Lukas Graf
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Graf
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  • Publication
    Embedded flexibilization and polite employer domination: the case of short‐track apprenticeships in Switzerland
    (Sense Publ., 2020-03)
    Di Maio, Gina
    ;
    Graf, Lukas
    ;
    Wilson, Anna
    Liberalization pressures challenge countries to adapt their training systems. This is particularly relevant for coordinated market economies with firm-driven but collectively governed apprenticeship systems. Recent literature has identified different liberalization trajectories for these countries. For instance, segmental-ism describes the increasing influence of large employers in Germany. In Denmark, state agencies manage increased flexibility in training through embedded flexibilization. In this paper, we identify a new form of embedded flexibilization, characterized by polite employer domination. We find this trajectory of liberali-zation in Switzerland, which represents another training system heavily based on firm involvement. We illustrate our argument at the example of short-track apprenticeship training, which has been expanded in all three mentioned countries in response to ongoing liberalization and deindustrialization pressures. In Swit-zerland, the relevant reform was initiated by the state while business adopted a rather passive role initially. Yet, state actors eventually stepped back and dele-gated key competences to employers, which implies that the employers’ camp asserted their interests in the end while tolerating some concessions for the bene-fit of disadvantaged groups. Our process tracing reveals that policy makers used layering to implement short-tracks that enhance social inclusion, while simultaneously increasing the scope of employer cooperation.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training
    Volume: 12
    Issue: 2
    URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40461‐020‐00088‐7
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/112360
  • Publication
    Torn between economic efficiency and social equality? Short-track apprenticeships in Denmark, Germany and Switzerland
    (SAGE, 2019)
    Maio, Gina
    ;
    Graf, Lukas
    ;
    Wilson, Anna
    Educational institutions, especially those facilitating vocational education and training (VET), face the challenge of combining social goals, such as the provision of quality education for a large section of the population, with rising economic utility demands. However, we know little about how VET systems institutionalize these different demands and, further, how social and economic goals are actually institutionalized in VET. Our article aims to unpack this puzzle by analysing shorttrack dual vocational training programmes (short-tracks) in Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. These short-tracks combine on-the-job and school-based training, targeting candidates who face difficulties entering full-length dual programmes. Thus, short-tracks are prime examples of training programmes located at the nexus of economic and social demands. In our comparative institutional analysis, we bridge the political economy of collective skill formation and sociological institutionalism literatures. We find that the institutionalization of goals in VET not only differs between countries but that there is also considerable variation within national VET systems. Our analysis reveals that VET regulations, regional and sectoral standards, and the legitimization of key actors can differ greatly in their institutionalization of social and economic goals.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: European Educational Research Journal
    Volume: 18
    Issue: 6
    DOI: .o0r.g1/107.171/1774/7147940940141919886699561
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/117994
  • Publication
    Trajectories of Liberalization in Collective Governance: The Swiss Case of Polite Employer Domination and Embedded Flexibilization
    ( 2019-03-04)
    Di Maio, Gina
    ;
    Graf, Lukas
    ;
    Wilson, Anna
    Increasing liberalization challenges countries to adapt their training systems. Collective skill formation systems, systems with dual vocational apprenticeship training, have developed different trajectories of change. Germany’s training system is ever more influenced by large employers (segmentalism) while in Denmark the state agencies are managing increased flexibility in training through embedded flexibilization. In this context, one key example discussed in the literature is the introduction of short-track dual training programs. Switzerland, another typical collective skill formation country, also introduced short-tracks in the early 2000s but has not yet been analysed through the lens of liberalization trajectories. Our institutional analysis finds that Swiss short-tracks represent a case of embedded flexibilization – usually associated with Scandinavian countries. However, in contrast to Denmark, the Swiss variation is much more employer-friendly. Our process tracing reveals that policy makers in Switzerland used layering in order to implement short-tracks that enhance social inclusion while maintaining a high level of employer engagement.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/98849
  • Publication
    Trajectories of Liberalization in Collective Governance: The Swiss Case of Polite Employer Domination and Embedded Flexibilization
    ( 2019-02-16)
    Di Maio, Gina
    ;
    Graf, Lukas
    ;
    Wilson, Anna
    Increasing liberalization challenges countries to adapt their training systems. Collective skill formation systems, systems with dual vocational apprenticeship training, have developed different trajectories of change. Germany’s training system is ever more influenced by large employers (segmentalism) while in Denmark the state agencies are managing increased flexibility in training through embedded flexibilization. In this context, one key example discussed in the literature is the introduction of short-track dual training programs. Switzerland, another typical collective skill formation country, also introduced short-tracks in the early 2000s but has not yet been analysed through the lens of liberalization trajectories. Our institutional analysis finds that Swiss short-tracks represent a case of embedded flexibilization – usually associated with Scandinavian countries. However, in contrast to Denmark, the Swiss variation is much more employer-friendly. Our process tracing reveals that policy makers in Switzerland used layering in order to implement short-tracks that enhance social inclusion while maintaining a high level of employer engagement.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/98904
  • Publication
    Between Economic and Social Goals: Short-track Dual Training in Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland
    ( 2018-03-16)
    Di Maio, Gina
    ;
    Graf, Lukas
    ;
    Wilson, Anna
    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.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/100657
  • Publication
    Between Economic Cooperation and Social Policy: Short-track Dual Training in Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland
    ( 2018-01-06)
    Di Maio, Gina
    ;
    Graf, Lukas
    ;
    Wilson, Anna
    The provision of dual (firm-based and school-based) vocational education and training (VET) to vulnerable young people is a pertinent issue. This is highlighted by the contemporary challenge to improve the integration of migrants into regular labour markets. One policy tool to facilitate integration are theory reduced apprenticeships that target disadvantaged young people more oriented towards practical training. These short-tracks are influenced and shaped by various public and private actors involved in the governance of VET. However, we still know very little about how actors in collective governance shape institutions that may serve inclusiveness for vulnerable groups. Therefore, we situate our research project at the nexus of political economy research on collective governance and social policy research on inclusiveness. In this context, we understand collective governance as the close cooperation between public and private actors and inclusiveness in terms of policy tools, rules, and interventions that aim at providing access to the training system to individuals who find it difficult to obtain an apprenticeship position if left on their own. The paper focuses on the legal introduction and implementation of short-track dual vocation-al training that lead to standardized vocational certificates. We conduct a historical-institutionalist comparison of the three main cases of short-track dual training, namely the Danish, German, and Swiss VET systems. Interestingly, these three relatively similar training countries differ in the institutionalization and governance of short-track dual training pro-grams. To explore these differences and to answer why they have occurred, we map the actors involved, their positions and cooperation, and the social and economic contexts in which these programs were reformed. We are especially interested in the differences between actors’ positions and the effect of these differences on the governance and implementation of short tracks. Our process tracing and exploration of the respective within-case variation is based on document analysis and a range of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, representing employers’ interests, employee interests, but also national and regional state interests. Our analysis finds that in the 1990s, these VET systems experienced major problems when a lack of training places and high dropout rates weakened the apprenticeship systems. This motivated reforms in which short-track programs and their role as an inclusiveness-enhancing vocational training option were discussed intensively. While all three countries strengthened short-tracks during this “window of opportunity”, we observe significant variation in their institutionalization and governance. In particular, we find variation in the engagement and cooperation of the different actors at three key governance levels: the sectoral, occupational, and the regional levels. Furthermore, we observe that the reform processes that have led to the current institutionalization are linked to gradual change in Denmark and Switzerland but more radical policy change in Germany. Our study provides new insights on the positioning, influence, and degrees of support of the different key VET actors in relation to inclusiveness-enhancing skill formation. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of these findings for related social policy fields.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/100845
  • Publication
    Between Economic Efficiency and Social Equality: Short-track Apprenticeships in Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.
    ( 2018-03-29)
    Di Maio, Gina
    ;
    Graf, Lukas
    ;
    Wilson, Anna
    Educational institutions, especially those facilitating vocational education and training (VET), face the challenge to combine social goals such as the provision of quality education for a broad share of the population with rising economic utility demands. What is less known is how social and economic goals are actually institutionalised in VET. Our paper aims to further unpack this puzzle by analysing short-track dual training programmes in Denmark, Germany, and Switzer-land. These target candidates who face difficulties entering full-length dual programmes. Thus, short-tracks are prime examples of training institutions located at the nexus of economic and social demands. In our institutional-comparative analysis, we focus on the regulative (rules), normative (standards), and the cultural-cognitive (legitimization by key actors) institutional dimensions of short-tracks. We find cross-case and within-case variation of the institutionalisation of social and economic goals. While Danish short-tracks are more socially oriented, the institutionalisation of the German and Swiss short-tracks is marked by economic-oriented interest from the employers’ camp.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/100637
  • Publication
    Trajectories of liberalization in collective governance: a comparative analysis of short-track apprenticeship reforms in Denmark, Germany and Switzerland
    ( 2018-09-21)
    Di Maio, Gina
    ;
    Graf, Lukas
    ;
    Wilson, Anna
    Increasing global competition pressures national economies and their training systems to adapt to the changing circumstances. We observe that political economies display different trajectories of change in their reaction to these challenges. For example, in collective skill formation systems, prior research has identified trends of embedded flexibilization in Denmark and segmentalism in Germany. Studies of Denmark and Germany, both countries with classic collective skill formation systems, have referred to the introduction of short-track dual training programs as a key example of different trajectories of change. Switzerland, another typical collective skill formation country, also introduced standardized short-tracks in the early 2000s. However, we know little about the nature of the Swiss reform process. How can we characterize the trajectory of change in Switzerland in comparison to the developments in Denmark and Germany? In our analysis, we pay special attention to key actors, such as employers, unions and state actors, their preferences and coalition building in the reform process in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/100009
  • Publication
    Between Economic Cooperation and Social Policy: Short-track Dual Training in Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland
    ( 2017-11-11)
    Di Maio, Gina
    ;
    Graf, Lukas
    ;
    Wilson, Anna
    Comparative-historical analysis that systematically combines an inclusiveness with a govern-ance perspective in dual vocational training systems is still rare (but see, e.g., Martin and Knudsen, 2010; Imdorf and Leeman, 2012; Martin and Swank, 2012; Thelen 2014; Busemey-er 2015; Powell et al. 2012). This means that we still know relatively little about how actors shape institutions that may serve inclusiveness in decentralized systems of collective skill for-mation. Therefore, we situate our paper at the nexus between collective governance and inclu-siveness research. In this context, we understand collective governance as the close coopera-tion between public and private actors and inclusiveness in terms of the policy tools, rules, and interventions that aim at providing access to the system to individuals who find it difficult to obtain an apprenticeship position if left on their own. Against this backdrop, we conduct a historical-institutionalist comparison of Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland and the reforms (1990s) and further evolution (2000s to mid-2010s) of short-track dual training programs, which are often described as inclusiveness-enhancing. Unlike the traditional three- to four-year dual training programs, these theory-reduced tracks only take two years to complete in most cases. Further, they are often targeted at more practically oriented students. They ideally increase educational opportunities for stu-dents with lower-level school grades or other disadvantages that lower their chances of gain-ing access to a “regular” apprenticeship program. Short-track dual programs belong to the reg-ular VET systems as they lead to recognized vocational certificates (in contrast to transition measures) and, in most cases, allow graduates to enter the three- to four-year programs. Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland represent key cases of such short-track educational provision within the group of collective skill formation systems. At the same time, the three countries exhibit significant variation in the governance and institutionalization of these pro-grams. Here, we understand institutionalization as an outcome in terms of how short-track dual training is carried and stabilized by regulative, normative, cultural-cognitive institutional dimensions (see Scott, 2008[1995]), which also conditions the inclusiveness character of these programs. This institutionalized outcome, in turn, results from the “political efforts of actors to accomplish their ends” and “the relative power of the actors that support, oppose, or otherwise strive to influence it” (DiMaggio, 1988: 13). The observed variation in the institutionalization of short-track programs in the three decentralized systems concerns, in particular, the compe-tences and activities at the key subnational governance levels (i.e., sectoral, occupational, or regional). Furthermore, the reform processes that have led to the current institutionalization of short-track programs differ, and are linked to either gradual or more radical policy change. This leads us to our central research question: Why do these three relatively similar dual train-ing countries display different types of governance and forms of institutionalization of short-track dual training programs? In this context, we seek to provide new insights on the posi-tioning, influence, and degrees of support of the different key VET actors in relation to such short-track programs. Traditionally, the governance of “regular-length” dual VET programs has been well-researched and compared, notably within the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) tradition with its focus on employers and economic cooperation. However, we argue that short-track programs are located at the nexus of (a) economic cooperation and (b) social policy – requiring actors to balance economic and social goals. Therefore, on the one hand, we relate to the VoC-related literature on the political economy of collective skill formation to capture economic coopera-tion and the collective nature of skill formation. On the other hand, we refer to the Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (WWC) and the closely related Worlds of Human Capital Formation (WHCF) approach to capture the social policy aspect in the governance of the short-term dual tracks. More generally, we expect that these two theoretical perspective can help us under-stand how stakeholders in short-track programs position themselves between the two institu-tional logics of economic cooperation and social policy. From a broader WWC and WHCF perspective, the three countries can be argued to repre-sent different types of welfare states (Denmark: social-democratic; Germany: conservative; Switzerland: conservative-liberal). We argue that this affects the governance and institutional-ization of “inclusiveness-promoting” short-track programs. From this perspective, the key ra-tionale for looking at Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland is that of typical cases, represent-ing different ideal types, which in turn engender different expectations concerning the role of actors and institutions. Second, from the VoC perspective, the three countries represent key cases of collectively governed skill formation systems predicated on decentralized cooperation between various private and public actors. However, the related literature on varieties of col-lective skill formation has uncovered significant cross-national differences in the institutional configuration of these system (Busemeyer and Trampusch, 2012; Thelen, 2014), which we will take into account. Furthermore, we expect that differences in decentralized governance at the subnational level (regional, sectoral, and occupational) affect how economic cooperation plays out (Emmenegger et al., 2016). Thus, we will draw on both the VoC and the WWC frame-works to structure the comparative-historical analysis of the development of short-track pro-grams. In the 1990s, the VET systems in Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland experienced major problems when a lack of training places and high dropout rates on the apprenticeship market weakened the VET systems. This motivated reforms of VET in these countries. Within these reforms, the topic of short-term programs (existent in some form in all three countries already prior to the 1990s) and their role as a less demanding (for both students and employers) voca-tional training option was discussed intensively. We map the actors involved, their positions, and the social and economic contexts in which these programs were reformed. More specifi-cally, we focus on three central historical phases: (I) historical origins (genesis); (II) crisis and reform in the 1990s; and (II) further evolution (2000s to mid-2010s). Short-track dual training has a long history in all three countries. However, given the general crisis on the respective apprenticeship markets in the 1990s, Phase II presented an important window of opportunity for institutional change in all three countries. To analyze these historical phases, we use process tracing or the analysis of sequences of events to explore the relevant linking mechanisms and intervening processes in specific cases (Mahoney, 2004: 88–89). The goal is to offer a narrative account of crucial sequential events (or processes) that facilitate an understanding of a particular outcome. Each significant histori-cal step contributing to the outcome will be explained with reference to theory (George and Bennett, 2005: 30), in this case the theories varieties of collective skill formation and worlds of welfare capitalism. In terms of data, we analyze official documents and the available sec-ondary literature. Furthermore, we conduct several dozen semi-structured interviews with ex-perts in each country.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/101805