Busting the myth of low-skilled workers – destabilizing EU LLL policies through the life stories of Danes in low-skilled jobs

Abstract

In the EU, ambitious objectives have been set for education and training since the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda in 2000. The policies aim among other things to empower the individual through participation in lifelong learning which is seen as both a right and a duty: ‘People need to want and to be able to take their lives into their own hands – to become in short, active citizens’ (CEC, 2000, p. 7). However, not all citizens are taking part in lifelong learning and consequently the EU and its member states have set up policies with a ‘particular focus on active and preventative measures for the unemployed and inactive persons’ (CEC, 2006, p.1). ‘Inactive’ persons comprise different groups which are marginalised in terms of participation in lifelong learning, among others ‘low-skilled’ who have a lower participation rate in education and training activities (Cedefop, 2013). In this article, the aim is to destabilize the political discourse on ‘low-skilled’ through individual narratives of being in low-skilled jobs. Whereas the problem of being low-skilled from a political perspective is represented as psycho-social problems of the individual, the narratives point to the complexity of people in low-skilled jobs and the role of structure to ‘low-skilledness’. The narratives open up issues of power and the historical arbitrary distinctions between skilled and unskilled in the Danish labour market. It opens up for how the educational structures produce ‘low-skilled’ people, especially in the transition from basic vocational education and training into an apprenticeship. The article points to the narrow focus of policies on the ‘supply’ side of lifelong learning and less on the ‘demand’ side of a ‘needy’ global labour market in which precarious jobs are no longer limited to low-skilled. The article draws on Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be?’ (1999, 2009) and narrative inquiry.

Keywords:

• Narrative inquiry
• WPR Bacchi
• low-skilled workers
• unskilled workers
• lifelong learning

Notes

1. Cedefop (Centre for the Development of Vocational Education and Training in Europe) is an EU agency with the responsibility of ‘helping to develop the right policies to provide the right skills’ (Cedefop website, 2017). It was established in 1975 and has over the years developed its activities from documentation and information about vocational education and training in the various EU Member States to a more proactive role in contributing to the formulation of EU lifelong learning policies.

2. In her book Getting By, Liza McKenzie problematizes the way the working class are represented in British policies and media. On the basis of fieldwork on an estate in Nottingham, she describes how working-class people ‘manage’ to ‘get by’ despite the ‘inherent structural problems that unequal Britain bestows on them’ (McKenzie, 2015, p. 197). McKenzie’s aim is to recognise the complexity of working-class communities and provide alternative narratives which acknowledge the resources and identity of working-class people.

3. In this article, we use the narratives to create a counter-discourse to the hegemonic political discourse of lifelong learning. In this sense, the narratives are part of a policy analysis; however, as a discourse analytical approach, WPR is viable in the analysis of qualitative data as well (see e.g. Skovhus & Thomsen, 2015).

4. Wolfe also points to the fact that the increase in earnings is not only an expression of the value of skills, but as much a product of cultural values, institutional settings and relations of production (Wolfe, 2002). We will demonstrate this contingency in our thematic analysis when we look into the new vocational qualification of childcare assistant.

5. Almost 50% of students in vocational education and training drop out according to the Danish Ministry of Education (http://www.uvm.dk/Aktuelt/~/UVM-DK/Content/News/Udd/Erhvervs/2015/Sep/150917-Fortsat-stort-frafald-paa-erhvervsuddannelserne).

6. 2/3 of the time is spent working in a company and 1/3 of the time attending the main course at a vocational college.

7. In the follow-up interviews, Jonas had been admitted to a bachelor’s programme in education and Erik to a bachelor’s programme in communication, pointing to the role of low-skilled jobs as a transitional phase in some people’s lives.

8. Danish municipalities employ private childminders who care for three to four children aged between 6 months and 3 years. No formal qualifications are required, although most municipalities offer newly employed childminders basic introductory pedagogical or healthcare courses lasting 2–14 days.

9. Unskilled childcare assistants can also have prior learning recognized in relation to the bachelor’s degree-level educator programme. However, this requires the completion of an upper-secondary education qualification and generally takes longer to complete regardless of APEL.

10. This is reflected in the unions’ strategies for adult education where the focus is on upskilling unskilled people to gain a formal qualification.