Colin Crouch, David Finegold, and Mari Sako
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198294382
- eISBN:
- 9780191685040
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198294382.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, HRM / IR, Political Economy
This chapter explores the practical potentialities for government action in skill creation in the context of contemporary pressures, by examining recent experience in two countries which are ...
More
This chapter explores the practical potentialities for government action in skill creation in the context of contemporary pressures, by examining recent experience in two countries which are historically regarded as the most effective exemplars of detailed state-led systems: France and Sweden. Consideration is given to the Italian approach as a less successful version of the French approach. This leads to some interesting implications. The chapter also looks to the UK where the role of the state has been subject to remarkably frequent change.Less
This chapter explores the practical potentialities for government action in skill creation in the context of contemporary pressures, by examining recent experience in two countries which are historically regarded as the most effective exemplars of detailed state-led systems: France and Sweden. Consideration is given to the Italian approach as a less successful version of the French approach. This leads to some interesting implications. The chapter also looks to the UK where the role of the state has been subject to remarkably frequent change.
Colin Crouch, David Finegold, and Mari Sako
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198294382
- eISBN:
- 9780191685040
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198294382.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, HRM / IR, Political Economy
This study of the problems confronting institutions for the creation of occupational skills in seven advanced industrialised countries contributes to two different areas of debate. The first is the ...
More
This study of the problems confronting institutions for the creation of occupational skills in seven advanced industrialised countries contributes to two different areas of debate. The first is the study of the diversity of institutional forms taken by modern capitalism, and the difficulties currently surrounding the survival of that diversity. Most discussions of this theme analyse economic institutions and governance in general. This book is more specific, focusing on the key area of skill creation. The second theme is that of vocational education and training in its own right. While sharing the consensus that the advanced countries must secure competitive advantage in a global economy by developing highly skilled work-forces, the book draws attention to certain awkward aspects of this approach that are often glossed over in general debate: the employment-generating power of improvements in skill levels is limited; employment policy cannot depend fully on education policies. While the acquisition of skills has become a major public need, there is increasing dependence for their provision on individual firms, which can have no responsibility for general needs, with government action being restricted to residual care for the unemployed rather than contributing at the leading edge of advanced skills policy.Less
This study of the problems confronting institutions for the creation of occupational skills in seven advanced industrialised countries contributes to two different areas of debate. The first is the study of the diversity of institutional forms taken by modern capitalism, and the difficulties currently surrounding the survival of that diversity. Most discussions of this theme analyse economic institutions and governance in general. This book is more specific, focusing on the key area of skill creation. The second theme is that of vocational education and training in its own right. While sharing the consensus that the advanced countries must secure competitive advantage in a global economy by developing highly skilled work-forces, the book draws attention to certain awkward aspects of this approach that are often glossed over in general debate: the employment-generating power of improvements in skill levels is limited; employment policy cannot depend fully on education policies. While the acquisition of skills has become a major public need, there is increasing dependence for their provision on individual firms, which can have no responsibility for general needs, with government action being restricted to residual care for the unemployed rather than contributing at the leading edge of advanced skills policy.
Colin Crouch, David Finegold, and Mari Sako
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198294382
- eISBN:
- 9780191685040
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198294382.003.0008
- Subject:
- Business and Management, HRM / IR, Political Economy
On the basis of analysis of vocational educational training (VET) systems in the seven leading industrialized countries, general conclusions can be drawn about what kinds of institutional ...
More
On the basis of analysis of vocational educational training (VET) systems in the seven leading industrialized countries, general conclusions can be drawn about what kinds of institutional arrangements for skills creation seem to promise most prospects of attaining the goal of the learning society. In some respects, the worst placed are those systems that provide specific vocational courses remote from the enterprise: the central state-regulated regimes for initial VET of France, Italy, and Sweden. In most systems, the role of direct state provision of training has been adversely affected by two self-reinforcing factors: the association of government action with residual provision for the unemployed; and the hostility of current neo-liberal orthodoxy to most kinds of government action. The specific area of skills-creation policy demonstrates the current general predicament of public policy. Government becomes associated with care for social failure and not with dynamism, and the latter therefore comes to be seen as resting solely with private corporations whose initiatives the state can only weaken by diluting them with social concerns.Less
On the basis of analysis of vocational educational training (VET) systems in the seven leading industrialized countries, general conclusions can be drawn about what kinds of institutional arrangements for skills creation seem to promise most prospects of attaining the goal of the learning society. In some respects, the worst placed are those systems that provide specific vocational courses remote from the enterprise: the central state-regulated regimes for initial VET of France, Italy, and Sweden. In most systems, the role of direct state provision of training has been adversely affected by two self-reinforcing factors: the association of government action with residual provision for the unemployed; and the hostility of current neo-liberal orthodoxy to most kinds of government action. The specific area of skills-creation policy demonstrates the current general predicament of public policy. Government becomes associated with care for social failure and not with dynamism, and the latter therefore comes to be seen as resting solely with private corporations whose initiatives the state can only weaken by diluting them with social concerns.
Colin Crouch, David Finegold, and Mari Sako
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198294382
- eISBN:
- 9780191685040
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198294382.003.0006
- Subject:
- Business and Management, HRM / IR, Political Economy
This chapter discusses the development of network institutions in Japan, Italy, and the UK and examines their role in skill creation. Neither Italy nor the UK has found policy mechanisms that might ...
More
This chapter discusses the development of network institutions in Japan, Italy, and the UK and examines their role in skill creation. Neither Italy nor the UK has found policy mechanisms that might speed a move to what was defined as a long-term skill-creation model. Agencies in both countries have experienced difficulties in combining assistance for the unemployed and poorly skilled with attempts at persuading already skeptical businesses that these agencies can help to push forward the frontiers of high-level skill creation.Less
This chapter discusses the development of network institutions in Japan, Italy, and the UK and examines their role in skill creation. Neither Italy nor the UK has found policy mechanisms that might speed a move to what was defined as a long-term skill-creation model. Agencies in both countries have experienced difficulties in combining assistance for the unemployed and poorly skilled with attempts at persuading already skeptical businesses that these agencies can help to push forward the frontiers of high-level skill creation.
