International approaches to specialisation in vocational education

This report presents four country studies (Germany, the United States of America, Singapore and Australia), providing examples of approaches to specialisation within vocational education. For the purposes of this report, specialisation is defined as an instance in which provision of vocational education is focused on meeting the needs of a specific labour market, whether this is defined by employer, region or sector. Within each country study the authors have attempted to develop an understanding of strengths, challenges and success factors relating to the different approaches. They also examine the way in which vocational education is organised and governed in the different case studies, and to what extent the different approaches towards specialisation of education and training are a response to economic requirements and employer needs. In addition, the report considers national and regional elements to each approach, firstly by describing the context of the country as a whole, and secondly, by analysing regionally-based examples of specialisation, and giving consideration to the role played by central government in supporting the regional measures. Within this report, the following regional examples are used: Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, Pennsylvania in the United States of America, and New South Wales in Australia. Singapore is only considered at the national level, as it is a city state with no regional governments. Finally, the report is intended to provide informative examples of different ways in which specialisation works, and to give an indication of the particular social, cultural and economic contexts that contributes to success.

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