Session Information
02 SES 11 B, International Perspectives on VET III: Export & Import
Paper Session
Contribution
Our first aim in this paper is to analyse why the models for vocational education in the Nordic countries have evolved differently over recent decades, in particular the role of apprenticeships. We show that the negotiations and choices made by employer organisations, organised labour and government in Sweden, Norway and Denmark have led to very different outcomes. While the VET literature has focused on the positions and roles taken by employers, we also emphasize the role of organised labour. Secondly, we aim to analyse how the Nordic VET models are affected by European integration, in particular the establishment of a transnational European labour market, with increased movement of labour and capital.
The Nordic countries are often associated with a number of common features such as generous welfare states and highly organised labour markets. Together these characteristics have given rise to the concept of a “Nordic model” (Dølvik, Fløtten, Hippe & Jordfald, 2015). Within education, a comprehensive, publicly funded school system has been the core of the ideal Nordic model, with equity, social inclusion and welfare as important policy goals. To some extent, this ideal has been realised at the compulsory school level. However, within vocational education and training at the upper secondary level, there is no common model, but rather a striking diversity between the Nordic countries. This combination of different VET models within similar societal systems provides a particularly fruitful ground for comparative research (Jørgensen, Olsen & Thunqvist, 2018).
In the comparative literature on national skill formation systems a number of typologies have been developed to distinguish between different models for vocational education and training. Major dimensions in the typologies are related to the structure and content of training, how the training is regulated, where the training takes place and the degree of involvement of the state and of firms in the governance of vocational education and training (Nyen & Tønder, 2015). Greinert (2004) makes a distinction between market-based, state-regulated and corporatist training regimes. In a liberal market economy, vocational training takes place mainly in the workplace and is provided by individual companies based on firm-specific skills demands. In a state-regulated model, vocational education is primarily governed by the state, whereas the social partners and individual companies play a more limited role. The training is often school-based, sometimes combined with shorter practical training periods in firms. In a dual corporate model, the social partners play a more significant role in vocational education and training, and school based training is often combined with apprenticeship training in a firm. Within Scandinavia, Denmark has established the most classical dual model at the level of upper secondary VET. Sweden, on the other side, has developed a unified school based system, with eligibility to higher education for all students as an important policy goal (Thunqvist, Tønder & Reegård 2019).
Currently, vocational education and training in all the Nordic countries are facing a number of challenges (Nyen & Tønder 2014; Jørgensen & Tønder 2018). In this article we focus on the responses of government and social partners to the establishment of a transnational labour market following the EU enlargement of 2004. In the Nordic labour markets, this has lead to an inflow of skilled and unskilled workers, which introduces new options for employers. The provision of apprenticeships in the dual systems of Denmark and Norway relies on institutional solutions to collective action problems in the provision of skilled labour. A central question is how increased labour migration has affected employers’ incentives to hire apprentices and to choose production strategies based on skilled workers. Furthermore, we study how these decisions are influenced by national policy responses.
Method
We base our paper on qualitative interviews with key actors from government and social partners at the national level and similarly on the branch level of selected industries (construction, hotel/restaurants, and machine industry) as well as on previous literature describing the historical evolution of the Nordic VET models.
Expected Outcomes
Apprenticeship training has traditionally played only a minor role in Sweden, although there have been several recent attempts to re-establish and strengthen apprenticeship training. First, apprenticeship training was introduced as a pedagogical alternative for students with low school motivation. More recently, apprenticeship training has been initiated by Swedish employers facing shortages of skilled labour. Norway established a mixed or hybrid model for vocational education and training in the 1990s, with a combination of school based education and apprenticeship training. While the origins of the positions taken by employers and organised labour in the Nordic countries through the reform period of the early 1990s, could be traced several decades back, the markedly divergent routes chosen by Norway and Sweden in this period also shows the ability of the social partners to make compromises to reform the system, particularly in Norway. The recent attempt to establish apprenticeship in Sweden also show how the positions of employers and organised labour may change. The establishment of an increasingly transnational labour market following the EU enlargement of 2004 has resulted in increased labour migration to the Nordic countriesA central question is how increased labour migration has affected employers’ incentives to hire apprentices and to choose production strategies based on skilled workers. We find that the positions taken by employer organisations and organised labour in the face of these labour market changes may lead to policy responses that influence employers’ incentives to take on apprentices.
References
Dølvik, J.-E., Fløtten, T., Hippe, J. & Jordfald, B. (2015). The Nordic model towards 2030. A new chapter? Fafo report 2015:07. Greinert, W.-D. (2004). European vocational training systems: The theoretical context of historical development. In Cedefop, Towards a history of vocational education and training (VET) in Europe in a comparative perspective (pp. 17-27). Luxembourg: Cedefop Panorama series 103. Jørgensen, C.H., Olsen, O.J. & Thunqvist, D.P. (eds) (2018). Vocational education in the Nordic countries: Learning from diversity. New York: Routledge. Jørgensen, C. H. & Tønder, A. H. (2018). Transitions from vocational education to employment in the Nordic countries. In C. H. Jørgensen, O. J. Olsen & D. P. Thunqvist (eds.), Vocational Education in the Nordic Countries: Learning from Diversity. New York: Routledge. Nyen, T. & Tønder, A. H. (2014). Yrkesfagene under press. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Nyen, T. & Tønder, A. H. (2015). Cooperation and Reform in Vocational Education and Training. I F. Engelstad & A. Hagelund (red.), Cooperation and Conflict the Nordic Way (s. 201-218). Berlin: De Gruyter Open. Thunqvist, D. P., Tønder, A. H., & Reegård, K. (2019). A tale of two reforms: Institutional change in vocational education and training in Norway and Sweden in the 1990s. European Educational Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904118823104
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