Knowledge in VET curricula and power in society and labour market : Policy and practice: demands-based and employer-driven Swedish higher vocational education

Sammanfattning: This dissertation presents a study of knowledge in vocational education and training (VET), the circumstances for its selection and transmission and how these circumstances are shaped by both national policy and local organisation.The study is set within the Swedish state-funded post-secondary VET system called Higher Vocational Education (HVE) and it entails investigations into both national policy and local practice in programme provision. It covers a variety of data, including policy documents, interviews with personnel responsible for the training and observations of meetings for cooperation between schools and local employer representatives. Based on the findings, this dissertation problematises and discusses system formation, knowledge in curricula, the organisation of programme provision, and employer involvement generally in VET and specifically in Swedish HVE. The investigations and discussions are positioned within a perspective that questions the organisation of education and knowledge in relation to the distribution of power in society and the social order of capitalism and neoliberal policies. This perspective is based on Bernsteinian theory, that also functions as the interpretative framework for the study’s theoretically guided thematic analysis.Findings showcase that the Swedish HVE system is in line with global trends of distinctive vocational pathways in higher education, marketisation of training and governments shaping systems with significant influence for employers which risks students being locked into pre-defined positions with employers in the local labour markets.