Book Review: India: preparation for the world of work: Education system and school to work transition

A concern with competitiveness is as apparent in India as it is elsewhere in the global economy. This interest rests alongside the oft repeated argument that calls for up-skilling and the on-going enhancement of vocational education and training (VET) so as to meet the needs of industry. Pilz, in this edited book, has brought together a number of papers that address Indian VET and its role in the preparation for work. The book is encyclopaedic in its coverage of VET, both formal and informal, and its various manifestations in India. Pilz invited each of his contributors to address seventeen key questions (figure 2 p21): these ranged from programme aims, institutional location, curriculum (compulsory as well as elective components), responsibility for design and implementation, the prescribed and enacted curriculum, pedagogy, through to learner expectations and so on.