A tale of two reforms: Institutional change in vocational education and training in Norway and Sweden in the 1990s

Abstract

Political reforms of the 1990s ushered in sweeping socio-economic changes in the Nordic countries, including radical changes in their vocational education and training systems. However, the reforms led to a school-based vocational education and training system with a strong orientation towards higher education in Sweden, and a hybrid system with a stronger apprenticeship component in Norway. Drawing on comparative literature about institutional change in education systems, the aim of this article is to consider why such different vocational education and training systems emerged in countries that shared numerous commonalities following political reforms with similar neoliberal agendas. Our findings, based on secondary data analyses, show that national education reforms played a key role in transforming vocational education and training systems to promote greater flexibility and lifelong learning in line with societal changes. They also show that differences in the roles played by the social partners in Sweden and Norway in the reform processes, in conjunction with differences in political priorities, have led to major differences despite the similarities of national histories and attitudes. © The Author(s) 2019.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Apprenticeship vocational education and training institutional change Nordic countries historic institutionalism

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköpings Universitet, Linkoping, Östergötland, Sweden

Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research, Oslo, Norway

Funding & Acknowledgements

Nordisk Ministerråd

Funding text 1: Kaja Reegård, PhD Sociology, is a researcher at Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research in Oslo, Norway. Her work focuses on young people’s paths through the education system. Her research interests include vocational education and training; apprenticeships; dropout and school-to-work transitions. She is currently heading a research project on dropouts who re-enrol in upper secondary education, funded by the Research Council of Norway.; Funding text 2: Nord-VET is funded by Nordforsk under the Nordic Council of Ministers. Read more on the project homepage www.Nord-VET.dk In Norway and Sweden such reports are labelled Official Norwegian Reports (NOU) and Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU), respectively. Committee reports are proposals and reports submitted by a commission of enquiry appointed by the government.; Funding text 3: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: When submitting the article, the following information was given about the article being written as part of participation in a cross-cutting network “Justice through Education in the Nordic Countries” in part funded by Nordforsk, Nordic Centre of Excellence.

NordForsk

Funding text 1: Kaja Reegård, PhD Sociology, is a researcher at Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research in Oslo, Norway. Her work focuses on young people’s paths through the education system. Her research interests include vocational education and training; apprenticeships; dropout and school-to-work transitions. She is currently heading a research project on dropouts who re-enrol in upper secondary education, funded by the Research Council of Norway.; Funding text 2: Nord-VET is funded by Nordforsk under the Nordic Council of Ministers. Read more on the project homepage www.Nord-VET.dk In Norway and Sweden such reports are labelled Official Norwegian Reports (NOU) and Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU), respectively. Committee reports are proposals and reports submitted by a commission of enquiry appointed by the government.; Funding text 3: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: When submitting the article, the following information was given about the article being written as part of participation in a cross-cutting network “Justice through Education in the Nordic Countries” in part funded by Nordforsk, Nordic Centre of Excellence.

Norges Forskningsråd

Funding text 1: Kaja Reegård, PhD Sociology, is a researcher at Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research in Oslo, Norway. Her work focuses on young people’s paths through the education system. Her research interests include vocational education and training; apprenticeships; dropout and school-to-work transitions. She is currently heading a research project on dropouts who re-enrol in upper secondary education, funded by the Research Council of Norway.; Funding text 2: Nord-VET is funded by Nordforsk under the Nordic Council of Ministers. Read more on the project homepage www.Nord-VET.dk In Norway and Sweden such reports are labelled Official Norwegian Reports (NOU) and Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU), respectively. Committee reports are proposals and reports submitted by a commission of enquiry appointed by the government.; Funding text 3: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: When submitting the article, the following information was given about the article being written as part of participation in a cross-cutting network “Justice through Education in the Nordic Countries” in part funded by Nordforsk, Nordic Centre of Excellence.

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A tale of two reforms: Institutional change in vocational education and training in Norway and Sweden in the 1990s

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