Marketization in the Dutch vocational education and training sector

Abstract

Significant educational reforms have resulted in Dutch schools for vocational education and training having to operate in a complex, more market-oriented environment, as if they were entrepreneurial organizations while remaining in the public sector. That makes these schools hybrid organizations. To get a better understanding of the phenomenon of hybrid organizations, this article presents a new approach to examining behavioural aspects of hybridization and a conceptual model that can be used for this purpose. The model includes the following concepts: attitudes to education, organizational commitment, school climate and entrepreneurial behaviour.

Key words:

• Education
• hybridization
• model
• organizational behaviour
• professional bureaucracy

Introduction

Education policy in the Dutch vocational education and training sector (VET) has become more complex over the last twenty years with the introduction of a quasi-market in education, increasing autonomy for individual education providers, the growth of quangos and task forces and the use of a more diverse range of policy instruments. The underlying trend is a new mix of private/public institutions and interests. We offer a conceptual model for investigating the impact of this new direction in steering the Dutch VET system on the behavioural orientation of teachers and managers.

In the Dutch education system, the VET sector has been used as the breeding ground for some important components of this reform movement. The choice of senior secondary vocational education is not completely arbitrary. Senior secondary vocational education is a vocationally oriented type of schooling that prepares students for middle-ranking positions in government, industry and the service sector. It draws by far the most students in the second phase of secondary education (about 47 per cent). It also lies at the heart of the European strategy to become one of the leading knowledge economies in the world. There is strong pressure on all Member States of the European Union to reshape the VET sector into a more responsive, innovative public sector by introducing private-sector solutions (Leney 2004).

The impact of New Public Management (NPM) on the Dutch VET sector can been seen in four types of changes:

1. Changes in ownership. In the 1990s a weak form of privatization was introduced. In secondary vocational education, publicly funded schools were for the first time allowed to acquire their own resources by offering contract activities. The Government expected the schools to contribute to improving their financial situation, to develop more innovative attitudes and to become more sensitive to their external environment. The management of the Regional Training Centres (ROCs) were also given additional responsibilities for the provision of education and educational content as well as for administration. Now ROCs occupy a hybrid position, they have to act as if they are in the private sector, while remaining in the public sector.

2. Changes in funding and financial management. The changes in funding and financial management are closely connected with the policy of deregulation and the policy of increasing autonomy. First, the funding of schools has undergone marked changes in character over the past twenty years. The most important system now is lump sum or block grant financing. This involves a type of contractual relationship between the Government and schools. The production of education is, as it were, contracted out to schools that run on an autonomous basis. Second, funding of consumers (e.g. vouchers) has gained support recently, especially in vocational education and with a view to lifelong learning (West et al. 2000).

3. Changes in accountability. The efforts to achieve greater accountability can also be partly seen as a consequence of market-thinking, as the common reproach against the Government and government services is that the link between the level of government expenditure and public accountability is weak. In order to link the allocation and level of resources more effectively to the performance of schools and policy performance, the development of performance indicators is seen as vitally important. The use of performance indicators has expanded enormously at all levels of the Dutch education system.

4. Up scaling. The creation of larger schools for secondary vocational education was originally described as the vehicle to develop tailor-made courses and increase the policy-making scope of schools (Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschappen 1990). Only a year after the policy document was published, however, did it become clear that the merger process was an administrative goal in itself. In the new Adult and Vocational Education Act of 1996, the merger process was one of the key reforms. Vocational secondary schools had to merge into large Regional Training Centres (ROCs). As a consequence, the number of senior secondary vocational schools fell from about 300 in 1986 to 40 in 2005. Since the beginning of the 1990s, a variety of reasons have been given for the scaling-up process as a necessary requirement for the development of a more autonomous and self-regulating VET system.

Since the Government introduced New Public Management (NPM) ideas, the profile of a classic bureaucracy no longer fits the nature of public-sector organizations such as schools. This is why public-sector organizations have frequently been labelled hybrids (Kickert 2001). Unfortunately, labelling an organization a hybrid does not reveal precisely what the organization is or looks like. This label only informs people of the fact that two distinctive ideal types are blended within one organizational entity. To describe an organization as a hybrid comes down to the fact that an organization is neither black nor white. Likewise, or perhaps as a consequence of the ease with which organizations can be labelled as hybrids, a variety of hybrid organizations can be found throughout society. Since hybridity is a matter of degree and the common definition conceals more than it reveals, some refinement to give the definition substance and meaning is needed. To get a better understanding of hybridization and its consequences, we developed a conceptual model that adds a new perspective to the study of hybrid organizations by focusing on the behavioural components of hybridization. This approach is based on the assumption that policy structures, whether governmental or market, influence the balance of knightly and knavish 1 behaviour in the individuals, as Le Grand (2003) argued. Our model bridges the gap between reforms at institutional level and their consequences for individual teachers and managers. In order to comprehend the distinction between teachers and managers that is made in the conceptual model, a theoretical argument is required.

Teachers and managers

Investigating hybridity within the organizational behaviour of ROCs is rather complicated due to the complexity of the organizations, so a further division is needed here. In line with Mintzberg's configuration of the professional bureaucracy, teachers and managers will be investigated separately. Mintzberg (1983) asserted that the primary and secondary processes that take place within organizations strongly influence the way employees conduct themselves. As a result, two distinct zones arise within the organization: a bureaucratic zone and a professional zone, and so teachers as well as managers face their own specific dilemmas as a consequence of hybridization. Although managers in the bureaucratic zone have to focus on the primary process to support the professionals in fulfilling their tasks, linkage between the two zones is often weak (Weick 1976). This weakness can be explained by the fact that organizational members in both zones need autonomy and space to function well (van Veen 2005). These two relatively autonomous divisions in a school mean that schools have a dual structure (Hooge 1998).

In addition to these zones a third zone can be identified due to the weak boundary between the professional and bureaucratic zones. Professional practice is described as rather autonomous in theory, but research reveals that the autonomy that teachers have in schools is less widespread than expected (Witziers 1992). This third zone is the area in which teachers and the managers mix to discuss and to solve problems. During these meetings teachers and managers will probably strive for their own interests in decision-making processes and for that reason this third zone is called the contested zone (Hanson 1991). Weick (1976) cited Hanson that a loosely coupled link between the bureaucratic and the professional zones can be located within the contested zone. Because of the loose character of this link, one can imagine that decisions that have been taken in one of the zones will not always be influential in the other zone. Despite these critical remarks, the professional bureaucracy model still applies to examinations of the organizational behaviour of schools (Hooge 1998; van Veen 2005).

It is necessary to study the two organizational layers separately to investigate whether and how the two zones adapt to New Public Management steering mechanisms. Differentiation of tasks means that teachers and managers have to adapt to distinctive aspects of the administrative changes and so the adoption process may proceed differently in the two zones. It is important, therefore, to gain information about the adoption process in both zones and their reciprocal relation. Only then is it possible to answer the question as to whether tensions between professionals and managers has increased in recent years as van Veen (2005) asserted.

A conceptual model

In order to investigate hybridization and its impact, we developed a conceptual model (see Figure 1). Its purpose is twofold: first, to represent the conceptual and some of the behavioural issues of hybridization diagrammatically; and second to provide a framework and structure for operationalizing the theory.

Figure 1: An approach to investigating and understanding hybridization in ROCs

The model shows an analytical representation of behavioural aspects of teachers and managers that can be seen as indicators of the process of hybridization. The concept in the centre ‘attitudes to education’ represents the dependent variables that will be examined in both the bureaucratic and the professional zones. ‘Entrepreneurial behaviour’ is the concept operationalized for measurement on the bureaucratic side; the concepts operationalized for measurement in the professional zone are ‘commitment’ and ‘school climate’.

Attitudes to education

Attitudes to education matter in education policy (Denessen 1999). Two educational orientations have dominated education policy for decades. The first reflects a social and humanistic orientation and focuses on developing well-educated, participating citizens. The second attitude considers education as a personal investment in human capital; from this perspective, school knowledge has to align directly to the workplace. The second attitude reflects a stronger economic orientation than the first one. It is important to realize that thinking about education as a collective good is different from seeing education as a personal investment in human capital (Teulings et al. 2005). Moreover, attitudes to education involve expectations about schools, teacher behaviour, educational programmes and the organization and financing of schools. Consequently, attitudes to education do affect the professional identity of teachers and what they have to do. Gleeson and Husbands (2003) identified low morale in the teaching profession. They also observed tensions between what teachers believe in, and what their tasks include as a consequence of increased pressure resulting from management protocols, a stronger focus on performance measurement, accountability and the publication of school performance data. In more general terms, van Veen (2005) argued that congruence between policy reforms and teachers' attitudes to education decreases the chance of tensions within the organizations and increases the chance of a successful adaptation to education reforms.

In order to get a better understanding of the adaptation to NPM mechanisms in professional bureaucracies such as ROCs, it is relevant to examine both professionals' attitudes and managers' attitudes. The operationalized variables in the educational context examine the extent to which teachers and managers focus on performances, progression, participative didactics, pupils' background and shaping pupils' growth. All of these variables help to determine whether and where there is a fit between the education policy and the orientations of teachers and managers.

Entrepreneurial behaviour

Given that vocational secondary schools were strategically dependent on the Government, managers used to focus on government's wishes. Simon (1989), therefore, identified the position of public-sector organizations as hierarchic and strategically dependent. The strategic dependence of public-sector organizations is different from the dependence of market organizations, which is much more divergent. Since the introduction of new steering mechanisms, central government no longer guarantees the survival of ROCs. As a result, managers are responsible for ensuring and legitimating the continued existence of the ROC and, to do this, they need to be innovative, focus on their external environment and develop strategic policy. Brandsma (1998) characterized ROC managers as having a rather strong internal orientation. To determine whether this description still applies, concepts to measure strategy development, external orientation, risk avoidance, stakeholder involvement and time-spending are included in the conceptual model.

Teachers' commitment

There are a number of reasons for measuring aspects of teacher commitment in the context of hybridization. First, Rosenholtz (1989) stated that commitment has less to do with the personal qualities people bring to the workplace than with the design and management of tasks and work circumstances within it. Organizational changes, such as up scaling, accountability and shifting autonomy may, therefore, affect teacher commitment. In addition, prior research indicates that commitment is a predictor of effectiveness and the willingness to go beyond the formal job requirements and it reduces early retirement and burn out. Bolino et al. (2001) asserted that individuals are most likely to go beyond their formal job requirements when they are satisfied with their jobs and committed to their organizations, when they are given intrinsically satisfying tasks to complete and/or when they have supportive or inspirational leaders. Teachers report that their core instrumental tasks give them satisfaction (Rosenholtz and Simpson 1990). Due to the lack of external rewards, such as a high salary and status, internal rewards are more important in teaching than in other occupations. In the developed conceptual model, four aspects of commitment are operationalized: career-commitment; organizational commitment; commitment to their profession; and commitment to the organizational unit. These forms of commitment have been operationalized to investigate whether teachers perceive stronger ties to their profession than to the school organization as prior research has suggested.

School climate

The increased competition between schools seems to put managers, teachers and schools under pressure. As a result, schools have a growing tendency to show strategic behaviour, to become more selective and to put more pressure on their teaching staff (van Veen 2005). Teachers often do not fear for their school's reputation, receive incentives or feel the need to compete with other schools as managers do. The different perceptions and attitudes may increase tensions between teachers and managers. Their foci appear to be rather different, which seems to create a distance between them. Moreover, in fields like education, organizational culture is traditionally shaped by a notion of service and calling. When service quality is hard to judge, tensions will arise between notions of mission and notions of efficiency (Hess 2002). Managers and teachers both seem to suffer from the loose links within the ROC organization. To investigate how teachers perceive the loose links and the distance between them and the managers, aspects of the school climate have been operationalized. Variables included in the conceptual model are perceived management support, teacher concern and teacher participation in decision-making processes.

Methodology

To get a grip on hybridization at school level, multi-level analyses need to be carried out. Multi-level analysis will model whether teachers working in the same school share their attitudes to education and perceive the school climate and facets of commitment similarly. In a second step, similarities and differences between managers' and teachers' attitudes to education in schools will be analysed. Finally, it will be possible to compare schools, teachers and managers in order to develop school profiles. These profiles should provide information about the hybridization that takes place in schools adapting to New Public Management steering mechanisms.

Concluding remarks

Although the conceptual model outlined here has been developed to study hybridization in the education sector, the model is applicable to other public-sector organizations as well. In essence, the conceptual model captures organizational behaviour and tensions between organizational zones. Applying the model to other sectors would be worthwhile for three reasons. First, emphasis on organizational behaviour makes hybridization a concrete process, facilitating the comprehension of the impact of hybridization on organizations. Second, focusing on consequences of hybridization sheds a new light on the goal-oriented studies of hybrid organizations. Finally, considering managers and professionals as separate groups belonging to one organizational entity allows tensions between and within organizational zones to be detected. This model is a valuable tool for the study of hybridization processes in public-sector organizations.

Notes

1 Le Grand refers to knights and knaves to make a philosophical distinction between individuals that are predominately public spirited or altruistic (knights) and other individuals that are primarily motivated by self-interest (knaves). Le Grand (2003: 29) also states that the link between unselfishness and engaging in collective action and the link between selfishness and competitive action are not automatic ones. Nevertheless the characterization of knights and knaves is helpful in understanding the efforts of professionals and managers to understand the adaptation of NPM steering mechanisms.