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The Copenhagen Process: A Political Economy Perspective

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The Europeanisation of Vocational Education and Training

Part of the book series: Contributions to Political Science ((CPS))

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Abstract

By analysing the Copenhagen process in the light of the Varieties of Capitalism literature, the chapter develops a political economy perspective on EU vocational education and training policies. It is analysed if the Copenhagen process is geared towards a certain set-up of national institutions and how the EU instruments and principles in the field of vocational education and training potentially affect different national training regimes. As a result of this analysis, it is argued that the Copenhagen process is biased towards training regimes prevalent in liberal market economies. The theoretical argument on the political economy perspective on European training policies is complemented by a short overview on the history of European cooperation in this policy field as well as of the Copenhagen process and its instruments and principles.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For an overview, see Annex A of the Council Directive 92/51/EEC (Council of the European Communities 1992).

  2. 2.

    See for example Council of the European Communities (1977, 1980, 1985b).

  3. 3.

    The Framework of Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area was developed as part of the Bologna process. It was adopted in 2005 during a meeting of the ministers responsible for higher education from all countries taking part in the process. It encompasses three levels: Bachelor, Master, and Doctor. These correspond to EQF levels six, seven and eight, but in contrast to EQF levels, they systematically build on each other.

  4. 4.

    Original: “Die nationalen Qualifikationsrahmen werden dann die Reforminstrumente. Die sind, und das muss man allerdings dann auch sagen, die sind in der Hand der Mitgliedsstaaten.”

  5. 5.

    In general, NQFs can encompass all qualifications or only certain educational pathways or sectors; can be designed by a central agency or developed gradually by all stakeholders; can be based upon a voluntary or legal basis; and can focus on learning inputs or on learning outcomes. NQFs usually have levels, whether these are explicitly defined or assumed implicitly. National actors choose which educational programmes (input factors) are related to which levels.

  6. 6.

    Both Switzerland and Norway are not members of the EU, although Norway is a member of the Copenhagen process and Switzerland has implemented EU education policies in other cases (see Bieber 2010), so that EU membership might make a difference regarding the take-up of ECVET.

  7. 7.

    This recommendation was issued after the observation period of this work and hence is not part of my analysis.

  8. 8.

    Together with Comenius, Erasmus, Gruntvig and the Jean Monnet programme, the Leonardo da Vinci programme was integrated into the Lifelong Learning Programme during this period.

  9. 9.

    According to data from Eurostat, the EU average was 22.4 % in 2000 and rose to 33.5 % in 2010. For the country cases of this work, the figures are as follows: Germany, 25.7 % (2000), 29.8 % (2010); the Netherlands, 26.5 % (2000), 41.4 % (2010); the UK, 29 % (2000), 43 % (2010).

  10. 10.

    For a detailed discussion on the relationship between higher education and VET see for example Powell and Solga (2008) and Graf (2013).

  11. 11.

    Moreover, Drexel (2005) argues that the full implementation of EU policies would demand a liberalisation of initial VET, the privatisation or closing down of public VET schools, and stopping public financing for the VET system (81–82). She does, however, not give detailed reasons why all this necessarily follows from EU VET policies.

  12. 12.

    For example on wage bargaining: “From a union perspective, common standards prevent a differentiation of occupational profiles that would increase conflict between workers over wage levels, which would in turn interfere with the smooth functioning of the collective wage bargaining system” (Thelen and Busemeyer 2008: 14).

  13. 13.

    The QCA was an English non-departmental public body; its tasks were to advise the government on qualifications, curriculum and assessment as well as to regulate quality and standards of qualifications.

  14. 14.

    The cited paper is the outcome of a conference held in Berlin in October 2008. Social partner organisations from 15 countries took part: Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, and Sweden.

  15. 15.

    While the focus of my empirical analysis is on the three country case studies, conducting interviews with European actors has been necessary for this study in order to profoundly analyse the instruments and principles developed in the realm of the Copenhagen process. This section should be understood as providing first insights rather than a similar thorough process tracing and empirical analysis as in the country cases.

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    Christine Ante

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Ante, C. (2016). The Copenhagen Process: A Political Economy Perspective. In: The Europeanisation of Vocational Education and Training. Contributions to Political Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41570-3_2

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