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The Shifting Relationship between Vocational and Higher Education in France and Germany: Towards Convergence?
Journal
European Journal of Education
ISSN
0141-8211
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2012
Author(s)
Abstract
For decades, the skill formation systems in France and Germany have been analysed as contrasting cases because of institutionalised differences in educational values, norms, and governance, as well as in labour markets. This comparison follows the logic of difference, comparing dissimilar skill formation systems in centralist France and federalist Germany. Cross-national variance has often been explained in terms of the institutionalization of vocational education, but higher education also differs considerably. Many typologies of vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE) summarise these differences. However, not only are national skill formation systems affected by the emerging European model of education via the Bologna and Copenhagen Processes, but the French and German political economies have also been greatly reconfigured in the last two decades. Comparing the present situation, we ask whether traditional education and training typologies continue to be valid. While they have served as useful heuristic devices, they may hinder recognition of contemporary institutional changes, especially incremental changes that may nevertheless be transformational because of endogenous reforms and exogenous pressures due to Europeanisation. Do these typologies continue to reflect these systems as they evolve? To what extent have the key characteristics of skill formation systems in France and Germany changed, exemplified in the relationship between VET and HE? Have these countries converged?
Language
English
Keywords
Skill formation
vocational education and training
higher education
France
Germany
institutionalization
convergence
Europeanization
labor market
federalism
Bologna Process
Copenhagen process
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing
Volume
47
Number
3
Start page
405
End page
423
Pages
19
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
243376