Origins and Development of VET 1850-2008 – an Investigation Into the Norwegian Case

Nord-VET – The future of VET in the Nordic Countries Origins and development of VET 1850-2008 – an investigation into the Norwegian case Svein Michelsen, University of Bergen Ole Johnny Olsen, University of Bergen Håkon Høst, NIFU Research report published 2014 by Nord-VET – The future of Vocational Education in the Nordic countries A research project supported by the NordForsk programme “Education for Tomorrow” Department of Psychology & Educational Studies Roskilde University, Postbox 260, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark Homepage: http://nord-vet.dk / © Copyright: the author and Nord-VET ISBN: 978-87-7349-866-8 Nord-VET – The future of Vocational Education in the Nordic countries The purpose of the Nordic research project, Nord-VET, is to generate new knowledge on the strengths and weaknesses of the different models of vocational education and training (VET) at upper secondary level in the four Nordic countries. This research is expected to strengthen the knowledge base required for developing VET for the future. The main purpose of this project is to shed light on the different Nordic ways of handling the key dilemma of providing double access to the labour market and to higher education in vocational education. More specifically it seeks to determine how the different ways of handling this dilemma have an impact on social equality, inclusion and the esteem of vocational education. The project is publishing three sets of country studies on Finland, Denmark, Norway and Swe- den. The first set of reports is on the historical emergence of vocational education (VET) in the four countries. The second set of reports is on the current challenges for VET in the four Nordic countries. This is the Danish report. The third report to be published February 2015 is on innovations in VET. For more information visit the homepage: www.nord-vet.dk Content Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 6 VET and the Nordic countries .................................................................................................. 7 The baseline of the report ....................................................................................................... 11 About the concept of VET ...................................................................................................... 12 Relations to general education ................................................................................................ 16 The emergence of the liberal state and the position of VET .................................................. 18 The formation of practical education and training in 18 century Norway.............................. 20 The selective integration of organized VET interest in the liberal state ................................. 37 1930-994: VET and the social democratic state ...................................................................... 42 Educational expansion and the construction of a new educational system school 1960-1994 ....................................................................................................... 55 VET in the NPM state ................................................................................................................ 64 A new modernization offensive – Reform94 .......................................................................... 67 Upper secondary educational structure ................................................................................... 73 New governance structures ..................................................................................................... 74 Conclusion: VET – the Norwegian way ................................................................................... 89 List of figures Figure 1: The formation of the technical school system 1770-1940............................................ 24 Figure 2: Development in the number of apprenticeship contracts 1973-2011 ........................... 79 Figure 2a: The development in the number of apprenticeships and the number of trade certificates 1970-1999 .................................................................................................... 81 Figure 3: The number of apprentice certificates and the number of apprenticeships 2000-2006 ..................................................................................................... 82 Figure 4: The development in the number of apprenticeship contracts in industry/crafts and unemployment 1973-2007 ...................................................................................................... 85 List of tables Table 1: The number of pupils in secondary non-obligatory schools 1935-1966 ........................ 58 Table 2: The number of VG2 specializations and the number of trades in each specialization area ................................................................................................................... 74 Table 3: Number of apprenticeship applicants among 18 year olds (1996-2007) ....................... 80 Table 4: The 9 study program structure in VET distributed according to apprenticeship, school-based Vet and transfer to higher education ratios in the third year ............................. 83 Origins and development of VET 1850-2008 – an investigation into the Norwegian case About the authors Svein Michelsen is professor of political science at The Department of Administration and Organ- ization Theory, University of Bergen. He also holds an adjunct position as research professor at The Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU). Ole Johnny Olsen is associate professor at The Department of Sociology, University of Bergen. He also holds an adjunct position as research professor at Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research. Håkon Høst is research professor at The Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU). Svein Michelsen has carried the main responsibility for the compilation of this working paper, while Ole Johnny Olsen and Håkon Høst both have made significant contributions. Acknowledgements This report is presented By the Bergen Group for the project “The future of Nordic VET”, which is funded by the Nordic Council. We would like to thank the Council for the opportunity to carry out this type of research and the funding which we have received. The report is based on research work carried out during a 30 year period in which the authors have been involved. Most of it emanates from AHS, a multi-dicisiplinary group for the study of relations between education and work. It builds on the collective efforts of this group in the study of relations between education and work studies of VET as well as case studies of working life. It builds on a considerable number of contributions, published and unpublished, by Ole Johnny Olsen, Rune Sakslind, Tor Halvorsen, Trond Haga, Knut Venneslan, Hans Jacob Ågotnes, Knut Grove, Jan Heiret, Håkon Høst, Lars Ove Seljestad, Ove Skarpenes, Svein Michelsen as well as a contributions from a large number of hovedfag- and master students in this period, too many to mention. We thank them all for their contributions. 5 Origins and development of VET 1850-2008 – an investigation into the Norwegian case Introduction The historical development of VET in the Nordic countries has not gained much attention within the field of VET research. Whether a specific Nordic” model” actually exists at all is contested1. But the concept of a Nordic model has been used in a number of theoretical approaches; in the comparative studies of welfare regimes 2, in comparative industrial relations and labour market regimes 3 as well as in the study of political systems and innovation systems. 4 The Nordic countries are also considered as a subset of coordinated economies in the variety of capitalism literature. 5 The Nordic model has also been associated with the rise of social democracy and “the third way” combining capitalism and welfare. 6 Central characteristics of this model is the combination of consensual political systems and capitalist dynamics, persistent egalitarianism, strong labour movements, strong business associations, large welfare states and centrally coordinated collective negotiations, small wage gaps, universal welfare arrangements and commitment to full employ- ment by governments. The “Nordic model” literature often focuses complementarities and the products of compromises, associated with an emphasis on prudence, technological modernization and productivity on the one side and redistributive policies on the other hand. Other observers point towards a strong protestant ethic, the relative absence of feudalism, literacy and the early formation of universal public school systems. Dølvik (2007) 7states that the Nordic countries have been marked by cultures in which small social distances, autonomy and nationalism have been mixed with respect for skills and knowledge and broad international orientations . The viability of the Nordic system and the third way remain contested8. In the 1990ies Ralf Dahrendorf foresaw the end of the social democratic century. 9 European outlooks and pros- pects seem to have shifted from social-democratic centre-left solutions to Christian-democratic centre-right. 10 Modernizers of social democratic third way argue that social democrats have no choice except to embrace the logic of globalization and liberalization. 11 Traditionalist defenders 1 Øystein Sørensen and Bo Stråth (1997). The

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