Quality and Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training in the Mediterranean Countries: lessons from the European approach

This article reflects on the development of the European approach towards quality and quality assurance in vocational education and training (VET) and its relevance for VET reforms in the European Training Foundation (ETF) partner countries. The analysis is based on an ETF project conducted in 2007-2008 in the Mediterranean partner countries to promote exchanges of information and experience between the decision makers and experts of the countries concerned and within the EU. More precisely, it aims to analyse how quality assurance (QA) initiatives could promote the quality of systems and support best practices already established in the EU and in the Mediterranean region in order to lay the foundations for specific actions at national and regional level. The authors of the article found out that: the tools developed by the EU to quality assure VET systems are relevant for the Mediterranean region. They can serve as a guideline for identifying strategic priorities. However, they do not provide a well-delimited concept to be implemented in the short term. Moreover, these EU tools reflect a new model of governance based on decentralization of responsibilities, autonomy of providers and accountability that may be difficult to implement in Mediterranean countries where VET systems remain very centralised and compartimentalised.     

National Qualification Frameworks: from policy borrowing to policy learning

This article takes up the issue of the internationalisation of Vocational Education and Training (VET) reforms, expressed in the way policy instruments such as National Qualifications Frameworks (NQF) are introduced in the European Training Foundation's (ETF) partner countries. There is an international debate and different perspectives regarding NQFs. These perspectives have largely talked past each other. The article brings together these perspectives and highlights the issues at stake in this field. Through the analysis of ETF interventions in different regions, the article makes a case for new approaches of intervention, namely policy learning, that aim at enabling national stakeholders and that are conducive for home-grown VET policies. The discussion is broad in scope, not only because the article reviews developments in qualifications frameworks across-regions, but also because it highlights the complex interaction of the global and local development when introducing NQFs and the impact of such reforms on VET systems.     

Vocational education and training for development: A policy in need of a theory?

The current decade has seen a significant return of interest in vocational education and training (VET) amongst the international policy community. This rise in policy and programmatic interest in VET's role in development, however, stands in contrast to the state of the academic debate. Whilst there have continued to be both policy and academic developments in VET in OECD countries; in the South there has been a paucity of VET research and little in the way of theoretical exploration. Rather, the academic orthodoxy in the international education and development field is dismissive of VET's possible contribution. Given the return of the policy interest in VET for development, and the possibilities of a broader vision of education–development relations beyond 2015, when the MDGs end, it is time to revisit the role of VET in development from an explicitly theoretical stance. In this article, I argue that the current approach to VET is grounded in an outmoded model of development, whilst the academic critique of VET in developing countries is clearly long outdated. In contrast, I examine the implications for VET of recent trends in thinking about development through the exploration of three particular theoretical approaches: human rights, capabilities and integrated human development. I conclude by considering the purposes, natures and possibilities of VET as a means of human development.     

Governance Dynamics and the Application of the Multilevel Governance Approach in Vocational Education and Training (VET) in the European Neighbourhood Countries: the case of the ENPI South region

This article analyses moves towards good multilevel governance approaches in Vocational Education and Training (VET) as an effective way to improve VET policy making in transition and developing countries, focusing on the Southern Neighbourhood of the EU (ENPI South). The centralised approaches in public administration and to VET governance still prevail in this region. The new modes of governance applied by the EU in the policy area of education and training are based on the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). They are a source of inspiration to improve VET governance, taking into account the complexity of VET policies and systems. According to current European and international experiences, the most effective, relevant and attractive VET models and systems are demand‐driven. They rely on the effective and accountable participation of both state (national/local public actors) and non‐state VET stakeholders (e.g. employers, sectoral actors, unions) in decision‐making and policy implementation processes. This could also pave the way towards self‐governed and performance‐based VET provider institutions which would give quicker responses to rapidly changing labour market skills, competences and qualification needs. Thus, this means putting in practice more and better inclusion and effective cooperation and coordination of regional and local voices of VET actors and developing stronger social partnerships to engage employers, unions and civil society in shaping and investing in skills development. Furthermore, the role of methodological tools for VET governance is not only to provide an analytical ground to capture data and structure further policy advice. These tools can also be used as ice‐breakers to improve collaboration, inclusiveness, multi‐participation and trust‐building among policy makers as they work together on very sensitive issues such as reviewing country VET governance models, modes and institutional arrangements, and/or planning policy thinking and/or learning for implementing coordination mechanisms for VET policy making. The European Training Foundation (ETF) has implemented a methodology to map, analyse and self‐assess good multilevel governance in VET, inspired by how EU governance soft tools in education and training are being used. This methodology has been applied to the Governance for Employability in the Mediterranean (GEMM) project in the ENPI South region, which is a regional project implemented by the ETF and financed by the European Commission's Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargements Negotiations (NEAR).     

Knowledge,skills, competence: European divergences in vocational education and training (VET)—the English,German and Dutch cases

Policy debates on employability, lifelong learning and competence‐based approaches suggest a convergence of VET approaches across European countries. Against the background of the creation of a European Qualifications Framework, this paper compares the VET systems of England, Germany and The Netherlands. The analysis reveals the distinct understandings and meanings of outwardly similar terms. These meanings are deeply rooted in the countries’ institutional structures and labour processes and still inform national debates and policies today. The paper identifies a major distinction between a ‘knowledge‐based’ VET model in Germany and The Netherlands and a ‘skills‐based’ model in England. There is a need to develop trans‐national categories that take into account the social construction of terms such as ‘skills’ and ‘qualifications’.     

Connecting with the World of Work: horizontal accountability processes in institutions providing Vocational Education and Training (VET)

In VET systems, connectivity with the world of work has been on the agenda for many years: for Western and Southern European countries, since the 1980s as a consequence of the 1973 oil crisis, and then for Central and Eastern European countries, since the early 1990s. In the last few decades, awareness has grown that European prosperity depended heavily on the skills of the workforce and the innovativeness and competitiveness of the economy. In the EU, it has long been acknowledged that VET plays a key role in integrating young people in the labour market and providing skills and competences that foster innovation and entrepreneurship. More recently, VET has also been seen as a precondition to overcome the current economic crisis in Europe. This article analyses how institutions that provide VET can address these demands. It begins by describing European VET policy, characterising it as soft governance. Furthermore, based on data and insights from CEDEFOP and OECD research and publications, an overview is given of strategies and measure es and of the practice of VET providers connecting and cooperating with the world of work throughout Europe. The article goes on to analyse in greater depth the concept of horizontal accountability and stakeholder theory, providing a framework to study the external orientation and connectivity with the world of work of VET colleges in The Netherlands. The Dutch VET system is described and compared with other systems in Europe. Drawing on empirical data, the horizontal accountability processes in which Dutch VET colleges engage are unravelled, examining with which parties and about what they connect. Finally, some conclusions are proposed.     

Glimpsing the Future in the Past: VET in Europe

What do we expect from Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems? Is it different from 25 years ago? This article argues that the focus has increasingly been placed on strategies for lifelong and life-wide learning that seek to reinforce continuity among the subsystems of learning, but that VET systems are, nevertheless, still expected to address many and sometimes conflicting agendas, needs and priorities. The last 25 years or so have been critical for the development of VET in Europe. Making VET more attractive and increasing its parity of esteem in relation to general secondary education have been major, recurring themes in European countries, as part of, at least conceptually, more comprehensive approaches to lifelong and life-wide learning. From 1989 to 2003, the European Journal of Education (EJE) published a special issue on ‘Trends in Vocational Education and Training’ every two years and has continued to publish on VETrelated topics. This article revisits the major themes and challenges as they were observed and discussed by the authors who wrote in those special issues and in later articles. Many were directly involved in advisory positions to governments; held key decision-making responsibilities; undertook studies and consultancy and brought technical assistance across several countries. Their articles are moments of reflection nourished by experience on the ground. This article explores how the European Journal of Education has contributed to European reflection on VET systems, policies and preoccupations in recent decades – what can we learn that is useful for shaping and formulating our present ideas about new policy from our colleagues writing about the same or similar issues 20 years ago? A key theme concerns the role of the Europe Community (and subsequently EU) as a change agent supporting bottom-up exchange and top-down stimulus for reform through an increasing integration of education and training in the socio-economic strategy of the EU.     

The European Social Fund: changing approaches to VET

Since its creation in 1958, the European Social Fund (ESF) has played a major role in supporting the development of vocational training in the Member States. However, compared to other, more recently launched, EU programmes and initiatives in the area of education and training, the ESF has not made a significant contribution to the debate about European cooperation in this field. This article argues that the ESF has made a mistake in this respect. It also seeks to illustrate and analyse the important changes that the ESF has undergone over the years in addressing the issue of vocational education and training (VET) and to demonstrate that it has substantial resources, in terms of money and experience, that can be used to adapt education and training systems to labour market requirements and to the needs of a knowledge-based economy. The article places a deliberate, though not an exclusive, emphasis on vocational education and training for young people and on the extension of transnational cooperation within the framework of the ESF.     

Vocational Education and Training for women and youth in Palestine: Poverty reduction and gender equality under occupation

This article explores the possibilities and limitations of attempts to improve economic and human development of marginalised groups Women and Youth, within the overall political and economic context of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt). This is carried through the particular cases of two successful models of Vocational Education and Training (VET) provided by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), both of which come from explicitly Christian traditions of thinking about social justice and the role of a holistic approach to VET placing human well-being at its heart. The article draws on human development approaches, from a rights based approach and a capability approach. This article draws attention to the challenges related to the overall economic and political context, and its limitations at overcoming marginalisation, reducing poverty and enhancing wellbeing. It illustrates the effect of the human development approach on expanding the effects of VET within such context, increasing labour force participation rates, employment and income generation of youth and women. It highlights the programmes’ efforts to enable marginalised youth to develop their capabilities in order to achieve their choices, illustrating that VET and the efforts of NGOs provide an important mechanism to respond to the overall challenge. Finally, the article draws attention to gender-related challenges and suggests employment-enabling policies.     

Achieving the Lisbon Goal: the contribution of Vocational Education and Training

This article summarises the main conclusions of the ‘Maastricht study’: Achieving the Lisbon Goal: The Contribution of VET ( Leney et al., 2004 ), which the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), in collaboration with the Institute of Education and other international partners, prepared for the European Commission's DG Education and Culture in 2004. Based on the self‐assessment reports prepared by the Directors‐General for VET (DGVTs) of 31 European countries, and on independent expert reviews of the national and international literature on VET, the report analysed the contribution of VET to achieving the Lisbon goal and influenced the framing of the Maastricht Communiqué which the European education ministers agreed in December 2004. This summary of the findings of the report is organised under the following sections: 1) The potential of VET as an aspect of European cooperation; 2) The current state of play and progress of VET towards achieving the Lisbon goal; 3) Innovation in VET teaching and learning; and 4) Conclusions.     

Vocational Education and Training: Researching the Relationship between School and Work

Researchers and policy makers agree that the relation between school and work is an important characteristic of vocational education and training (VET) and needs attention. The relation itself poses several challenges for research to be successful and useful for policy makers. In this article, we outline these challenges and answer the following question: What needs to be considered when researching the relation between school and work? Our central claim is that research on the relation between school and work needs to (1) take into account contextual conditions of the VET system, including identifying the central actors and their responsibilities within a VET system, (2) take into account the characteristics of VET itself, (3) define the quality of the relation between school and work (depending on the context, characteristics of the VET system and VET itself), and (4) be consistent with respect to chosen research aims and paradigms. To illustrate how these aspects can be taken into account an example of empirical research conducted in the German dual apprenticeship system is described. The readers are provided with guidelines for researchers and policy makers to carry out high quality research on the relation between school and work in VET systems that enables policy makers to make use of the results to improve the relation between school and work in VET systems.     

The coherence of vocational education and training in Norway and Spain: national traditions and the reshaping of VET governance in hybrid VET systems

Coherence of national education and training systems is increasingly tabled in European policy debates. Leaning on literature about the emergence and consolidation of national education systems, this article explores the rationale for VET reforms in Norway and Spain by scrutinising attempts to strengthen the coherence of their VET systems. Coherence has been sought through the unification of different strands of vocational education; initial, continuing and active labour market policies (what we call ‘horizontal coherence’) and the mainstreaming of VET curricular elements; plus the systematisation of VET practices across educational levels (‘vertical coherence’). While both countries looked for coherence, their motivations, how they operationalised the term and the emphasis of their actions differed substantially. Spain has experienced a move from the three largely unrelated strands into a more unified system; Norway from a fragile VET system to the availability of more VET courses and apprenticeship arrangements at all educational levels.     

教育:过去、现在与未来的全球挑战

1990年以来全球教育发展缓慢,且各国发展速度不同。普及基础教育仍是发展中国家政府与国际组织亟待实现的目标。这与近年来经济学关于人力资本对于经济增长以及社会发展的催化作用的研究发现形成鲜明对照。本研究基于一个新构建的教育数据库与1950—2010年的国民账户数据,采用不同的方法与若干国家案例,估计与人力资本积累缓慢相关的收入损失及其对公平的影响。研究还基于各国过去与未来加速人力资本积累的假设,推算了1900—1950年与2010—2050年的情况。研究发现,以人均收入表示的福利损失至少为7～10个百分点。此外,提高人均受教育年限对于减少收入不平等也有影响。     

An Energy Model for Viewing Embodied Human Capital Theory

Human capital development is one of the emerging areas of study with regard to social science theory, practice, and research. Arelatively new concept, human capital is described in terms of individual knowledge skills and experience. It is currently expressed as a function of education as well as a measure of economic activity. Little theory exists to establish models of individual or group human capital. By drawing upon existing physical science constructs such as embodied energy, this article applies a framework for articulating an approach to human capital development and interaction. Our proposition is that human capital consists of active and passive capacity, which parallels the theoretic dimensions of potential and kinetic energy. Aconceptual binary phase diagram of a human capital system is presented along with examples for applying the model to practice. Utilizing an economic model of resource flows; a model of embodied human capital is developed as a vehicle for sustainable human capital theory.     

Vocational Education for Sustainable Development: an obligation for the European Training Foundation

This article presents an argued case for making sustainable development a policy obligation for the European Training Foundation (ETF) and for vocational education and training (VET) reform in the partner countries that are served by ETF. In relation to ETF it points out that no major emphasis has been put to date on combining economic, social and environmental considerations. It then analyses the ways economies operate in relation to sustainable development and the changed knowledge and skills needed for both economies and for a sustainable future. Implications for VET reform include attending to the broad goals of inclusion and equity, a reconsideration of the competences to be developed and the didactic approaches within a framework of lifelong learning. The didactics proposed are in line with current thinking related to constructivist pedagogy, an inter-disciplinary approach to ‘real life’ problems and increasing the porosity of school boundaries to the community. The scope of VET's mission should extend well beyond the confines of preparing young people for narrow labour market skills. The article is of particular significance for re-directing the focus of ETF and VET reform policy but will be of interest to a much wider audience, as it provides a synthesis of future-oriented ideas and options relating to education's obligations to face the urgent need to ensure sustainability.     

No experience,no employment: The effect of vocational education and training work experience on labour market outcomes after higher education

Higher education graduates with work experience enter the labour market more smoothly. This study analyses how work experience from vocational education and training (VET) affects labour market outcomes after higher education. To account for selection into VET, we use the regional enrolment rate as an instrument for upper-secondary VET. Results suggest that work experience gained during VET leads to significantly higher wages of 7% to 19% one year after graduation from higher education and two months less search time for first employment but does not significantly lower the probability of an internship in the post-graduation year. However, these positive effects do not persist: the effect is no longer robustly significant for wages, unemployment or employment position after five years. The effect operates through the human capital (specific and general), screening and signalling channels, not the social network channel. Our results suggest that upper-secondary VET is an equivalent pathway to academic education, not merely the second-best, for individuals planning on higher education.     

The Shifting Relationship between Vocational and Higher Education in France and Germany: towards convergence?

In Europe, the Bologna and Copenhagen Processes in higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET) are on the agenda, aiming to create a European educational area. Acknowledging important differences between countries, we compare the evolving relationship between HE and VET. We ask whether and how these two distinct organisational fields in France and Germany have changed in recent decades. Comparing institutional shifts, the article analyses whether long-standing differences in postsecondary education and training systems and the education/economy nexus in these two countries have remained stable. We argue that these countries’ skill formation systems have begun to converge, departing from their original institutionalisation paths. Thus, while the traditional typologies that contrast France and Germany have served as useful heuristic devices, they require revision to adequately represent incremental institutional change in these skill formation systems resulting from endogenous reforms and exogenous pressures due to Europeanisation.     

Universities and the Development of Social Capital in Bulgaria: New Strategies for Change

This article offers some thoughts on the idea that universities can and should contribute to the development of social capital in countries undergoing profound social change, like Bulgaria. It discusses the role of universities in the transformation and development of civil society through an examination of institutional capacities for innovation and change. An analysis of the new responsibilities assumed through the social mission of universities reveals obstacles to the implementation of their strategies for the development of human capital. A consideration of the policy context identifies two different policy approaches to higher education that give rise to contrasting strategies for change. These are further explored in terms of institutional employment‐related strategies and policies for the transmission of cultural values.     

Skills development for poverty reduction (SDPR): The case of Tajikistan

Vocational education and training (VET) can contribute to the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. A key to economic and social progress is the training of better-qualified individuals and skilled enterprise staff who will be more productive, improving goods, increasing incomes and adapting to changing markets. Experts from international cooperation agencies see VET projects as suitable instruments for poverty alleviation in target groups working in the informal sector and rural economy. The recent shortages and high prices of rural products in many developing countries support this position. For the past two years a skills development for poverty reduction (SDPR) project has been running in rural areas of Central Asia to address rural poverty. The approach and findings of the project are discussed against the background of the international debate on VET in the context of poverty alleviation. It is hoped that the conclusions will contribute to optimising the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of similar VET projects.