Education Policy and a Competitive Workforce: A Comparative Analysis of Vocational Education and Training Policy in the European Union and the United States

• In Event: 66.041 - Insights on Policy Implementation: The State Role in Higher Education Effectiveness and Finance

Abstract

This research examines parallel multilevel political entities as they competitively position themselves in a global education policyscape. Developing a framework to compare the Copenhagen process in the European Union and Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants in the United States, allows us to trace patterns of policy convergence and divergence in current policy trends increasingly impacting vocational training on both sides of the Atlantic. Due to global market forces and “federal” responses to them, vocational training is integrated into federal labor policy, multinational corporations’ labor demands, global networks of science, technology, and political trends. This research finds the EU and US employing similar rhetoric for policy framing despite variances in governance and regulatory environments.

Author

• M. Allison Witt, University of Illinois