The cultural dependence of vocational training

Abstract

Do headquarters influence the subsidiaries' arrangements of vocational training in foreign countries? Our analyses of the amount of training offered to employees by organizations in 14 countries in which different training systems prevail (either continuing vocational training or initial vocational training) show that the cultural models of training diffuse between training systems in both directions. Independent from their own location, headquarters have the power to export their expectations concerning the training of employees to their subsidiaries that are located in countries with training systems different from those of the headquarters. This result is in accordance with the country-of-origin effect.

APPENDIX

Description of Further National Training Systems

Initial VET Systems

In Austria, approximately 40% of all young people aged 15–18 prepare for their future occupations within the apprenticeship training system. Apprenticeship training has a length – according to the trained profession – of between 2 and 4 years, and concludes with the apprenticeship leave exam (CEDEFOP, 2005). The training is mainly work-/company-based, with complementary but mandatory attendance at a part-time vocational school for apprentices. For each individual apprenticeship the Minister of Economics issues a training regulation, which is binding for training measures provided in enterprises throughout Austria. In a catalogue broken down by apprenticeship years, the regulation lists the basic skills and knowledge to be taught in the course of enterprise-based training. The apprenticeship training imparts an occupational qualification at the level of a skilled worker or clerk.

The Swiss educational system varies by language region and by canton (Gonon, 2005). In the French- and Italian-speaking parts some elements of the educational system resemble those of the neighboring countries of France and Italy, thus setting them apart from the characteristics of the Swiss-German educational system. Swiss Germans constitute the vast majority of the Swiss population, however. Moreover, the educational systems of the three language regions also share some commonalities, particularly with regard to vocational orientations and the strong connectedness with labor markets (Buchmann & Sacchi, 1998). Also, despite the federalist structure of Switzerland, vocational education is defined nationwide for the great majority of occupations. There is therefore a high level of standardization across cantons, which guarantees the mobility of workers across the boundaries of the cantonal labor market. Apprenticeships involve a 2—4-year training program, combining some formal vocational training in a state-run school with practical training in a firm or organization in the private or public sector. Those who complete an apprenticeship receive official certification of having acquired the skills necessary to practice a particular occupation. The overwhelming majority of young Swiss men and women undertake an apprenticeship. In 1990, for example, 80% of school leavers were enrolled in traditional apprenticeship programs.

VET in Denmark also combine theoretical instruction with practical training in a company or public institution. As in Germany, training is based on a system alternating between theoretical instruction in a vocational education institution and practical training at a company. The theoretical part of the education takes place in technical and vocational colleges, while practical training is generally done on placements in business enterprises that must be approved for this purpose (Ministry of Science and Technology, 2006).

The vocational system in the Netherlands is quite comparable to the German system. In many industrial trades apprenticeship training has a long tradition, and coexists as a separate training system alongside school-based vocational training. Practical training for apprentices in firms is provided in large blocks. Apprentices undergo a practical year after a longer period of training in vocational schools. School-based vocational training is part of the public educational system (van Hoof, 2005), which is divided into vocational schooling at higher, intermediate and lower levels (De Graaf & Ultee, 1998). The skills taught within the vocational tracks are not of a general nature – as in the Swedish system, for example (see below) – but are instead very specialized. Vocational training in the Netherlands is thus said to lead to a degree of occupational specificity on a par with the apprenticeship systems of Germany and Switzerland (Korpi, de Graaf, Hendrickx, & Layte, 2003).

Similarly, the main model for training in Norway in recognized occupations requires 2 years at school followed by 2 years of in-service training and practical work in industry, business or the public sector. The curricula cover the whole period at school as well as the apprenticeship period (Farstad, 1999).

Belgium has what is probably the weakest apprenticeship character in our subsample of countries based on initial VET. While most young people attend technical and vocational streams in schools – 68% in the late 1990s (Cotton, 2001) – the number of young people attending training systems under typical apprenticeship schemes remains low, although it is currently increasing slightly from year to year (Saint-Hubert, van Griethuysen, Hellemans, Verhelpen, & De Streel, 2001). Apprenticeships are found in industry, such as for example in metal manufacturing, chemicals or furnishing and the wood processing industry, and in the craft professions, commercial business and in small and medium-sized enterprises. More important in Belgium, however, is full-time technical and vocational education in schools. The objectives for technical and vocational secondary education are (among others): to provide mastery of competences and knowledge that all pupils must have acquired at the end of the qualification section in accordance with the training profile defined by the Community Commission for Occupations and Qualifications (Saint-Hubert et al., 2001). This means that Belgium has at least one thing in common with the more typical apprenticeship countries, such as Austria, Germany and Switzerland: standardized occupational qualifications are acquired by employees before they start their working careers.

Continuing VET Cultures

In Ireland, vocational schools do exist. However, the relationship between VET at schools and labor market demands is relatively weak. Even if there is no shortage of people to fill particular jobs, Ireland suffers compared with other leading industrial societies from specific qualification gaps. Further, apprenticeship training in Ireland is relatively insignificant, accounting for no more than 5% of labor market entrants (Breen & Whelan, 1998). However, the number of school leavers following designated apprenticeship routes is increasing (CEDEFOP, 2004). The bulk of training is, however, still carried out at work (Breen & Whelan, 1998).

Great Britain is probably the most “apprenticeship-like” country among the countries in which continuing VET systems prevail. Whereas in former times apprenticeships were quite common, they declined sharply in the second half of the 20th century (Heath & Cheung, 1998). Vocational training is – with the exception of the construction and engineering industries – to a great extent organized in training-on-the-job systems. However, quite recently, apprenticeships in Great Britain have been undergoing a sort of revival. Apprenticeships were launched in over 50 industrial sectors in 1995. However, this route of occupational training was chosen in the late 1990s by only a minority of the relevant age group (Ainley & Rainbird, 1998; Maguire, 1998).

In Spain, regulated vocational training has always been one step behind general education, not least because of the widespread belief that those opting for vocational training do so because they are not good enough to pursue higher education (Hidalgo, Machado, & Sánchez, 1999) – an argument that holds true for most countries with continuing VET on the job (Crouch, Finegold, & Sako, 1999) Training subsequently acquired through work plays a fundamental role. In fact, training acquired through work experience has constituted the essential source of skill acquisition for most of the generations that are currently working in Spain (Planas, 2005). Only recently has this system of skill acquisition begun to change towards an integrated system of education including vocational studies.

Portugal has also historically based its technical and economic development on a deep-rooted belief in training on the job (Centeno & Sarmento, 2001). As in Spain, this system of skill acquisition has only recently begun to change towards an integrated system of education including vocational studies.

The Italian educational system has traditionally privileged general education over specific vocational education and even training in vocational and technical schools. The links between education and the labor market are thus very poor. Vocational training is often said to improve the general knowledge of “weak” students rather than provide marketable skills (Bianchi, 2005: 207). In Italy, therefore, internal labor markets prevail over occupational labor markets. Italian firms hire young people to give them training on the job. The same applies in the public sector (Schizzerotto & Cobalti, 1998).

In Sweden, the guilds lost their influence early, and craft organizations have almost no influence today. Apprenticeships are uncommon in Sweden, and nothing like a widespread apprenticeship system ever existed. Vocational education – important as it is in the Swedish school system – is almost entirely disconnected from interest groups on the labor market. One consequence of the weak relationship between vocational schooling and labor-market actors is that primarily very broad and general occupational skills are taught in vocational programs. Firm-specific skills are a matter for training on the job (Erikson & Jonsson, 1998; Korpi et al., 2003).