The coherence of vocational education and training in Norway and Spain: national traditions and the reshaping of VET governance in hybrid VET systems

Abstract

Coherence of national education and training systems is increasingly tabled in European policy debates. Leaning on literature about the emergence and consolidation of national education systems, this article explores the rationale for VET reforms in Norway and Spain by scrutinising attempts to strengthen the coherence of their VET systems. Coherence has been sought through the unification of different strands of vocational education; initial, continuing and active labour market policies (what we call 'horizontal coherence') and the mainstreaming of VET curricular elements; plus the systematisation of VET practices across educational levels ('vertical coherence'). While both countries looked for coherence, their motivations, how they operationalised the term and the emphasis of their actions differed substantially. Spain has experienced a move from the three largely unrelated strands into a more unified system; Norway from a fragile VET system to the availability of more VET courses and apprenticeship arrangements at all educational levels.

The Discourses of Vocational Education and Training: A Developmental Response from a European Perspective

“…Whilst the first account is built by institutional bodies that use quantitative methods in pursuit of evidence of economic and social return, this account looks at academics and practitioners, and relies on qualitative methodology and sociology theories to portray local experiences within the college with little cognisance of the wider European or international context. The individualised and localised character of this research, in combination with the stillincipient interest that VET raises among academics, leaves little room for non-institutionalised European (Ertl et al, 2004;Souto-Otero & Ure, 2012) or worldwide comparative VET studies (Winch, 2000). Inside the college hence relies strongly on the research provided by the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) in the UK.…”

Promoting workplace‐based training to fight youth unemployment in three EU countries: Different strategies, different results?

“…There is extensive literature on the UK and its liberal system (Busemeyer & Thelen, ; Finegold & Soskice, ; Hodgson et al, ; King, ; King & Wickham‐Jones, ; Thelen, ) and on Denmark’s collective system (Busemeyer & Thelen, ; Thelen, ). Spain has been included in the group of MMEs by many authors (Hall, ; Hall & Soskice, , p. 21; Molina & Rhodes, ) who have argued that its VET system is historically school‐based rather than firm‐based (Biavaschi et al, ; Eichhorst et al, ; Homs, ; Icart & Rodríguez‐Soler, ; Souto‐Otero & Ure, ).…”

“…As for the apprenticeship approach, there are also some important caveats. Considering the key role played by the state in these political economies, it is much more difficult to safeguard firms’ autonomy with respect to the types of skills employees receive; trade unions are much more important (e.g., union density is higher and they mobilise the workforce more effectively) and are therefore able to block reforms that leave them out of the process (Marques & Salavisa, ); and, lastly, in a number of Mediterranean countries, a large proportion of young people attend state‐run vocational courses that are often integrated in secondary schools that offer both general education and vocational courses but have few linkages with employers (Biavaschi et al, ; Eichhorst et al, ; Homs, ; Icart & Rodríguez‐Soler, ; Souto‐Otero & Ure, ). Despite the difficulties of implementing each of the above‐mentioned strategies, we believe measures were taken in MMEs to boost firm‐based training, because youth unemployment has risen exponentially and these countries have received substantial funds from the EU to implement active labour market policies (ALMPs) (Tosun, ).…”

“…This is illustrated by the fact that after a contract expires, the worker can be hired by the same firm on another training contract, as long as it is for a different professional qualification. This was made possible because the Spanish VET system is divided into three subsystems: formal VET, managed by the education ministry; continuous VET, managed by the social partners; and VET for unemployed, managed by the ministry of employment (Souto-Otero & Ure, 2012). In the context of the economic crisis and rising youth 7 According to Icart and Rodríguez-Soler (2017), in 2012 76.6% of VET students were attending public schools.…”

International briefing 34: training and development in Spain

“…In addition to the large number of SMEs, institutional weaknesses in the Spanish training system have been commented upon as contributing to weaknesses in training provision. It has been characterized as a hybrid system, an unstable mixture of state intervention (the system of initial vocational education and training), corporatism involving the social partner managed training institutions, and the free market (companies) with insufficient connection and articulation between the different elements (Souto-Otero & Ure, 2011). In this context Olazaran et al (2013) displayed the lack of connection of the IVET system with innovating companies in the Basque country.…”