The wrong shape apprenticeships to suit individual business needs

Gymnasiekommissionen appointed by the confederation of Swedish Enterprise recently release (Friday 1 February) a report on the Swedish upper secondary school. The DN-debate presented some of the commission's proposals. The focus is very much on vocational training and – not surprisingly – how the corporate influence over the vocational education and training should be strengthened.

We share Gymnasiekommissionens perception that ties between school and working life should be strengthened. Vocational education and training must become more attractive. It is about a high school's ability to better respond to the skills needs in the workplace, but also to facilitate for young people to get jobs and livelihoods.

at the same time, we oppose the proposal presented regarding the apprenticeship. Proposals to import yrkesutbildningsmodeller from other countries lacks all realism.

in Addition, there is a blind spot in the commission's descriptions of the upper-secondary school challenges. You totally ignore the group of young people in the day goes on induction programmes and the conditions for young people who are not able to complete a secondary education. The latter is one of the biggest challenges for the Swedish welfare, and it is not mentioned at all.

inspired by the vocational education and training systems in the German-speaking countries on the continent. The only problem is that these systems are rooted in quite different terms and conditions, including far-reaching rules on professional identity cards, the requirements on individual corporate social responsibility and the differentiation of education at the primary level. The apprenticeship is embedded within strong corporate structures, something that the industry representatives in Sweden cannot reasonably trakteras of.

In Sweden, the apprenticeship more been seen as an extension to a wider skolförlagd training. To narrow down the apprenticeship and to shape it to suit individual business needs, in line with what Gymnasiekommissionen advocates, would be to make vocational education a disservice. It would restrict mobility in the labour market and reduce the opportunities for continued learning in the workplace.

what is more serious is that the commission does not seem to see the seriousness of the large genomströmningsproblemen. More than 25 percent of students have not completed an education after three years ( Swedish national agency for Education – Comparison of study results over time). 17% of all students in upper secondary education was the academic year 2017/18 enrolled in the induction programmes. How will these students be offered the bridges to jobs, livelihood and community? Yrkeslärande is the most powerful instrument we have for creating the conditions for inclusion, to create income opportunities and break the alienation.

and the politicians must have the courage to think outside the kompetenspolitiska the box. Responsibility for young people's transitions to employment is wide. Yrkeslärandet must be strengthened also in the induction programmes and young people with weaker schooling must be given opportunities to complete basic professional qualifications, for example, via yrkespaket and yrkesintroduktionsanställningar which leads to a higher degree of employability.

The importance Gymnasiekommissionen ascribe to the vet is too tight and storföretagsanpassad. A societal perspective speaks of several objectives for the training. Vocational training will provide individuals a foundation for continued learning, opportunities for mobility in the labour market and the tools to influence their work situation. Vocational training is also about to increase livschanserna for individuals with less-favoured conditions. Here are potential trade-offs, but that Gymnasiekommissionen reducing vocational education to a matter of company specific apprenticeship would definitely put särintresset in front of the public interest.