Institutional Conditions of Vocational Education and Training

Institutional features comprise structural and cultural aspects of the education system. These include, for example, the cantonal differences in the implementation of educational goals, the distinction between different types of basic vocational education and training and their characteristics, or informal company strategies for recruiting learners and employees.

The design of the education system influences young people's educational trajectories, their labor market entry, and their short- and longer-term occupational trajectories. For example, features of the (vocational) education system affect whether young people find an apprenticeship in their desired occupation, whether they successfully complete their basic vocational education and training and subsequently find a job matching their training, or whether they complete tertiary education. Our goal is to identify the structural, cultural and institutional conditions that have shaped the development of the VET/PET system on the one hand and, on the other hand, influence or have influenced people's educational and employment trajectories.