Between Economic and Social Goals: Short-track Dual Training in Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland

The governance of educational institutions increasingly faces the challenge to combine social goals with rising economic utility demands (Thelen 2014; Felouzis, Maroy and Van Zanten, 2013). Traditionally, the governance of dual vocational education and training (VET) is closely aligned with the world of work and economic goals. In VET, the satisfaction of skill demands and the production of human capital for employers is often linked to a strong involvement of business interests in the development of curricula, the selection of candidates, and the provision of training. At the same time, VET systems pursue social goals including the access to quality education, the provision of transferable vocational skills and certificates and a smooth school-to-work transition also for disadvantaged youth (Granato and Ulrich, 2013). Thus, VET represents a prime example of the interplay and tension between economic and social goals.