“Education is not a preparation for life but life itself”—John Dewey.

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write. If He is to be happy” “What a man can be, He must be”—Abraham Maslow.

1 Introduction

Arguably John Dewey was one of the momentous philosophers, psychologist, educational thinker whose authoritative writing about educational philosophy is expressed in his 1916 book Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education [1]. In his book he dedicated chapter twenty-three to write about issues surrounding vocational education at that time due to societal changes that accompanied the industrial revolution. The focus of this paper is to analyse that aspect of the book that talks about vocational aspects of education, by relating the main philosophical ideas of the chapter to Maslow’s theory of motivation and to establish the key relationships between the two theories to support contemporary vocational education and training. The overarching goal of the paper is to illuminate stakeholders understanding of vocational education and training in a way that will positively influence their vocational choices. The remaining parts of the paper is structured in the following manner: Contemporary vocational education and training section gives a brief explanation concerning the various of forms of vocational education and training, characteristics, and the challenges. The section on Dewey’s vocational aspect of education provides a brief summary of  the key ideas from Dewey's vocational aspects of education. Themes were later formulated from the key ideas. The section on Maslow’s theory of motivation presents the main principles on which the theory of motivation operates and the main arguments and findings from earlier studies on the theory’s strengths and weaknesses. The section synthesising Dewey’s vocational aspects of education and Maslow’s theory of human motivation uses dialectical approach to synthesise the key ideas identified in Dewey and Maslow’s theories to underscore the relevance of both theories on understanding vocational education and training. The concluding section contains the summary of the key ideas and discussions from the previous section and recommendations to vocational education and training stakeholders.

It is noteworthy that the contributions of these two theories to academic literature are significant and there is no doubt the application of these theories to vocational education and training will further enhance our understanding of the concept of vocation in modern times. For instance, what are the benefits of pursuing a particular vocation? (Individual’s reward), and what can those who pursue a career in certain vocations give back to their community or society? It is imperative that questions like these deserves philosophical discourse that expand our knowledge about vocational education and training and the motivation behind a person’s career choice or goals. Again, it is also important that we examine these questions in the light of the individual members of society’s dreams and aspirations, thus, considering what individuals want to achieve in life? Since such individual achievements in the end reflects the collective achievements of society. The hard part is that sometimes people miss choosing the right vocation and others may not have the strong inclination to pursue their chosen vocation. French philosopher Simondon’s concept of individuation undergirds both Dewey’s vocational aspect of education and Maslow’s theory of motivation by pointing out the problems that can arise concerning the individual’s ability to make the right decisions regarding their choice of vocation. Individuation is about the individual forming a stable personality or becoming aware of their self-identity and been able to distinguish themselves from other people [2, 3]. The process of individuation is a complex phenomenon that occurs throughout the individual’s lifetime. The individual must find their personal identity in distinct stages of life, and therefore it becomes difficult for the individual to truly gain self-awareness. Simondon writes that any substantial being that exists in reality has already undergone or is already undergoing a process of individuation through which the singular individual is formed [2]. In the context of vocation, the individual realising their true self-identity in various stages of life is an important part of been able to choose and pursue the right vocation. Poor individuation can result in low satisfaction with one’s life, low self-worth, problems with motivation and goal setting and even poor decision making which can affect a person’s choice of vocation [3]. Undoubtedly, everyone is unique in their own way and can contribute to society’s development but unless the individual is able to identify their interest, abilities, and talents, based on their personal characters such abilities and talents would be underused. So, for this paper, we argue that the ideas and concerns raised by Dewey on the meaning of vocational education, its place in society, its opportunities and challenges will be best understood when it is examined in the light of Maslow’s motivation theory which focuses on understanding human motivation.

In chapter one of his book, Education as a Necessity of Life, Dewey defines education in its broadest sense as the means of social continuity of life. His definition points to the purpose of education, thus, the growth and survival of human beings in society. He further asserts that the primary ineluctable facts of the birth and death of each one of the constituent members in a social group determine the necessity of education [4]. On one hand, Dewey stated the sharp contrast that exists between the immature new-born members of the societal group who are “its sole future representatives” and the maturity of the adult members who have already acquired the knowledge and customs of the group. He stresses the necessity that these immature members be not merely physically preserved in adequate numbers, however must be initiated into the interests, purposes, information, skills, and practices of the mature members: otherwise, the group will cease its characteristic life [4]. The primary concern of Dewey in his definition and perspective of what education is supposed to achieve in a person’s life, is that society’s interests, purposes, information, skill, and practices are inculcated in the immature members to ensure social continuity.

The chapter on vocational aspects of education is written under three themes, the meaning of vocation which Dewey defines as nothing, but such a direction of life activities as renders them perceptibly significant to a person, because of the consequences they accomplish, and its usefulness to his associates. Secondly, he wrote about the place of vocational aims in education and cautions educators to not conceive vocational guidance as something which leads up to a definitive, retrievable, and complete choice which makes the education and the chosen vocation more rigid and hinder the individual's continuous growth and survival. Thirdly, he establishes the opportunities and challenges of vocational education, of which he refers to the increased esteem, in democratic communities, of whatever has to do with manual labour commercial occupations and the rendering of tangible services to society. He emphasises how vocations have become tremendously important because of industrialization at that time.

Dewey sort to establish that vocations must be something that can provide the basic needs of the person engaged in that vocation. which is to say it can provide certain significant benefits to the person engaged in such activities and the society such activities are undertaken. The key emphasis is that such activity must continue to grow and must require creativity and innovations to withstand the challenges of a changing society. Here, Dewey’s notion of what vocational education should offer draws parallels with the American Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s theory of human motivation. Maslow’s theory asserts that human beings are eager to engage in certain activities provided they can satisfy their hierarchy of needs. Individuals will be motivated to make a vocational choice if such vocation can help the person’s growth and survival. In 1943 and 1954 Maslow organized his theory of human motivation around five hierarchical levels which were later depicted in a pyramid shape with the pressing human need starting from the bottom to the top of the hierarchy [5]. He postulated that human beings are motivated to accomplish certain needs; however, some needs are of higher priority than others. According to Maslow, our first need is the basic needs such as food, drink, shelter, air, etc. which are important for our bodily function and survival as humans, second is our safety needs which is our desire to be safe and secure in our environment, third is our need for love, friendship, and company, our fourth need is our need for social recognition, status and respect from others and our final need he termed as self-actualization which is our need for growth and development [5, 6]. For a person to reach the self-actualisation stage, the person’s vocation plays a critical role in reaching that stage. Therefore, we can argue that human motivation for survival and growth does influence our choice of vocational careers or engagements. Even though Maslow later in the 1960s and 1970s expanded his theory to include a seven-stage model (cognitive needs) and eight-stage model (aesthetics needs) the focus of this paper is on his initial five-stage model.

Dewey and Maslow both share ideologies that are useful for the development of vocational education and training. By relating both theories we can understand the nature of vocation, and how motivation plays critical roles in people’s pursuit of vocational career goals. For example, an individual’s understanding of the features, benefits of certain vocation are likely to influence his or her decision to choose and pursue such vocation with strong inclination. UNESCO defines contemporary vocational education and training as “those aspects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding, and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economic and social life” [7]. The definition vocational education and training covers a wide range of vocations and contributes to various sectors of a country’s economy and the social life of people through the acquisition of employability skills that helps students to transition from school to the workplace. Vocational education and training’s contribution to economic growth and societal development around the world is well acknowledged in its employment provisions, in the sense that it has helped reduce poverty, inequality, and social exclusion in many parts of the world [8, 9].

2 Contemporary vocational education and training

Vocational education and training refer to a range of learning experiences that are intended to prepare its participants for the world of work and usually takes place in a myriad of learning contexts such as educational institutions and workplace learning, apprenticeship [10]. Vocational education and training provides learners with employability skills needed for a particular job and can also serve as a prerequisite for entering further education and training for a particular job [10, 11]. Vocational education and training uses formal learning, non-formal learning, and informal learning, with formal learning being a set of organized learning for which the outcome results in certification [12]. The non-formal and the informal even though maybe well organised or less organized activities that take place within or outside the workplace does not lead to certification and usually encompass work-based training and on-the-job training and it is also the most common form of vocational education and training in most societies [12]. The nature of vocational education and training makes its curriculum very important especially since it is supposed to serve as a linkage between education, and employment [13].

Vocational education and training has suffered many challenges in the past and in this present time [14]. Despite the enormous benefits vocational education and training offers to the public around the world, vocational education and training still faces several challenges globally, especially in developing countries [15]. Some of the well-known challenges facing vocational education and training today are inadequate infrastructure, inadequate human resources, difficulty in career progression, gender inequality, stigmatization from the public which makes it unattractive and often leads to weak participation from stakeholders, and the phenomenon of mismatch between acquired skills and labour market needs also results in graduate unemployment [14,15,16,17] However, it must be emphasized that these challenges depend on the country or region as different countries and regions face their peculiar challenges. Young and Horden contend that the educational element of vocational education should be given greater priority through the vocational curriculum and employers must recognise that their future profitability is dependent on human resource investment otherwise vocational education will continue to suffer the fate of low esteem as in the past [14]. The challenges vocational education and training faces today will even get worse in the future if proper measures are not implemented to mitigate these challenges. The issues of globalization, rapid technological change, demographic changes and climate change continue to shape the world of work [18]. New skills are required for work every day and the consequence for vocational education and training graduates is unemployment when they failed to meet these new job requirements. In the same vein, vocational education and training's already existing workers who fail to be re-educated or upskilled and equipped with the new skills required for their jobs become redundant or experience job displacement [19]. Considering the challenges facing vocational education and training, it is likely to disengage people from pursuing a career in vocational education. This is especially true if people perceive vocational education and training to be something they cannot depend on for their career survival and growth in society. These were some of the concerns that Dewey raised in his writing on the vocational aspects of education.

3 Dewey’s vocational aspects of education

This section of the paper presents the salient points of Dewey’s perspectives on vocational aspects of education in his book Democracy and Education, An Introduction to the philosophy of education. Much like today, during the time Dewey wrote about the vocational aspect of education, the world was experiencing the great industrial revolution. The changes that were occurring because of industrialization at that time influenced his writing on the subject. The world today is once again experiencing a new form of industrialization (industrial 4.0).

The vocational aspects of education  consist of three themes: the meaning of vocation, the place of vocational aims in education, and present opportunity and dangers. On the meaning of vocation, Dewey acknowledged the conflict of philosophic theories that focuses on the debate of the proper place and function of vocational factors in education. He stated there is a great gap between the remote and general terms in which philosophic ideas are formulated and the practical and details of vocational education. The philosophic dualisms surrounding the whole subject of vocational education led to his definition of vocation. He defined vocation “as nothing but such a direction of life activities as renders them perceptibly significant to a person, because of the consequences they accomplish and also usefulness to his associates” [20]. In simple terms, life activities are of significance to a person when a benefit is received or achieved and of significance to others. Dewey’s definition not only focuses on one’s career but one’s whole life activities since for Dewey, limiting vocation to an individual career amounts to aimlessness, capriciousness, the absence of cumulative achievement, inexperience on the personal side, idle display, parasitic dependence on others on the social side. He emphasized that the term occupation is a concrete term for continuity which includes the development of a person's artistic capacity of any kind, a person’s special scientific ability, and a person being an effective citizen as well as professional in business occupation. In his view, we must not limit the idea of vocation to the occupations for which physical commodities are produced and the perception that vocations are distributed exclusively and limited to only a person. To make his point clear, he posits that people have a variety of callings, therefore a person must be effective in all his or her callings. Occupation over time loses its meaning and becomes a routine to keep busy with something that might not be of interest to others. Nobody is just an artist and nothing else and if such a notion prevails such a person is a less developed human being. He expounds his argument by saying a person must at some point become a member of a family, he must have friends and companions. Again, he argues that a person’s vocation as an artist is only a specialised phase of his diverse and variegated vocational activities, therefore the individual must be efficient in it and be associated with his or her other callings. For instance, a person must have experience, he must live, if his or her artistry is to be more than a technical accomplishment. This implies an individual’s vocation must continue to emphasize skills or technical methods at the expense of meaning [20].

Secondly in his position of the place of vocational aims in education, Dewey sort to establish the role of vocational education in achieving vocational objectives by considering vocational education for the distinctive activity of an individual. Dewey considers occupation to be the only thing that balances the distinctive capacity of an individual with his social service. He argues that knowing what one is fitted to do and pursuing such a calling is the key to happiness and if an individual fails to discover his or her true calling in life or is not able to fulfil his or her true calling because of being forced by a circumstance into an uncongenial calling would be tragic. For Dewey, a right occupation simply means that person's aptitudes are adequate to play and work with minimum friction and maximum satisfaction and by this, a person is useful to the community because of the service they render to the community. Therefore, it is the role of education to discover the abilities of a person and to train him or her to excel because such development will harmoniously benefit society [20]. Furthermore, Dewey argues that occupation is a continuous activity having a purpose. The point here is that education through the occupation method provides the conditions necessary for conducive learning because it engages a person in learning by doing. He stresses the fact that a career must continue to progress and requires observation and ingenuity because it is through these that obstacles can be overcome, and discoveries can be made. A career is important because it helps us in organizing information and ideas for knowledge and intellectual growth. Again, Dewey contended that the only adequate training for occupations is training through training. Also, Dewey stresses that the educative process is at its end and that the only sufficient preparation for later responsibilities comes by making the most of immediately present life, which applies in full force to the vocational phases of education. Dewey was saying that vocational education is like all other forms of education which must continue the path of progress. For Dewey, if education is aimed at a particular occupation and becomes a strict preparation for future employment then the chances of the person's present development are eliminated [20].

The final part of Dewey’s vocational aspects of education elaborated on the present opportunities and dangers of vocational education at that time. According to Dewey, the education of the past was purely vocational in the sense that it was distinctly utilitarian. It was purely learning from experience, what can be called an apprenticeship and from school to work was normal. He further noted that the dominant classes in society at that time education was vocational in the sense that vocations or employments involved manual labour, labouring for a reward or money, or rendering a service to a specific person. But for Dewey all other activities that a person engages in are vocational. Therefore, he argues that the “business of directing social concerns, be it political or economic and whether such act is done in a period of war or peace is as much a calling as anything else.” Secondly, vocations that are specifically industrial have gained tremendously in importance in the last century and a half. Manufacturing and commerce were no longer domestic and local but were beyond borders. Manufacturing and commerce employed or gave many people their vocations. Industrialization brought about the problem of social readjustment that occurred through capital and labour. The changes that industrialization brought about affected the relationship between schooling to industrial life [20]. Thirdly, Dewey realized that industry has ceased to be an empirical rule of thumb procedure handed down by custom but has become technological which is purely based upon machinery resulting from discoveries in mathematics, physics, chemistry, bacteriology, etc. This influenced the demand for education in these areas to acquaint workers with the scientific and social bases and bearings of their pursuits become imperative because those who are unable to acquire the new knowledge and skills eventually sink to the role of appendages to the machine they operate. Fourthly, the pursuit of knowledge has become, in science, more experimental, less dependent upon literary tradition, and less associated with the dialectical method of reasoning, and with symbols. Dewey expressed how the subject matter of industrial occupation has become more of science than it used to and now poses a challenge for greater opportunity for a person to familiarize himself or herself with the method by which knowledge is made [20]. Finally, Dewey wrote that the advances which have been made in the psychology of learning in general and of childhood all fall into line with the increased importance of industry in life. Dewey concluded that based on the five points the solution to education at that time lies in a gradual reconstruction of school materials and methods to utilize various forms of occupation typifying social callings and to bring out their intellectual and moral content. The reconstruction must relegate purely literary methods including textbooks and dialectical methods to the position of necessary auxiliary tools in the intelligent development of consecutive and cumulative activities [20].

4 Maslow’s theory of human motivation

As rational human beings, we are motivated by certain needs according to Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation. These needs help us to engage in certain activities that benefit the individual and society. In 1943, Maslow authored his book on the theory of human motivation by psychologically observing the behaviours of individuals to understand what motivates us as human beings. This is popularly known in the field of psychology as the hierarchy of needs. Evidence from different fields of research points to the contribution of Maslow’s theory of needs in management, psychology, education, etc. Therefore, the application of the theory to vocational education and training will benefit the development of vocational education and training in ways that contributes to workers' and students’ growth and survival.

The main concept of Maslow’s theory of need is that human needs are hierarchical and are characterized by the domination of one need over another. Simply put, the first need must be satisfied before the second, third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. Taormina and Gao [21], found that the satisfaction of each higher-level need is dependent on the satisfaction of the need that preceded it in the hierarchy, supporting the theory’s concept of dominance. In the same vein, Yuewei and Xi [22], study on a test of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs concept by a correlational among adult learners’ result reveals that lower-level needs can predict the next higher-level need and recommended Maslow’s theory of needs should follow the low–high to test human needs. Some studies, however, have opposed this idea of dominance. For instance, Mathes [23], study on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a guide for living results indicated partial support for the hypothesis that people unknowingly go through life using Maslow’s hierarchy as a guide for living. Mathes, based on the partial results for the hypothesis suggested a revision of Maslow’s hierarchy to be three levels; physiological needs, belongingness, and self-actualization since security needs and esteem needs on the hierarchy were considered superfluous.

Nonetheless, other studies on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs reveal the significance of the theory in certain fields of vocation. Benson and Dundis [24], argue that to motivate health care employees to do more with fewer resources due to the ever-changing technology, leaders should make employees feel secure, needed, and appreciated. Because for health care employees, Maslow’s model provides a better understanding of individual employees’ needs and that notwithstanding the ever-present and growing technology, meeting the needs, and giving employees training makes the worker more secure, enhances their feeling of belongingness, and self-esteem whiles providing the opportunity for self-actualization. Lussier [25], also stated that Maslow’s theory of motivation provided a practical theory of management and a broad psychological and social theory that explains the changing social values and needs based on perceived post-war affluence and social movements.

The focus of this paper’s discussion, however, is not particularly on the dominance that each level follows but it is to analyse and synthesize Maslow’s theory of needs significance with Dewey’s vocational aspects of education to understand how these needs influence and motivate individuals’ decision making in terms of their choice of education, training, and career. As mentioned from the beginning, Maslow’s theory of needs is depicted in a hierarchical pyramid order with the less pressing needs starting from the bottom of the pyramid and the most pressing needs at the top of the pyramid. It is expected the lower needs at the bottom of the hierarchy must be satisfied before the individual can proceed to satisfy the next level of needs.

At the bottom of the hierarchy is the physiological needs that relate to human needs that are vital for a human being’s survival. It is the precondition for moving on to the next need on the hierarchy. Such needs include food, water, shelter, sufficient rest, clothing, sex, etc. Human beings will do anything to satisfy this need because their very existence depends on it. Therefore, it is reasonable to say an individual will be motivated to pursue the kind of education and career that can satisfy their physiological needs [26]. Safety needs are the second need, and it relates to a person's desire to be safe in their living environment. These needs include the need to be safe from violence, fear, theft, have job security, safe from diseases and sickness, etc. The satisfaction of these needs obviously will influence a person’s choice of education and career because human beings desire the kind of job that provides financial security, safer work environment and even to live in a safer home [26].

The third need on the hierarchy is love and belongingness needs which relate to human interactions or communications. Love and belonging needs cover a person’s social life such as friendship, intimacy, and social affiliations in the workplace. The individual has the desire to satisfy these needs because such needs are about their social recognition in the society. Therefore, such needs affect their choice of education and career [26]. The fourth need is what Maslow classifies as esteem needs. It relates to the individual’s desire to be self-confident, independent, be respected by fellow human beings in society. The belief is that one is valuable and deserving of dignity and a person is confident in his or her ability to grow and have accomplishments, such accomplishments become the person’s contribution to society [26].

Self-actualization is the final need and at the top of the hierarchy. It relates to an individual’s ability to fulfil his or her full potential and to become what he or she wants to be. Such needs include continuous education and training, the development and the improvement of skills or talents such as cooking, arts, learning a new language, music, etc. For Maslow, if we can satisfy these needs, we continue to (if not always) feel discontent and restless in our pursuit for more satisfaction unless a person discovers what he or she is fit to do. “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be happy. What a man can be, he must be” [26].

McLeod [5], argues that Maslow’s five-stage model can be categorized as deficiency needs and growth needs. The first four needs from the bottom of the pyramid he labelled deficiency needs and the last need at the top of the pyramid he labelled growth needs. The underlying principle of Maslow’s theory of needs is that everyone has the ability and the desire to climb up the hierarchy to the top of the pyramid (self-actualization) but unfortunately progress or growth is often affected by the failure to achieve the satisfaction of the lower-level need. For example, the loss of the job of an individual is likely to hinder the person’s ability to progress to the next level of the hierarchy. Figure 1 represents Maslow's five staged hierarchy of needs.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Represents Maslow's five staged hierarchy of needs. Source: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. From Maslow, A. H (1970). Motivation and Personality (2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row. Reprinted by permission of Harper Collins Publishers

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5 Synthesizing Dewey’s vocational aspects of education and Maslow’s theory of human motivation in support of vocational education and training

This section of the paper discusses the main philosophical ideas that have been identified from Dewey’s writing on vocational aspects of education together with Maslow’s theory of motivation. Both writers’ ideas are useful for vocational education and training in the sense that Dewey express what vocational education should offer the individual and society and that is growth and survival. Maslow however helps us to understand this survival and growth since his theory explains what motivates human beings’ vocational career choice which is also survival and growth. From Dewey’s writing on vocational aspects of education, five themes: source of livelihood, sustainable livelihood, soicial recognition, social contribution, academic and career progression are identified and these themes are analysed through the lens of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in support of vocational education and training.

The first is, vocation is a source of livelihood. Livelihood here refers to the means an individual can attain the necessities of life such as food, clothing, shelter, water, etc. Dewey’s definition of vocation “as nothing but such a direction of life activities as renders them perceptibly significant to a person, because of the consequences they accomplish and also usefulness to his associates,” gives us a clear understanding of what vocation is supposed to accomplish in a person’s life. That vocation should be able to provide the individual with some benefits that will be of significance to the individual and the community as well. The idea of vocation as a source of livelihood also highlights the basic most pressing needs of Maslow’s theory of needs, the physiological needs. These are the human needs that are essential for survival, and it includes all forms of livelihood. One of the primary features of vocational education and training is the transition from school or training to the workplace where the individual gains immediate employment after school or training. Individuals who pursue a career in vocational education and training are expected to gain employment after graduation with that employment serving as a source of livelihood or survival [27]. If a career in vocational education and training fails to employ graduates, and to provide them their livelihoods, then it is likely to demotivate people from pursuing a career in vocational education and training.

Second is livelihood sustainability, that vocation as a source of livelihood must be sustainable. Since vocation is seen as a person’s calling it must be useful to the person in diversified ways that are sustainable. Dewey established that vocation should not be limited to an individual’s career alone because such limitations lead to aimlessness, capriciousness, and the absence of additional experience on the personal level and idle display, parasitic dependence on others on the social level. He, therefore, considers vocation to be a whole life activity and not just a single career. That means a person’s variegated vocation should sustain the individual in terms of job security, financial security, and other social security. For example, a chef can cook while at the same time writing about his creative delicacies for publication and earning additional income from it as a part-time job. These statements can be related to Maslow’s safety needs in the hierarchy as a person’s desire to have the kind of job that can sustain their existence. von Kotze [28], proposed that planners and providers of vocational education and training should follow three new approaches. The first is that vocational education and training should focus more on the informal economy rather than the formal, secondly, work should be defined as livelihood activities rather than work being defined as employment and thirdly, vocational education and training should be for sustainable livelihood rather than sustainable development.

The third point to consider from Dewey’s vocational aspects of education is social recognition. His assertion that a person must at some point become a member of a family and have friends and companions can be attributed to social recognition. Maslow wrote that human beings desire to be loved and appreciated by family, friends, colleagues, and companions. This can be  related to Maslow’s love and belonging needs on his pyramid of human motivation which involves interpersonal communication in our home, workplace, and community. People desire to be loved and to belong to the right association for social recognition. These desires can influence a person's choice of career goals and life aspirations. Vocational education and training career in this respect should provide the kind of social recognition that will attract people to it. Vocational education and training’s history indicates that such social recognition is limited and needs improvement. As Young and Hordern [14], pointed out vocational education has endured low esteem and poor quality due to the influence of social class inequalities that stems from the cultural structures in our society. Gericke [29], also stated for example in Germany occupations are an indicator of social identity and that even if the nature of work matches the interest of young people, the decision to pursue an occupation with unfavourable affiliation will lead to social cost (lack of recognition) so much so that it strongly influences vocational decision-making. To buttress Gericke’s point, vocational psychologist over the years have tried to substantiate the psychological impacts of social class on an individual’s career decision-making processes and outcomes [30]. For example, research shows that social status was predictive of career decision making self-efficacy and that students choice of career was based on greater economic resources, social power and social prestige [31].

The fourth point to consider from Dewey’s vocational aspects of education is social contribution. For Dewey, a person’s vocation is the only thing that balances the distinctive capacity of the individual with his or her social service. In other words, a person’s social service represents his or her social contribution to society and it is based on his social contribution that he or she will feel self-respected or self-valued. The idea of social contribution can be  related to the first of Maslow’s higher needs, the esteem needs on the pyramid. According to Maslow's fourth need on the hierarchy, human beings desire self-respect or self-value and for this purpose, a person’s career or vocation must have the distinctive capacity to balance his personality and his social service. A key emphasis that Dewey makes concerning vocational education is the individual ability to discover their capabilities and pursue such capabilities in a way that leads to self-value and self-respect in society. Individual’s ability to individuate and to form a stable personality is vital to his or her social contribution. However, the failure of an individual to discover their true vocation would be tragic because such circumstances will limit their self-esteem. Poor self-esteem will demotivate and affect the person’s career goal setting. Vocational education and training's ability to provide decent livelihoods plays a significant role in fulfilling a person’s esteem needs especially when the individual can discover and pursue their true calling in a manner that leads to continued growth.

The last point to consider in Dewey’s writing on vocational aspects of education is career and academic progression. Dewey stated emphatically that occupation is a continuous activity having a purpose. His assertion was because a career must continue to progress, and it requires observation, and ingenuity to overcome obstacles and make discoveries. To buttress his point, he further explained that the only adequate training for occupation is training through training. This part of Dewey’s writing can be related to Maslow’s higher need on the pyramid which is self-actualization. Self-actualization relates to an individual’s desire to fulfil his or her potential and to become what he or she desires to be. Such needs according to Maslow include having access to continuous education, and the ability to develop and improve upon existing skills or talents. For vocational education and training to be attractive to people, the opportunity for career and academic progress must be considered paramount in vocational education and training programs.

Vocational educational and training's ability to offer its pursuers a reliable source of livelihood and not just livelihoods but a sustainable livelihood and to make social contributions to society has the potential to reduce the challenges humans face in meeting their basic needs. Again, vocational education and training providing the platform for social recognition, career, and academic progression has the potential to erode some of the perceptions of low esteem attached to vocational education and training. Human needs motivate their choices in life; therefore, vocational education and training programs or careers end goals must prioritize human needs. Table 1 shows the relatedness between the identified themes from Dewey's vocational aspect of education and Maslow's theory of motivation.

Table 1 Shows the relatedness between the identified themes from Dewey's vocational aspect of education and Maslow's theory of motivation
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6 Conclusion and recommendations

This paper sort to analyse Dewey’s writing on vocational aspects of education to identify and relate the main ideas from the book to Abraham Maslow’s theory of needs in support of Vocational Education and Training. Upon the critical content analysis of Dewey’s vocational aspects of education, five themes; sources of livelihood, sustainable livelihood, social recognition, social contributions, academic and career progression were identified as key ideas that are similar Maslow’s physiological needs, safety needs, love, and belonging needs, esteem needs and self-actualization which serves as motivation for people’s vocational career goals. Dewey argues that vocation is a calling, and it covers a person’s entire life activities, Maslow however, argues that his theory of needs explains human motivation for engagement in life activities. The findings from this study demonstrates how a person choice of vocation is paramount to his/her survival and growth. However, choosing the right vocation is a complex task, one that requires the individual’s self-realisation to be able to determine his or her competences. To borrow Dewey’s words, the term vocation is a concrete term for continuity which includes the development of a person’s artistic capacity of any kind, a person’s special scientific ability and a person’s being an effective citizen as well as professional in business [20]. In this regard, it is important that a person carefully consider their choice of vocation in terms of economic and social sustainability. Societal and economic changes have redefined the concept of work in today’s economy, one that is different from the industrial revolution, but it has not change what vocation is expected to offer to the individual and society. A key factor that influenced Dewey’s writing on the vocational aspects of education in his book at that time was the advent of the industrial revolution where machines were gradually replacing workforce in the production of goods and services. Dewey rightly emphasized in his book how Industrialization brought about the problem of social readjustment in a way that affected capital and labour at that time. The changes that industrialization brought about affected the relationship between schooling to industrial life. Today, factors such as globalization, technology, demographic change, and digitalization demand social readjustment because the changes these factors bring have a profound impact on capital and labour. These factors require a new set of skills and training if vocational education and training can successfully provide its pursuers decent and sustainable livelihoods, help them make contributions to society, receive recognition for their achievements, and to progress both in academics and careers.

According to UNESCO, [32] vocational education and training encompasses education, training, and skills development that covers a wide variety of occupational fields, production services, and livelihood. This implies that vocational education and training employs a greater number of people in different sectors of a country’s economy. Therefore, if vocational education and training is to excel in its role in modern society, then vocational educational stakeholders must consider the following measures. Firstly, the planning, design, and implementation of vocational education and training programs in various levels of institutions should focus on the factors shaping the world of work such as demographic change, climate change, technology, globalization, to reduce the occurrence of skills mismatch in the labour market. The focus of vocational education and training programs offered by various institutions should not only be an acquisition of operational skills but also transferrable skills. Skills such as analytical and critical thinking skills, people skills, teamwork, oral and written communication, time management, and leadership are essential to personal development and career success. Additionally, there should be a strong vocational education and training campaign in especially developing countries that promotes and encourage the youth to participate in vocational education and training programs, especially in areas that are of interest to their national economy. Finally, for contemporary vocational education and training to be attractive and to be pursued by the young generation, the ideas expressed in Dewey’s vocational aspect of education and Maslow’s hierarchy of motivation should be considered by vocational education and training stakeholders when making vocational education career choice.