Modeling vocational competence is increasingly crucial for monitoring and enhancing the quality of Vocational Educational Training (VET), particularly in the context of ongoing international comparative studies known as "large-scale assessments" of vocational education and training. This study endeavors to provide well-structured and…

This article explores change possibilities towards status improvement in vocational education's social construction. Following other researchers, it assumes that higher-status vocational education should give vocational learners perspectives that would accord with their identities and desires, broadly ranging between working in a particular…

Purpose: The digital transformation and the increased use of technologies have changed the world of work severely. With it, collaboration and cooperation methods among employees. Therefore, new ways of working together must be applied to work in an international and digital working environment. For Vocational Education and Training (VET),…

This study examines the influence of social contexts on the decision to either complete or leave the first vocational education and training (VET) position among young German apprentices--an aspect that has received little attention in dropout research. In particular, the role of three reference groups--parents, friends and classmates at…

European education and training policies have gained momentum with the debt crisis and soaring youth unemployment. In 2013, the 'European Alliance for Apprenticeships' was launched. In Germany, a role model for apprenticeship training in Europe, a national 'Alliance for Initial and Further Training' was signed just one year later. Both Alliances…