Research

Research

CDA is a self-funded research & think-tank network. We aim to secure the best conditions for sustainable degree apprenticeships through research and analyses. Early research findings suggest that the sustainable implementation of degree apprenticeships (DAs) requires:

  • Strong institutional leadership is essential including clarity that DAs are ‘core business’
  • That DAs are developed from the ground up as apprenticeship programmes
  • Better, more effective, sustained and systematic collaboration with employers
  • A specific focus on systems and practices that enable recruitment and progression
  • An effective learning culture in the workplace
  • The workplace as the source of learning not just a site for its application
  • Effective and comprehensive integration of on and off-the-job learning
  • Authentic assessment that reflects working practices and work-integrated pedagogies
  • Quality assurance approaches that maintain professional and academic standards but also accommodate the contribution of multiple stakeholders

Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning

CDA is linked to UVAC’s peer reviewed journal, Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning (HESWBL).

HESWBL’s editorial team:

  • Professor Tony Wall, Editor-in-Chief – previously Deputy Editor of the journal
  • Mandy Crawford Lee, Associate Editor – Director of Policy & Operations at University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC)
  • Dr Ali Rostron, Associate Editor – senior academic at the University of Liverpool Management School
  • Dr Steve Lambert, Associate Editor – senior academic at University of Chester

Forthcoming Special Issues

  • Transforming the perception of apprenticeships in England: professional careers in the public sector – Guest Editors Prof Darryll Bravenboer (Middlesex University) and Mandy Crawford-Lee (UVAC)
  • Equality-diversity-inclusion in apprenticeships and work-based learning – Guest Editor Gilmar Queiros (University of Hertfordshire)
  • Lifelong learning, skills and value – Guest Editors Kirstie Donnelly MBE (City & Guilds Group) and Mandy Crawford-Lee (UVAC)
  • International practices of work-based learning – Guest Editor Dr Jon Talbot (University of Chester)