Comparing the Relationship Between Vocational and Higher Education in Germany and France

Comparing the Relationship between
Vocational and Higher Education in Germany and France

Discussion Paper SP I 2009-506

paper

Justin J.W. Powell, Laurence Coutrot+, Lukas Graf,
Nadine Bernhard, Annick Kieffer+, Heike Solga

Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB)
Research Area:
Education, Work, and Life Chances
Research Unit:
Skill Formation and Labor Markets http://www.wzb.eu/bal/aam WZB: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail] +

Centre Maurice Halbwachs, École normale supérieure (ENS),
48 Bd Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France: [e-mail], [e-mail]

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB)
Reichpietschufer 50 • D-10785 Berlin • www.wzb.eu

discussion

November 2009

Suggested Citation/Zitierweise:
Justin J.W. Powell, Laurence Coutrot, Lukas Graf, Nadine Bernhard, Annick Kieffer, Heike Solga
Comparing the Relationship between Vocational and Higher Education in Germany and France
Discussion Paper SP I 2009-506
Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (2009)

Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB)

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH (WZB)

Research Area:
Education, Work, and Life Chances

Forschungsschwerpunkt:
Bildung, Arbeit und Lebenschancen

Research Unit:
Skill Formation and Labor Markets

Abteilung:
Ausbildung und Arbeitsmarkt

Reichpietschufer 50, D-10785 Berlin phone: [phone], fax: [phone] http://www.wzb.eu Abstract
A number of European initiatives aim to create a European educational space, including vocational training and higher education. Following the logic of difference, we ask whether, despite their different institutionalization, these two sectors in France and Germany react similarly to the Europe-wide Copenhagen and Bologna processes. We compare the relationship between vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE), contrasting a number of

References: In Mass Vocational Education and Training in Europe, Wolf-Dietrich Greinert (1988, 2005) presented a typology of three “classical” training models: the liberal market economy model (Great Britain), the state-regulated bureaucratic principle is that of the vocation (Beruf) (see, e.g., Deissinger 1998), which is to be developed in practice. In studies of higher education, a range of comparisons exist, often contrasting four or more countries. Theories that suggest one global tertiary system are questionable, Dietrich Goldschmidt (1991) found, given the range of national classic comparison of higher education in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, Joseph Ben-David ([1977] 1992) emphasized that while France Hillmert 2008), on change in universities (e.g., Krücken 2003, 2007; Witte 2006), and on comparative institutional analysis (see Baker and LeTendre 2005; Powell and Solga 2008, 2010). Thereby, we analyze the character of competition and cooperation between HE and VET, the hierarchy of certificates and organizational forms in the two organizational fields, as well as the differentiation of