Reconstructing policy transfer in adult and vocational education and training

Antje Barabasch,Sandra Bohlinger,Stefan Wolf

doi:10.1177/17454999211062825

Abstract

The article contributes to the understanding of educational policy transfer with a particular focus on VET and labour-market related training. A review of VET policy transfer literature is followed by a description of travelling VET reforms in adult and vocational education and training around the globe. Historical foundations of VET policy transfer are described with an emphasis on lending and borrowing from the global North to the global South. Finally, contemporary forces that influence global policy transfer, derived from personal observation, are described. We aim to contribute to a better understanding of policy cycles by depicting the influence of different dynamics on decision-making for policy transfer in VET. We argue that there can be various reasons to policy transfer, not just attractiveness of a particular educational system or approach, but also global industry demands for workforce development or the influence of big data and social media.

Highlights

In this article, we use the term vocational and adult education as a kind of placeholder term for the highly diverse understandable term of and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) (e.g. King, 2020)
As (Li and Pilz 2021: 2) express ‘“Policy transfer” can be defined in various ways, and this can be confusing – partly due to the nuances involved in policy transfer, and partly due to the fact that different definitions have emerged within different academic disciplines’
We show that policy transfer is not necessarily based on the attractiveness of a particular educational system or approach but can have various other reasons, such as global industry demands for workforce development or the influence of big data and social media

Summary

Introduction

We use the term vocational and adult education as a kind of placeholder term for the highly diverse understandable term of (technical) and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) (e.g. King, 2020). We use the term vocational and adult education as a kind of placeholder term for the highly diverse understandable term of (technical) and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) In vocational and adult education, policy transfer is a highly relevant topic with numerous stakeholders working in this field. At international level, it is predominantly the World Bank, the ILO, and the OECD while at European level, key stakeholders are the European Commission, the European Training Foundation (ETF) and the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) with each of the institutions being ‘a global governor in [their] own rights, and a member of a larger system of interstate and transnational relationships’ (Mundy and Verger, 2015: 9). As (Li and Pilz 2021: 2) express ‘“Policy transfer” can be defined in various ways, and this can be confusing – partly due to the nuances involved in policy transfer, and partly due to the fact that different definitions have emerged within different academic disciplines’

Objectives

Conclusion