Despite the ongoing debate about how much academic versus vocational upper-secondary education is favorable for a country and large differences across countries of those two types of education exist, the interplay of vocational and academic education on upper-secondary level and its consequences for the entire education system remain…

The aim of this paper is to ascertain the factors by which Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) affect the employability of graduates in Mumbai, India. The ITIs are major providers of VET in India. Presently, India is part of a skilling revolution with the goal of providing superior quality formal skill training to 400 million people by the year…

"Workforce-Ready: Challenges and Opportunities for VET" is the theme for the 29th National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference 'No Frills' from July 7-10, 2020. The phrase 'workforce-ready' might bring several different scenarios to mind. It may conjure an image of graduates making their first foray into the world of…

During the 25 years since Incorporation, when further education (FE) colleges were taken out of local government control, FE in England has been shaped by processes of marketisation to become a competitive national sector that has increasingly diverged from the more 'collaborative system logic' of the other three countries of the UK. However,…

Technological acceleration, increased global engagement, and national aspirations to restructure its economy and promote innovation have persuaded China to intensify an emphasis on skills acquisition through technical-vocational education and training (TVET). After a background of China's experience, this paper examines the case of Gansu, the…

This paper analyses the effect of a secondary job on the intention to quit an apprenticeship in Germany. For the empirical approach, the representative German, firm-level study 'BIBB Survey Vocational Training from the Trainees Point of View 2008' conducted by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) is used. In this…

This article analyzes the motives for firms providing apprenticeship training in Catalonia and the reasons why other firms do not provide such training. In light of the recent introduction of dual apprenticeships in the formal education system in Spain, a country with a traditionally school-based vocational education and training (VET) system,…

This article sheds light on an understudied aspect of the transition from school to work: the choice of a training company. It presents findings from qualitative interviews with 69 secondary school students and apprentices from the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg, focusing on their reasons to choose a training company in the dual system.…

Political reforms of the 1990s ushered in sweeping socio-economic changes in the Nordic countries, including radical changes in their vocational education and training systems. However, the reforms led to a school-based vocational education and training system with a strong orientation towards higher education in Sweden, and a hybrid system with a…

Context: Due to limited geographical mobility, opportunities for adolescents interested in company-based training are primarily dependent on regional training offers. Competition for company-based training among adolescents varies regionally, and thus, the chance to obtain a training contract varies as well. In this article, we investigate the…

This study estimates the extent to which apprenticeship affects the academic trajectories of vocational high-school students. Previous research has shown that apprenticeship-based high schools (or dual vocational education) increase employment outcomes compared to school-based-only vocational education. Employing a propensity score matching…

This research explored how engineering apprentices at an Australian TAFE institution perceive their supported acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills. Using a mixed methods approach, 56 apprentices completed questionnaires with nine participating in subsequent interviews. The study identified apprentices' perceived ability levels in reading,…

Vocational education and training (VET) in schools promises a seamless entry into apprenticeships, skilled work and further education options, with many best practice examples of this type of training delivered in schools identified around Australia. This synthesis identifies insights emerging from existing research on the delivery of VET to…

While research on universities is well elaborated within the field of higher education, less effort has been made to study other institutions of tertiary education. Complementary to the need of hybrid (specific and general) human capital for German Mittelstand firms, the system of tertiary dual education in Germany has succeeded in hitting two…

This report is the first component of a larger study investigating training practices relating to traditional trade apprenticeships, with a view to developing policy directions on how to maintain their relevance and usefulness. This first phase of the study explores data on trends in training activity and completions, provides details on the…