This paper will advance the understanding of the process of internationalisation and attraction of the German dual VET model within the EU as a model of good practice. Some European countries, including Spain, encouraged by the EU, have undertaken the reform of their VET systems so as to promote dual apprenticeship. This paper will focus on the analysis of EU proposals and recommendations on two areas: the governance system and the training model, which are the main characteristics of the German model of VET. Accordingly, the research questions which guide this paper are: What are the characteristics of the VET training model promoted by the European Union? What examples of good VET practices in respect to training model are sponsored by the European Union?
The theoretical framework of this paper is based in educational policy transfer and Europeanisation theories. Policy transfer analysis is a theory of policy development that attempts to make sense of a process in which knowledge about institutions, policies or service delivery systems in one sector or level of governance is used in the development of institutions, policies or service delivery systems in another sector or level of government (Evans, 2009). Educational transfer occurs through a variety of more or less direct pathways or mechanisms, such as diffusion or lesson extraction.
There is no diffusion or reception, lending or borrowing, without agency (Steiner-Khamsi, 2014). The question of agency implicitly suggests that we must take into account multiple actors and their different roles in transfer processes and leave behind previous approaches where the state is the only actor (Rappleye, 2012). Supranational organisations such as the EU and its respective agencies have become a hub for the dissemination of ideas, programmes and institutions (Jakobi, 2012). These organisations influence national policy makers directly, through their policies and funding, and indirectly, through the information and policies disseminated in their conferences and reports (Dolowitz & Marsh, 2000).
Europeanisation has become a key concept in understanding how the EU has transformed the way member states make policy. It is used by various authors to describe the impact of the EU on the political life, legislative policies and governance of member states (Ante, 2016). EU policies are clearly aimed at promoting greater cooperation between the Member States (MS), but also at strengthening the Community's political impact in the field of education and hence vocational training. To this end, two lines of action have been defined: the dissemination of best practices and the promotion of joint reflection (Novoa, 2002). As an area where hierarchical intervention by the EU is not possible, the horizontal mechanism is used through soft frameworks where the EU serves only as a stage. In these policy areas, European policy is based on cooperation and agreement between MS (Zaunstöck et al., 2021). The EU works with minimum or non-binding directives or regulations that provide solutions to a specific problem, which are then introduced into the national debate with the possibility of changing the perception of the problems by national actors and thus triggering learning processes and legitimisation of alternatives (Zaunstöck et al., 2021). In order to harmonise the European VET policies, the EU uses what Cort (2009) calls the EU Governance Triangle. This governance triangle would consist of three mechanisms covering different means of regulating the behaviour of MS: the Community method, the programme method and the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) method. This research will analyse the main documents resulting from this EU Governance Triangle.
