The Certification of Competence

Abstract

This article examines the process of assessment and certification in occupational socialization within a theoretical framework proposed in a recent Urban Life article by Dingwall and Strong It argues that assessment is not an individualized and decontextualized assay of students but part of an interlocking set of contracts between a training organization, an occupation, and the rest of the society Research in this field needs to admit the question of how teachers justify letting students pass alongside the traditional study of student strategies for managing teachers