Employers versus teachers? Local authorities in relation to vocational education
The article is devoted to the issue of relations between local government and employers in terms of managing vocational education system. It concerns the issue of the ongoing public debate on the effectiveness of administering education by local authorities. The starting point of the presented study is the statement that entrusting local government with managing education including vocational education is not an optimal solution. In this context, the wider problem of public education system crisis in developed countries is taken into account. The article presents the example of the UK and solutions taken there aimed at implementation of “new public management” which is directed at the competition between the public, private and non-governmental sectors also with regards to education. The article includes as well model grasps of the forms of performing public tasks by the units of local government. The empirical basis of the article are the results of the research conducted on the employers and representatives of the governmental authorities of Konin sub-region. The attention is also paid to comparative data. The analysis of the gathered data leads to the conclusion that one of the main problems of job market in the whole country, as noticed by the representatives of both the public and private sector, is the maladjustment of educational system to the needs of employers. Moreover, the article attempts to approximate the social and institutional conditioning of the present situation of vocational education in Poland.