The historical gap between vocational education and training (VET) on the one side and upper secondary and higher education on the other side is shrinking. It can be observed that in various education systems, elements for bridging the gaps are implemented: vocational education at universities, combined forms of vocational training and university entrance qualifications, apprenticeships up to the Master’s level, and modularised vocational training that can be partially recognised towards a university degree are signs of a fundamental change (see Frommberger & Schmees, 2020).

The historically differentiated subsystems of vocational, general, and academic education cannot (or can no longer) be distinguished clearly. However, the dissolution of sharp distinctions between the educational sub-sectors is being carried out in a variety of ways. The emerging re-combination of upper secondary education with VET or higher education with VET lead to a multitude of different models. These phenomena become particularly clear through an international analysis. The paper tries to answer two questions: Across different countries, what general developments can be observed and how can these developments be described theoretically?

Four different trends are presented: (1) upgrading higher VET, (2) hybrid qualifications to combine VET with university entrance qualifications, (3) hybrid qualifications for linking VET and higher education, and (4) qualification frameworks, modularisation, and credit point systems. From a theoretical point of view, these developments can be explained using neo-institutionalist theory. Assumptions about institutions, which are understood as relatively stable structures of expectation whose validity is assumed per se and remains unquestioned (cf. Krücken 2005, 5), serve as a fundamental theoretical building block. Within neo-institutionalism, three (cf. Hall & Taylor, 1996) or four (cf. Schmidt 2010) currents can be distinguished, each of which explains the emergence of institutions differently. To explain the new forms of re-combinations between vocational and higher (secondary) education, the myth concept from sociological neo-institutionalism and the concept of path dependency from historical neo-institutionalism are used:

In sociological neo-institutionalism, which is particularly suitable for explaining globally diffusing reform ideas, the myth concept describes an “assumed causal connection” (Koch, 2009, p. 113). Therefore, the dissolution of formerly separate educational sub-sectors outlined here can be interpreted as a response to two internationally circulating demands, according to which the number of university graduates must be increased (e.g. BKR, 19. 01.2015) and equal opportunities in or permeability between education systems must be guaranteed (e.g. OECD, 2018, pp. 145–148). Bridging the gap between educational sub-sectors provides a solution to both demands. The assumed causal connection is that the convergence of the education sectors actually fulfills the desired consequences of more students and a more permeable education system. The political implementation of the convergence is based on the assumed effects and is therefore usually interpreted as a necessary, legitimate, and rational decision. The more countries implementing these reforms, the more necessary, more legitimate, and more rational the decision becomes for the remaining countries.

If one follows this implied explanation, identical reforms should be observed in all education systems worldwide. However, the responses of national education policies differ from each other. The influences of the internationally raised demands thus experience limits, because the concrete design of the solution on the ground depends on a number of factors, which are also, and above all, dependent on the prevailing historical contexts, which differ from one another. The concept of path dependency (cf. Hall & Taylor, 1996, p. 954), borrowed from historical institutionalism, can be used to explain these differences. Accordingly, reforms of any kind necessarily build on what already exists and can only be understood as further developments of it (cf. Zohlnhöfer, 2008, pp. 163–164).

The paper draws on the results of a project where eight case studies were analysed (cf. Frommberger, 2019b), in which models for bridging vocational and higher education, but also vocational and higher secondary education, are presented. The study participants selected elements in different education systems that can be, in a way, regarded as best practices for increasing permeability between the different sectors of education. As a result, the Australian qualification framework (cf. Schmees, Popkova & Frommberger, 2019a), higher VET in Austria (cf. Frommberger & Schmees 2019a), co-operative education in Canada (cf. Deißinger 2019), the higher and degree apprenticeship in England (cf. Schmees, Popkova & Frommberger 2019b), the dual study programme in Germany (cf. Frommberger 2019a), the permeability agenda of the Netherlands (cf. Busse 2019), the Scottish qualifications framework in conjunction with the credit point system and modularised VET (cf. Pilz 2019), and the vocational baccalaureate and higher VET in Switzerland (cf. Frommberger & Schmees 2019b) were analysed as individual case studies. For this paper, the aforementioned four trends were identified from these cases, each of which can be seen as exemplary for global trends towards the merging of the education sub-sectors.

The starting point of our analysis was the observation that the gap between educational sub-sectors is becoming smaller. Altogether, four developments could be stated. These developments are explained using a neo-institutionalist approach where the concept of myth explains the general idea of briding the educational sub-system and the concept of path dependency is used to explain why the way of bridging differs from country to country. The combined application of both concepts produces a tension in the analysis of the developments due to their origins in different neo-institutionalist currents. On the one hand, a worldwide trend of dissolution or merging of educational sub-systems is identified; on the other hand, the different developments are described due to the already existing contexts. Following on from the empirical examples presented, a concept for integrating the two opposing theoretical concepts, myth and path dependency, is therefore presented in the paper which describes these two developments on two independent axes, where one axis stands for bridging itself and the other axis for different types of bridging. While all analysed countries bridge the education sub-sectors, convergence can only be seen at an abstract level.

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