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PublicationBeyond the classroom: Exploring teacher agency as a source of innovation and resistance in education reforms( 2023-09-08)Vocational education and training (VET) teachers are at the forefront of educational reforms aimed at shifting learning from school to company environments, also known as “dual VET” reforms. However, little is known about their agency in this process. This article investi-gates the agency of teachers impacted by the introduction of dual VET reforms in post-socialist, school-based VET systems. Interview transcripts and surveys conducted with VET school teachers in Albania, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia provide the primary data for the qualitative analysis. Intermediary findings suggest that teacher agency is characterised by a multi-objective optimisation process during which teachers aim to maximise their absolute numbers of reimbursed working hours, their professional status, and learner’s well-being. When navigating their agency through insecure educational reforms embedded within distinct structural and institutional pressures, teachers rely on their experience to estimate what coping strategy to adopt. They adopt two inherently logical strategies: They either block the introduction of dual VET reforms to maintain the status quo or embrace them as an innovative instrument to realise their material, professional, and normative interests. These insights are key when designing policy and capacity-increasing measures to ensure the buy-in of micro-level gatekeepers in education reforms.
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PublicationBeyond the classroom: Exploring teacher agency in making and breaking educational reforms( 2023-05-26)Vocational education and training (VET) teachers are at the forefront of educational reforms aimed at shifting learning from school to company environments, also known as dual VET reforms. Yet little is known about their agency in this process. This article thus investigates the agency of schoolteachers impacted by the introduction of dual VET reforms in post-socialist, school-based VET systems. Interview transcripts conducted with VET school teach-ers, school directors, and VET experts in Albania and Slovakia provide data for the qualitative content analysis. The findings reveal that teacher agency is characterised by a multi-objective optimisation process between teachers’ absolute numbers of reimbursed working hours, their professional status and learner’s well-being. When navigating their agency through insecure educational reforms embedded within distinct structural and institutional pressures, teachers rely on their experience to estimate what coping strategy to adopt. They either block the intro-duction of dual VET reforms to maintain the status quo or embrace them as an opportunity to realise their material and professional interests. These insights are key when designing policy and capacity-increasing measure to ensure the buy-in of micro-level gatekeepers in education-al reforms.
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PublicationOvercoming social traps in low-coordination economies: Particularized trust and local social networks( 2023-02-03)Post-communist countries are unlikely to develop high levels of coordination in providing collective goods due to their "hourglass" social structure: trust and cooperation exist mainly at the top among elites and at the bottom between individuals. This structure reinforces social traps such as corrupt institutions and ineffective cooperative equilibria. This study explores how “second-best" governance strategies located at the bottom-half of the hourglass can overcome these traps. It examines why small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) provide vocational education and training (VET) – a paradigmatic collective good requiring high levels of coordination. The study develops a most-different case study design and applies a multi-method approach to analyse rich empirical data collected during interviews with SMEs and stakeholders in the Albanian and Slovak VET systems. The findings demonstrate that micro-level actors can functionally substitute the lack of institutional trust and meso-level intermediaries by relying on the features of particularized trust.
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PublicationGermany and the knowledge economy: The internationalisation of vocational education and training( 2023-03-15)
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PublicationShifting borders in German Vocational Education and Training: An answer to the mid-level skills shortage( 2023-07-14)
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PublicationThe transition of Germany towards the knowledge economy: The internationalisation of dual vocational education and training( 2023-02-03)
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PublicationRecognizing foreign acquired VET qualifications: Potential to empower and challenge skill formation eco-systems( 2023-05-26)In an era of globalization, demographic change, and increasing academization, recognition of foreign vocational qualifications and credentials (RFQ) has emerged as a critical labor market institution. RFQ promotes mobility, flexibility, and lifelong learning while enabling employers and employees to signal and screen skills effectively. However, comparing quali-fications and competencies is challenging, particularly in skill eco-systems that differ significantly. This paper explores the key trade-offs and conflicts of RFQ and how various skill and qualification ecosystems approach this issue. The focus is on Germany, a potential destination country for individuals with VET credentials, and its impact on Kosovo's skill eco-system. The case study reveals that Germany's policies in facilitating RFQ have resulted in new migration-driven VET programs and stakeholder landscape transformations in Kosovo. However, the impact has been mixed, demanding improved joint efforts to achieve positive effects for both skills eco-systems and the mutual benefits of labor migration while safe-guarding the sustainable recruitment of skilled workers.
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PublicationOvercoming social traps in low-coordination economies: Particularized trust and local social networks( 2022-10-20)Cohesive and capable intermediary organisations at the meso-level nurture the cooperative high-trust institutional structure that drives advanced capitalist democracies. This institutional set-up is however particularly scarce in low-coordination economies like post-socialist countries. Trust and cooperation exist primarily at the top among elites and at the bottom between individuals – also described in the “hourglass” structure. This structure is credited for the persistence of social traps like corrupt institutions and ineffective cooperative equilibria. Faced with this adverse institutional environment, I show that we can identify “second-best” governance strategies located at the bottom-half of the hourglass to overcome social traps. By examining the engagement of SMEs in the provision of VET – the paradigmatic case requiring trusted intermediaries at the meso-level –, I argue that micro-level actors, specifically local VET schools, can functionally substitute the lack of institutional trust and meso-level organisations. They can perform key coordinative tasks by relying on particularized trust and local social networks. A most-different case study design comparing SMEs’ provision in VET in Albania and Slovakia eliminates many potential variables and elucidate significant commonalities. Qualitative data collected during interviews with SMEs and stakeholders in both VET systems build the foundation for the empirical examination. The findings demonstrate that low-coordination economies are not doomed to remained trapped: Locally adapted innovations that nurture productive cooperation can emerge despite lacking a strong meso-level societal space.
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PublicationFachforum für Internationale Berufsbildungszusammenarbeit( 2023-10-05)Brainstorming and exchange on forthcoming studies to be conducted with other academics in the field of vocation education and training within development cooperation.
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