Mobilising for change in vocational education and training in Sweden–a case study of the ‘Technical College’ scheme

Abstract

In this article, we analyse a recent industry-driven initiative in Sweden for the organisation and operation of Vocational Education and Training. In the context of a statist and school-based system for VET, this is an initiative which seems to be an example of an anomaly in the present system. The initiative is called the Technical College scheme and is a certification scheme for upper secondary school education in technology. The aim of this article is to describe and explain the establishment of the Technical College scheme in Sweden from a historical institutionalist approach. Based on this approach, the case is analysed as a process of incremental institutional change, with a focus on initiatives and strategies by different stakeholders driving the invention and implementation of the scheme, the importance of the power balances between central interests, and how the process has been shaped by institutional conditions. Our study shows how previously marginalised actors in a VET system can mobilise for change without radically changing the rules of the game. The process that we characterise can be explained by changes in the power balances between key actors, but also by changed institutional conditions that have provided windows of opportunity for new initiatives. © 2018, © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

Author Keywords

policy analysis Vocational education & training Comparative vet vet and the labour market management of VET

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Department of Management and Engineering, Linköpings Universitet, Linkoping, Östergötland, Sweden

Centre for Municipality Studies, Linköpings Universitet, Linkoping, Östergötland, Sweden

Funding & Acknowledgements

Vetenskapsrådet, VR

Grant: 2013-1279

This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council [grant number 2013-1279].

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Mobilising for change in vocational education and training in Sweden–a case study of the ‘Technical College’ scheme

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