Staying in the loop: Formal feedback mechanisms connecting vocational training to the world of work in Europe

Abstract

Context: Vocational education and training (VET) is expected to be designed for creating learning outcomes which meet the needs for skills and competences in the labour market. Hence, identifying current and upcoming skill requirements and ensuring that these requirements are incorporated into education has long been the subject of academic and policy discussion. Governance processes keeping VET systems up-to-date have been more recently addressed as 'feedback mechanisms'. The term broadly summarizes the interplay of institutions, actors and processes which allows the continuous renewal of VET provision (i.e. by creating new qualifications or updating curricula). The aim of the paper is to enhance the understanding of cross-national variations in formally institutionalised 'feedback mechanisms' between VET and the labour market. Method: The research builds on a comparative analysis of case studies in 15 European countries. The paper presents examples for four different 'formal feedback mechanisms' in Germany, France, England, and Austria. Results: Four main types of formal mechanism have been identified: 1) The liberal model explained by VET in England and Higher VET in Austria; 2) The statist model explained by school-based VET in Austria; 3) the participatory model explained by VET in France and 4) the coordinated model explained by apprenticeship training in Germany and Austria. Conclusions: Existing approaches in the economic sociology of labour markets, the varieties of capitalism approach as well as comparative research on welfare states are useful in predicting whether particular VET systems are likely to be predominant. However, they do not provide an alternative in describing differences in VET systems which the concept of formal feedback mechanism does. Moreover, by analysing formal feedback mechanisms, it is possible to demarcate where a VET sub-system ends and another VET sub-systems begins. In this sense research presented here also asks for new standards for comparative VET research as it suggests that entities to be compared are not countries' overall VET systems, but their potential sub-systems. © 2018 European Research Network Vocational Education and Training. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Author Keywords

VET Vocational education vocational education and training Labour market Governance Cross-Country Comparative Research Feedback Mechanism

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

3s Unternehmensberatung GmbH, Vienna, Austria

Funding & Acknowledgements

Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale School of Medicine, CORE

The Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), introduced in 2003, are the latest attempt to add a ’formal feedback mechanism’ to the market-focussed approach. The SSCs are voluntary, employer-led coordinating bodies that aim at improving the coordination with regards to IVET and skills supply between employers in a single sector and between employers and educational service providers catering for a sector’s particular needs (see also European Commission & Ecorys, 2010). Sector Skills Councils are licensed private bodies, supported by core groups of sectoral employers which aim to promote the active participation of relevant enterprises in their work, and which until 2010 received grants to assist in this process (Funding rules have drastically changed since 2010, as councils have to apply for project money in competitive procedures instead of receiving a lump sum funding). Core tasks of SSCs include labour market intelligence, the promotion of company training, the creation and support of modern apprenticeship schemes, and actively contributing to the formulation and incremental improvement of occupational standards relevant for the sector, usually in close cooperation with established bodies responsible for formulating occupational standards. Typically, councils are responsible for contributing to high numbers of occupational standards for particular activities. Based on updated standards, training providers are expected to implement any changes on their own, and moreover, provide the framework for IVET qualifications. SSCs are responsible for organising employer-led feedback on changing occupational standards, training and apprenticeship projects – including input from various employers and further education providers. This should increase cooperation within the sector, leading to mutual learning and the development of more shared practice. By 2015 23 Sector Skill Councils and Bodies had been established, and had survived an evaluation and re-licensing process.

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Staying in the loop: Formal feedback mechanisms connecting vocational training to the world of work in Europe

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