Search Results

Referring to historical debates and theories on vocational education and training (VET) since the 19th century and developments up to the present day, this paper considers the cultural conditions that were relevant for the emergence and legitimisation of vocational education and training and, in particular, the dual principle of apprenticeships in Germany and Switzerland. With reference to the theories of German Vocational Education Theory that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and the concept of vocation (Beruf), i.e. the merging of occupation-based work and education, as it was propagated in particular by Georg Kerschensteiner, the development and establishment of dual vocational training in Germany and Switzerland is reconstructed, in line with what became the institutional framework of apprenticeships in the two countries. It is above all the focus on education in schools through Bildung as a pedagogical concept reaching beyond what may technically be associated with skill formation for jobs, but also the understanding that VET should be given a reliable institutional framework, that were crucial for the emergence and establishment of the modern VET system in both countries.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The aim of this article is to investigate and compare the rise and fall of the phenomenon of vocational education and training (VET) that was specifically designated for women in both Finland and Sweden. We distinguish between two types of women's VET: one that includes female connotations within broad VET schemes targeting certain occupational sectors (but not pointed out as for women only); and another that is described in educational policy documents as VET specifically designed for women, as was the case in Sweden until the 1960s and in Finland until the 1970s. Our focus here is on the latter. These kinds of educational programmes have often been dismissed as representing domestic work (within the home) and thereby not included or marginalised with a few sentences, in research in the history of VET. However, in most Western countries, VET is and remains a gendered issue, and Sweden and Finland are no exceptions. Our focus is on initial VET specifically designed for the domestic sector, taking the following research questions as our starting points: What societal motives underpinned the emergence, establishment and development of domestic education as VET? How can we understand the dismantling of education targeting women in particular?

Edited excerpt from publication. Show less

In many countries, the contours of skills formation systems are traced back to early struggles over control of apprenticeship. This paper uses a curriculum lens to examine two distinctive policy moments in the history of formal apprenticeships in South Africa and to trace the legacy imprint of direct and indirect race-based exclusion as well as the imprint of educational deprivation in social class terms. The policy trajectory shows how an apprenticeship curriculum that had to cater for White working-class youth with low educational credentials led to a steady erosion of the formal knowledge component of the curriculum in favour of practical workplace experience. Alongside race-based exclusion, a neglect of science-based knowledge emerges as a lasting curriculum legacy of apprenticeship trajectories under conditions of segregation, Apartheid and their colonial precursors.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The article assesses the role comparative research plays from the 1980s in understanding vocational education and training (VET) systems in Europe, driven by political, economic, social and labour market changes. This research has been transformed, moving from national comparisons of VET systems, grounded in institutional theory and engaging with convergence versus divergence debates or human capital theory, to the varieties of capitalism approach considering groups of countries as representative of particular capitalist economies, to transcending national boundaries and emphasising capitalist diversity, governance and labour agency. Drawing on examples of research in which the authors and others have been involved, particularly on the construction industry, the article traces this development and shows how, despite governance weaknesses, comparative research has been enriched by the addition of a European Union level through the introduction of tools, such as the European Qualifications Framework.

Four dimensions are proposed - labour market, governance, education and competence - capable of identifying VET 'families' and intra-national variations and capturing the dynamics of VET systems. Through a multidimensional and multi-level framework, comparative VET research can provide a deeper understanding of how and why VET systems respond to the challenges of technological, economic and environmental change.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Going back to the theoretical framework of the 'Economics des conventions' (EC), more specifically the concepts of 'quality conventions' and 'worlds of production', the article deals with the transformations in shoe manufacture at the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. The advent of inexpensive mass products led to a re-evaluation of shoe quality against the background of a plurality of quality criteria. The focus of the contribution are the Swiss shoe company Bally and the Czechoslovakian rival Bat'a, both of which competed on the Swiss market. The cheap competition from the latter prompted the Swiss state in 1934 to carry out far-reaching economic policy interventions on behalf of the domestic shoe industry. In view of this conflict, the article examines the effects of the new production and management processes on the qualification of employees in both companies. With reference to the EC, qualification comprises the generation and attribution of qualities (competences, attitudes, behaviors etc.) to persons involved in the production process. In addition to processes of selection and training, these also primarily include those of socialisation and acculturation using specific company-owned (social) institutions. These areas of action, but also technologies, objects, buildings, including their architectural design etc., are understood as elements within the production chain that had to be coordinated in the context of specific 'worlds of production'.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This paper chronicles and analyses the expansion and contraction of the Australian apprenticeship system from 1985 to 2020. The system expanded from a small number of occupations, mainly in craft and manufacturing areas, to include many other occupations, notably in the different types of service sectors. The expansion was achieved primarily through a new type of apprenticeship, known as a traineeship, to augment the existing more traditional apprenticeships. Since 2012, the system has contracted considerably, and the participation rate of women has been affected disproportionately. The period of expansion of the system was book-ended by two major government-instigated documents, in 1985 and 2011. In 1985 a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Programs [report available in VOCEDplus at TD/LMR 85.649] proposed the introduction of traineeships, and in 2011 an Expert Panel on Apprenticeships [report available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 103.740] sought to reduce numbers through the application of specific criteria for government support, which primarily affected the occupations served by traineeships. Two sources of evidence are used to examine the expansion and contraction of the apprenticeship system: data from the national apprenticeship statistics collection maintained by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and key government reports over the 35 years. A brief overview of [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19-related developments in 2020 is included.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Mainstream approaches in comparative education have paid more attention to trends in donors' priorities than to policy processes in recipient countries, overlooking the agency of national governments in the institutional configuration of vocational education and training (VET) in developing contexts. Drawing on constructivist political economy and historical institutionalist frameworks, the paper analyses the role played by global development paradigms and ideas in the VET policy reforms adopted in Chile during the period between 1964 and 2005.

The study shows how the selective adoption of international development ideas in Chile was mediated by the ideological orientation of national government administrations in each historical period. It also shows how the main goals of VET policies evolved as the economy tertiarised and the demand for education grew among lower social classes. Finally, the paper identifies the military dictatorship as a path-shaping moment in the institutional configuration of VET in Chile, as it was able to impose a radical transformation of the system from central planning to decentralised market competition. This profound transformation generated institutional path-dependencies that restricted the capacity of future democratic governments to reverse the market model in VET.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The paper discusses the development of Spanish vocational education and training (VET) over the past four decades and the extent to which and ways in which joining the European Economic Communities in 1986 contributed to the transformation of Spain's VET system. The paper is structured in five sections: the justification of our choice of Europeanisation as a theoretical approach, a presentation of the system prior to accession into the European Union (EU), a description of the European VET policy defined in the Bruges-Copenhagen process, and an examination of changes in the Spanish VET at the turn of the century. The relations between the European and Spanish VET policies are then discussed in view of Europeanisation theory, particularly considering their specification in terms of the National Qualification Framework approved in 2002 and the European Qualification Framework (EQF) established in 2008 to examine adaptation and accommodation. The paper finishes by discussing how top-down and bottom-up trends based on the theory of Europeanisation have resulted in the current Spanish VET system adhering to its own national identity while converging with European recommendations.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less