own career. For the former as well as for the latter, it is important that the quality of the options on offer can be evaluated, even if such an assessment is complex.

The objective of the Reporting System is to present an overall view of the current situation in the field of continuing vocational training, consisting of sensitive data of inter4est mainly to the decision makers.

Eight national systems are surveyed: Austria, England, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Scotland and Sweden and among its conclusions are:

The problems of European vocational education and instruction concern the transparency and recognizability of European educational systems. Educational systems, including initial vocational education and academic/general education, are not reciprocally transparent enough at the European level especially as regards the new Member States.

The demand that skilled workers and professionals should be able to move freely within the European Union is not unproblematic. The EU has not yet been able to find a means of ensuring that an employee from one member state possesses the knowledge and skills to be able to work in another (Lasonen 1996:3).

The breadth of coverage of the nations selected for analysis makes this a valuable contribution to the field of vocational education and training and will provide for other researchers an in-depth analysis of initial vocational provision; an essential framework for studies of continuing or lifelong vocational education.

In their manual Lasonen et al. have little or no reference to training at a distance, although the post-16 initial vocational training sector with which they deal would have quite extensive provision, especially in France.

Lasonen et al define the scope of their volume thus:

Post-16 vocational education is primarily defined as upper secondary level vocational education in this Project. Initial vocational education and training refers to initial technical and vocational training and systems of apprenticeship that enable young people to gain a recognised vocational qualification. Initial vocational education and training is formal education referring to the programmes that are publicly financed and administered through the Ministries of Education and Labour that prepare individuals to find employment in current or emerging occupations. Certificates or diplomas are granted to programme completers, and graduates can often matriculate to higher levels of education.

In Europe the concept of vocational education has been understood in two ways. Vocational education is the established concept in Northern Europe, but in Central Europe the concept is vocational training. For example, Finland, Norway and Sweden refer to a policy context that has favoured an institutional unification of the academic/general and vocational upper secondary school. Consequently, the issues of integration and co-operation refer to the relations between school-based vocational education provisions and academic education.

According to some authors, vocational education includes general education in addition to vocational skills; broad-ranging human growth is valued. Training is also the goal of the general education included in vocational education. The training approach underline s the values related to increasing the productivity of work, but training can also mean know-how which can be transferred and applied to other situations that the targeted tasks. An example of this would be professional ethics.

In the broadest sense, all education contributes to the skills needed for productive employment and is, therefore, vocational.

• National tables, synoptic tables drawn up and/or revised by national experts.
• Monographs treating practices or problems of interest which indicate innovative trends or likely future directions in a particular country.
• A systematic study which attempts as far as is possible and on the basis of the synoptic tables, to identify the problems of continuing vocational training measures and to work out a coherent system or functioning of continuing vocational training.

• the Symoptic Tables: these have been updated where necessary and after minor revisions to the presentation they have served as the basis for the tables of the present study:
• the Synoptic Tables of which the present study is an extension:
• the EUROSTAT Survey within the scope of FORCE, in as far as the results were available:
• the two years reports presented tot he Commission by the Member States under Article 11 of the FORCE resolution, in as far as they were available;

It is difficult to analyse precisely the origin of the volume although the publisher is given as Hobsons of Cambridge, England. It is clear that a great part of the volume is provided by the International Centre for Distance Learning at the Open University of the United Kingdom at Milton Keynes.

The publication credits seem to be apportioned equally to Hobsons and to the Open University of the United Kingdom and there is also a citation of the external programme of the University of London as a supporter of the publication.

The catalogue gives details of over a thousand institutions world-wide. It covers 125 countries. It gives schedules of upcoming distance learning conferences and events.

It gives information about distance and open learning groupings and associations. In addition there is a comprehensive series of advertisements from a wide range of international providers of distance education, seeking for enrolments from the world-wide market to which this publication will be distributed.

There are indexes for searching the data base by chapter or by country or by institution each entry gives:

• the name of the institution
• a cross reference to show where extra information can be found
• a description of the history and the activities of the institution
• a listing of the languages in which the distance learning courses are taught
• indication whether or not programmes can be studied by students living in other countries,
• detailed address, telephone number, fax, e-mail and www listing for each institution.

It seems that there is a compromise being brought about by the publishers here whereby distance learning is the focus of the catalogue but open learning is to be included at times but perhaps not at others. In general the cumbersome title 'Supported Open Learning' does not enhance the value of the volume.

The Hobsons presentation of European institutions runs from page 80 to 164 and is a valuable asset. A wide range of countries is covered and there are detailed profiles of about 30 institution in various European countries. Each listing is about 20 lines in length, with accurate detail on addresses and courses provided and the nature of the institution.

Unlike the Voctade study, this catalogue is not grouped specifically by countries and there are no national overviews nor are distinctions made between the institutional models being used by the institutions listed.

The volume will therefore provide to the students and institutional public a valuable complement to the Voctade study. The quality of the work is of a high standard. The International Centre for Distance Learning, run until recently by Dr. Keith Harry at Milton Keynes, is renowned throughout Europe and the rest of the world, as the leading institutional Distance Education database. The quality of this data base is shown in the Hobsons publication.

There are, however, differences from the Voctade study. Spain is, for instance, represented by only two institutions, CIDEAD and UNED, whereas the Voctade study refers to hundreds.

The detailed information provided on institutions listed will be of great value to researchers and to the public searching for courses and the listings of addresses, telephone, fax and email, www addresses of a thousand institutions world-wide is a service of great value.

An indication of the structure of the Hobsons catalogue is given here:

How to use the institution listings

Anatomy of an entry:

Name of the institution - Open Learning Institute of TAFE, Brisbane

Description of the history and activities of the institution :

The Open Leaning Institute of Tafe was established in November 1993 in recognition of the growing demand from government, industry and the community for flexible new approaches to the delivery of vocational education.

The Institute incorporates four independent units: Vocational education and Training. Centre for Strategic Leaders, Vocational Education and Training Technologies Centre, and Library and Information Management Services.

Course programmes include: accounting automotive studies, business, building, child care, civil construction, communications, drafting, electronics, justice administration, literacy, management, real estate management, rural technology, small business and water treatment.

Indicates whether or not programmes can be taken by students living in other countries:

Language of instruction: English Foreign students admitted: Yes

Open Learning Institute of Tafe

GPO Box 1326
Brisbane
Queensland 4001
Australia
Tel: (+61 7) 3259 411
Fax: (+61 7) 3259 4377
WWW: http://www.vettweb.net.au/oli/

How to find an institution:

1 Search by chapter

Entries are grouped into five chapters by geographical region.

Turn to the chapter that interests you and browse through it:

Africa
Asia and Australasia
Europe and the Middle East
Latin America & the Caribbean
North America

2. Search by country

Within each chapter, entries are grouped by country. To find entries for a specific country, consult the index of counties on page 224 and turn to the page number shown.

3. Search by institution

If you have specific institution in mind, start with the alphabetical Index of institutions on page 225 and turn to the page number shown for the institution.

This is a 650 page volume on the role of tele-communications in education. The book looks at the various scenarios for the use of telecommunications in learning.

In Chapter 2 the author details the technologies available. Chapters 3 to 7 deal with telecommunications and learning for the family, the professional, the school classroom, the post secondary sector and educational institutions. Chapters 7 to 9 detail the work of the educational technologist in the planning and management of telecommunications in learning. It also deals with designing and developing the work of educational technologists and the role of the educational technologist in providing service and leadership. Chapter 10 sees the WWW as the 'killer application' for tele-learning and details the future as described by Dr. Collis.

The book is written from the point of view of an educational technologist, dealing with the world of telecommunications in educational institutions. This comes as something as a surprise because in Europe, as Professor Hawkeridge of the Open University has shown in a series of recent studies, the field of educational technology has more or less moved from the centre of the education scene.

It has, Hawkridge argues, been replaced by distance education, by informatics and by information and communication sciences. So it is striking to find an educational technologist coming forward in 1996 with a range of provocative analyses on the role of the educational technologists in the educational future. This is particularly marked in pages 371 to 538 of this volume, in which the role of the educational technologist in telecommunications in learning is detailed.

The subtitle of the book 'The future of distance learning' causes some misgivings.

As 'distance education' is used in Europe and 'distance learning' is used in the USA to describe a sector of education for the provision of courses off-campus where students do not attend schools, colleges, universities, the use by Dr. Collis of the title 'The future of distance learning' gives the impression that she uses her volume to influence not only the field of telecommunications in education but also the field of distance education. It is a extraordinary factor that Dr. Collis's brilliant analysis of the telecommunications scene in 1995 (as indicated by this volume which is only just recently available in the bookshelves) already appears dated in certain areas, as the World Wide Web rapidly transforms the structures of virtual education.

This is a comment on a book which shows a superb knowledge of, and the ability to analyse and combine, data from telecommunications world-wide, and which gives numerous practical examples of hundreds of advanced level telecommunications course and systems.

Its vision is that the technology rich modern university has need to teach students on campus and at a distance by using advanced level telecommunications.

The breadth and competence of Collis' contribution can be seen from this extract: (1996: 544)

Convergence and bottlenecks: key words for tele-learning technology in the near future

Everyone reading the newspaper and popular magazines in 1995 sees articles about the convergence of data, video and voice through new forms of networking or through existing distribution channels such as cable. The 'hot phrase' in 1995 could well be 'in the information highway' (or its permutations, such as the German 'info-autobahn') although what the information highway is, or will be, probably varies from reader to reader and in differentiating fact from hype is difficult, the general idea of signal convergence is clear.

The information highway metaphor also involves a component set of analogies, these relating not to speed up to bottlenecks. We read about 'traffic jams', 'detours', 'highway under construction', 'problems with the entrance ramps', 'obtaining a driver's license', 'tollways vs highways', and many other such highway-related images, all relating to the problems facing those who wish to travel, full speed, down the information highway to where ever it is that it is leading. In this section, I make two sets of predictions about the technology, tele-learning, in the decade spanning the century change, one set relating to convergence and the other to bottlenecks.

Predications relating to the convergence of transmission technologies

It is clear (in 1995) that the technical possibilities for an integration of communication systems are rapidly underway. Gradually telephone systems are handling as much data as voice, and are able, through compression technologies and technologies such as ISDN and ATM, to use their existing wires to handle some integrated signals. The strength of existing telephone systems is that they are switched, symmetrical, and interactive. Their backbones are increasingly digital, although analog copper wires still deliver services that 'last link' - from the curb to the private user. It is this weak link especially which will improve in the near future. The suggestion has been put forward to remove this last link from the jurisdiction of the telephone companies and leave it open to private enterprise; perhaps this will speed the process if legislative protection of telephone companies becomes loose enough for this kind of competition. In contrast, many exiting cable systems are unswitched an distributive, built on a backbone of analog fibre and satellites, with analog coaxial cables into end-receiver sites.

It doe not need a prediction from me to speculate that in the future, these systems in terms of their architectures will be virtually identical. Such predications appear regularly in the media, both popular and technical:

…interconnected signal connection and routing points will feed services via fibre to the neighbourhood or curb. From these nodes, data enters home and businesses on a mix of coaxial cable, copper wire, and fibre to reach set-top boxes, computers and phones. Both systems (will be) switched and two-way, though not necessarily symmetrical or entirely digital. (Reinhart, 1994, p.48)

These networks, at least in their backbones, will be more and more fibre-optic cable, and within the next decade commercial and scientific force together will probably have pushed the convergence of full digital streams of video, sound, and text though a single wire, cable, or fibre (or even through the air via a mobile data network; see Brodsky, for a 1995 analysis of how to connect to the Internet via cellular phone throughout the US). The stream will flow not only though these fibres and cables, but through the mixture of old and new wires going into homes, schools, offices and businesses. The pipelines that carry these streams of signals will be switched, allowing information to be routed in two directions - in and out.

This contrasts with the Voctade study in which the state of the art in teaching at a distance is surveyed and analysed and in which a distinction is drawn between the students who chose to reside at, travel to or attend universities, schools and colleges and those who do not.

The Voctade project will produce a volume complementary to Ant, Kinzelé, Van Haecht and Walther's Access quality and volume of continuing training in Europe, and to Lasonen et al's Reforming upper secondary education in Europe so that taken together the three volumes will provide a survey and analysis of the sector of vocational education and training in the EU from the point of view of initial vocational training, continual vocational training and continual vocational life-long training at a distance.

All of these studies are essential for a comprehensive analysis and presentation of training in the European Union.

From a distance training point of view a highly valuable complement to the Voctade study is provided by the Hobsons' catalogue and directory of distance learning and supported open learning world-wide.

Finally, Dr Betty Collis's book Tele-learning in a digital world from the University of Twente, gives an in-depth theoretical and practical application of the use of telecommunications in education and studies the use of telecommunications both on campus and off campus.

Our copyright agreement gives the possibility for each of the three major authors to choose from the 1000 pages of the total Voctade, precisely what is considered relevant for an influential publication in his own language.

Thus, apart from the final Brussels deliverables and databases, it is intended that Professor Vertecchi and his teams at the University of Rome III will select what is required for a book published by an Italian publisher on Distance training in the European Union.

It is anticipated that Dr Fritsch and his staff at the Zentrales Institut für Fernstudienforschung in Hagen will select and write a book on Distance training in the European Union for publication with a German publisher.

It is intended that Dr Keegan and his teams in Ireland will write a book for publication in English on Distance training in the European Union.

Thus there will be three different books published from three differing selections of data provided by the three national Voctade survey and analysis teams and their contacts in the other EU countries.