Glimpsing the Future in the Past: VET in Europe

Abstract

IntroductionFrom 1989 to 2003, the European Journal of Education (EJE) published a special issue on 'Trends in Vocational Education and Training' (VET) every two years, the first guest edited by Jean-Pierre Jallade and the others by David Parkes 1 . It has continued to publish on VET-related topics. This article revisits the major themes and challenges as they were observed and discussed by the authors who wrote in those special issues. Many were directly involved in advisory positions to governments; held key decision-making responsibilities; undertook studies and consultancy and gave technical assistance across several countries. Their articles are moments of reflection nourished by experience on the ground. In addition to this exceptional evidence base, other key documents, also drafted as events were unfolding, have been consulted. The real interest for me as an author was to go back to challenging and exciting periods in order to understand how critical issues, then and now, were perceived and analysed and how ways forward were envisioned. Hence, the aspects of and debates about VET examined in this article are selective: those on which the Journal has focused at different points in time. In this way, it is an exploratory article -what can we learn from our colleagues writing about the same or similar issues 20 years ago that is useful to shape and formulate our present ideas about new policy? To echo the question posed by Viertel et al. (2004) in their Cedefop study on policy evaluation in transition countries, 'Do we have a better understanding of how change is 'accomplished?' In other words, how has EJE contributed to European reflection on VET systems, policies and preoccupations in recent decades? A key theme running through this article concerns the role of the European Community (and subsequently EU) 2 as a change agent supporting bottom-up exchange and topdown stimulus for reform through an increasing integration of education and training in the socio-economic strategy of the EU.The last 25 years or so have been critical for the development of VET in Europe. Making VET more attractive and increasing its parity of esteem in relation to general secondary education have been major, recurring themes in European countries, increasingly as part of, at least conceptually, more comprehensive approaches to lifelong and life-wide learning. Strategies have focused on modernising VET curricula, on teaching and learning and on qualifications (including improving their transparency within different European systems and across frontiers); have aimed to increase and improve access to learning and participation and to build new pathways to enable progression through qualification levels for people with lower level VET awards. Systems have sought to support these ambitions through better quality processes and qualification frameworks and by broadening, increasing and strengthening stakeholder (employers, families, students, local/ regional authorities, etc.) involvement in many aspects of education and training. Refor...

Post-secondary education and training, new vocational and hybrid pathways and questions of equity, inequality and social mobility: introduction to the special issue

“…The papers in this special issue indicate that the evidence from different countries does not allow for straightforward answers to these questions. Comparative research in this issue and elsewhere (for example Bernhard, Graf, and Powell 2013;Ertl 2014;Moodie 2008) shows that despite concerted attempts by supra-national policy organisations to achieve greater standardisation of education and training systems (Gordon 2015;OECD 2014), HVE is evolving in different ways in individual countries, and responses to rapidly changing labour market conditions are influenced by the history of social and economic relations, and the relationship between education and training and the labour market in particular contexts. Vocational pathways, particularly the dual apprenticeship system, in countries such as Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Denmark for example have a long-established reputation amongst employers and students as a valued route into skilled employment.…”

The role of social partners in the governance of Dual Vocational Education and Training System: The Portuguese case

“…International literature on VET and industrial relations has given great importance to the question of governance (Chatzichristou, Uličná, Murphy, Curth & Nogueira, 2014;EC, 2014;Gordon, 2015;OECD, 2020). In this context, VET governance refers to: "all mechanisms, practices and procedures (e.g financing, evaluation, administrative processes, etc.)…”

“…However, the involvement of actors or stakeholders in VET and Dual VET governance is often complicated and challenging (Gordon, 2015;Oliver, 2010). There are important cross-national differences: i) the social partners do not always participate in the decision making at the political-strategic level; ii) their involvement is not always on equal terms (parity), with trade unions in some cases being less strongly involved; and iii) differences in VET governance are particularly pronounced at the technicaloperational level (Emmenegger & Seitzl, 2020).…”

Occupational Standards: A Key to Improving Match Between Skills and Labour Market Needs in Lithuania

“…Undertakings also suffer losses from spending time and funds for staff re-skilling. However, the main losses occur on the macro level where the system of education generates uncompetitive and unmarketable 'products' (Gordon 2015;Tūtlys & Aarna, 2017;Tūtlys, Kaminskienė & Winterton 2016;Tūtlys & Spöttl 2017;Reich 2006).…”