Dual training in Europe: a policy fad or a policy turn?

Since the start of the global financial crisis Europe has experienced a new enthusiasm for dual vocational education and training (VET). The EU itself has actively promoted the benefits of dual VET to its members, offering financial and organisational support for the introduction of apprenticeships into the formal educational systems. However, while dual VET is widely considered to be a valuable tool for easing the transition into the labour market for young people, it is also a form of skill formation that requires a lot of coordination not only between the schools and firms that carry out the training, but also among the firms themselves and between employer and employee organisations. In this introduction we argue that whereas the EU has been successful in encouraging establishment of dual VET in all its member countries, its implementation has been very uneven. This is due in part to the pre-existing differences in the underlying organisational structures, but also to the ongoing demographic, technological, and institutional changes – some caused by European integration itself – which weaken firms’ incentives to train.