Eric Verdier (2024)
In Rainer Diaz-Bone & Guillemette de Larquier (eds.), Handbook of economics and sociology of conventions. Cham: Springer, Online first

Abstract. For many years, diverse interdisciplinary approaches emphasize that the analysis of vocational education and training (VET) could not be dissociated from those of industrial relations, organization of firms, innovation processes, etc. This chapter attempts to show that economics and sociology of conventions (EC/SC) is particularly relevant for analyzing VET, which is characterized by a great diversity, with regard to relationships with the labor markets, learner statuses (apprentices vs students), commitments of companies and public authorities in its financing and organization, etc.
This chapter is organized in two parts. The first discusses reference EC/SC works that explicitly employ the six worlds reconstructed by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot. They deal with the creation and first transformations of apprenticeship systems; the rationale of the main reforms they have undergone, confronted with the expansion of education; the responses to challenges arising from the changes in the labor market; the critical issue of the selection of apprentices; and the local diversity of training practices. The second part presents a body of research, which, while referring to the founding polities, develops an approach in terms of education and training regimes (ETRs) that relies on a plurality of conventions, which could be described as “sectoral.” Designed in the perspective of international comparisons, this approach in terms of ETRs consider how VET systems changes at different scales (national, European, and regional). It was also used to address more specific: for instance, gender segregation and VET, practices at work within the vocational pathway.