Session Information
02 SES 12 A, Policy & Governance III: Apprenticeship and Occupation
Paper Session
Contribution
There are a number of typologies that are useful in understanding the differences between vocational education and training (VET) systems (see e.g., Pilz, 2016). For example, the Finnish VET system has been characterized as a statist system that includes high levels of public investment in VET, but weak employer involvement (e.g., Busemeyer & Schlicht-Schmälzle, 2014). According to Niemeyer (2007), this is due to the Scandinavian welfare system, where the normative ideal has been that social security, as well as education, are a general human right and it should be in the hands of the state. It follows that Finland has preferred school-based VET. However, besides these typologies, there is also a need to acknowledge the internal differences in the national VET systems.
In Finland, both school-based VET and apprenticeship training exist as parallel routes and lead to the same qualifications. Next to a school-based model, apprenticeship training has complemented the VET system by having an 18.47 % share of vocational qualifications in 2017 (Education Statistics Finland, 2018). Unlike in many European countries, apprenticeship training has provided an educational pathway mainly for adults in Finland (Mazenod, 2016; Virolainen & Stenström, 2014). In 2017, only 14.75 % of the new apprentices were 15 to 24-year olds (Education Statistics Finland, 2018). In addition to education policy, apprenticeship training has been considered as a part of employment policy (Kivinen & Peltomäki, 1999).
Institutions, such as education, function to provide stability and order and thus resist change (Scott, 2014). However, recently more attention has been given to understanding how institutions change (Micelotta, Lounsbury, & Greenwood, 2017). Currently, the Finnish VET system is undergoing major changes, as the VET reform that entered into force at the beginning of 2018, is changing organization and funding of VET. At the macro level, the reform is based on the idea of customer-oriented VET that highlights the needs of the working life and students’ individual and flexible pathways. It is suggested that apprenticeship training based on an employment contract and school-based VET with workplace learning can be flexibly combined. However, our previous study focusing on learning experiences suggests that these pathways are highly varied at the micro level.
Now, after the reform efforts, very little is known about the relationship between these two VET pathways at the meso level focusing on the education providers. However, their role is central to organizing VET. Since the reform, education providers are encouraged to increase work-based learning and they have been given more freedom to organize education and training in either of these pathways. The new funding model emphasizes performance (qualifications) and effectiveness (access to employment or further studies) and the new funding model has made both of these pathways equally profitable for the education providers. Previously, education providers profited more from organizing school-based VET, which did not provide incentives for them to promote apprenticeship training.
To better understand the recent reform processes and the current relationship between school-based VET and apprenticeship training, this study aims to answer the following research question: (1) how do the education providers perceive the coexistence of these pathways in the VET system?
Method
In Finland, vocational schools owned by the municipalities or consortiums of municipalities are the main providers of VET. This qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews with the representatives of education providers. The first set of interviews were conducted before the new legislation was officially designed in 2016. Ten managers in charge of apprenticeship training in their organizations were individually interviewed. The interviews lasted from 38 minutes to 73 minutes (an average of 52 minutes). All of these managers worked in vocational schools owned by the municipalities or consortiums of municipalities in different parts of Finland. Altogether, there were 43 this kind of education providers in Finland in 2016. The second set of interviews will be collected in the spring of 2018, as the same respondents are re-interviewed after the first year of reform implementation. The first set of interviews has been tentatively analyzed, but the analysis will be finalized after the second set of interviews. The preliminary qualitative analysis of the data was deductive and followed the framework of Scott (2014) by investigating education as an institution that covers regulative (rules), normative (norms and goals) and cultural-cognitive (beliefs) structures and activities.
Expected Outcomes
During the first set of interviews, managers emphasized that legally apprenticeship training is an alternative form of VET at the secondary level. However, its separate funding system and lower unit prices per student made it a less appealing option for the education providers. The interviewees experienced that school-based VET was in a dominant position among education providers and that there was competition between the forms of VET. Furthermore, the goals of the apprenticeship training were considered incoherent. On one hand, it was seen and valued as a flexible pathway that offers further vocational training to adults with a strong working-life orientation. On the other hand, it was supposed and expected to reach a new target group of youths. The interviewees expressed that the general beliefs were in favor of school-based VET as there were prejudices about the quality of apprenticeship training and lacking awareness among employers. It is expected that the second set of interviews will give a more nuanced view on the current coexistence of the two pathways and on the change processes in the VET system.
References
Busemeyer, M., & Schlicht-Schmälzle, R. (2014). Partisan power, economic coordination and variations in vocational training systems in Europe. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 20(1), 55–71. Education Statistics Finland (2018). Students and qualifications – New students. https://vipunen.fi/en-gb/vocational/Pages/Opiskelijat-ja-tutkinnot.aspx. Kivinen, O., & Peltomäki, M. (1999). On the job or in the classroom? The apprenticeship in Finland from the 17th century to the 1990s. Journal of Education and Work, 12(1), 75–93. Mazenod, A. (2016). Education or training? A comparative perspective on apprenticeships in England. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 68(1), 102–117. Micelotta, E., Lounsbury, M., & Greenwood, R. (2017). Pathways of institutional change: An integrative review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1885–1910. Niemeyer, B. (2007). Between school and work - dilemmas in European comparative transition research. European Journal of Vocational Training, 41(2), 116–136. Pilz, M. (2016). Typologies in comparative vocational education: Existing models and a new approach. Vocations and Learning, 9(3), 295–314. Scott, W. R. (2014). Institutions and organizations: Ideas, interests, and identities. 4th Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Virolainen, M., & Stenström, M.-L. (2014). The history of Finnish vocational education and training. NORD-VET. The Finnish country report. http://nord-vet.dk/indhold/uploads/History-of-Finnish-VET-28062014-final2.pdf.
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