State-led vocational education and training in Turkey through the lens of capability approach: strategically important but not commonly shared

ABSTRACT

Vocational education and training (VET) has been emphasised as an important topic in Turkey’s industrial development. However, Turkey’s VET system has often been criticised for its weak performance in meeting employers’ skill requirements and attracting successful students, which has resulted in the low status of VET in society. This article examines the Turkish VET system’s on-going challenges through the evaluation of different groups of stakeholders. Drawing on the Capability Approach, it seeks to understand stakeholders’ role in improving individuals’ capabilities in a state-led VET context. Focusing on the automotive industry, the researcher conducted 26 semi-structured interviews with the representatives of four groups: firms, industrial actors (industry chambers, employer associations, and trade unions), state agencies, and vocational teachers. The findings show that all stakeholders engaging with Turkey’s state-driven VET system agree on the strategic importance of the system for Turkey’s economic and social development. However, this agreement does not prove itself in the concerted action of the stakeholders to deal with the system’s challenges.

KEYWORDS:

• State-led vocational education and training system
• VET governance
• capability approach
• stakeholder engagement
• skill development

Acknowledgments

I want to express my deep gratitude to Arjan Keizer (University of Manchester) and Damian Grimshaw (King’s College London) who supervised the underlying research; and Miguel Martinez Lucio (University of Manchester) and Phil Almond (University of Leicester) for their valuable comments on the earliest versions of the research during my PhD study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

*Ethical approval

This research was generated from the author’s PhD dissertation authorised by the University of Manchester Ethical Committee. The dissertation is available at: https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/jrul/item/?pid=uk-ac-man-scw:311650

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Turkey’s Republic, Ministry of National Education [Turkey’s Republic, Ministry of National Education 1416].