Conceptualisations of the knowledge economy are highly contested. They range from descriptive accounts that associate it with a particular understanding of Post-fordism as well as with specific currents in Neo-liberalism that emphasise the salience of digitalisation and immaterial labour. In the case of the latter, there is a resonance with discussions of the fourth industrial revolution that address the changing nature of waged labour and its pedagogic requirements (Avis, 2021). Unger (2019), in a largely abstract account, provides a suggestive analysis of the knowledge economy that articulates with the previous conceptualisations. These overlapping constructions form a backdrop to the chapter whose specificity lies in its engagement with Higher Vocational Education (HIVE). The question the chapter poses serves as a provocation and is unanswerable given HIVE’s complexity. However, it enables an exploration of several issues: the relationship of the knowledge economy to STEM-ification, vocationalisation, employability and professionalism. These are set within a policy context in which there is an affinity between Post-fordist rhetoric and the knowledge economy which bear upon pedagogy, knowledge and critical practice. Importantly the issues the chapter addresses enable the problematisation of some of the tenets of the knowledge economy and the tensions graduates of VET/HIVE encounter when facing un-under-employment. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.
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