Knowledge, skills, competence: European divergences in vocational education and training (VET)—the English, German and Dutch cases

Abstract

Policy debates on employability, lifelong learning and competence‐based approaches suggest a convergence of VET approaches across European countries. Against the background of the creation of a European Qualifications Framework, this paper compares the VET systems of England, Germany and The Netherlands. The analysis reveals the distinct understandings and meanings of outwardly similar terms. These meanings are deeply rooted in the countries’ institutional structures and labour processes and still inform national debates and policies today. The paper identifies a major distinction between a ‘knowledge‐based’ VET model in Germany and The Netherlands and a ‘skills‐based’ model in England. There is a need to develop trans‐national categories that take into account the social construction of terms such as ‘skills’ and ‘qualifications’.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our project partners, Anneke Westerhuis, Georg Hanf and Philippe Méhaut, for their invaluable comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

1. The German notion of Arbeitsprozesswissen is usually translated as ‘work process knowledge’. However, we feel this should in fact be ‘labour process knowledge’ to reflect the wider scope of knowledge involved.