Advanced Skill Formation between Vocationalization and Academization: The Governance of Professional Schools and Dual Study Programs in Germany

Abstract:

Changing skill recquirments in the labor market and rising educational expectations of individuals have led educational stakeholders and employers to search for new skill formation strategies. In this chapter, we analyze the governance structures of two innovative forms of advanced professional training in Germany: professional schools and dual study programs. While professional schools represent a vocationalization of academic learning, dual study programs are a case of an academization of vocational education. Both combine academic as well as vocational education and training elements, challenging the dichotomous classification commonly found in the political economy and educational policy literatures of skill formation in Germany. We offer an explorative institutional analysis to capture the diverse governance structures of such new forms of advanced skill formation. The chapter identifies new trends related to multi-actor governance constellations at the nexus of vocational training and higher education and discusses consequences for contemporary policy-making.