Education as social policy: New tensions in maturing knowledge economies

Abstract

Education has long played an important role in social policy as a means for strengthening labour market integration and increasing social mobility. The shift towards a knowledge economy has placed education policy even more centrally in efforts to provide the institutional preconditions for making economic efficiency compatible with social inclusion. To provide conceptual and theoretical context to the special issue, this paper first explores the key tension in the role of education in modern economies between serving concerns for efficiency and inclusion. Second, it argues that it remains possible for education policy to balance between efficiency and inclusion, but that the capacity of advanced economies to do so is politically mediated. Finally, the paper reviews the four main arenas in which such mediation processes take place—the parliamentary arena, the corporatist arena, the state, and public opinion—and how the contributions to the special issue study these.

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

“…Acknowledging that the way in which tensions between efficiency and inclusion are dealt with ‘is in important ways structured by the setup of the institutional terrain of which education policy is part’ (Carstensen and Emmenegger, 2022, p. 4; see also Österman, 2018), the distinction between social and liberal collective skill formation helps to outline crucial contextual conditions for the expansion of short‐tracks in Germany and Switzerland. Thus, it is introduced below, followed by an introduction to the concept of path dependence and related scenarios of institutional change.…”

“…This represents a complex policy challenge as these systems build on decentralized cooperation (Culpepper, 1999) including the state, employers' associations and trade unions (Busemeyer & Trampusch, 2012). Collective skill formation is thus embedded in the corporatist arena of interest intermediation (Carstensen and Emmenegger, 2022). Dual apprenticeship training is at the core of collective skill formation, systematically combining training in the workplace with vocational schooling (Thelen, 2014).…”

Knowledge, skills or social mobility? Citizens' perceptions of the purpose of education

“…This paper adds a new, but complementary perspective to these debates. While also addressing the broader issue of the relationship between education and social policy at the centre of this special issue, our paper focuses on public opinion as a potential arena for mitigating the ‘efficiency‐inclusion tension’ (see Carstensen's & Emmenegger's, 2023; introduction to this special issue) in education and social policy. Even if—as the research reviewed in the introductory paper of this issue shows—education to a large extent contributes to social inclusion as well as economic efficiency, the question remains of whether citizens actually appreciate these functions and consider them to be most important aspects of education.…”

Dualisation, education and the knowledge economy: Comparing Germany and South Korea

“…These pressures have produced similar challenges for the efficiency function of education as labour market policy and the inclusion function of education as social policy (cf. Carstensen & Emmenegger, 2023). In terms of efficiency, challenges include the need to ensure that the increasingly important HE system produces labour-market relevant skills, the need to maintain the crucial role the VET system plays in providing the specific skills still required by the economy, and the need to supply both systems with adequate school-leavers.…”

“…Ertl, 2020). Despite growing tensions in the knowledge economy, Carstensen and Emmenegger (2023) argue that balancing efficiency and inclusion in education policy remains feasible but requires political mediation, whilst Thelen (2014), more generally, points to the continuing importance of government capacity in CMEs. Examining reforms in VET and HE, this article highlights the role of government in this mediation, particularly how the interrelationship between the twin pressures from firms and parents and government mediation between them have shaped reforms that aim to address efficiency and inclusion concerns.…”