Developing Two-Year Apprenticeships in Norway and Switzerland

Abstract

Over the last 15 years, different countries have developed low-level vocational education and training (VET) programmes for young people who struggle to enter or complete education at upper secondary level. Switzerland introduced nationally standardised two-year initial VET programmes in 2005, Norway in 2016. Data of interviews with curriculum experts in Norway and Switzerland provided an empirical basis to examine the underlying intentions for offering these programmes and the respective criteria for defining the learning outcomes and the curricula. The reference frame in Norway for identifying appropriate learning outcomes and selecting learning goals are the national curricula of the respective four-year VET programmes. In Switzerland, the learning outcomes of two-year curricula are defined by lower-level occupational activities which are usually identified in analyses involving active workers and experts in the respective fields. Despite these differences, the criteria for developing two-year curricula are largely the same in both countries. The findings further show that two-year VET programmes in Norway are not intended to lead to a direct labour market entry but are understood as a first step of a staged qualification whereas in Switzerland they are designed to find a viable balance between employability and permeability to the more demanding three-or four-year VET programmes. In both countries, the twoyear apprenticeships do not correspond to a holistic concept of vocation.

Conflictual and consensual class relations in collective governance: Comparing the expansion of short apprenticeships in Germany and Switzerland

“…The timeframe of the analysis covers the 1990s up to the present, with a focus on the expansion of short‐tracks in both countries carried out starting in the early 2000s in response to a shortage of apprenticeship training places. While these developments have been part of some prior analyses in the German case (e.g., Busemeyer, 2009; Di Maio et al, 2019; Kath, 2005; Thelen & Busemeyer, 2012) and in the Swiss case (e.g., Di Maio et al, 2019; 2020; Schmid et al, 2021), this paper contributes to the discussion by offering a systematic comparative analysis with a focus on stability or change in the respective governance modes, which also enables me to unpack the puzzling variation in the position of unions. The analysis thus adds to our understanding of crucial scope conditions for policy reforms around economic efficiency and inclusiveness in collective governance systems.…”

“…Since the 2004 VET act, the number of short-tracks has been growing steadily (BFS, 2021;Schmid et al, 2021).…”

“…In Switzerland, since the late 1970s, individualized and non‐standardized pre‐training programmes existed but were placed outside of national VET standards (Kammermann, 2018). These programmes were criticized for leading to workplace‐integration rather than labour‐market integration and not offering permeability to regular‐length programmes (Schmid et al, 2021). When the crisis on the apprenticeship market starting in the 1990s led to a significant lack of apprenticeship training places, the pressure on the Swiss state to find adequate policy response was mounting (Wörndl, 2015).…”

“…Since the 2004 VET act, the number of short‐tracks has been growing steadily (BFS, 2021; Schmid et al, 2021). The latest official evaluation report by the Swiss Federal Council (Bundesrat, 2019) concludes that short‐tracks have been well established as part of the Swiss VET system and considers the short‐track reform a success—not least as they are succeeding in providing students with weaker school performance either with direct access to a job or enabling them to transition into a regular‐length programme.…”

Læring på tvers: Hvordan kan yrkesfag- læreren legge til rette for boundary learning for elever i arbeidslivspraksis?

“…I skolen er det også mer tid til refleksjon over laeringen som foregår i arbeidslivet og i overgangen mellom skole og bedrift (Schön, 1983). Elevenes laereforutsetninger er også vesentlig, og betydningen av skolekonteksten er spesielt viktig for sårbare elever (Schmid et al, 2021). Likevel ser vi at de siste to årene i den norske fagopplaeringsmodellen med opplaering i bedrift som skal ende i fagbrev, er helt vesentlig for å få til kvalitet i fagopplaeringen og at arbeidslivets kompetansebehov derfor må vaere førende også for innholdet i de to første skolebaserte årene av fag-og yrkesopplaering (Billett et al, 2008;Collin et al, 2008).…”