Conference Agenda

The multifaceted field of French pragmatic sociology offers innovative explanatory and analytical approaches for a number of current processes in education such as standardization, quantification and datafication of education, conflicts and controversies over educational quality and equity, or the interplay of science, politics and practice in the establishment and transformation of educational arrangements (Imdorf & Leemann 2023). In terms of social theory, this approach, also referred to as Economics and Sociology of Conventions, emphasizes the competence of social actors to deal reflectively with uncertain situations and the importance of the plurality of widely accepted knowledge orders (including notions of justice, reality and quality of education). As such, convention theory in the field of education highlights social and moral structures and situational cultural orders (conventions) in the coordination of social actions between administrators, teachers/instructors and young learners who, with their agency, are positioned and exposed in situations characterized by tensions. Thereby, the pragmatic sociology of education has enriched research on Vocational education and training (VET) early on, first in France (e.g. Bessy 2006, Verdier 2013), later in German-speaking countries and Spain (Marhuenda-Fluixà 2022), and more recently in the Nordic countries (Imdorf 2022). The situatedness of this form of education between state and labor market makes it particularly suitable for convention-sociological analysis. VET systems around the world serve plural and often conflicting (economic, social and educational) aims which find their roots in different socio-cultural economic, that is in national and regional contexts (Bonoli & Gonon 2022).

The symposium aims at discussing the potentials and findings, but also the challenges and desiderata of a "pragmatic" sociology of VET and its further development. In the context of a traditionally school-based VET system in Spain, Paper 1 uses the sociology of conventions framework to identify the main actors in national policy reforms in three domains (formal vocational education policy, non-formal vocational training policy and labor market policy) and explain what their main justifications have been, as well as the compromises they have reached in order to advance VET policies since the 2008 financial crisis to connect better with labor market needs. Against the backdrop of a competition for high-performing pupils between schools and training companies at the upper-secondary education level in Switzerland, Paper 2analysis how VET can be positioned as an attractive educational pathway for high-performing pupils in different Swiss Cantons, that is how company-based VET can attract high-performing pupils. A special focus of the analysis is on steering strategies, measures and instruments actors of cantonal education policy and administration use to foster the attractiveness of company-based VET, and how these steering efforts are justified and criticized. Paper 3 problematizes the distinction made between merit and skills in educational research, with merit being referred to elite education or academic pathways into higher education and the notion of skills to practical know-how acquired through VET. In Sweden, this distinction not only obscures the worth and attention higher vocational education participants assign to their education. The paper further enables greater reflexivity amongst researchers to question their own conventions in ongoing debates about educational merit. The contributions reflect on different levels and contexts of VET in three countries which differ in terms of the underlying educational conventions.

The symposium will be chaired by Christian Imdorf, one of the leading experts for convention theory and VET in Europe. Papers will be commented by Philipp Gonon who is an international VET scholar with expertise in the convention theory. Altogether, the symposium provides insights in promising analytical tools to analyze the different aims and facets of post-secondary (vocational) education at the intersection of the educational system and the labor market.

Spain has had a school-based vocational education system since 1970. Despite it has been traditionally questioned, the reform introduced in 1990 brought in several features that contributed to change its perception and to overcome the claimed lack of connection to the labour market needs. Duly aligned with European Vocational Education and Training (VET) policies, a new compromise was reached where views of the administration of education, employer and trade union representatives have significantly contributed to the increased worth and prestige of formal vocational education (Martínez-Morales/Marhuenda-Fluixá, 2020; Martínez-Morales/Marhuenda-Fluixá, 2022) as well as to a rather controversial growth of funding and policies of Continuing Vocational Education and Training (CVET) and non-formal vocational training (Marhuenda-Fluixá, 2019). In this contribution to the symposium, I will use the sociology of conventions framework to identify the main actors in national policy reforms in three domains (formal vocational education policy, non-formal vocational training policy and labour market policy) and to explain what their main justifications have been as well as the compromises they have reached in order to advance VET policies in the country. I will do so by focusing on the reforms produced since the 2008 financial crisis, first led by conservative government and then, after the Covid crisis, led by a social-democrat government. Some of our recent work has used the theoretical framework of the sociology of conventions (Boltanski/Thévenot, 2006) to analyze VET policies and practices in different regards: VET international policies (Marhuenda-Fluixá, 2017), European trends and prospects in VET (Marhuenda-Fluixá, 2022) and the practice of vocational training in non-for profit organizations (Marhuenda-Fluixá/Molpeceres-Pastor, 2021). Before that, we had already researched with the same framework looking at the organizational dimension of non-formal vocational training (e.g. Bernad/Molpeceres, 2010). I will rely upon our previous work but will also consider policy documents by the actors involved (Government Departments of Education and Employment, Social and Economic Council, Employer Confederation, Trade Unions), as well as recent research conducted around the success of vocational education in the past decade (e.g. Barrientos, 2022). By doing so, I want to highlight whether the compromise between civic and industrial conventions that characterized the reforms in the last quarter of the 20th century has been altered and whether and how the power to negotiate of different actors, particularly trade unions and employers, has changed since the 2008 Great Financial Crisis and how firm are the current compromises.

Barrientos, D. (2022). La relación entre formación y empeo en la FP dual. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Bernad, J.C., & Molpeceres, M. A. (2010). Discursos emergentes sobre la educación en los márgenes del sistema educativo. Revista de Educación 341, 149–169. Boltanski, L. and Thévenot, L. (2006). On Justification. Economies of Worth. Princeton University Press. Marhuenda-Fluixá, F. (2022). Conflicting roles of vocational education: civic, industrial, market and project conventions to address VET scenarios. Hungarian Educational Research Journal 12(3), 248–262. Marhuenda-Fluixà, F. (Ed.). (2019). The School Based Vocational Education and Training System in Spain. Achievements and Controversies. Springer. Marhuenda, F. (2017). Vocational Education beyond Skill Formation: VET between Civic, Industrial and Market Tensions. Peter Lang. Martínez-Morales, I., & Marhuenda-Fluixá, F. (2022). Redefining education and work relations: vet overcoming the financial crisis in Spain. In M. Malloch et al. (eds.), The SAGE handbook of learning and work (pp. 602-619). SAGE. Martínez-Morales, I., & Marhuenda-Fluixà. (2020). Vocational education and training in Spain: steady improvement and increasing value. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 1-20.

In Switzerland, where upper-secondary education consists of general education middle schools as well as company- and school-based VET programmes, and where two-thirds of young people still choose VET, more young people enter the increasingly demanded higher education sector via a school-based educational pathway than via dual VET (Kriesi et al., 2020; Leemann et al., 2019). In contrast to many European countries, where the proportion of young people in upper secondary middle schools has increased and the proportion in VET has decreased, company-based VET has retained its dominant position in Switzerland, having strong support from civil society as well as from education policy (Kriesi et al., 2022). Against the backdrop of a competition for high-performing pupils at the upper-secondary level, an new focus of VET policy is on the question of how to attract high-performing pupils for company-based VET (Elsholz & Neu, 2019; Esposito, 2022; Steimann, 2022). In the context of the political governance of the transition from lower to upper-secondary level, the aim of this study is to examine how company-based VET is positioned as an attractive educational pathway for high-performing pupils in different Swiss Cantons. What steering strategies, measures and instruments do actors of cantonal education policy and administration use to foster the attractiveness of company-based VET? How are these steering efforts justified? What critique, conflicts and 'sacrifices' result out of these steering efforts? These questions are addressed using the theoretical approach of the Sociology of Conventions (Boltanski & Thévenot, 2006; Diaz-Bone & Larquier, 2022). The data basis consists of documents (education policy initiatives, reports, etc.) and qualitative interviews with representatives of education administrations conducted in four German-speaking cantons. The results stress two main strategies strengthening the attractiveness and reputation of company-based VET for high-performing pupils. On the one hand, the access to the vocational baccalaureate (entrance qualification for a university of applied sciences via the VET pathway) is made easier (abolition of entrance examination) and more flexible respectively. On the other hand, legitimized by cost arguments and fears of competition, sacrifices are made at the expense of educational programs competing with company-based VET: their access is made more difficult (e.g. introduction of additional admission requirements) or their expansion gets purposefully limited (capping of classes). Furthermore, a wide range of targeted information and marketing campaigns support these cantonal steering efforts, aiming to promote and strengthen the reputation of company-based VET as an attractive educational pathway for high-performing pupils.

Boltanski, L., & Thévenot, L. (2006). On justification. Economies of worth. Princeton University Press. Diaz-Bone, R., & de Larquier, G. (2022). Conventions: Meanings and Applications of a Core Concept in Economics and Sociology of Conventions. In R. Diaz Bone & G. de Larquier (Eds.), Handbook of Economics and Sociology of Conventions (pp. 1–27). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52130-1_2-1 Elsholz, U., & Neu, A. (2019). Akademisierung der Arbeitswelt—Das Ende der Beruflichkeit? AIS-Studien, 12(1), 6–18. https://doi.org/10.21241/SSOAR.64880 Esposito, R. S. (2022). Ausbildungsqualitäten—Andersartig, aber gleichwertig? Ein Vergleich konkurrierender Gesundheitsausbildungen in der Schweiz. Springer VS. Kriesi, I., Bonoli, L., Grønning, M., Hänni, M., Neumann, J., & Schweri, J. (2022). Spannungsfelder in der Berufsbildung international und in der Schweiz – Entwicklungen, Herausforderungen, Potenziale (No. 5; OBS EHB Trendbericht). Eidgenössische Hochschule für Berufsbildung. https://www.ehb.swiss/forschung/obs/themen-und-trends/spannungsfelder-der-berufsbildung-international-schweiz Kriesi, I., Leemann, R. J., & Schweizerische Akademie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften. (2020). Tertiarisierungsdruck: Herausforderungen für das Bildungssystem, den Arbeitsmarkt und das Individuum. Leemann, R. J., Esposito, R. S., Pfeifer Brändli, A., & Imdorf, C. (2019). Handlungskompetent oder studierfähig? Wege in die Tertiärbildung: Die Bedeutung der Lern- und Wissenskultur. 2(2). https://www.sgab-srfp.ch/de/newsletter/handlungskompetent-oder-studierfaehig Steimann, O. (2022). Leitlinien der Wirtschaft. Bildungs-, Forschungs- und Innovationspolitik. Economiesuisse. https://economiesuisse.ch/sites/default/files/publications/Bildungs-%2C%20Forschungs-%20und%20Innovationspolitik.pdf

Building on pragmatic sociology, this paper analyses and offers a critique of how competences has been researched in the field of education. We first outline the boundaries between different conceptual frameworks on competence that, according to their scheme of interpretation, generate distinct problems. Empirically, our analysis is based on a bibliometric overview of educational research articles published in journals listed in Scopus. In particular, we formulate a critique of sociological and educational research for juxtaposing the competences of skill versus merit in relation to different kinds of educational pathways, where the former is seen to be a competence residing within vocational education, while the latter has been confined to elite education or academic pathways into higher education. Although merit has been constructed, valorised, and interrogated such that it has become an object of public debate, its relationship to the practically-oriented understanding of common vocational education and training has gone largely unnoticed. Contrary to the merit of academic tracks, research on vocational education and training emphasises skills and practical know-how. In the second part of the paper, we embark on an empirical examination, giving attention to Swedish higher vocational education participants’ articulation of their aspirations and the ambiguity around recognising merit in their experiences from training to work. We find that participants, in their pursuit of higher vocational education: (i) adjust their aspirations; (ii) adapt to what they believe the labour market requires of them; and (iii) assign value to non-merit. In sum, merit appears to matter for their trajectories in the way that it is juxtaposed. The value in paying attention to these accounts is that it opens up a space for us to examine the worth of what is/are adjacent to merit. Through this analysis, we attempt to illustrate how the concurrent salience and invisibility in sub-fields of educational research establishes a particular kind of social reality which has implications for the way that knowledge is used to shape research “problems”, policy and public sentiments around the politics of skilling and ongoing debates about merit. A critique in the way in which we examine merit (or not) in educational research is important, and is part of an important exercise for formulating meaningful ways to research what is valuable in learning and work for common actors. More importantly, it encourages greater reflexivity amongst researchers to question our own conventions.

Billett, S. (2014). The standing of vocational education: sources of its societal esteem and implications for its enactment. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 66(1), 1–21. Boltanski, L. (2011). On Critique: A Sociology of Emancipation. Polity. Diaz-Bone, R., & de Larquier, G. (2022). Conventions: Meanings and Applications of a Core Concept in Economics and Sociology of Conventions. In R. Diaz Bone & G. de Larquier (Eds.), Handbook of Economics and Sociology of Conventions (pp. 1–27). Springer International Publishing. Ellström, P.-E. (1997). The many meanings of occupational competence and qualification. Journal of European Industrial Traning, 21(6/7), 266-273 Sandel, M. (2020). The tyranny of merit. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.