TY - JOUR A1 - Di Maio, Gina A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Wilson, Anna T1 - Torn between economic efficiency and social equality? Short-track apprenticeships in Denmark, Germany and Switzerland JF - European Educational Research Journal N2 - Educational institutions, especially those facilitating vocational education and training (VET), face the challenge of combining social goals, such as the provision of quality education for a large section of the population, with rising economic utility demands. However, we know little About how VET systems institutionalize these different demands and, further, how social and economic goals are actually institutionalized in VET. Our article aims to unpack this puzzle by analysing shorttrack dual vocational training programmes (short-tracks) in Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. These short-tracks combine on-the-job and school-based training, targeting candidates who face difficulties entering full-length dual programmes. Thus, short-tracks are prime examples of training programmes located at the nexus of economic and social demands. In our comparative institutional analysis, we bridge the political economy of collective skill formation and sociological institutionalism literatures. We find that the institutionalization of goals in VET not only differs between countries but that there is also considerable variation within national VET systems. Our analysis reveals that VET regulations, regional and sectoral standards, and the legitimization of key actors can differ greatly in their institutionalization of social and economic goals. KW - Vocational education and training, comparative political economy, social equality, short-track vocational training, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, sociological institutionalism Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904119869561 SN - 1474-9041 VL - 18 IS - 6 SP - 699 EP - 723 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Di Maio, Gina A1 - Graf, Lukas A1 - Wilson, Anna T1 - Embedded flexibilization and polite employer domination: the case of short‑track apprenticeships in Switzerland JF - Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training N2 - Liberalization pressures challenge countries to adapt their training systems. This is particularly relevant for coordinated market economies with firm-driven but collectively governed apprenticeship systems. Recent literature has identified different liberalization trajectories for these countries. For instance, segmentalism describes the increasing influence of large employers in Germany. In Denmark, state agencies manage increased flexibility in training through embedded flexibilization. In this paper, we identify a new form of embedded flexibilization, characterized by polite employer domination. We find this trajectory of liberalization in Switzerland, which represents another training system heavily based on firm involvement. We illustrate our argument with the example of short-track apprenticeship training, which has been expanded in all three mentioned countries in response to ongoing liberalization and deindustrialization pressures. In Switzerland, the relevant reform was initiated by the state while business adopted a rather passive role initially. Yet, state actors eventually stepped back and delegated key competences to employers, which implies that the employers’ camp asserted their interests in the end while tolerating some concessions for the benefit of disadvantaged groups. Our process tracing reveals that policy makers used layering to implement short-tracks that enhance social inclusion, while simultaneously increasing the scope of employer cooperation. KW - Skill formation systems, VET, Liberalization, Institutional change, Shorttracks, Two-year apprenticeships, Process tracing Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40461-020-00088-7 SN - 18776337, 18776345 VL - 12 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 21 ER -