Jonas Olofsson

Apprenticeship training in upper secondary school : Motives and possibilities from a European and Swedish perspective

Apprenticeship training is a form of education that arouses a great deal of interest as regards the challenges that characterise conditions for young people on the current labour market. This is ob ...

An education policy paradigm that fails upper secondary school pupils

Abstract In this article, we illustrate the creation of the education policy paradigm that constitutes the framework of vocational education and training (VET) programmes, and analyse local school representatives’ perception of VET in upper secondary schools in Sweden. The education policy paradigm, established through three periods of reform during the twentieth century, undervalues VET as being less worthy than general/academic education. This paradigm generates the rhetoric used by interviewed school representatives that encourages school pupils to choose the ‘right’ (academic) programmes in order to foster a specific citizenship competence, even if this competence is not fully compatible with labour market demands. Young people who cannot, or will not, attain the ‘right’ education, and thus the advocated citizenship competence, lose out in a school system where general/academic education and higher education preparatory programmes are consistently prioritised over VET. An educational system that advocates discrimination and suspicion of VET limits career options and restricts entry into the labour market, as well as risk stigmatising pupils undertaking VET; this paradigm is neither justified nor democratic.

Apprenticeship Training in Upper Secondary School : Motives and Possibilities from a Swedish and European Perspective

Apprenticeship training is a form of education that arouses a great deal of interest as regards the challenges that characterise conditions for young people on the current labour market. This is obvious both in Sweden and in other comparable countries. This chapter begin by illustrating the changed conditions for establishment of young people, a factor that may help to enhance understanding of why issues of apprenticeship training are so high on the political agenda. After that, we will look at relevant experiences linked with vocational education and training (VET) and apprenticeship training in Sweden as well as at the European Union (EU) level. Our main issue relates to what basic requirements that have to be in place for establishing an apprenticeship training model and what challenges a country like Sweden – with its tradition of school-based VET – will face when aiming to initiate more of a classical apprenticeship training approach.

Same, but different - The Emergence of VET in three Nordic Countries

The post-compulsory educational offers in Switzerland are characterised by a strong focus on professional qualifications. Even today, three out of four diplomas awarded at this level are vocational certificates (Cortesi/Imdorf 2013). Thereby, vocational education at companies and vocational schools is of great significance. In 2010, 87% of all vocational education learners in Switzerland completed their basic vocational training in the context of programmes happening simultaneously at the company and the vocational school. In the German-speaking part of Switzerland this share approached 90%, while in the French-speaking part the share was 76% (SBFI 2014, p. 12). Known for its alignment with the needs of the economy, this kind of educational organisation continues to guarantee its graduates a good labour market chance in Switzerland. Respectively, Switzerland is increasingly perceived as a showcase model for vocational education.Historically apprenticeship has developed very differently in the Nordic countries, either as a separate dual system (Denmark), as an integrated part of upper secondary education (Norway) or has almost disappeared (Sweden). The purpose of this paper is to examine the roots of these differences in the period of re-regulation following the deregulation caused by the dissolution of the guilds from the middle of the 19th century. The paper presents the first results of a comparative study of the roots of these differences in the historical transition of [vocational education and training] VET in three Nordic countries. A number of earlier studies (Archer 1979; Thelen 2004) have pointed to the significance of the formative transition period after the dissolution of the guilds for the subsequent trajectories of VET, especially the relation between artisans and industrialists and the relation between the labour market partners and the state in establishing new forms of regulation of collective skills formation. Even though the coalitions and institutions formed in this period do not determine subsequent development, they do make some policy options more likely than others (Dobbins and Busemeyer 2014).Austria with its specific ‘dual’ structure, including both, a strong fulltime school sector and a strong apprenticeship system, lies in-between the established classifications of VET. This structure is not a result of ‘systemic’ political decision-making; rather the different institutions have evolved more or less parallel. It is a remarkable phenomenon that the formal structure has remained quite stable through history, throughout very different regime periods (the Habsburg Empire, 1st Republic, two Fascisms, 2nd Republic). The challenges are first to identify the persistent structural traits, and second to explain the historical processes. Methodologically, the different versions of institutionalist approaches are used for the reanalysis of artefacts from historical studies; the main task is a consistent interpretation of the material, providing new insights about the long term patterns of education reform.