ABSTRACT
It is necessary to transcend the fruitless debates about which discrete subjects or topics to include in or exclude from the core curriculum, such debates leading inevitably towards a hardening of established academic positions and the politics of pressure groups and lobbies, while generally bypassing the wide range of curricular and pedagogical issues facing educational systems (Gorter, 1986; Skilbeck, 1990). A more strategic and creative approach is required, in order to address the relationship of the curriculum to educational goals, objectives and values, to account for the perspective of the learner and to ensure that there is a considered response to changes and issues in the broad social-cultural-economic context of education. Certain dimensions and aspects of the core curriculum are particularly salient in the vocational debate. These include core competences and skills, giving rise to a set of issues bridging the ‘schooling’ and ‘working life’ models of education and training.
