Industry's Role in Vocational Education and Training Governance and Decision Making

This innovative practice full paper addresses the hypothesis that vocational workforce competence supply can be improved if a structured, strategic and long-term dialogue between local industry and local VET (Vocational Education and Training) governing bodies is established. Demand for vocational workforce is increasing, and by 2040 the demand is expected to exceed availability of resources in most vocational sectors. According to the National Agency for Education Sweden needs to increase the scale of industrial vocational education, both in upper secondary level and in adult education. By 2035, lost productivity due to shortfall in the educated technical workforce is estimated to cost Swedish companies 990 billion Swedish Kronor. An action research framework is used to bring together local decision-makers in a dialogue forum called in Swedish “Strate-gisk Verkstad och Aktion for Kompetensforsorjnlng” (SVAK). The goal is to improve VET systems through a new form of long-term dialogue in which representatives of the various system sectors meet to discuss challenges, practical solutions, as well as make joint decisions and implement initiatives.

I. Introduction

The long-term resilience, development and transformation of engineering and technology sectors is dependent on access to relevant competence at the right time and in the right place. In the Swedish education system municipal government has a significant role in educating future engineers and technicians. However, there is no model for collaboration between the municipal and local industry decision makers in order to improve the availability of vocational skills needed by the industry. Regional development needs to go hand in hand with local industrial transformation ensuring that regional skill supply and demand are in balance.