Question: Exceptionalism vs. structural typologies

If we look at comparative statistics, Luxembourg very often has an exceptional position (and might be treated as a spike, not to distort estimations), so the question of exceptionalism is very plausible. In the literature we find the discourse about American Exceptionalism, indicating a specific history and structure of education. The author was also tempted to coin the term ‘Austrian Exceptionalism’, because the Austrian educational structure shows very outstanding traits. The (temporary) Finnish PISA-Miracle has also plausibly tempted some authors to speak about exceptionalism in the Nordic region. Another line of reasoning and analysis has emphasized the differences and variability of at first sight similar ‘types’ of countries or systems, e.g., the comparison of collective skills systems, or the debates about the Nordic model, or comparisons of nations within the U.K.

The alternative to exceptionalism can be seen in types of structures. The creation of structures of course always needs a kind of balance between conceptual reduction and empirical representation; however, the impression is that this balance is often distorted by a strong focus on the conceptual reduction to the disadvantage of the empirical representations. This issue, of how to give more emphasis on the side of the empirical representations, is a main question behind this proposal.

Conceptual considerations: types of systems vs. idiosyncratic patchwork-assemblage

More systematic attempts to find comprehensive structures of lifelong learning, however, have failed to find some. Structures of lifelong learning are defined as structural combinations of the different parts and stages of education institutions from early to adult learning, including general and vocational education. Education research has mostly focused on certain stages, so we can speak of mirroring institutional segmentations in research. Thus we are familiar with structural categories at the different stages (e.g., institutional vs. family early education; comprehensive or tracked secondary education; more vocational or more general post-compulsory education; different structures of higher education; institutional structures of adult education are less analysed so far), however, not much attempts have been made so far to combine these structural categories at the different stages to comprehensive patterns (despite some ideas about that are quite common, and can to some extent be misleading, e.g., the combination of tracked secondary education and broad vocational education).

Skills formation as a comprehensive process of lifelong learning is carried by individual trajectories through the overall education structure, with the different parts of the structure concurring in certain patterns as a result of complex incremental historical processes, generated by various practices of the various actors – thus the overall education structures cannot be understood as designed systems, but rather as idiosyncratic conglomerates of various elements, linked by various kinds of interfaces driven by distributed practices. Main elements are the different kinds of institutions at the different stages of the overall structure, from the elementary (pre-primary) stage to the third cycle of higher education. Each stage can take different shapes (more uniform, or more diverse) and the interrelations between these elements can also be shaped differently, with different trajectories between similar institutions as well as similar trajectories between differing institutions.

The most variety exists in VET, and the main point of our perspective is that VET must not be understood as a separate alternative, but as a de facto integral element of the overall structure of skills formation which, however, can play its role in quite different ways.

Conceptually, thought experiments can show the possible structural variety. Main kinds of elements in overall structures of lifelong learning, in fact combined differently, are - institutionalization of elementary education and relationship to family/welfare structures - begin/length of primary education - linkage of primary to secondary education - shape of lower secondary education (e.g., comprehensive, tracked, differentiated) - linkage of compulsory (lower secondary) to post-compulsory (upper-secondary) education - shape of post-compulsory education (begin, differentiation, general-vocational orientation) - shape of VET within post-compulsory and tertiary education (VET typology) - progression/participation in post-compulsory education, early leavers - linkage of secondary to tertiary education - shape of tertiary education (institutional differentiation, participation, exit-reentry) - VET structures in tertiary education - opportunities of adult/further education (formal structures, second chance, participation) The combination of (at least) these elements and their interaction with the societal context constitute the formal part of skills formation of adults; opportunities for informal learning that substantially interact with the formal structures can also take certain patterns, which are more or less neglected and unknown in such structural analyses. If we categorize the above listed dimensions and assume only three categories by dimension, we get a space of 3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3=177.147 cells for variability, and we have about 150 potential realisations globally, and maximum 50-100 empirically (PISA), in PIAAC 31 realisations are available. In space we to some degree test the systemic vs. assemblage assumptions by looking at the variability among (expected) similar groups of countries (systems), e.g., economic structure, common history/politics/culture, varieties of capitalism, welfare models, stylized educational structures. An explorative study of selected countries trying to find structures in education-politics to explain PIAAC results, has given indications of Finland and USA as extreme (maybe exceptional) cases. Further attempts to find structural factors explaining PIAAC results need to identify comprehensive structural patterns. Explorative studies of structural traits don’t find a concentrated structures but rather the opposite, diverse idiosyncratic combinations of different patterns, that point towards exceptionalism. An empirical analysis of more comprehensive structural patterns the used the (limited) PIAAC data combined with some more general structural traits. Conceptually the following dimensions are considered: -systemic structure or idiosyncratic assemblage-patchwork -partial (e.g., specific levels, certain traits, considering participation) or comprehensive observation of structures -enactment of structure in time: distinction of ‘flow’ and ‘stock’ structures, approximated by the cross-sectional education structure at a point in time or only formal structures given by organisational-institutional patterns alone

# the combination of parts to a comprehensive structure gives many degrees of freedom for realisations in a wide potential array of patterns, unless certain successive patterns would exist from one stage to another (the discourse about structures often assumes such patterns for simplification, e.g., early selection/tracking, vocational participation, tertiary participation), distributed governance structures for different parts and rising inclusion/participation increases the potential array for diverse structures; thus, how the overall structure of lifelong learning evolves is an empirical question, including structural elements and their distribution enacted through participation patterns; # the observation of structures depends on their change/stability over time; the stock-of-population structure can be easily observed, if there is no/small change over time, otherwise the current stock-population-structure will be a patchwork of different successive time dependent observations by generations (cohorts) that have moved through the structure at certain points in time; thus the overall formation of competences in a population stock at a certain point in time might be the product of different (past) structures, which are difficult/impossible to entangle ex-post; in comparative education elaborate empirical information across a wider array of countries is rather recent, thus different (past) structures that have produced the current stock are difficult (or impossible) to identify empirically # the systematic comparative analysis of effects of structures/elements is related to the systemic vs. patchwork duality, as description/modeling by quantitative data involves the comparison of the country-observations to an artificial “average structure” implicit in the calculating model – if many real patterns (implicitly) included in the calculation differ from this artificial average structure, the results are artificial (concerns parametric and non-parametric approaches); if in reality distinct idiosyncratic patterns exist, which methods of comparison would apply? How can an assemblage-patchwork structure vs. a systemic (‘parametric’) structure be identified?

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