Sustainable Policy Transfer in Vocational Education—The Case of Social Dialogue and Apprenticeship in Slovenia

Abstract

This study examines the policy transfer process in vocational education, focusing on the re-introduction of apprenticeships in Slovenia following the European Alliance for Apprenticeship’s 2013 initiative. Policy transfer, defined as the adoption of models from other regions, involves multiple actors and can range from voluntary to coercive influences. The research highlights the challenges Slovenia faces in developing sustainable social partnerships within its vocational education, particularly apprenticeship, which shares several characteristics with Germanic vocational education systems. By using mixed-methods research combining qualitative and quantitative research techniques, the implementation of apprenticeships in Slovenia post-2017 was monitored. The study aims to identify conditions that could foster sustainable social partnerships and apprenticeship. The research confirmed that participatory research can become one of the key tools for more sustainable policy transfer. © 2025 by the author.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Apprenticeship vocational education and training policy transfer Context social partnership sustainable education

Index Keywords

Sustainable development sustainability policy approach spatiotemporal analysis stroke Slovenia

Author Affiliations

Department of Education, Univerza v Ljubljani, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Funding & Acknowledgements

European Commission, EU

The author acknowledges the financial support from (1) the Slovenian Research Agency: research core funding No. P5-0174 Pedagogical and andragogical studies\u2014Learning and education for a good quality life in community, and from (2) Ministry of Education in Slovenia and The European Union-NextGeneration EU: The Project: Modernization of upper secondary vocational and professional education, including apprenticeship.

The Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, ARIS

Grant: P5-0174

The author acknowledges the financial support from (1) the Slovenian Research Agency: research core funding No. P5-0174 Pedagogical and andragogical studies\u2014Learning and education for a good quality life in community, and from (2) Ministry of Education in Slovenia and The European Union-NextGeneration EU: The Project: Modernization of upper secondary vocational and professional education, including apprenticeship.

The Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, ARIS

The author acknowledges the financial support from (1) the Slovenian Research Agency: research core funding No. P5-0174 Pedagogical and andragogical studies\u2014Learning and education for a good quality life in community, and from (2) Ministry of Education in Slovenia and The European Union-NextGeneration EU: The Project: Modernization of upper secondary vocational and professional education, including apprenticeship.

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Sustainable Policy Transfer in Vocational Education—The Case of Social Dialogue and Apprenticeship in Slovenia

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