Vocational education and training gives young people access to the labour market and ensures an adequate supply of highly qualified young professionals at all levels.
The significance of VET is not perceived the same in all countries as the educational systems vary in their characteristics and organisational forms. Different educational systems also affect the individual professional careers and the labour market in different ways.
In
Switzerland
, every year around two third of the young people completing compulsory school decide to start a VET program. The distinguishing feature and strength of the Swiss VET system are its close connections to the labour market. Students have a choice of 250 occupational careers. By far the most common form of VET is an apprenticeship, i.e. on-the-job training in a firm combined with attendance at a vocational school (also referred to as “dual system” of VET).
Since 2002 research in VET has been especially fostered by the Swiss Confederation
by means of funding a number of competence networks ("leading houses") with the following research priorities:
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Quality of VET
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Social competences in VET
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Learning strategies in VET
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New Technologies for VET
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Economics of VET
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VET systems and processes
By promoting scientific work within the networks of the VET leading houses, the Swiss Confederation will fill conceptual gaps and meet the needs of VET policy and practice. The long-term goal is to achieve a critical mass to develop sustainable research in VET and to boost the existing research capacity. The Swiss Federal Institute of VET (SFIVET) or other VET institutions may thereby fill their open research positions with graduates of leading houses.
The 1st Interdisciplinary Congress on Research in VET in Berne/Zollikofen is an opportunity to present research findings related to important topics of VET and to discuss them on an international level with the idea of creating and sustaining an international network of researchers. Researchers, scholars, decision-makers and stakeholders in the broad field of VET are invited to participate. It will be an interdisciplinary congress focusing on issues of VET as they are approached by researchers in educational sciences, psychology, economics, sociology and political sciences.
As far as research on the
effectiveness of VET
is concerned, we are looking for studies directed at the quality of teaching and learning in VET which may refer to a variety of topics or questions (e.g. dealing with heterogeneity, school learning versus workplace learning, specialized versus general qualification, etc.).
With respect to the
efficiency of VET
, there is a stronger emphasis on the monitoring of educational systems. Sufficient and sound sets of base data are necessary for the governance and further development of educational systems. In this respect, the interrelationships and interfaces between VET, economy and labour market are of particular interest.
We are looking forward to receiving many interesting and exciting proposals.