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[Vocational education and training] VET has been specially considered suitable for youngsters who have lived some kind of educational exclusion process, and part of the modern VET systems were developed in response to social needs by political or citizenship movements. Spanish education system had got an early school leaving rate higher than the European average, so it's a critical issue in terms of educational policy in which a different set of educational, social and political actors are involved. Based on a case study, we focus on quantitative description of the City Council's Socio-occupational Centres Network (CSL Network) as part of those local programs address to achieve educational and social inclusion, which emerged in response to social needs by synergetic interaction between Local Administration and the commitment of organized citizens.

In this context, this paper aims to know how these programs are working, what are the experiences for teachers and for students. Taking into account this framework and based on case study, we aim to describe a City Council's Socio-occupational Centres Network experience in Spain. CSL Network focused on young people who dropped out of schools and set up training alternatives for them, increasing - over time - the pre-existing official training system. On average, every year, 500 students follow different courses offered by CSL Network. Those students belonging to the most socially disadvantaged sectors are over-represented. Situated in the border between the education system and the non-regulated training system, CSL Network offers a significant way to increase the reception capacity of the Spanish education system, and students increase their possibilities to access a job.

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This article aims to understand the adoption of Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) in Chile as a policy to affect Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Drawing upon a Cultural Political Economy (CPE) approach for the study of policy adoption, this qualitative study focuses on three cases where business associations have adopted SSCs. The analysis is based on sectoral documents, press articles and semi-structured interviews with sectoral and national actors. This study's findings illustrate that the adoption of SSCs in Chile has resulted from the combination of the persuasion strategies from a national policy entrepreneur, the neoliberal educational and political conditions at the national level, and the economic and organisational circumstances at the sectoral level. This case is particularly interesting, given the leading role of private actors in adopting these bodies. Thus, this article offers further insights into the debates within the literature of TVET policymaking, particularly the role of non-state actors.

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Two ideological-based perspectives structure the French vocational path since the 19th century: training in school or in firm. The process of schooling of the initial vocational education and training (IVET) tips the scale in favour of the school training. Three models of training shows how this tension takes places in context of teaching and training: vocational high school, apprenticeship training centre, and production school. Through 8 monographs of schools, the study analyses the educative and training environment of teachers and their students by using the theory of conventions. The analysis of the actors' logics shows that arbitration between the framework of the academic convention that dominates French IVET and the vocational convention varies according to the training models, and to characteristics of the training situation (context, trade, type of public, trainer's background).

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Horizontal segregation based on gender is still present inside Initial Vocational Education and Training (hereinafter, IVET) programs. Year after year in Spain (MEFP, 2014, 2020), the distribution of IVET students within professional branches, is in some branches, clearly related to gender. This is similar in other European countries. The purpose of this study was to find statistical relationships between the variable sex and the vocational decision-making of IVET students. To achieve this, a descriptive study was carried out using a mixed method - qualitative and quantitative - and including the application of an ad hoc questionnaire addressed to IVET students from a county located in Galicia (Spain). The sample was made up of 267 IVET students - of a total population of 676 - being 61 per cent men and 39 per cent women.

The results show that the distribution of the surveyed students according to the professional branches showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between this variable and sex (c2 = 171.142; p. = .000). With regard to the knowledge that students declare about other IVET programs located inside their reference territory - and to which they could have access instead of their current program - it is found that there is a link between the perception of such knowledge and sex (c2 = 8.001; p. = .005). Concerning the reasons for choosing the current IVET program, if we analyse each of them according to the sex variable, we can affirm that reasons linked to vocation and randomness are both related to sex. This is not the case with the rest of the reasons given. In conclusion, it seems very important to persist in investigating male and female decision-making in relation to their vocation and further studies, being conscious that the reality of sex segregation is something that goes beyond and covers different spheres and experiences of the person.

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Digitalisation is affecting vocational education and training (VET) in a multitude of ways and at various levels. In both Switzerland and Germany, stakeholders in VET are responding to the serious technological changes with numerous initiatives and programmes. In this paper, we identify the major differences in policy strategies on state/public policy level, compare some major recommendations and actions of the core stakeholders and identify signs of a changing understanding of their roles in VET. The project basis [is] a qualitative method approach. There is a large thematic overlap in the topics that actors in Switzerland and Germany address in the context of digitalisation. Nevertheless, it becomes clear that the organisation of the legal governance of the system opens up different scope for action. The similarity of the two VET systems due to their cooperative approach is mitigated by this difference. Within the scope of the project on the role of stakeholders in times of digitalisation, it was possible in particular to identify an intensification of cooperation between the stakeholders combined with a discussion centring on a readjustment of the role of some actors.

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Vocational education needs to keep up with the latest technology and machinery currently used within work practice in order to educate employable students. High-fidelity simulators are proposed as one solution to this problem. This paper aims to investigate how the introduction and use of high-fidelity simulators impact teaching practices in VET at upper secondary schools from a teacher perspective. This paper is based on interviews and informal conversations with ten VET teachers from two schools as well as several hours of observations of their teaching practice. Drawing upon a sociomaterial perspective on learning and practice (Schatzki, 2002), the findings show that the simulation training was very loosely connected to the teaching practice when it was introduced. However, due to the development of the simulator, as well as teachers' increased knowledge of what can be simulated and how to enact their pedagogical intentions with simulation training, the teaching practice changed. The emerging practice required a rearrangement of teachers' work, doings, sayings and new relatings.

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The purpose of the study is to find an answer to the question: To what extent teachers' knowledge of entrepreneurship affects the overall college ecosystem? To achieve the main purpose, we used longitudinal studies and made pilot projects in three colleges in Russia in different cities. Our research was conducted in several steps: (1) collecting the data to understand the weaknesses and needs of the target audience; (2) build the necessary competencies of teachers; (3) capture the opportunity to develop an ecosystem that can teach students with entrepreneurial competencies.

The results of the research showed that the knowledge of entrepreneurship is crucial for teachers if they want to build a friendly ecosystem for students' development. This study reaffirms and enriches the understanding of entrepreneurial learning in [technical and vocational education and training] TVET organizations. With the help of this new educational program, we helped teachers to understand entrepreneurial learning (some of them want to be an entrepreneur after the pilot program) and students to gain the necessary competencies for future life and work.

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In the Swiss dual initial vocational education and training (IVET) system, quality plays an important role. Among the quality characteristics are perceived role stress, which can differ depending on school and professional apprentices' experiences. The aim of this contribution is to highlight different dual apprentices' profiles based on their perceptions of role stress as a characteristic of their IVET's quality. Using latent profile analysis, we uncovered four apprentices' profiles reflecting different perceptions of role stress. We examined the profiles in terms of their sociodemographic composition, perceived satisfaction, and professional and school engagement. The results show that the profile in which apprentices report the lowest role stress is the one with the highest average levels of satisfaction and professional engagement. This contribution underlines the central aspect of role stress perceived by apprentices and informs about the importance of considering it in the quality of IVET.

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Empirical research on Vocational Education and Training (VET) emerged in the 1960s parallel to the dual VET system, as we know it today. Since then, relatively little research has been done on VET politics. Contributions to this field of research come mainly from educational researchers and political scientists, but also from sociologists and economists. The extent to which research itself is related to politics in VET has not yet been systematically investigated. This paper explores this connection proposing the concept of depoliticisation as an explanatory link by comparing the relation of VET politics and research today and in the 1960/70s. The paper argues (1) that VET politics is carried out in depoliticised way today, (2) that depoliticisation can be understood as a mode of doing politics, (3) that VET politics was highly politicised in the 1960/70s, (4) that the concept of depoliticisation can be applied to research on VET as well and (5) finally that politicisation and depoliticisation of research corresponds to the current predominant mode of VET politics.

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The aim of this paper is to analyse comparatively, at regional level, the current state and recent evolution of a wide range of indicators of Vocational Education and Training (VET) at regional level in Spain. This will make it possible to characterise and better understand the variety of regional VET systems, including the Initial VET (IVET) and Continuous VET (CVET) subsystems within Spain. Systemic analysis of Spanish VET indicators leads to a selection of 54 indicators, which are then compared at regional level using k-means clustering. This approach identifies similarities and differences across all of Spain's 17 autonomous communities.

The results show that 19 indicators explain the main differences between autonomous communities, which form two distinct clusters. The VET-specific socioeconomic and employment indicators are the ones that most influence both cluster formation and inter-cluster differences. These are followed by the IVET indicators, where distinctions by level of education, STEM occupational group and state ownership of VET schools stand out. While it is necessary to analyse the differences between clusters in greater depth, the results suggest that Spain's regions are split into two distinct groups in which the respective VET systems are developing and advancing at different speeds. These groups are the result of the regions' territorial and structural idiosyncrasies, making an understanding of this situation essential to future policy-making.

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