*Featured image obtained from Google image.
The definition of vocational education and training (VET) varies across the world. According to Hoeckel (2008, p.3), VET systems “range from highly regulated structures in the dual system countries to situations like in the UK, where vocational education is highly fragmented and apprenticeships do not have a legally defined identity.” A dual system is a specific type of VET, in which students partake in training at workplace alongside at-school education. Then in other systems, VET takes place in schools only or in the private sectors where students serve as apprentices to the companies that hire them (see Table 1). In some parts of the world, there are relatively higher proportions of students enrolled in a vocational education and training track within the larger education system. This is the case in some of the Western and Northern European countries, such as Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, and Germany (see Figure 1). Some of these countries also have students enrolled in a dual system, which is proven to be most effective among different types of VET (IZA, 2014).
[Figure 1] Upper Secondary Vocational Enrollment and Shares of Youth Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET) (2011)
Source: IZA, (2014), p.2
[Table 1] Modes of Delivery and Funding Streams for VET
Source: Eichhorst et al (2014), reorganized by me
In Figure 1, the majority of countries with a youth unemployment rate of lower than 10 percent have a large share of students enrolled in the VET track. Based on this correlation, vocational education is increasingly seen as a potential solution to solve the rising youth unemployment. Among the countries with established vocational education systems, Germany’s dual system has often been referred to as a model case that contributed to the country’s consistently low youth unemployment rate (The Economist, 2012).
However, the uniqueness of the German dual system that makes it very difficult to emulate. The system has a long-standing tradition—it has been around since the 1880s and operates based on a very high level of trust (which is very difficult to quantify to begin with) between stakeholders (i.e. employers, employee/students, parents). In the German dual system, the unspoken principle is that “nobody will make full use of its freedom” (ibid). The German employers see apprenticeship scheme as the means to obtain highly skilled labor force and provide quality training for their own interests; the German students and parents see participation in the dual system as a legitimate alternative to the general academic track, and students are encouraged to perform well at schools because they compete for better apprenticeship positions (Soskice, 1994; Biavaschi, 2013).
The dual system is an advantageous model because it circumvents some of the major deficiencies of school-based VET, such as greater cost and inflexibility. For instance, in the German dual system, the larger cost of training students is shared by participating industries. In addition, the close partnership with the firms enables a more responsive curriculum at schools and the workplace training allows students to learn up-to-date skills.
However, the issue of tracking is still a major issue in the German system. Tracking is often an integral part of vocational education, in which students of lower academic abilities or interest pursue a vocational track instead of general academic education. The main shortcomings of tracking include its segregation effect, the risk of reinforcing social status, and the lower level of student motivation and achievement in the bottom tracks (Hallinan, 1994, p.84). In Germany, teachers make tracking decisions when students are only 10 years old and it is mostly students from lower socioeconomic background—including those who come from Turkish immigrant families—that go into the vocational education track (ibid).
Reconsidering the value of vocational education is important, and I think there are two main reasons why that is the case. First, it is mainly the marginalized students that partake in VET, even in countries like Germany with a well-functioning vocational education system. Second, no country is likely to have an economy that is purely knowledge-based, and thus vocational education (however marginal the size of the system may be) has the potential to supply the manufacturing sector with the well-trained labor force. Germany’s dual system offers both positive and negative lessons about VET. One of the most important lessons might be that in order for a VET system to work in the favor of the students, it needs to be a legitimate option that has strong quality assurance measures while not being plagued by social stigma.
References:
Featured image from Bloomsburg BuisnessWeek: http://www.nc3.net/2013/05/01/bloomberg-businessweek-what-germany-can-teach-the-u-s-about-vocational-education/
Eichhorst, W., Rodriguez-Planas, N., Schmidl, R., and Zimmermann, K. (2014) A Roadmap to Vocational Education and Training Around the World. IZA report.
Hallinan, M. (1994) Tracking: from theory to practice, Sociology of Education, 67(2), 79–84
Hoeckel, K. (2008). Costs and Benefits and Vocational Education and Training. Paris: OECD
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) (2014). Does Vocational Training Help Young People Find a Good Job? obtained from: http://wol.iza.org/articles/does-vocational-training-help-young-people-find-good-job.pdf
The Economist (2012). What Germany Offers the World, obtained from: http://www.economist.com/node/21552567
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