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Country Size and Educational Change: Comparing Reforms of Skill Formation in Germany and Switzerland
(2021)
This conference paper argues that country size can play a crucial role in shaping the type of gradual change observed in collective skill formation systems. Collectively governed dual-apprenticeship training has its base in the industrial and crafts sectors of the economy and builds on the decentralized cooperation of multiple public and private stakeholders. As a result, it tends to be strongly path dependent, which favours gradual over radical forms of change. However, in recent years, dual-apprenticeship training has been increasingly challenged by the rise of the knowledge and service economy and the growing popularity of academic forms of education. In this context, I compare policy responses in Switzerland and Germany, which represent one small and one large collective skill formation system respectively. The historical-institutionalist analysis finds that the dominant trajectory of change is conversion in Switzerland but layering in Germany, with different implications for the future viability of collective skill formation.
"Everything was booked and ready to go for a two-day scientific workshop on education policies in Europe, scheduled for April 23-24, 2020 at the Hertie School in Berlin. The workshop intended to take stock of developments at the European, national and sub-national levels given the European Union’s wrap up of its decade-long Education & Training 2020 strategy (ET 2020), a framework for cooperation in education and training.
However, on March 12, we had to cancel the physical meeting on short notice due to the coronavirus crisis. In the following, we share our experiences with the subsequent transition to an alternative online workshop format that took place on April 23, involving 25 participants from 10 countries, and 16 paper presentations.
After sketching the workshop’s virtual setup, we discuss strengths, weaknesses, and challenges related to this digital transition. Furthermore, we explore the prospects of such online for-mats for future academic conferences and networking."
Against the backdrop of an increasingly interconnected world as well as the growing role of inter- and supranational organizations, policy transfer has become a widespread phenomenon, not least in the realm of education. While policy transfer research has focused predominantly on isolated education sectors, less is known about the overall institutional conditions that favour or inhibit policy movement in different education sectors. We argue that the conditions for cross-border policy synthesis, as a central form of policy transfer, differ systematically between the two main education sectors preparing for labour market entry, namely higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET). Taking the case of the cross-border region of France, Germany and Switzerland as an example, the institutional analysis shows that demand-side, programmatic, contextual and application conditions are more favourable towards cross-border policy synthesis in HE than VET.
Global trends, such as an ever-rising service economy, rapid technological change and digitalization, challenge skill formation systems. Focussing on European countries, this edited volume examines the variety of European VET governance and VET governance research. In particular, it provides insights into regional, local and decentralized governance at meso (e.g. professional associations) as well as micro level (e.g. learning arrangements). As such, the edited volume sheds light on the hitherto far less explored dimensions of VET governance and highlights challenges as well as opportunities in VET governance in the 21st century.
Die mangelnde Durchlässigkeit zwischen Berufs- und Hochschulbildung ist in den letzten Jahren bundesweit zu einem bildungspolitischen Kernthema geworden. Um den neuen Anforderungen der Arbeitswelt sowie individuellen Bedürfnissen gerecht zu werden, müssen die Übergänge im Bildungssystem erleichtert werden. Dieser Policy brief identifiziert mögliche Bedingungen für die erfolgreiche Etablierung durchlässiger Strukturen zwischen Berufs- und Hochschulbildung und leitet daraus konkrete Politikempfehlungen ab.
European cross‐border regions often display substantial political and economic activity. A key example is the French‐German‐Swiss Upper Rhine region, where three distinct national governance models come together. In this dynamic cross‐border industry cluster, traditional political‐administrative units often do not meet the functional needs of employers and (future) employees. This comparative institutional analysis refers to Varieties of Capitalism and Local Production Systems perspectives to explore the operations of this cluster. It finds two main patterns through which education and training are embedded in the cross‐border context: on the one hand, the leveraging of distinct institutional advantages in the different parts of the region and, on the other, the creation of cross‐border collective competition goods in the form of jointly provided educational institutions. Through these two strategies, local actors within the cross‐border industry cluster can turn their peripheral location into an institutional advantage.
The lack of permeability between the vocational and the higher education systems has become a central concern of education policy in recent years. To meet the demands of a modern work environment as well as the needs of individual workers, the transition between the different education sectors must be facilitated. This policy brief identifies conditions necessary to successfully establish permeable structures between the vocational and the higher education systems in Germany and derives specific policy recommendations from this.
This paper explores the extension of collective governance to sectors without collective governance tradition. We introduce the concept of state-led bricolage to analyze the expansion of the Swiss apprenticeship training system – in which employer associations fulfill core collective governance tasks – to economic sectors in which training had previously followed a school-based and state-oriented logic. In deindustrializing societies, these sectors are key for the survival of collectively governed training systems. Through a mixed-methods analysis, we examine the reform process that led to the creation of new intermediary organizations that enable collective governance in these sectors. In addition, we compare the organizational features of these organizations with the respective organizations in the traditional crafts and industry sectors. We find that the new organizations result from state-led bricolage. They are hybrid organizations that reflect some of the bricoleur's core policy goals and critically build on the combination of associational and state-oriented institutional logics.
This paper argues that country size can play a crucial role in shaping the type of gradual change observed in collective skill formation systems. Collectively governed dual-apprenticeship training has its base in the industrial and crafts sectors of the economy and builds on the decentralised cooperation of multiple public and private stakeholders. As a result, it tends to be strongly path dependent, which favours gradual over radical forms of change. However, in recent years, dual-apprenticeship training has been increasingly challenged by the rise of the knowledge and service economy and the growing popularity of academic forms of education. In this context, I compare policy responses in Switzerland and Germany, which represent one small and one large collective skill formation system, respectively. The historical-institutionalist analysis finds that the dominant trajectory of change is conversion in Switzerland but layering in Germany, with different implications for the future viability of collective skill formation.
Die Rolle der Gewerkschaften in der Berufsbildung: Ein Vergleich Deutschlands und der Schweiz
(2021)
In unserem Beitrag untersuchen wir die Rolle der Gewerkschaften in der Berufsbildung. Dabei zeigen wir, dass in Deutschland den Gewerkschaften eine starke (paritätische) Rolle zukommt. Deutlich schwächer ist die Stellung der Gewerkschaften hingegen im schweizerischen System, in welchem Arbeitgeberinteressen Vorrang gegeben wird. Unsere historisch-vergleichende Analyse geht den Gründen für die jeweilige Rolle der Gewerkschaften in Deutschland und der Schweiz nach. Unterschiede im nationalen institutionellen Rahmen sowie in den Machtressourcen der entsprechenden Gewerkschaftsbewegungen sind massgeblich dafür verantwortlich, dass in Deutschland und in der Schweiz nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg unterschiedliche Entwicklungspfade eingeschlagen wurden.
Higher education is typically viewed as offering the most assured pathways to secure careers and low unemployment rates. Yet, increasingly some groups, not least higher education graduates and their families paying ever-higher tuition fees, question the taken-for-granted contributions higher education makes to individuals and society. While participation rates have climbed worldwide, higher education systems continue to produce winners and losers. In the face of such challenges globally, which alternatives exist? A prominent possibility, pioneered in Germany, is ‘dual study’ programmes. These programmes fully integrate phases of higher education study and paid work in firms, illustrating how employer interests and investments are (re)shaping advanced skill formation. Co-developed and co-financed by employers, they could ameliorate the global trend towards saddling students with ever-higher education costs and student debt. Grounded in neo-institutional analysis, expert interviews, and document analysis, we analyse the genesis and rapid expansion of dual study programmes, emphasizing the role of employer interests and highlighting distributional conflicts in the new politics of advanced skill formation. Furthermore, we discuss lessons other countries might glean from a new form of work-based higher education in Germany. Reference: Graf, L./Powell, J.J.W. (2022) The Origins and Contemporary Development of Work-based Higher Education in Germany: Lessons for Anglophone Countries? In: Knight, E./Bathmaker, A-M./Moodie, G./Orr, K./Webb, S./Wheelahan, L. (Eds.) Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education. London, Palgrave, 125-144.
We distinguish between social and liberal collective skill formation systems and demonstrate that the German VET system is a social system with a strong (parity) role for trade unions in its governance. In contrast, unions play a considerably weaker role in the more liberal Swiss system, which privileges employers’ interests. We show that the different position of unions in VET systems has the expected consequences on a range of indicators. We further examine why unions are less important in Switzerland and show how, after the First World War, differences in the institutional environment and power resources of the union movements set Germany and Switzerland on different paths, which are still visible today.
Collective skill formation systems need to adapt to economic change, most notably the expansion of the service economy. However, deeply anchored in the craft and industrial sectors, these systems rely on neo‐corporatist institutions to undergird firms’ training provision, which are often missing in the service sector. We show that Switzerland's voluntaristic approach to interest intermediation provided the flexibility needed to extend vocational training to economic sectors without neo‐corporatist institutions. Yet, these adaptations resulted in the emergence of interest associations characterised by low levels of generalisability and governability. These new associations co‐exist with neo‐corporatist ones, rendering the overall training system surprisingly heterogeneous.
Interest in collective skill formation systems has been high for a long time, but recent structural economic and societal developments have led commentators to question their viability. In particular, the shift towards a knowledge economy creates a number of challenges for these highly praised systems of vocational training. These challenges relate to the growing importance of knowledge intensive production in advanced economies and with the accelerated pace of change due to innovation and globalization. What is more, these issues are compounded by coinciding developments in growing inequality and the emergence of multicultural societies. Can collective skill formation systems adapt fast enough to the needs of the knowledge economy? Can they continue to be as successful as they have been in the past in integrating youth in the labour market? Will employers be willing to participate in the delivery of vocational training in this new context? In this book, a world class team of leading experts on collective skill formation systems provide a thorough discussion of these and other questions raised by the shift to a knowledge economy. The book argues that collective skill formation systems remain attractive for firms and governments. However, continuous and profound adjustments will be needed if they are to fulfil their objectives in terms of equity and efficiency.
While the literature in skill formation systems has paid considerable attention to inter-variation between types of national skill formation systems and intra-variation among individual types as in the case of collective skill formation systems, less is known about the role of the European Union in establishing a European model of skill formation. Building on studies in educational governance and decentralised cooperation, this paper analyses the European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA) and explores its relationship to national skill formation systems. We analyse the emergence of a European model of collective skill formation and offer case studies of Ireland and France to understand how this European model relates to these two contrasting skill formation systems. Through deductive qualitative content analysis of official documents, we show that (a) the EAfA, in resembling characteristics of national collective skill formation systems, promotes the emergence of a European model of collective skill formation, and (b) that Ireland and France show signs of moving further towards adopting elements of a collectivist training model centred on apprenticeship training although mediated by path-dependencies of a liberal (Ireland) and statist (France) skill formation model.
Seit 1995 werden im Internationalen Handbuch der Berufsbildung (IHBB) wissenschaftliche Länderstudien zu den weltweiten Berufsbildungssystemen publiziert. Das IHBB ist ein Standardwerk für diejenigen, die sich für die Berufsbildung in anderen Ländern interessieren. Dieser Jubiläumsband zum 25-jährigen Bestehen des IHBB stellt aktuelle Befunde zu unterschiedlichen Themen und Fragestellungen aus der Vergleichenden Berufsbildungsforschung vor. Die Vergleichende Berufsbildungsforschung zielt darauf ab, Merkmale und Prinzipien der Berufsbildung in verschiedenen nationalen und kulturellen Kontexten zu beschreiben, zu verstehen und zu erklären. Deutlich stärker als die allgemeine oder hochschulische Bildung ist die Berufsbildung aus internationaler Perspektive von großen Unterschieden geprägt. Doch zugleich kann die Annahme formuliert werden, dass sich die Merkmale und Prinzipien der Berufsbildung im Zuge der wachsenden Globalisierung, Internationalisierung und Europäisierung tendenziell annähern – wie in anderen gesellschaftlichen Teilsystemen auch. Der Blick auf die Berufsbildung erfolgt aus diversen wissenschaftlichen Perspektiven, aus Erziehungs- und Berufsbildungswissenschaft, Politikwissenschaft, Soziologie und Betriebswirtschaftslehre. Mit dieser Auswahl wird einem inter- und multidisziplinären Verständnis Vergleichender Berufsbildungsforschung Rechnung getragen. Der vorliegende Sammelband schließt damit den Kreis zu den Beiträgen zu Methoden und Theorien des Vergleichs aus der Anfangszeit des Handbuchs.
Collective skill formation builds on a long tradition of cooperation between state actors, unions, and employer associations. As such, it can be considered strongly path-dependent, which also refers to deeply institutionalized arrangements reconciling economic and social objectives across public and private actors. Yet, given structural changes in the economy and crises on the training market, dual apprenticeship training has been increasingly challenged to maintain its balance between economic and social objectives. In this context, I analyse the expansion of short-track dual apprenticeship training, which represents a lower-cost, lower-qualification variant of traditional dual apprenticeships in Germany and Switzerland. In these countries—both of which are core examples of collective skill formation systems—such short-tracks were expanded starting in the early 2000s. However, German unions have heavily opposed this expansion, while Swiss unions have actively supported it. I carry out a comparative historical-institutional analysis to address this puzzle and unpack the respective change processes. Focussing on the dominant governance modes, I find that in Switzerland, the expansion of short-tracks is linked to path reinforcement in terms of a liberal corporatist system characterized by polite employer domination. In contrast, in Germany I observe that the developments around short-tracks are associated with a path switch from a social to a more liberal collective skill formation arrangement but one that is linked to rather ‘hostile’ employer domination.
This exploratory study is devoted in equal measure to the status quo and the future perspectives of the internationalisation of dual study programmes, a special hybrid form of vocational training and higher education developed in Germany. Building on the earlier DAAD studies ‘Sachstand: Duales Studium als Exportmodell’ (Maschke 2012) and ‘Modelle und Szenarien für den Export deutscher Studienangebote ins Ausland’ (Schreiterer and Witte 2001; see also DAAD/HRK 2012), the authors examine both the degree of internationalisation of existing dual study programmes in Germany (with special emphasis on students’ geographical mobility) and the possibilities and limits of systematically transferring this emergent educational model to selected countries. Two recent trends have helped put issues of internationalisation and the transfer of German education concepts higher up on the policy agenda again: first, the current economic situation in Germany, which has remained robust despite the recent financial and economic turmoil, reflected most importantly in comparatively low levels of youth unemployment. Dual vocational education and training models are seen as a key factor contributing to this success. Second, the concept of dual studies reflects an emergent model of skill formation at the nexus of initial vocational training and tertiary education. This innovative hybrid form is seen as having the potential to play a crucial role in the development of competencies for twenty-first-century occupations, not least against the backdrop of the pressing skills gap.
The Hybridization of Vocational Training and Higher Education in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
(2013)
Austria, Germany, and Switzerland are increasingly relying on hybridization at the nexus of vocational training and higher education to increase permeability and reform their highly praised systems of collective skill formation. This historical and organizational institutionalist study compares these countries to trace the evolution of their skill regimes from the 1960s to today‘s era of Europeanization, focusing especially on the impact of the Bologna and Copenhagen processes.
The corporatist-governed dual-training system has been a key example of collective governance in the German capitalist model. However, high-end dual-training is increasingly being offered within post-secondary higher education. Here, firms and universities, not chambers of commerce or trade unions, are the actors negotiating
the curricula of and access to a range of ‘dual-study programmes’. This article traces the emergence and expansion of this more firm-specific skills provision system, which diminishes the beneficial constraints for strategic cooperation and, in turn, the provision of ollective training standards and transferable skills. The case study builds on the ‘gradual institutional change’ taxonomy, while pointing to the potential benefits of using different modes of change in combination. Through analysing firms’ strategies to initiate change in an institutional grey area between established socio-economic spheres, the article shows how layering, conversion and drift can become interlinked and how each individual process can trigger and feed the next.
In both Germany and the United States, employers search for new strategies to recruit and train people in times of a dynamically evolving economy and rising educational expectations on the part of individuals. In this context, we observe the proliferation of work-based higher education programmes in both countries. This development challenges the common classification found in the political economy and educational policy literature that distinguishes between collectively governed dual apprenticeships in Germany and market-driven on-the-job training in the US. The paper proposes an alternative conceptualization that identifies significant similarities in the governance mode of work-based higher education across the two countries. Based on expert interviews and document analysis, the institutional analysis focuses on complex multi-actor governance constellations at the nexus of vocational training and higher education and explores consequences for contemporary policy-making in advanced skill formation.
Integrating International Student Mobility in Work-based Higher Education: The Case of Germany
(2017)
Dual study programs are hybrid forms of work-based higher education that have expanded very rapidly in Germany—a country traditionally considered a key model in both higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET). The continued expansion of these hybrid programs increasingly raises questions if, how, and why they may be internationalized. Although comparative research suggests that this could be challenging due to the uniqueness of the German education and training system, strong forces support internationalization. This study examines the current state and the future prospects of internationalization of such innovative dual study programs by focusing on student mobility, a key dimension of internationalization. We find growing interest in but still relatively little mobility related to dual study programs, whether among German (outgoing) or international (incoming) students. Based on expert interviews and document analysis, we extend existing typologies of student mobility regarding specific features of work-based HE programs. Furthermore, we discuss opportunities—at home and abroad—for increasing student mobility in this rapidly expanding sector.
Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht und vergleicht alternierende Ausbildungsformen in Deutschland und den USA. Traditionell wird in diesem Zusammenhang zwischen der korporatistisch organisierten dualen Lehre in Deutschland und den stärker marktgesteuerten apprenticeships in den USA unterschieden. Diese klassische Einteilung kann allerdings die Ausbreitung betrieblich-hochschulbasierter Ausbildungsgänge, die sich in beiden Ländern beobachten lässt, nicht adäquat erfassen. Der Artikel schlägt vor diesem Hintergrund eine (Re-)Konzeptualisierung für den Vergleich von alternierenden Ausbildungsformen in Deutschland und den USA vor. Wie die institutionelle Analyse zeigt, sind zwischen den betrieblich-hochschulbasierten Ausbildungsformen der beiden Länder signifikante Ähnlichkeiten vorzufinden.
Proposing an alternative to the American model, intergovernmental reform initiatives in Europe have developed and promote a comprehensive European model of skill formation. What ideals, standards, and governance are proposed in this new pan-European model? This model responds to heightened global competition among “knowledge societies” as it challenges national systems to improve. The authors thus compare this emergent European model with the historically influential models of Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States. To what extent does the European model resemble these traditionally influential national models? The authors report findings of a theory-guided content analysis of official European policy documents in higher education and vocational training from 1998 to 2010. They find that while the European model is a bricolage that integrates diverse characteristics of influential models, the ambitious goals and standards codified in the twin Bologna and Copenhagen processes in higher education and vocational training offer a new model to compete internationally. Dozens of countries now seek to implement these principles. This comparative analysis finds different visions for the future of skill formation on both sides of the Atlantic.
In Europe, the Bologna and Copenhagen Processes in higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET) are on the agenda, aiming to create a European educational area. Acknowledging important differences between countries, we compare the evolving relationship between HE and VET. We ask whether and how these two distinct organisational fields in France and Germany have changed in recent decades. Comparing institutional shifts, the article analyses whether long-standing differences in postsecondary education and training systems and the education/economy nexus in these two countries have remained stable. We argue that these countries’ skill formation systems have begun to converge, departing from their original institutionalisation paths. Thus, while the traditional typologies that contrast France and Germany have served as useful heuristic devices, they require revision to adequately represent incremental institutional change in these skill formation systems resulting from endogenous reforms and exogenous pressures due to Europeanisation.
Die USA, Deutschland, Frankreich und Grossbritannien stehen für jeweils unterschiedliche sowie international viel beachtete Modelle der Hochschul- und Berufsbildung. Es gibt keinen globalen Konsens darüber, welche Kriterien für den Erfolg nationaler Bildungssysteme gelten oder welchem Vorbild gefolgt werden soll. Gegenwärtige europäische Reformen, wie die Bologna- und der Kopenhagen-Prozesse, sollen die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Europas im Vergleich zu den USA erhöhen. Doch auf welchen zentralen Vorstellungen basiert das in diesen Prozessen verbreitete, im Entstehen begriffene europäische Bildungsmodell? Mit einer Inhaltsanalyse europäischer Dokumente (Deklarationen und Kommuniqués) gehen wir der Frage nach, ob die Ideale, Ziele, Legitimationen und Standards dieses Modells eher auf eine Amerikanisierung oder auf eine bricolage verschiedener aus Europa stammender Modelle hindeuten.
In recent years, the global market for higher education has expanded rapidly, while internationalisation strategies have been developed at university, national and European levels to increase the competitiveness of higher education institutions. This article asks how institutional settings prevailing in national models of capitalism motivate distinct national approaches with regard to the internationalisation, globalisation, and Europeanisation of higher education systems. While the university is defined as an organisational actor embedded in the higher education system, the higher education system itself represents an institutional subsystem within the national model of capitalism. An analytical framework is then developed on the basis of the Varieties of Capitalism approach to compare the internationalisation of German and British universities. Findings indicate that the relations between the various actors involved in the internationalisation of universities are based largely on market coordination in the British case. In contrast, this process in Germany relies more on strategic interactions between the various organisational actors in higher education. The development paths in the internationalisation of universities are found to be influenced by and reflect the specific mode of coordination in the respective higher education system and the national model of capitalism more generally. This comparative case study shows that recent conceptions of path dependence as well as conceptual tools developed in the Varieties of Capitalism literature, such as institutional complementarity and comparative institutional advantage, may be fruitfully applied to research on institutional change in higher education systems.
Ein institutionell durchlässiges Bildungssystem ist … eine grundlegende Voraussetzung für die Ermöglichung flexibler Bildungsbiographien und damit auch die Verwirklichung von gleichen Bildungschancen. Aber wie kann institutionelle Durchlässigkeit zwischen beruflicher und akademischer Bildung in Deutschland gefördert werden? Und wie kann dafür Sorge getragen werden, dass trotz einer Flexibilisierung die jeweilige Kernlogik von beruflicher und akademischer Bildung aufrecht erhalten wird, die von vielen Akteuren in ihrer Komplementarität als Träger eines erfolgreichen Bildungssystems gesehen werden? In dieser Expertise werden … die Teildimensionen institutioneller Durchlässigkeit genauer betrachtet: (I.) Zugang in Bildungsbereiche, (II.) Anrechnung von Erlerntem, (III.) organisationale Verbindung von Bildungsbereichen und (IV.) Umgang mit heterogenen Bedürfnissen (Abschnitt 2). Im nächsten Schritt wird ein Überblick über wichtige Initiativen und Regelungen zu Durchlässigkeit in Deutschland gegeben (Abschnitt 3). Es folgt eine kurze Vorstellung des methodischen Vorgehens und Begründung der Fallauswahl (Sektion 4.1). Darauf aufbauend werden drei (über-)regionale Initiativen, in denen Durchlässigkeit zwischen Berufs- und Hochschulbildung innovativ gefördert wird, genauer vorgestellt und analysiert. Dabei handelt es sich um die "Offene Hochschule Niedersachsen", die Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg und den Modellversuch "Duale Berufsausbildung mit Abitur in Sachsen" (DuBAS) (Abschnitt 4). Übergeordnetes Ziel ist es, anhand des Überblicks über durchlässigkeitsfördernde Programme, aber insbesondere auch durch die vertiefende Darstellung der regionalen Fallstudien, mögliche Bedingungen für erfolgreiche Durchlässigkeitsstrukturen zwischen Berufs- und Hochschulbildung, aber auch Barrieren zu identifizieren und daraus relevante Schlussfolgerungen abzuleiten (Abschnitt 5). (DIPF/Orig.)
Luxembourg exhibits strong transnational traits within its skills regime, defying any neat fit with existing educational typologies. It is characterised by its high-skill economy, cross-cultural characteristics, and central location within the European Union. As such, Luxembourg has developed a hybrid strategy of responding to labour market challenges, and by that, to skills development. Our institutionalist analysis finds that Luxembourg is involved in transnational skills development in three complementary ways: (a) employers in Luxembourg extensively recruit skilled workers at the European and global levels, but also (b) heavily rely on the distinct skills sets of cross-border commuters from the neighbouring regions of Belgium, France, and Germany (the Greater Region). Furthermore, (c) Luxembourg combines institutional elements of these neighbouring countries – representing distinct models of capitalism and welfare – within its own education system. In combining the specific strengths of different national skills regimes, institutional bricolage represents a core feature of Luxembourg’s highly stratified system of skill formation. Our analytical framework refers to two major comparative political economy perspectives, namely the welfare state and varieties of capitalism approaches, to analyse how Luxembourg has responded to deindustrialisation by creating a domestic transnational labour market.
La educación contemporánea está cada vez más vinculada a las fuerzas económicas globales, y, en esta medida, los sistemas educativos que tratan de influirse mutuamente se enfrentan de modo inevitable a importantes tensiones debidas a las distintas tradiciones, políticas y estructuras formales. Trayectorias del desarrollo de los sistemas educativos modernos ofrece una exhaustiva crítica teórica y empírica de los movimientos de reforma que pretenden homogeneizar la escuela en todo el mundo. Estos detallados estudios de casos, asentados en el conocimiento histórico y sociológico de diversas naciones y épocas, desvelan cómo y por qué las agendas convergentes y de gran envergadura chocan con las políticas institucionales, las prácticas y los currículos específicos. En contra de los modelos teóricos actuales que no consiguen abordar las potenciales presiones nacidas de esas exigentes evoluciones isomorfas, este libro esclarece las peculiaridades culturales idiosincrásicas que producen y, a la vez, problematizan los esfuerzos globales de reforma, y aporta una nueva forma de entender el currículo como manifestación de la identidad nacional.
As contemporary education becomes increasingly tied to global economic power, national school systems attempting to influence one another inevitably confront significant tensions caused by differences in heritage, politics, and formal structures. Trajectories in the Development of Modern School Systems provides a comprehensive theoretical and empirical critique of the reform movements that seek to homogenize schooling around the world. Informed by historical and sociological insight into a variety of nations and eras, these in-depth case studies reveal how and why sweeping, convergent reform agendas clash with specific institutional policies, practices, and curricula. Countering current theoretical models which fail to address the potential pressures born from these challenging isomorphic developments, this book illuminates the cultural idiosyncrasies that both produce and problematize global reform efforts and offers a new way of understanding curriculum as a manifestation of national identity.
Luxembourg has a well differentiated and highly complex national vocational training system. Like many other countries, Luxembourg has a binary secondary education system, consisting of the largely institutionally separate areas of classical general education (secondaire générale) and rather more practical vocational training (secondaire technique). In the school year 2012–2013, there were 12,958 pupils enrolled in general secondary education (33%) and 26,627 in technical secondary education (67%).
In the Luxembourg vocational education system at least four different qualifications can be distinguished; these are associated with very different possibilities for routes to subsequent education, such as access to higher education or training as a master craftsman. As compared to the other options, the régime technique provides the best opportunity to start university studies or, after one year of vocational training, to begin to train as a master craftsman. Of particular interest at the moment is the 2008 reform of vocational training, which is being implemented in stages between 2010 and 2015 and which is focusing more on skills and work processes, providing a more modular structure to the training and a more systematic combination of on-the-job- and school-based learning phases.
International influences on the Luxembourg vocational training system are visible at different levels: first, the Luxembourg system itself contains elements of the dual German system and the more school-orientated and predominantly state-organised French system. Secondly, international cooperation with neighbouring countries – especially cross-border dual training – is essential because of the country's small size and the small number of qualified vocational trainers. Thirdly, the predominantly German-speaking Luxembourg vocational training system faces major challenges because of the high proportion of immigrants. It is clear that the Luxembourg system contains a certain degree of 'mix-and-match' of different elements and educational principles, which contribute to the strong separation between different pathways in secondary education.
The vocational and practical training must not be a dead end for academically talented but linguistically disadvantaged pupils with an immigrant background, nor must vocational training be educationally unattractive for practically inclined and talented Luxembourgers for reasons of prestige. In order to formulate appropriate solutions in the context of these inequality-related problems, more international comparative research seems inevitable.
An additional area for in-depth analysis is assessing the impact of the reform of 2008 on vocational training. Currently, it is not clear what lies behind a number of potentially problematic developments within the system. For example, there needs to be discussion on whether the modularisation measures have led to an unintended fragmentation of vocational training, which would be contrary to the principles and uniformity of the various professions. In this context, there is also the question of how the number of modules could be reduced.
Summary: The German educational model is characterized by a histori-cally evolved strong institutional di-vide between the vocational educa-tion and training system and the higher education system. Yet, the con-temporary development of dual study programs implies the systematic combination of institutional elements from both subsystems. The rapid ex-pansion of these programs is based on the hybridization of organizational structures – outside of traditional structures – at the nexus of the tradi-tional organizational fields of voca-tional training and higher education.
This chapter suggests that one needs to look beyond national-level structures of industrial coordination to grasp how political pacts for vocational education and institutions for business-labor cooperation are being reinvented. Many believe that a revamping of vocational education for the post-industrial economy is necessary both to invest skills in services and to provide education for non-academic youth. The chapter discusses the relationship between industrial relations and vocational training, as well as challenges to the traditional governance mode in the policy spheres. It presents case studies of Denmark, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, which are based on secondary literature, document analysis, and expert interviews. The chapter explores how institutions for industrial coordination help or hinder efforts to renew vocational education for the post-industrial economy. In contrast, successive British prime ministers from both parties routinely avow commitment to vocational training with very little effect, although apprenticeship programs exist in some sectors.
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.
Die Organisationen der Arbeitswelt sind für die Berufsbildung unverzichtbar – sie sind die Motoren der Berufsbildung. Das vom SBFI unterstützte Leading House GOVPET: Governance in Vocational and Professional Education and Training hat nun erstmals umfassende Daten über die OdA erhoben und ausgewertet. Sie zeigt, dass sich seit der Berufsbildungsreform von 2002 die Anzahl spezialisierter Berufsbildungsorganisationen stark erhöht hat. Diese vereinen oftmals heterogene Mitglieder oder Träger und unterschieden sich in vielen Aspekten von traditionellen Unternehmensverbänden, Berufsverbänden und Arbeitnehmerverbänden.
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.
Cross-border skill formation and institutional bricolage: the case of Luxembourg and its neighbors
(2020)
The core argument of this paper is that Luxembourg’s location between the larger European nations of France and Germany is constitutive of skill development in this small state. On the one hand, Luxembourg continuously borrows educational models and principles from its two large(r) neighbors – which both represent major European models of skill formation. Thus, in Luxembourg’s skill formation system, ele-ments from these two ‘big’ states get ‘mixed,’ although they are not necessarily complementary. On the other hand, Luxembourg compensates for its small size through impressive levels of cross-border activity with neighboring subnational regions in France, Germany, and Belgium – including in the cross-border provision of training. It does this through institutional bricolage and direct cooperation with neighboring countries – in this way significantly enlarging the scope and capacities of its national education system.
Cross-border regions display significant economic, political, and cultural cooperation and represent a central feature of Europe — not least as innovation labs for the European integration project. A key example is the trinational French-German-Swiss Upper Rhine region. Each of the respective bordering countries displays a specific mode of regulation in VET. How do actors govern vocational education and training (VET) in this dynamic industry cluster in which distinct national political-administrative units do not overlap with the functional needs of employers and (future) employees? Relying on expert interviews and document analysis, this chapter offers a novel comparison of the respective subnational units within each cross-border region. The institutional study finds a key pattern through which skill formation is institutionalised within the cross-border context: the leveraging of complementarities between distinct educational institutions. In combining the specific strengths of different national skills regimes, VET stakeholders in cross-border regions are in a position to enlarge the scope and capacities of their skill regime far beyond national borders.
Skill development at the nexus of the French and German educational models: the case of Luxembourg
(2017)
Vocationalism
(2017)
Die derzeitig rasante Expansion dualer Studiengänge wirft zunehmend die Frage nach deren systematischer Internationalisierung auf. Unsere explorative Studie beschäftigt sich deshalb mit Stand und Zukunftsperspektiven der Internationalisierung des dualen Studiums. Dabei erläutern wir Gründe für die noch relativ geringe internationale Mobilität dual Studierender ("Outgoing" and "Incoming") sowie institutionellen Gelingensbedingungen zur Förderung derselben. Welche Modelle der Internationalisierung von dualen Studiengängen gibt es? Was sind die spezifischen Barrieren bezüglich der Internationalisierung dualer Studiengänge und wie können diese überwunden werden? Experteninterviews mit Akteuren aus dem Berufsbildungs- und Hochschulbereich sowie Firmenvertreter/ -innen stehen im Zentrum der vorliegenden institutionellen Analyse.
The Governance of Decentralised Cooperation in Training Systems: A Review and Conceptualisation
(2019)
Collective training systems are based on the cooperation of multiple public and private stakeholders in order to work. However, such cooperation is not self-sustaining and depends, for instance, on public policies, capable intermediary organisations and shared logics of action. In this conceptual paper, we first review the political economy literature on cooperation in collective skill formation and find that it has given insufficient attention to the systematic comparative analysis of cooperation at the decentralised level as well as the actual social practices of cooperation. The paper then develops a multidisciplinary analytical framework that allows future research to examine decentralised cooperation at the regional, sectoral and occupational levels more systematically. This framework is grounded in a synthesis of three strands of empirical research on vocational education and training, namely the comparative political economy literature on governance, corporatism and coordination, institutional labour and societal economics as well as the educational science literature.
Wachstum in der Nische. Mit dualen Studiengängen entstehen Hybride von Berufs- und Hochschulbildung
(2012)
[en] Die europäischen Bildungsminister beschlossen 1999 einen einheitlichen europäischen Hochschulraum zu schaffen; der so genannte Bologna Prozess wurde in Gang gesetzt. Mit der Unterzeichnung der Kopenhagener Erklärung nur drei Jahre später entschlossen sich die Nationalstaaten, auch im Bereich der beruflichen Bildung stärker zusammenzuarbeiten. Vor allem soll die nationale wie internationale Vergleichbarkeit von Bildungsabschlüssen verbessert werden. Beide Prozesse zielen darauf ab, Durchlässigkeit zwischen den organisatorischen Feldern berufliche Bildung und Hochschulbildung zu erhöhen, und zwar mit Hilfe von gemeinsam entwi- ckelten Standards wie dem Europäischen und Nationalen Qualifikationsrahmen, einem System zur Validierung und Anerkennung unterschiedlicher Lernformen, der Ermöglichung flexibler Bildungswege und der Einführung von Kreditpunkte- systemen (Powell/Solga 2008, 2010, 2011).
Heute, nach einem Jahrzehnt seit Beginn dieser Prozesse stellt sich die Frage, wie diese in den europäischen Nationalstaaten bisher schon gewirkt und wie sie das Verhältnis von Hochschul- und Berufsbildung verändert haben – Veränderungen, die mit vielfältigen Implikationen für die Bildungs- und soziale Mobilität einherge- hen können (Bernhard/Powell/Graf 2010): Die Frage nach Durchlässigkeit zwi- schen beruflicher und Hochschulbildung ist dabei insbesondere deswegen wichtig, da stratifizierte (Aus-)Bildungssysteme ohne Brücken zwischen einzelnen Bildungs- sektoren den möglichst gleichen Zugang zu Bildungs- und Beschäftigungsopportu- nitäten behindern.
The view of Amy Gutmann is that communitarians have been unsuccessful in undermining liberalism. However, she thinks that their work presents a welcome challenge to it. In her opinion, the communitarian criticism, rather than giving good reason to abandon liberalism, is of use in an attempt to discover a liberalism that successfully combines communitarian with liberal values. This paper examines the extent to which Gutmann successfully shows that communitarian values, like kinship, affection, or a sense of common purpose, have the latent but unrealized capacity to serve to improve liberalism.
This international comparative analysis of higher level vocational education examines devel-opments across five countries: England, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the USA. The au-thors consider how current developments address two key policy concerns: an emphasis on high skills as a means of achieving economic competitiveness and raising productivity; and the promise of increasing access for students hitherto excluded from higher education. We address these questions in relation to specific country contexts, in order to highlight similarities and differences in developments within the European arena and in a wider global context. We locate our analyses in an understanding of the different political and socio-economic conditions within different countries, which render particular reforms and innovations both possible and realiza-ble in one context, but almost unthinkable in another. We argue for the need to recognize and embrace diversity in provision, while using comparison across countries as a means of chal-lenging taken-for-granted assumptions of how things are and what is possible within individual country contexts. Such comparative analysis is a prerequisite for answering questions of policy transfer and learning from others.
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have traditionally provided a large proportion of their workforces with qualifications obtained in the dual vocational training system. However, due to the growing demand for abstract and codified knowledge, all three countries aim at increasing the permeability and individual mobility between the dual training sector and the higher education system. In this chapter we analyse the ways in which Germany, Austria and Switzerland have tried to establish institutional linkages between dual vocational training and higher education. We begin by discussing options for creating such linkages: (1.) upgrading of vocational education and training courses, (2.) introducing dual courses of study, (3.) facilitating attendance of general upper secondary schools for people with vocational qualifications, (4.) enabling the parallel acquisition of a dual vocational training qualification and a higher education entrance qualification, (5.) allowing admission to higher education on the basis of prior dual vocational training qualifications and a certain amount of work experience, and (6.) recognising prior learning as an element in higher education programmes. Our analysis shows that, recently, Germany has relied strongly on the admission to higher education based on vocational training certificates in combination with work experience. Switzerland and Austria are rather pushing the comprehensive introduction of programmes that enable the parallel acquisition of a dual vocational training qualification and a higher education entrance qualification. Finally, we raise questions about the risk of institutional ambiguity and institutional task overload
Education, skill formation, and training continue to be important areas of consideration for both public policy and research. This book examines the particular types of vocational training known as collective skill formation systems, whereby the training (often firm-based apprenticeships) is collectively organized by businesses and unions with state support and cooperation in execution, finance, and monitoring.
With contributions from leading academics, this book is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of the varying historical origins of, and recent developments in, vocational training systems, offering in-depth studies on coordinated market economies, namely Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Denmark. It also contains comparative chapters that analyse how these countries react to common challenges such as deindustrialization, labour market stratification, academic drift, gender inequalities, and Europeanization.
Whereas previous research has focused on the differences between various kinds of skill regimes, this book focuses on explaining institutional variety within the group of collective skill formation systems. The development of skill formation systems is regarded as a dynamic political process, dependent on the outcome of various political struggles regarding such matters as institutional design and transformations during critical junctures in historical development.
A number of European initiatives aim to create a European educational space, including vocational training and higher education. Following the logic of difference, we ask whether, despite their different institutionalization, these two sectors in France and Germany react similarly to the Europe-wide Copenhagen and Bologna processes. We compare the relationship between vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE), contrasting a number of influential typologies. Analyzing the current situation, we ask whether these differences in postsecondary education and training systems continue to exist.