Arrangers and orchestrators: the diverging role of the state in Danish and German vocational education and training
In a new article Christian Lyhne Ibsen and Kathleen Thelen compares the role of the state in vocational education and training in Germany and Denmark.
This article compares the changing role of the state in initial vocational education and training (VET) in Germany and Denmark. Scholars have argued that collectivist VET systems face a stark choice between erosion through dualization or state take-over that crowds out decentralized cooperation by firms. Yet, recent work suggests that the state can revitalize the traditional firm-based system of VET through so-called state ‘orchestration’ and soft measures promoting inclusive training. Comparing Germany to Denmark, we argue that there is a second path to revitalization when the state acts as an ‘arranger’, more heavily involved in the provision and governance of VET, and using it for second-chance education. Unlike orchestration, arrangement is only possible where the state itself has achieved some independent capacity in training. We trace this divergence to small policy choices in the 1970s that have had large downstream effects on state capacity and power relations with business.
Read the full article 'Arrangers and orchestrators: the diverging role of the state in Danish and German vocational education and training' by Christian Lyhne Ibsen and Kathleen Thelen, MIT/Political Science, published by Socio-Economic Review, April 2024.