Three Worlds of Vocational Education: Specialized and General Craftsmanship in France, Germany, and The Netherlands

Jesper Rözer,Herman G Van De Werfhorst

doi:10.1093/esr/jcaa025

Abstract

SummaryOne of the biggest challenges in the design of educational systems concerns how vocational education and training (VET) systems are best organized for the labour markets of tomorrow. Do we need more specialized craftsmen with practical and specific skills that tightly link to specific occupations, or do we need a shift towards broader craftsmen with more general skills? Using microdata from France, Germany, and The Netherlands, we show that there are different ways by which the VET sector establishes school-to-work linkages. Linkages between school to work are on average stronger in systems with a dual VET sector compared to a full school-based model. However, an important reason why linkages are stronger is because of compositional differences, as in dual VET systems more students tend to be enrolled in strongly linking educational programs. Moreover, VET systems are far from homogeneous, and there are large differences in how strong educational programmes link to occupations within and between countries. In general, employment is highest among the stronger linking programs, and this effect is strongest in dual VET systems. These results suggest that there is still room for occupationally oriented schooling.

Highlights

One of the biggest challenges in the design of educational systems concerns how vocational education and training (VET) systems are best organized for the labour markets of tomorrow
We examine whether the labour market returns vary over the life cycle, contributing to the growing number of studies that examine whether there is a trade-off between early career advantage and late career disadvantage of occupation-specific skills (e.g. Brunello and Rocco, 2017; Golsteyn and Stenberg, 2017; Hanushek et al, 2017; Forster and Bol, 2018; Rozer and Bol, 2019)
School-leavers from the vocational education and training system are most clearly aligned with detailed occupational destinations in Germany (M 1⁄4 0.870), followed by the Netherlands (M 1⁄4 0.799), and France (M 1⁄4 0.710)

Summary

Introduction

One of the biggest challenges in the design of educational systems concerns how vocational education and training (VET) systems are best organized for the labour markets of tomorrow. The vocational training sector is still living up to its expectations in delivering smooth transitions from school to work, suggesting that the VET sector still deserves a solid place in contemporary educational systems (Wolbers, 2007; Bol et al, 2019). In countries without a strong VET sector such as the United States, scholars call for the adoption of a German-style occupationally specific education system, in order to improve the preparation of youngsters for the world of work (Hoffman, 2011).

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Discussion

Conclusion