Short- and long-term impacts of Covid-19 on VET: Strengthening VET in times of crises

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the whole educational system profoundly. The ensuing challenges have been particularly pronounced for vocational education and training (VET). In many training occupations, learners were not only faced with online teaching in vocational school but also with the temporary closure of firms or the prolonged absence of vocational trainers due to home office regulations or work overload. Although VET was hit particularly hard, the bulk of studies on the effect of the pandemic for pupils, students and teachers has focused on classroom teaching. The consequences of the pandemic for training in firms and for the demand and supply of apprenticeship positions has, to the best of our knowledge, not been addressed systematically. However, if we take into account that VET is the most prevalent type of upper-secondary education in Switzerland, the impact of the pandemic is potentially extensive and affects a large part of all young people. It hampered not only their occupational choice process and their possibilities to gain insights into apprenticeships and to search for vacant apprenticeship positions, but also their learning processes in the firm and in vocational schools. Moreover, the economic downswing caused by the pandemic led to a temporary increase of youth unemployment and had thus a detrimental effect on VET graduates' labour market integration. Training companies faced the challenge of recruiting as well as sustaining practical training under difficult and unpredictable conditions (distance learning, company closures, short-time work, home office, etc.). However, the gained experiences have also shown that the different industries and occupational fields as well as the different regions (rural/urban; French-, Italian-, German-speaking) were affected unevenly by the pandemic. Against the described background, the proposed project aims at investigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on dual vocational education and training in Switzerland. We will focus on differences between occupational fields and regions regarding the training process, the demand and supply of apprenticeship positions and young people's educational trajectories and labour market entry. Regarding the training process, we will investigate the measures taken by training firms and professional organizations from the world of work (OdA) to ensure that apprentices acquired vocational skills and knowledge and were able to complete their training successfully (Work Package 1). Furthermore, we will analyse whether the pandemic led to an adaptation of recruitment strategies, training regulations and practices. Regarding the demand and supply of apprenticeship positions, we will investigate whether the pandemic had an impact on young people's search preferences and chosen training programmes one the one hand and firm's supply for apprenticeship positions on the other hand (Work Package 2). Regarding educational trajectories and labour market entry, we will ask whether the pandemic led to more turbulences for some groups of learners, such as delayed transitions to certifying upper secondary training, premature contract terminations, repetitions, final exam failures, unemployment, or lower wages at labour market entry (Work Package 3). The proposed project is based on a mixed-methods approach and will combine several data sources. These include a document analysis, semi-structured qualitative interviews with representatives of professional organisations, firms and apprentices, a quantitative online survey of firms engaged in vocational training, the analysis of changes in the apprenticeship market using data of Swiss online apprenticeship platforms, as well as the analysis of educational trajectories and labour market entry based on LABB data linked with additional administrative and survey data. The expected results aim at increasing the resilience of the VET system to withstand future crises by systematically evaluating the experiences and employed measures of firms and the effects of the pandemic on the demand for training and on training outcomes. To reach this aim, the project will provide a systematic overview of the challenges faced during (and after) the pandemic in different occupational fields and regions. Furthermore, the project will provide evidence regarding the advantages, disadvantages, and preconditions of applied measures. This will facilitate the development of future recruitment and teaching strategies. Occupation-specific workshops and a symposium with representatives of training firms and organisations of work are planned in order to comprehensively assess past, present and future experiences, changes in teaching and training practices, as well as information, counselling and recruiting strategies. An advisory board with stakeholders from the government and from organisations of the world of work (OdA) will accompany the project including the implementation of the results into VET practice.