The multifaceted field of French pragmatic sociology offers innovative explanatory and analytical approaches for a number of current processes in education such as standardization, quantification and datafication of education, conflicts and controversies over educational quality and equity, or the interplay of science, politics and practice in the establishment and transformation of educational arrangements (Imdorf & Leemann 2023). In terms of social theory, this approach, also referred to as Economics and Sociology of Conventions, emphasizes the competence of social actors to deal reflectively with uncertain situations and the importance of the plurality of widely accepted knowledge orders (including notions of justice, reality and quality of education). As such, convention theory in the field of education highlights social and moral structures and situational cultural orders (conventions) in the coordination of social actions between administrators, teachers/instructors and young learners who, with their agency, are positioned and exposed in situations characterized by tensions. Thereby, the pragmatic sociology of education has enriched research on Vocational education and training (VET) early on, first in France (e.g. Bessy 2006, Verdier 2013), later in German-speaking countries and Spain (Marhuenda-Fluixà 2022), and more recently in the Nordic countries (Imdorf 2022). The situatedness of this form of education between state and labor market makes it particularly suitable for convention-sociological analysis. VET systems around the world serve plural and often conflicting (economic, social and educational) aims which find their roots in different socio-cultural economic, that is in national and regional contexts (Bonoli & Gonon 2022). 

The symposium aims at discussing the potentials and findings, but also the challenges and desiderata of a "pragmatic" sociology of VET and its further development. In the context of a traditionally school-based VET system in Spain, Paper 1 uses the sociology of conventions framework to identify the main actors in national policy reforms in three domains (formal vocational education policy, non-formal vocational training policy and labor market policy) and explain what their main justifications have been, as well as the compromises they have reached in order to advance VET policies since the 2008 financial crisis to connect better with labor market needs.  Against the backdrop of a competition for high-performing pupils between schools and training companies at the upper-secondary education level in Switzerland, Paper 2analysis how VET can be positioned as an attractive educational pathway for high-performing pupils in different Swiss Cantons, that is how company-based VET can attract high-performing pupils. A special focus of the analysis is on steering strategies, measures and instruments actors of cantonal education policy and administration use to foster the attractiveness of company-based VET, and how these steering efforts are justified and criticized. Paper 3 problematizes the distinction made between merit and skills in educational research, with merit being referred to elite education or academic pathways into higher education and the notion of skills to practical know-how acquired through VET. In Sweden, this distinction not only obscures the worth and attention higher vocational education participants assign to their education. The paper further enables greater reflexivity amongst researchers to question their own conventions in ongoing debates about educational merit. The contributions reflect on different levels and contexts of VET in three countries which differ in terms of the underlying educational conventions. 

The symposium will be chaired by Christian Imdorf, one of the leading experts for convention theory and VET in Europe.  Papers will be commented by Philipp Gonon who is an international VET scholar with expertise in the convention theory. Altogether, the symposium provides insights in promising analytical tools to analyze the different aims and facets of post-secondary (vocational) education at the intersection of the educational system and the labor market.

Bessy, Christian. 2006. Competence certification and the reform of vocational education. A comparison of the UK, France, and Germany. In How Europe’s economies learn. Coordinating competing models, ed. Edward Lorenz, and Bengt-Åke Lundval, 313–339. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bonoli, L., Gonon, P. (2022). The evolution of VET systems as a combination of economic, social and educational aims. The case of Swiss VET. Hungarian Educational Research Journal 12(3), 305–316. DOI: 10.1556/063.2021.00062 Imdorf, C. (2022). Different sessions with reference to French pragmatic sociology held at the Nordic Sociological Associations’ 2022 conference in Reykjavik, Iceland. The academic blog of the Economics of convention, https://conventions.hypotheses.org/15415 Imdorf, C., Leemann, R.J. (2023). Education and Conventions. In: Diaz-Bone, R., Larquier, G. (Eds.). Handbook of Economics and Sociology of Conventions. Cham: Springer (in print) Marhuenda-Fluixà, F. (2022). Conflicting roles of vocational education: Civic, Industrial, Market and Project Conventions to address VET scenarios. Hungarian Educational Research Journal 12(3), 248–262. Verdier E. (2013). Lifelong learning regimes versus vocational education and training systems in Europe: The growing hybridisation of national models. In J. G. Janmaat, M. Duru-Bellat, A. Green, & P. Méhaut (Eds.), The dynamics and social outcomes of education systems. Education, economy and society. Palgrave Macmillan, London.