This year's double special issue is the 17th consecutive annual publication, the latest in a long and successful series of specialist articles to be published in Education + Training. The first double special issue appeared in 2000, an innovative and widely acclaimed publication, much praised by vocational education and training (VET) researchers, practitioners and policy makers across the industrially developed and developing nations, as well as in countries in economic transition. It comprises 14 articles which, individually and collectively, offer a critical perspective on diverse aspects and contexts associated with E&EE. It is designed to be convergent, rather than divergent in nature and it seeks to make an empirically rigorous contribution to the development of conceptual, contextual and practical aspects of this exciting topic of research.