UK policymakers have high ambitions for vocational education and training (Leitch, 2006; UKCES, 2009). However, criticism of UK VET has been longstanding (Keep and Mayhew, 1988). Recently, the Wolf Review of 14-19 vocational education (2011) highlighted many issues and made 27 recommendations for UK VET. Yet, little has been said of how the UK can build on the good quality vocational education that does exist (Fuller and Unwin, 2011). Team UK placed fifth at WorldSkills London 2011. This paper presents country specific data from the MoVE international project. 43 UK competitors in 37 skills areas completed the online survey. The findings highlight that being stretched to learn more skills is an important feature in vocational success for Team UK and that intrinsic motivation is higher in WSL competitors than the non-team members. These findings have implications for job design and training.
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