Vocational Education And Training System Research Articles

Fostering sustainable development through adolescent engagement in vocational education

In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of vocational education and training (VET) in linking education outcomes to employment needs, with a focus on integrating industry-specific internships into VET curricula. This research highlights a disparity in the perceived value of VET, especially among women, indicating a broader sociocultural issue. Results indicated a gap in understanding VET's role in sustainable development, suggesting a need for public awareness and policy reforms. We recommend modernizing VET systems to align more closely with economic and societal needs, involving the private sector and enhancing vocational curricula with practical experience. This study provides actionable insights for educational policy and administrative reform.

Designing an International Large-Scale Assessment of Professional Competencies and Employability Skills: Emerging Avenues and Challenges of OECD’s PISA-VET

Globally, vocational education and training (VET) is considered important for ensuring the supply of skilled labour to the economy and economic competitiveness but also for helping the next generation with the transition to working life and integration into society. However, despite this importance, there are no international comparative studies on the effectiveness of the very different VET systems. In March 2024, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the ‘Analytical and Assessment Framework’ for PISA-VET, an international study on professional competencies and employability skills in VET. In this paper, some of the lead experts that contributed to the framework provide an outline of the aims of the initiative, the target groups, the assessment approaches as well as strength and weaknesses to stimulate discussion in the scientific community. VISA-VET aims to deliver comprehensive data, inform decision making, facilitate peer learning between countries, and promote the image of VET, in general. Target populations are learners toward the end of their VET programmes in the occupational areas of automotive technicians, electricians, business and administration, health care, or tourism and hospitality. Assessment approaches to domain-specific professional skills are simulation-based questions, digital simulations, and live or recorded demonstrations. The professional skills assessments are expanded by the assessment of employability skills and comprehensive data collections on national contextual and system-level factors. This paper discusses the selection and breakdown of occupational areas, the various assessment approaches and possible supplementary studies. Its overall aim is to initiate a broader discussion in the scientific community about the design of and expected insights from PISA-VET.

Exploring the interplay between vocational competence and dropout intention: insights and perspectives

High drop-out rates from Vocational Education and Training (VET) remain a severe problem in VET systems globally. Despite decades of drop-out research revealing numerous influencing factors, the role of trainees’ vocational competence in their drop-out behavior has been neglected. This study aims to define the structure of vocational competence and analyze its effects on drop-out intention. Using longitudinal data from 458 commercial trainees in Germany, vocational competence is measured at three time points using a validated competence test, subdivided into domain-linked and domain-specific dimensions (Gelman and Greeno, 1989). Four different directions of drop-out intentions are considered, enabling a detailed effect inspection of the prevailing research gap. Additionally, factors identified in previous studies, such as educational level, age, language, and the degree of having chosen one’s desired occupation, are controlled for. We conducted 12 rounds of ordinal logistic regression to test three lagged temporal combinations of the effect relationship between vocational competence and dropout intention over different time spans (T0- > T1, T1- > T2, T0- > T2). We find that lower domain-specific competence increases the intention to drop out from VET without qualification over different time spans. Initial lower domain-specific competence also affects trainees’ intention to change their occupation in the final year of training. Furthermore, higher levels of domain-linked competence at the beginning increase the intention to leave VET to pursue higher qualifications in the midterm of training.

Arrangers and orchestrators: the diverging role of the state in Danish and German vocational education and training

Abstract This article compares the changing role of the state in initial vocational education and training (VET) in Germany and Denmark. Scholars have argued that collectivist VET systems face a stark choice between erosion through dualization or state take-over that crowds out decentralized cooperation by firms. Yet, recent work suggests that the state can revitalize the traditional firm-based system of VET through so-called state ‘orchestration’ and soft measures promoting inclusive training. Comparing Germany to Denmark, we argue that there is a second path to revitalization when the state acts as an ‘arranger’, more heavily involved in the provision and governance of VET, and using it for second-chance education. Unlike orchestration, arrangement is only possible where the state itself has achieved some independent capacity in training. We trace this divergence to small policy choices in the 1970s that have had large downstream effects on state capacity and power relations with business.

Building VET systems to advance communities: beyond responsiveness

There are five purposes that are central to vocational education and training (VET)(i.e., engaging young people, assisting them identify their preferred occupation, preparing them to practice it, ongoing development and being innovative) in the contemporary era. Yet, common across these purposes is the overall goal of VET going beyond primarily being responsive to industry needs, to also advance individuals’ capacities to remain employable, communities to be resilient and enterprises to effectively meet new challenges. Realising that advancement through those purposes needs to be understood, informed and enacted at the local level. For that to occur there needs to be educational, social and administrative infrastructure at the local level able to realise these outcomes. It is these elements that are necessary for building further VET systems now.

Researching educational barriers in participatory real-world labs: vocational training of refugees in rural counties in Germany

IntroductionAs a result of the large-scale arrivals of refugees and migrants, Germany is facing the challenge of providing inclusive education pathways not at least for a successful integration into the labor market. In our research project laeneAs (Ländliche Bildugnsumwelten junger Geflüchteter in der beruflichen Ausbildung/The Rural Educational Environments of Young Refugees in Vocational Training), we focus on educational barriers and good practices within the vocational education and training system (VET) for refugees in rural counties. In particular, racism and discrimination are significant barriers to refugee participation in society and education. Our contribution addresses the following research question: How is educational inclusion discussed and defined in and through real-world labs among stakeholders in four rural districts: social workers, educators, policymakers, administration, and young refugees?.MethodsWe initiated real-world labs as a space for collaborative research, reflection, and development to promote inclusive pathways for young refugees in vocational education and training in four research sites. We used futures labs as a method to identify key challenges and develop action plans as an activating method with stakeholders and refugee trainees. Our data consisted of audio recordings of group discussions in the real-world future labs, which were analyzed using deductive content analysis.ResultsThe analysis identified the following areas as important barriers to education and for practice transformation: (1) infrastructural and cultural barriers; (2) day-to-day problems in vocational schools and companies (3) restrictive immigration policies and regulations.DiscussionEducational barriers are imbedded in a contradictory immigration regime with reciprocal effects so that refugee trainees have difficulties in completing their education and further their social inclusion. On the other side of this contradictory immigration regime, social work and social networks provide fundamental support in obtaining a vocational qualification.

Is labour migration disrupting dual vocational education and training systems? Empirical evidence from the Danish and Norwegian construction sectors

This article studies how labour migration affects dual vocational education and training (VET) systems. We argue that because dual VET systems rely on employers engaging in training, an alternative source of labour – such as labour migrants – may make employers less likely to train, especially when pressure on industrial relations institutions makes it possible for employers to use migrant labour as low-wage labour. Drawing on linked employer-employee register data from Denmark and Norway, we us logistic and Poisson regression to analyse whether changes in the level of labour migration in regional subsectors of the construction sector in these two countries affects firms’ hiring of apprentices. We find that despite dissimilar developments in the labour migration level, these levels nonetheless correlate with the intake of apprentices in both countries. The results suggest that labour migration into countries with dual VET systems may have long-term effects on their skill formation systems.

Competence-based approaches in curricula: A comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese commercial vocational education and training programmes

In recent decades, Competence-Based Education (CBE), which emerges to promote the competence development of learners, has been recognized as a pivotal framework, initiating paradigm shifts in Vocational Education and Training (VET) across the globe. Notwithstanding critiques regarding conceptual limitations and its association with neoliberal models of education, the concept of CBE is widely adopted in the VET systems of many countries. However, there is the dearth of empirical evidence about how this concept is implemented into educational practice within the national VET contexts, in which the CBE concept is introduced and regarded as initiative of VET modernization. Against this background, this study investigates the implementation of the approaches to competence orientation (also called competence-based approaches, abbr. CBA) in the curricula of commercial VET programmes in China and Russia, specifically focussing on Accounting and Logistics. Through qualitative content analysis, the study illuminates features of the CBA embedded in curricular documents at both national and institutional levels within these countries. The comparison of the results highlights potential similarities and distinctions regarding the realization of the CBE concept into educational practice of VET between both countries. The comparative findings reveal significant alignment with labour market needs, yet differences emerge in the principles regarding competence-based teaching and learning between both countries. While Chinese VET programmes showcase more individualized embedment of the CBA in different institutions, greater standardization of the CBA embedment evident in Russian VET curricula. These findings underscore the influence of national contexts in shaping the interpretation and application of global educational trends, offering nuanced insights for policymakers and educators looking to optimize the realisation of the CBA within VET curricula.

The Role of VET in a Green Transition of Industry: A Literature Review

Purpose: This article examines the role of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in a green transition of industry. In the world of industry, battling climate change is often treated as a technical issue, but recent research on VET has tried to balance the technological paradigm with more human-centric approaches. The literature review addresses emergent VET research that presents various and partially competing perspectives on the purpose of VET in relation to climate change. Methods: We use an integrative literature review to investigate this complex topic. This technique is particularly useful for making sense of emergent research concepts, as well as various, and partially competing, theoretical and methodological approaches. It also allows us to incorporate literature from different countries and VET systems. The main search was performed in Scopus during March 2023, and included studies published within a timespan of eight years (2016–2023). Findings: Through a qualitative content analysis, we have identified five cross-cutting themes in the literature: Conceptualising ill-defined concepts of green jobs and skills; high-tech solutions in the movement towards a fourth industrial revolution versus inclusive growth for VET greening; towards sustainable work-based learning for green skills in VET; radical transformative approaches to a just green transition; and the co-creation of skill-formation ecosystems. The analysis has highlighted the ways in which VET can take on different roles in the green transition, and that these roles can be developed successively in parallel with a green transition in industry. In the development of the role of VET, it is also relevant to consider the contrast between transitional approaches and transformative approaches in VET research. While transitional approaches are recurrently marked by empirical research in specialised areas and subsystems within society, transformative approaches are characterised by a stronger focus on societal transformation (large-scale changes), power dynamics, and social justice. Conclusion: In conclusion, we suggest an analytical model that synthesises research on what role VET can play in a green transition of industry. The development model highlights that VET can take on different roles in a green transition and can gradually develop in parallel with a green transition in industry.

On the limited usefulness of comparative politics modelling for understanding VET systems

ABSTRACT In comparative VET research, a model developed from the perspective of comparative politics, the so-called ‘skill formation systems typology’ developed by Busemeyer and Trampusch, dominates the discourse. However, models to compare VET systems often rely on a narrow set of assumptions and fail to account for their complexity. We therefore review this typology and highlight its limitations. This article argues that this typology has limited usefulness for understanding vocational education and training (VET) systems. We advocate for a approach from the perspective of vocational education studies that takes into account the unique contexts and characteristics of specific VET systems. The article concludes that there is a need for substantively robust and valid distinctions based on appropriate models that allow for the international comparison of VET systems.

Why do national skill systems vary? The state’s role in skill system institutions for maintaining growth models

ABSTRACT This article combines the comparative political economy of skill formation literature with the one on growth models to analyse the state's role in skill systems of late industrialising countries. It focuses on Mexico and Turkey, which constitute crucial cases for a most similar case analysis. The article shows that Mexico and Turkey followed different growth models after their economic liberalisation, which led to distinct state roles in two key skill system institutions, namely the minimum wage and the vocational education and training (VET) system. In Mexico, the state aligned these institutions with the ‘dependent-downgrading' growth model, which was reliant on external demand and investments with low industrial upgrading and sometimes downgrading, and minimal working-class cohesion. Minimising labour costs was prioritised to attract foreign investment and to reduce the prices of exports, leading to extremely low wages and a liberal VET system in Mexico. In Turkey, the growth model was ‘domestic-upgrading’ with higher role of domestic investments and demand, and some improvements in industrial upgrading and working-class social cohesion. Ensuring high minimum wage and comprehensive VET system constituted key strategies for the state to maintain this growth model in Turkey, leading to relatively higher minimum wage and a statist VET system.

The role of international cooperation in the development of vocational education in Ukraine

AbstractSince gaining independence, Ukraine has recognised the need to reform its vocational education and training (VET) system to better align with new economic realities. This necessity was largely driven by the country's increasing openness to the world and its desire to integrate with the European Union, which became especially pronounced after the Euromaidan protests in 2014. As a result, the government has pursued policies that are more closely aligned with the European Union. This led to greater international cooperation in the sphere of VET in Ukraine. The study on which this article reports analyses the impact of international organisations and cooperation programmes, as well as actions, initiatives and projects, on the changes and reforms in the Ukrainian VET system from 2013 to 2022 on normative and institutional levels. We adopt a theoretical framework that explains the areas and instruments of influence on policymaking in education used by international organisations. The method applied in the study is interviews with experts from international projects and initiatives currently active in Ukraine. Our findings indicate that international cooperation programmes have had a significant impact on the development of vocational education in Ukraine, particularly in areas such as the governance of the VET system, public‐private partnerships, quality assurance, qualifications frameworks, and digitalisation.

Challenges, Future and Policy Orientations: The 1960s−1970s as Decisive Years for Swiss Vocational Education and Training

Purpose: The years 1960-1970 were decisive years in the development of Swiss vocational education and training (VET). The post-World War II economic boom, technological innovations and the debate concerning equal opportunities and the democratisation of education put the VET system under pressure. Reforms were thus undertaken to increase the attractiveness of the system and to respond to the urgent shortage of qualified workers at the time. At the same time, reforms were adopted increasing the theoretical and general knowledge content of VET and improving the quality of training. The aim of our article is to describe these reforms and to show how they relate to a certain image of the future of society.Method: Our article is based on an analysis of historical documents written between 1960 and 1972 in Switzerland on the subject of VET. These documents will, firstly, be used for a historical reconstruction of the situation and of the major challenges of the time; and secondly, they will be subjected to a discourse analysis in order to identify the main arguments that characterised the public debate at the time.Results: Our article shows how the reforms undertaken take shape on the basis of a certain image of the future of society and of VET held at the time: an image characterised by constant and rapid changes, increasing insecurity, need for adaptation and flexibility, complexification and specialisation of the work tasks.Conclusion: The article will also underline how the responses to the challenges posed by this image of the future will be at the origin of five trends that will characterise the evolution of Swiss VET until today: a trend towards academisation, with more academic and general content; a trend towards pedagogisation, with increased pedagogical attention to curricula and teacher training; differentiation, with the creation of new certifications; permeability, with the opening of vocational tracks to higher education; and “learnerisation”, with the gradual change of the figure of the apprentice from a “worker” to a “learner”. Far from being limited to the evolution of Swiss VET, these five trends describe movements that recent studies by CEDEFOP show also at the European level.

Exploring the Business Model and Organizational Innovation of Vocational Schools: A Case Study of Development Units

Since 2015, the Skills for Jobs (S4J) project, funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by Swisscontact, has actively promoted private sector engagement in skills development. The project's primary objective is to facilitate ten public Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers in innovating their offerings, delivery methods, and organisational practices through close collaboration with the private sector. Under the leadership of national actors, these VET providers would become national-level transfer agents of innovations introduced to enhance employability. Development Units (DUs) were established at the VET provider level to facilitate this innovation and to lead technically various functions, including labour market intelligence, curricula development, business relations, continuous professional development, marketing, and career development. Their purpose is to ensure that the newly introduced functions align with the strategic objectives of the VET providers, provide technical support to staff members involved, and coordinate and steer the implementation activities. This research employs a comparative case study approach to illuminate DUs' preconditions and multilevel effects as organisational innovation and draws upon theoretical frameworks such as business models, organisational design, innovation, VET governance, and private sector engagement. It reveals that DU as an organisational innovation led to VET providers' shift of the business model towards novelties in the value proposition, creation and capturing and higher performance. As a result of Dus, VET providers become more powerful actors in the VET system governance in general and centres of the ecosystem at the regional level. The research revealed key organisational capabilities that should be enhanced to allow for effective DUs and high performaning innovative VET providers.

Reframing skills ecosystems for sustainable and just futures

The current dominant approach to vocational education and training (VET) does not work in theory, policy or practice in current contexts of unsustainability and global inequality. Nor is it fit for future purpose. Drawing on a large-scale research collaboration between four universities, funded by the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund, with co-funding and funding in-kind from global south partners, this paper is a contribution to imagining new VET futures. It looks iteratively, reflexively and expansively at how our experience of VET system development involving boundary crossing between formal and informal VET systems interfaces with recent Northern work on the conceptualisation of social skills ecosystems, and how this concept can be expanded to address the challenge of skills for just transitions in the global South. We advance the skills ecosystems approach ontologically by drawing on critical realism (a growing trend in VET and development research). This allows us both to move beyond the structure-agency divide that has bedeviled the field, and with it the tendency to monoscalar analysis. Rather, we argue that accounts of VET and development must address both structure and agency, and their interplay, and must be multiscalar. This reading allows us to focus on the central importance of relationality. We argue that it is through networks and relationships that the precarious worlds of learning and work are brought together.

From TPACK to N-TPACK Framework for Vocational Education and Training With a Focus on Nutritional Science and Home Economics

Context: In Germany, vocational education and training (VET) plays a key role in the transition from school to working life. Due to its proximity to the labour market and an increasingly digitised, connected world, the professional knowledge requirements of VET teachers are changing and an adjustment of competence frameworks for vocational teachers is needed. Approach: Since its introduction, the TPACK (Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge) framework of Shulman and Mishra and Koehler has been repeatedly used in the international research discourse as a framework for capturing teachers' professional knowledge. Given the infrequent reference to TPACK in the field of vocational education and training (VET), this theoretical article aims to adapt the TPACK framework for VET teachers. A literature review revealed the importance of developing an adapted TPACK framework that takes into account the peculiarities of the German vocational school system as well as the non technical personal service sector. Based on this research gap, an appropriately adapted TPACK framework was developed. The focus of this article lies on VET of nutritional science and home economics. Findings: After considering and analysing the requirements of the VET system in Germany in the context of digitalisation, it is suggested to adapt and enlarge the existing TPACK framework, thus creating an N-TPACK framework, taking into account "Networking and Collaborative Knowledge (NK)" as an aspect of essential VET teachers' professional knowledge. Conclusion: The present theoretical article considers the research desideratum of extending the TPACK framework by developing a theoretical N-TPACK framework as well as examining and discussing the various knowledge areas. Building on this theoretical article, a survey of the current status quo of these professional knowledge areas among (prospective) VET teachers in the subject area of nutrition and home economics is necessary, in order to provide orientation and to be able to derive recommended actions for an up-to-date and forward looking teacher education and training.

The attractiveness of polytechnics in Delhi and Mumbai: a study on the perception from the perspective of students and parents

ABSTRACT This article analyses the attractiveness of Polytechnics (PTs) in India, which are part of the country’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) system, from the perspectives of individuals. PTs as institutions of Higher VET are an essential part of the Indian VET system. As no findings on their attractiveness are available, interviews based on an attractiveness model were conducted with 33 students and 17 parents. Results show that although PTs are attractive from an individual point of view and offer numerous advantages for those striving for education, like a wide range of career opportunities or a high level of job security, their attractiveness is considerably affected because of the societal perspective. However, in particular, the emphasis on the strengths of a PT diploma, like the combination of both theoretical and practical elements and the assignment of PTs to Higher VET may help to improve the rather negative societal perception of PTs.

»Should I Stay or Should I Go?« Prevalence and Predictors of Spatial Mobility among Youth in the Transition to Vocational Education and Training in Germany

Spatial mobility is an important means of tackling regional disparities and matching problems in education and labor markets, but it is also a source of individual social inequality as it is associated with higher socio-economic resources and returns; however, there is a paucity of research on the prevalence and predictors of spatial mobility among youth entering vocational education and training (VET). We examine the importance of (a) individual occupational orientations, (b) regional opportunity structures, and (c) social ties for the spatial mobility of youth in this early transition phase using longitudinal data from the German NEPS, which we combined with administrative geospatial data of German districts (NUTS-3). Our results show widespread spatial mobility among students entering the VET system: 16% are mobile within and 22% between regional labor markets. Multinomial logistic regression models show that, in addition to young people’s occupational orientations (status aspirations; search duration) and social ties to friends, regional opportunity structures (general unattractiveness; person–environment mismatch) are crucial for youths’ spatial mobility. This underscores the importance of spatial mobility given regional disparities to promote youths’ access to VET and reduce regional mismatches in the VET market.

A hidden source of innovation? Revisiting the impact of initial vocational training on technological innovation

ABSTRACT While an increasing number of studies postulate that vocational education and training (VET) activities have a positive impact on the innovative capacity of training companies, empirical evidence on the topic remains contradictory. This study exploits establishment data from a representative survey of German companies to estimate the relationship between firms’ participation in initial VET and their innovation outcomes. Our results show that the direct effects of initial VET on technological innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are on average quite weak. If at all, a training firm’s initial VET activities are associated with product innovation activities and not with process innovation. Larger effects can only be observed in case of microenterprises with fewer than ten employees. In these firms, initial VET is associated with a higher probability of (local) new-to-market product innovation if it is accompanied by changes in organisational processes that support individual learning and knowledge creation. We conclude from this finding that the knowledge diffusion function of the VET system primarily holds relevance for the smallest of the training companies and that initial VET is only positively related to technological innovation when it goes along with organisational learning in the training company.

Supply and demand matching of VET skills - a regional case study

The proper alignment between supply of Vocational Education and Training (VET) and labour market demand is critical to successfully achieve VET’s main benefits, such as reduction of academic dropout rates, unemployment reduction and economic growth. This article presents the study carried out in Leiria region (Portugal) to define VET areas priorities at the secondary education level. A mixed methodology was applied by using both quantitative (employment microdata, employers survey and employment offers analysis) and qualitative (interviews, focus groups and documents analysis) instruments and techniques. A diverse group of stakeholders (e.g. regional policymakers and private and public sectors’ employers) were heard in order to anticipate the market’s needs for skills. The results, obtained through the various methodologies, point to the same skills’ priorities and reveal several mismatches between demand and supply of qualifications. Thus, this study helps policymakers to prioritize areas of education and VET providers to design courses aligned with the real needs of the region’s labour market. Additionally, several challenges are identified, as the need of a better dialogue between the VET system and employers. By increasing the quality of VET supply, our policy suggestions contribute to reduce future demand-supply imbalances, and therefore, to reduce unemployment, control the demographic problem, increase the companies’ expansion and promote regional development.